by Ellie Hall
Talk about the most mortifying moment of my life? No, thank you. But I supposed if we were going to live in the same small town, it would be good to clear the air. I could pretend like I wasn’t interested in him—for five minutes, maybe.
“Lead the way—as long as you have some cold water that I can drink. I think that llama scared me spitless.” Jude motioned for me to lead the way into his house.
Like the hunter waiting for the rabbit to step into his trap…
6
Jude
Leaning around Ruby, I grasped the handle and opened the door for her. Boones-Dock residents didn’t lock their houses—unless their last names were Boone or Graham. In that case, they kept their doors locked, each afraid of what the other family would attempt if left unchecked.
Ruby stepped inside and glanced around. I’d bought the house from a family that lived in Boones-Dock only for two years. I’d never known them since I’d been away at college while they were here.
My parents still lived in Boones-Dock, and I liked knowing I’d be close to help them as they aged. My brother was off to parts unknown—we really weren’t sure what he was up to since it changed all the time—and my sister was busy traveling the world as a travel blogger. I still wasn’t sure how she made money from that.
Mom and Dad had offered to let me live with them when I moved back. I declined. Taking over the business for Dad meant we worked together often. I didn’t want them to wish me gone if I lived in their house as well.
“This is a nice place,” Ruby commented. “I don’t think I’ve been in this house before.”
“Yeah, it’s a good one. It’s on a twenty-acre piece and has a nice shop out back.” All of a sudden, having Ruby in my house was making me sweat.
I wanted her to like it. I wanted her to give me a chance to explain myself. I wanted her to forgive me for being an idiot.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I headed into the kitchen and washed my hands before I poured her a glass of ice water.
“What do I owe you for a delivery fee?” I asked as she drank the entire glass without taking a breath. She was determined to avoid any kind of awkward conversation. Hopefully I could convince her to listen to what a fool I’d been.
She set her glass down on the kitchen counter with a thump. “You don’t owe me anything, Jude.”
“How about an explanation then?”
Her face drained of any color. Her usually tan cheeks looked a little chalky. She turned as though she were going to dart out the door. Leaping forward, I grasped her hand, tugging her close. “You know that what happened that summer wasn’t your fault, right?”
She studied her unpainted fingernails on her free hand. “Oh, you mean the part where I practically tackled you and shoved my tongue down your throat?”
I cleared my throat, letting go of her hand. “Well, I remember there being more finesse than that…”
In fact, it had been a pretty dang good kiss that felt like coming home and visiting the seven wonders of the world all wrapped into one.
“Jude, I’d rather not talk about it.” Her lips flattened together in that way that let me know she was about to get seriously mad.
“Too bad. Because we’re going to talk about it. We live in a tiny town. We can’t avoid each other forever.”
“I can try,” she mumbled.
“Have I ever told you about my girlfriend?” I asked.
“That’s it. I’m out of here.” She turned to go, and I leaned forward to grasp her hand, stopping her from walking away.
“Please let me explain. And if you don’t like what I have to say, I’ll leave you alone.”
Her shoulders stiffened. “Is that a promise?”
I hesitated a moment before I nodded.
“That means no more asking me for favors. You’ll have to find someone else to help you. A Boone or a Graham.”
I faked a shudder at that thought, which brought a small smile to her face. “Listen for one hot minute, and then you can tell me to go take a hike if you want to. I wouldn’t blame you.”
She gave me a quick nod and allowed me to lead her to the couch that faced the bay window that overlooked the backyard. The llama stood outside, staring at us.
I tugged until she relented and sat down.
I reluctantly let go of her hand, immediately missing the feeling of her small palm in mine.
“When I saw you that senior year of college, I thought you had a boyfriend.”
Her eyes finally snapped up to mine. “What? What would make you think that?”
I grimaced. “I may or may not have seen a picture of you on social media with a guy’s arm around you.”
“You what?” She leaned back against the arm of the couch.
“It was a good-looking guy who was hanging onto you like an octopus. I’d assumed it was your boyfriend. I panicked when I knew I was going to see you at the lake that day. I didn’t want to show up and be the loser who had been waiting for you for four years.”
