AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re in love with her!” Ruthie says, the idea seeming to excite her even more than Vanny’s new incarnation. “There’s literally no other reason you’d ever agree to that.”
“I’m not in love with her,” I say, feeling sweat bead on my upper lip. Suddenly, I’m a little overwhelmed. By my feelings for Mira, which are big and powerful. By Thanksgiving. By Ruthie’s new scheme. By the past week and a half and everything it’s done to shatter what came before it.
Some things need shattering, but it’s still made me feel like the ground beneath my feet has turned into something unknowable, like the floor during an earthquake.
“I’m sorry,” Ruthie says as she takes a small step back. “I shouldn’t have jumped to love, but you like her, don’t you? I could tell earlier, when you were talking about her broken ankle.”
“Listen to yourself.”
She laughs lightly, and I can’t help but smile. “You’re such a guy. Broken ankles can be extremely romantic. Like if you had to carry her everywhere.”
“I have carried her a few places,” I admit. She widens her eyes, and I shift a little on my feet, uncomfortable again. “That’s as much as I’ll be saying right now, but yeah, I like her. She’s…”
She’s something else. She’s loud and brash, smart and funny, and there’s a deep well of her that she doesn’t let most people look down, but I’ve gotten a view.
I’d like to take a bath in it.
“I want to meet her,” Ruthie insists.
“And you will. If you come to this horrible holiday dinner that’s certain to be a disaster.”
“Oh, I’ll be there,” she says with a grin.
“And don’t think about stopping by unannounced before then. You know I prefer knowing what to expect.”
She pokes a finger into my chest. “I also know it’s good for you to learn to deal with interruptions to your plans.”
“There’ve been plenty of those lately,” I mutter.
“Speaking of plans. What’s going on with your game? Are you selling it?”
I didn’t tell her about Daphne working for Big Bear Games. I don’t want to tell her now. She has an irrational hatred of Daphne that’s on par, or possibly even stronger than, her irrational dislike for Shane.
“I hope so,” I say. “They haven’t given us an offer yet, but I did some research, so I know the ballpark range of what we’ll be looking at.”
“It’s almost over,” she tells me, giving me that look I hate seeing on her face. Guilt.
“It’s almost over,” I agree. “But it wasn’t your fault, and I won’t have you thinking it.”
She lifts a hand and opens it to mimic a mouth. I close it with my hand.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I repeat. “Jarrod Travis is a predator. He’s—”
“Danny,” she hisses, glancing around the parking lot. No one’s paying any attention to us unless someone’s hidden beneath one of the poofs in Vanny. “You have to be more careful.”
“I know,” I admit, because she’s right. I signed that NDA, after all. I won’t ever be able to talk publicly about that prick, not unless I want to cough up more money than I could possibly make in a lifetime. Even so, I’ll still be making yearly payments to him for another five years, unless I manage to put together a lump sum big enough to cover what I owe.
And I can’t professionally do what I do best for anyone but Safe-T Net. Not until the fifteen-year term is over.
The game is my best hope.
Ruthie hugs me and promises to bring pumpkin pie and not pop in without notice, but I know her well enough to expect she will be visiting soon. The most notice we’re likely to get is a text message when she’s already waiting at the door.
I drive home, my mind hung up on Ruthie and Mira. I was hesitant to introduce Daphne to Ruthie. The thought of them meeting had put an itch at the back of my mind—I’d known they weren’t two people who would understand and like each other and the only thing they’d have in common was that I understood and liked both of them. But I don’t feel any discomfort attached to the thought of Ruthie and Mira meeting.
If anything, they’re likely to gang up on me, the same way Shane and Ruthie do on the rare occasions they have a ceasefire. The prospect makes me smile—a smile that fades when I reach a stoplight and notice the face of the driver behind me. Big Mike.
He’s probably going the same place I am, so maybe it’s not that big of a coincidence—this city isn’t so big it’s an impossibility. I’ve run into Burke and Leonard at the grocery store, and one time Shane and I both went for a bike ride without telling each other and ended up meeting on the trail. But this doesn’t feel right.
