She sat down on the bed and took a handful of the loose photos from the milk crate and started looking through them.
The ones on the top were all recent pictures of his son. There were a few of father and son together, but she didn’t want those. She was looking for a few good pictures of Sean alone. She took another handful out and put aside one recent one to keep, which showed Sean sitting on the couch downstairs with a merry expression on his face. It was the kind of picture she could imagine herself taking, and she had to wonder just who had taken it. It better not have been some chick.
She rifled through scores of pictures of his family, with lots of similar looking dark-haired children that she assumed were his nieces and nephews, and lots of pictures of his parents. He resembled his father quite a bit.
A few eight-by-ten professional shots were tossed in with the pictures in the box. Two were of Danny as a baby, and one was a formal shot from his wedding. Millicent looked so ecstatic she fairly glowed, while Sean was grim in a tacky, ill-fitting tuxedo. Like he already knew he was making a mistake.
The next one showed Sean and Millicent naked in a hot spring. It was obviously old because Sean was young, and Millicent was thin. Millicent sat hunched forward looking mortified with her hands covering her breasts, while Sean lay back in the shallow water, laughing, with his dick in full view. There was another naked couple with them, but Ruby only had eyes for Sean. Once she cut everyone else out of the picture, she’d have the perfect wallet photo!
The pictures near the bottom of the crate were older. She found one of Sean standing proudly beside his car when it was so new it still had temporary tags. She remembered the day he’d bought that car. He’d come to class bubbling over with excitement.
Her heart raced as she recognized his old house in the background. It was the one on Butterfly Lane that she used to cruise by at all hours freshman year, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sean. She never had, and then one day his car had disappeared, and she realized he’d moved away. It had taken her months to figure out his new address, and that was only because she happened to recognize his car a year later, while out delivering newspapers.
This picture had been taken only a few weeks after they’d first met. She gazed at Sean’s young, innocent face, and her heart ached for all the years lost to them. She set that picture aside as well. She reached into the crate to grab another handful when she thought she heard a key in the front door. Chloe started barking frantically from the backyard.
Crap. She stuffed all three photos she wanted to keep down her blouse and began frantically scooping up handfuls of pictures off the bed and tossing them back into the crate. The front door opened and closed, and she picked up the pace. Just as she tossed the last photo inside, Sean called out from downstairs, “Ruby? Where are you?”
“I’m up here!”
She picked up the crate, shoved it back into the closet and shut the door just as she heard him climbing the steps.
She turned off the light and sat on the side of the bed rubbing her eyes like she just woke up, as Sean entered the room.
“Sorry it took so long,” he said. He flipped on the light and came over to sit beside her. He shook his head, looking extremely upset. “More of her games.”
“It’s okay,” Ruby said, hoping he wouldn’t notice the outline of the stolen pictures underneath her blouse. “How’s Danny?”
“He has a cold. Or allergies.”
“But I thought—”
“So did I, but no, he’s fine.” He ran a shaking hand through his hair. “What am I complaining about? I’d much rather he be okay.”
She touched his arm. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer, and she caught the sheen of tears in his eyes before he looked away and cleared his throat.
What was wrong with him? “You look upset. Did something happen? You can talk to me.”
He stood and began pacing the room. “It’s Millicent.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes as he continued. “She wants to move Danny cross country to Ohio so she can live with her parents and get ahead financially. She’s jealous that my parents are helping me, and she’s doing this out of spite.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
She perked up. Danny was moving? She’d have Sean all to herself! “When are they leaving?”
“They’re not! At least, not for a few months. We have joint custody, and there’s no way she’s taking my son two-thousand miles away from me. No way in hell! I’ll fight her with everything I have, and I don’t care how much it costs. That’s what was really going on tonight. I told her I’d see her in court, and we got into a huge fight.”
Ruby raised her eyebrows. “Won’t that be kind of expensive? I mean, for the lawyers and legal fees and stuff?”
He sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. “Yeah. I don’t know how I’ll afford it. As it is now, all my money goes to her. Because I was the one who filed for divorce, she got very nasty in court. I pay alimony and child support, I pay for Danny’s daycare, his health insurance, you name it. She got our good car…hell, she even got our house! Which she now complains that she can’t afford. She already tried to get full custody once, and she was surprised when I fought her so hard on it and won. I don’t have any savings left, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“I’ll give you the money. I have plenty. How much you need?” she offered, seizing the opportunity to come out smelling like roses.
Relief flooded his face, and then he smiled and put a gentle hand on her arm. “That’s very sweet, but no thanks. This isn’t your battle.”
“What’re you gonna do?”
“I don’t know. I suppose, if I absolutely can’t afford to fight her, I’ll have to consider moving to Ohio, too. To be close to Danny. I’m sure they need teachers there, same as here.”
“What? You can’t—you’d let her win like that?”
“I don’t want to, but I might have to,” he said and sighed. “At least I have some breathing room. I asked her to wait until after the first of the year to decide. I’m going to help her out more financially in the meantime.” He looked glum.
