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I wanted her to talk to me; she didn’t stop for a single second, as far as I saw.
I wanted to ask what she would wear tonight, since I’m still an ass who wants all of her, though I deserve none; she did everything she could to not be in the same room as me for more than thirty seconds at a time.
It was a game of cat and mouse that lasted hours. But once five o’clock hit, the ballroom was done, and I still hadn’t had a momentalonewith Hannah.
I guess she won.
For now.
“Hey!” Dashing along my hallway, I stop outside the bathroom and slam the side of my fist against the door. “Get the fuck out so I can brush my teeth and finish getting ready.”
Ruiz yanks the door open, his hair slicked back and his lips curled into a smug grin, then he passes me and strides into the hall. “Chill out, Marcia Brady. The bathroom’s all yours.” But he stops before turning into the spare room he’s claimed as his own. “Does my ass look big in this suit?” He twists his neck and tries to look. “I feel like it looks big.”
“I don’t have a problem with people’s sexuality, Ruiz.” I head to the sink to grab my toothbrush. “I have gay friends.”
“Okay.” He slams the bedroom door so his voice turns quieter. “That’s nice for you, bro.”
“I just wanted you to know. So you’d feel safe, should you wish to own up to who you are and want someone to talk to about it.” I smear paste on my brush and rinse the bristles under the tap. “Being gay is okay. So long as you’re happy.”
He stops at the bathroom door again, surprising me with his smiling face reflecting in the mirror. “Thanks for being a friend to everyone, kid. I bet your gay friends appreciate your openness and support.” He grabs the lapels of his suit coat and smirks. “I’m ready to go when you are.”
“You can start walking now.” I scrub my teeth and concentrate on not spilling paste onto my suit. “No need to wait for me. I won’t be driving you. And don’t forget your mask.”
He laughs and continues walking. “Uh-huh. And since we’re on the topic, do you think this is gonna be one of those things where the oldies find every single guest and try to pair them up? Because I’m not gonna lie, I don’t want your Great Aunt Betsy setting me up with your cousin from Idaho. I’m sure she’s nice and all…” He returns to the doorway as I spit into the sink and rinse my brush. Serious now, his eyes turn a little darker. “I’m not ready for that shit yet.”
“I don’t have a Great Aunt Betsy.” I drop my toothbrush into the cup on the counter, then turn to the towel hung on the wall and wipe my lips. “And I don’t have a cousin from Idaho. But yeah. Maybe.”
Fully ready to go, I turn to him and drop some of the attitude I’ve been throwing at him for days. “Someone might try to introduce you to someone. They won’t mean harm, but nobody likes to play matchmaker more than a middle-aged woman in the presence of a firefighter with a tragic backstory.”
He rolls his eyes and pushes away from the door. “I’m going for the good food only. Can we keep it to that?”
I follow him into the hall and grab my keys and wallet as I pass the small entryway table. “I don’t intend to hang out with you at all, so I can’t protect you from the nosey aunts.” I slip my phone into my pocket—no missed calls, no texts from Hannah—and meet Ruiz’s hard stare. “I have things to do. People to see. And none of that includes my freeloading squatter. You’re on your own.”
“Do those people you intend to see include the chick you pissed off?” He follows me through the front door and onto the porch. It’s still light outside, barely. But by the time we come home, the sky will be pitch-black. “She still mad at you?”
“Don’t talk about her.” I skip down the front steps and beep my truck open. Swinging the door wide, I slide into the driver’s seat… and sigh when Ruiz jogs to the passenger side.
He’s impervious to rejection, it would seem. Doesn’t have a single fuck to give for those who don’t want him around.
“Nix asked me to come back yesterday,” I grumble.
“Yeah?” He fixes his seatbelt and glances my way as I start the truck. “Permanently?”
I don’t want to talk to him about this shit, but I want even less to talk about Hannah. So I back out of my driveway and resign myself to talking aboutsomething. Anything.
“He won’t accept season in, season out,” I admit. Pushing the gear into drive, I start us toward the ballroom Preston rented for tonight’s shindig. “I have to decide within the week and commit. They’re shaking things up down at the station, Chief Collier’s on his way out, Rosa might be moving up to his position. Which means we’ll have a lieutenant coming in, and a firefighter heading out.”
I lick my dry lips and glance across to find Ruiz thinking. His eyes serious, and his jaw flexed.
“He wants a commitment,” I admit. “He wants it next week.”
“What are you gonna do?” He sets his elbow on the doorframe and looks anywhere but at me. “You wanna jump, kid? Because if you do, you’re gonna have to come up with a winter job to get you by.”
“I don’t know.”
Indicating to turn, I slow and move us into the hotel parking lot—not the Oriane, though I know they’re rebuilding.
The lot is all but full, many cars I recognize, and several more I don’t.