Ruby folded her arms across her chest. “Instead, I was the ‘loser’ who had waited that whole time.”
I nodded slowly. “Well, I asked out a girl I’d been friends with throughout college. She was the fun one who dated around and was never serious. She even knew about you. Tons of fun. You’d like her, actually.”
“I really don’t think I would,” Ruby ground out.
Clearing my throat, I studied the llama in the backyard. “Er, maybe not. But we went out to dinner the night before I saw you at the lake. And that was it. I wanted to be able to tell you I had a girlfriend too. I thought for sure you’d show up to the lake with your boyfriend.”
Ruby rubbed a finger between her eyes.
“And you did.”
“I did not! I didn’t have a boyfriend in college!”
“It was your cousin.”
She scowled. “Trevor? You thought Trevor was my boyfriend?”
“He looked much older than he was,” I tried to explain.
“Trevor is four years younger than me! He’d just moved to the college dorms, and we were having fun hanging out because he’s my favorite cousin at family reunions! And you thought that was my boyfriend?”
“I was an idiot.”
She snorted. “Is this the part where I’m supposed to tell you, ‘No, you’re not’? Because I don’t like to lie.”
“Ouch. Harsh.”
Her eyebrow twitched as she spoke. “So, you didn’t really have a girlfriend when we locked lips?”
“No.”
Ruby pulled a leg up and tucked it under her. “I’m not sure if this makes it better or worse.”
My heart dropped.
“I usually try not to kiss idiots.”
She had an unfortunate point.
I just nodded, not sure what to say. I mean, really, what could I say? I’d been a jealous little idiot.
“So, you mean to tell me that we didn’t get back together because you thought I had a boyfriend? And you didn’t really even have a girlfriend?”
I smiled sheepishly.
She stood up and smacked me across the face with one of the couch cushions. “Unbelievable.”
Then, she stormed out of the house and drove away, leaving me stranded with a deranged llama.
My truck was still at the feed store. And I’d forgotten to tell her about Popcorn’s puddle of pee on the floor.
7
Ruby
I finished printing my order receipt and closed the tab on the computer. Losing internet in Boones-Dock was a common occurrence, so I always made sure to keep a hard copy of everything, especially when I was ordering an entire truckload of feed. I didn’t want to risk that getting misplaced.
As I stashed the paper in my old-school filing cabinet, the bell on the front door jingled. Popcorn jumped up and down excitedly at the idea of visitors.
I tried to hide my groan when I saw who it was.
Dean Woodberry hurried inside the store, his tie crooked and his
glasses skewed. He was the only real estate agent in Boones-Dock. I guess you could say he had the corner on the market.
“Quick. I need some kind of dog fence. I’ve got to put it up before the couple comes to look at the house tomorrow afternoon.”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. Dean rushing around at a high level of stress was nothing new. “What are you trying to sell this time?”
“Lillian Barker’s place.”
I took a long, noisy sip from my water bottle. “Oh, is Lillian moving?”
“If her house sells.”
“Well, obviously, but where’s she moving to?”
“The cottage on my property.”
“Really? That’s nice of you.” Lillian was in her eighties and was at the stage of health where we were all concerned she would fall and get hurt. She was independent to a fault, though, and refused to move into a senior apartment.
Dean tugged at the tie around his neck. “She thinks she’s moving to nanny the kids.”
Dean’s kids were in high school and college, but Lillian would never agree to be taken care of. She would need to have something to do. It was actually brilliant of Dean to hire her as a ‘nanny.’
“Is she all moved in already?”
“No, she’s still in the old house, packing up the last of her things.”
“Shouldn’t someone be helping her with that?”
Dean shook his head rapidly. “She doesn’t want anyone else touching her collectible china.”
I hummed and bent down to scratch Popcorn’s ears. Sharp puppy teeth gnawed on my shoelaces.
“So, you’re building a fence today? Is that what you said?”
Dean patted his chest. “Do I look like I’m about to build a fence? No, definitely not. I’m going to hire Jude and you to build the fence.”