Get a backbone! That bitch was walking all over him, and he was letting her! “She’s using you.”
“I know. But she’s mad because she wants us to get back together and be a family, but that’s the one thing I won’t do.”
“Why’d you guys break up?”
His eyes slid away from hers. “Oh, lots of reasons.…Where’s Nick?
“He left to go meet some girl.”
He frowned. “How long have you been here alone? I called but nobody answered, and I figured you were outside with Nick. I never should have left you here for so long. Sorry.
Ruby looked at her phone. It was 12:15! Had she really been snooping for over an hour and a half? “It’s okay. I was so exhausted, I fell asleep. Do you mind?”
“Actually, it was nice to come home and find you here.” He leaned over and gave her a long kiss.
She kissed him back and soon his hands were on her shirt buttons, and if things kept going like this, he was going to find his pictures under her shirt. She broke away and said, “Hold that thought, would you? I really need to pee.”
He cocked his head and said, “Sure.” He motioned to the hall. “It’s the next door down on the left.
She got up and made her way to the bathroom, keeping her back to him.
After locking the door, she took the pictures out and smoothed them as best she could. Where was she going to hide these? She wished she’d brought her backpack into the bathroom with her.
While she was here, she might as well look for his cologne.
There was nothing like that in the bathroom. She set the pictures on the counter and opened the medicine cabinet. Nope. She smelled the soap, and a bottle of lotion on the sink, but they weren’t right either.
She looked in the shower and smelled the shampoo and conditioner and picked up the bottle of “June’
s Organic Body Soap” that looked promising. It had a picture of a vanilla bean and a flower on the label and when she smelled it, she grinned. Bingo! She read the ingredients quickly. Vanilla, sandalwood, rose hips, ginger…no wonder he smelled so divine. She’d seen this stuff at the Kamata Co-op before. He’d probably been buying it for years. She’d buy a bottle for herself so his scent would always be with her. She put the bottle back.
She did need to pee though, while she was here. She sat down, only to find out her period had just started. Hell. She did damage control, relieved to see that although the blood had started to soak through her thong, her skirt was still unaffected. This was the upstairs guest bathroom, so there probably wouldn’t be tampons under the sink—though she looked anyway. No tampons, but the cabinets were filled to the brim with toilet paper.
Of course they were.
She needed to grab a tampon from her bag. She wedged a wad of toilet paper precariously into her thong, stuffed the pictures into her bra, and left the bathroom.
She made her way downstairs, grabbed her tampon, and spied the radio she was planning on planting before she left. Why not do it now while she had a moment? She just hoped Nick came home tonight. Otherwise, her batteries would die.
“Ruby?” Sean called.
“I’ll be right there. I just had to get something out of my bag.”
She transferred the stolen pictures from her bra to the bottom of her bag, turned her back to the stairs, and taped the radio button down while it was still concealed in her backpack. She walked into the living room carrying her backpack and took a deep breath.
In one fluid motion she grabbed the radio, bent down, and pushed it about halfway under the couch.
As she was standing back up Sean said from behind her, “There you are. I came to see what was taking so long.”
Had he seen her plant the radio? She forced a serene look to her face and turned to face him. His chest was bare, and he had a towel around his waist. She raised her eyebrow at him.
“Care to join me in the shower?”
She sucked in her breath. It was her fantasy! And she was on her period! She blinked rapidly, fighting the urge to weep. “I’d love to! But I got my period unexpectedly…” she sniffled. “So, I’ll have to go home.”
He didn’t look shocked or grossed out, just disappointed, which was wonderful, because Simon had always been a bit antsy about her periods. He’d refused to buy her tampons when he did the grocery shopping, as if they were disgusting and he was embarrassed she needed them.
“That’s no reason to go home. You’re welcome to stay. I’d prefer it if you did.”
“I only brought the one tampon,” she explained, holding it up so he could see it. “And I need to change out of this thong…”
But he did look delicious in that towel. She walked over and ran her hands over his chest and then lower. His arms tightened around her, and he began to nuzzle her neck. She could have that towel off him in one second and…she heaved a sigh. And she needed to put this tampon in before she had a bloody mess on her hands.
She closed her eyes, hugging him tight, before taking off for the bathroom. She took her backpack with her so he wouldn’t find the pictures.
When she came out, he was still in the towel. What horrible luck. “I can’t believe this,” she muttered as he walked her out to her car.
He rubbed her back. “It’s okay. There’s always tomorrow.” She rolled her eyes. Yeah, and she’d be on her period tomorrow, too.
They made a date for the next night, and just as she was about to drive away, a car pulled into the driveway beside her, and Nick got out. She waved to them both and they waved back. As she backed out, she heard Nick say, “Nice towel, man,” and laugh. She didn’t catch Sean’s reply.
Ruby rushed around the corner; certain she was missing all sorts of commentary. She parked a block away, fished the other radio out of her glove box, flipped it to the right channel, and listened intently. All she heard was static.
She waited.
After five minutes she heard dog toenails on hardwood floors. She heard voices, and it appeared that someone had turned on MSNBC. Why weren’t they talking about her?
It started to rain as she sat in the car, and she listened for about twenty more minutes, getting discouraged. Then Chloe started barking happily, and she finally heard Sean’s voice crooning to her. Nick said, clear as a bell, “Looks like you had a pretty good time tonight.”
Her ears pricked up as she heard Sean say softly, “Yeah.”
“You weren’t the only one!” Nick said.
“Really! Things went well with Libby?” Sean asked.
Why were they talking about her? Cut to the chase! Those batteries weren’t going to last all night!
“Libby was a hard nut to crack but I finally got there,” Nick said. He said something else softly that Ruby didn’t catch, and Sean laughed. She heard the sound of someone popping open a can of soda or beer.
Nick said, “…were a lot smaller than I expected. I felt so cheated.”
Sean chuckled. “Fucking padded bras.”
Ruby felt her mouth fall open in disbelief. She stared down at her small chest. Were they talking about the size of her breasts?
“I didn’t think Libby wore one, but tonight I found out that she does. I mean, it’s false advertising.”
Ruby’s heart slowed down. Good. They were making fun of Libby, not her. But still…
Nick was a pig.
“…you gonna do? Are you going to continue seeing her?” Sean asked.
Ruby heard a sigh. “Of course. I like her. Anyway, I leave in a few days. It’s just too bad.”
They were silent for so long that Ruby was afraid they’d left the room, and then she heard Nick say, “…Ruby seems nice.”
It was about damn time. She began to chew on her thumbnail.
“She is,” Sean said.
“And she’s beautiful.”
“Yep.”
“Stop. Just stop. Was she a good in bed or what?” Nick said, and they both laughed.
Ruby was offended, but her heart was pounding from nervousness because she was afraid he might say no.
Sean was quiet, and Nick said, “Well?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Yes, you do!”
They both laughed again, and Nick’s voice grew playful. “Was she better than Millicent?”
Sean snorted. “Oh please. There is no comparison.”
Ruby was pretty sure that meant she was far superior to that troll, but what if it was the other way around? She chewed her nails in her dark car as she strained to hear what they would say about her next.
“…What about Tara?”
“Hey!”
“Sorry. No, really,” Nick said. “That was uncalled for. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but I was a little surprised to see you dating so soon after her death.”
“What? You’re the one who convinced me to call Ruby from Sammy’s! You’re the one who said getting laid would take my mind off Tara. Or did you conveniently forget that?”
OMG! He’d come over just to get laid! He’d used her.
“But I didn’t expect you to continue seeing her. I figured you needed a guaranteed fuck with no strings attached, but you two seem awful close for a second date.”
Guaranteed fuck?
“So?” Sean said, sounding defensive. “Aren’t I allowed to like her?”
Ruby felt a bit better. At least she knew he liked her.
“Sure. It was unexpected, is all. So, you really like her?”
Ruby leaned forward as if that would help her hear better, but Sean dodged the question. “Tara broke up with me! And Ruby and I hooked up before I knew Tara was dead. It’s not like we’re getting married or anything! Aren’t I allowed to date? I wasn’t engaged to Tara—”
“Calm down. I didn’t mean to strike a nerve.” There was a long pause, and then Nick said, “But getting back to my earlier question�
�”
Ruby heard a thud, and then Nick crowed, “You missed. You suck!”
Sean laughed. “To answer your question, Tara and I had fun, but Ruby’s …phenomenal.”
Ruby tingled with pride, and she wished Sean would someday say it to her face. It almost made up for the way he’d used her. Almost.
Nick said, “You know, I did sort of get that vibe off her.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes. What the hell did that mean?
“Let’s put it this way,” Sean said. “She could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch!”
Ruby’s face burned as she heard them hooting and laughing at her expense. She wiped her eyes with shaking hands, and swallowed a sob, refusing to allow it out. Had Sean, her Sean, really made such a vulgar comment about her? She almost couldn’t believe it.
“I shouldn’t talk about her like that,” Sean said. “I like her a lot.”
Ruby was starting to feel better when Sean said, “Even if it’s the gospel truth!”
And they both laughed again while Ruby listened, alone in the dark, humiliated.
“Seriously,” Sean said when they were calm. “She’s a lot of fun, and not just because she’s great in bed. I met her in college, and I liked her back then too. If I hadn’t been dating Millie at the time, I would have asked her out.”
Ruby bit her lip, wishing she would have known this at the time. She could easily have taken care of Millicent, and they’d be married right now.
“Your life could have been totally different,” Nick said.
“I suppose my life’s about where it should be right now,” Sean said. Ruby didn’t think he sounded very convinced.
“Yeah, well you got Danny. I know you don’t regret him.”
“Danny’s the best thing in my life,” Sean said. “But sex with Millie was so—”
“Boring?”
“Yeah. I can’t believe I spent so many years with her. Do you know that we never had sex any place besides our bed? Millie doesn’t have a nasty side. No, Millie doesn’t have a sexual side.”
Drawn To You: A Psychological thriller Page 26