I laughed an ugly little laugh. It was more of a bark, really. “No. No, you’re not.”
He pulled out the puppy-dog eyes—not a good look on a middle-aged man. “I just need a little dog fence built. It would be a very small dog run.”
“How small are we talking, Dean?” I knew better than to trust his measurements.
His very, very small favors usually resulted in a lifetime of servitude to him. It was always a good idea to be wary of anything Dean Woodberry suggested. Whatever he said, you could count on it being different. If he said it would only take half an hour, you knew it would be an all-day project. If he said it was a large cabin in the woods, you could count on it being a one-room shack. He was an eternal optimist at the expense of those around him.
“Dean, I don’t have time to supervise a fence-building project. Why don’t you call the new buyers and explain to them that there is no fence?”
Dean looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “You can’t possibly mean that! That would ruin my reputation! I follow through on my promises.”
I scooped up the cat off the cash register and set her down on the rolling chair behind me. “Dean, when you’re asking someone else to fulfill your promises, I don’t know if that counts.”
“Done is done is done.” He lifted his eyebrows and stared at me like I was off my rocker for not understanding this concept.
“I don’t have time to build a fence. I’ve got to go home and rearrange my own animals. There’s another dog coming today.”
Dean was quiet for a moment too long. It was long enough that I knew he was scheming something. “Do you know what you need, Ruby?”
“A larger coffee?” Dean ignored my smart reply.
“I should’ve realized it sooner. I should have been looking for the perfect place for you. But now that I know that you need more room, I’m going to get right on that. You won’t have to worry about a single thing, Ruby. I’ll find you the best house with the perfect place for all your animals. And you know I’ll give you a lower percent commission, of course. It’s the friends-and-family discount. And I don’t offer that to everybody. But for you, of course, I will find you your new house. You should’ve told me you were looking!”
Wait a minute. I had a feeling I was getting cornered. I felt like the squirrel that lived in my yard that my dogs loved to chase up a tree. The poor thing got cornered quite often.
“I’m not looking for a house, Dean.” I used my firmest voice to state the obvious.
“Of course you’re not looking for a house. That’s why you’re hiring me,” Dean said. “That’s what I’m here for. To make it much easier for you. So, I understand that you don’t have time to build a fence, and since you don’t have time to build a fence, I know you definitely don’t have time to find a house for yourself. You leave that to me, and then, next Saturday, I’ll come pick you up to go look at properties with me.”
“Now hold on a minute,” I tried to say, but he began talking over me, explaining all the benefits of bigger acreage and a larger house, including the part how he could get me a great interest rate at the local bank as long as he vouched for me.
Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I told him, “Fine! You win. I’ll talk to Jude about building that fence. But you’re paying him for his time and supplies. And you’re not going to argue about it.”
I don’t know why I was arguing for Jude, but I didn’t want Dean taking advantage of him. Dean grinned. “It’s a deal. You know I always pay my debts.”
That was true. Dean was many things—annoying, unreliable, in your face—but he was not a thief. He did pay people for the work. And now I felt like the world’s biggest sucker for agreeing to help set up a dog fence by noon tomorrow.
8
Jude
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I shut off the Bobcat I was driving to answer it. When I pulled it out and looked at the name on the screen, I almost dropped my phone in shock.
It was Ruby. I hadn’t seen her name on my screen in a long time. I wondered what she could possibly want. She hadn’t been thrilled with my explanation the other day. In fact, she seemed to be digging her heels in on her grudge. She was growing roots with that grudge.
I thought that after explaining everything to her, she would understand why I reacted the way I had. Instead, she got even more mad and had done an even better job of avoiding me. Usually, I had some sort of sighting, but I hadn’t seen her in over a week.
I quickly answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi, Jude. This is Ruby.” As if I wouldn’t know her voice the moment I heard it—not to mention I had her number saved in my phone.
It was a little surprising she had the same number this many years later. Even if it hadn’t been saved in my phone, I would’ve remembered the digits perfectly. “What can I do for you, Ruby?”
“Dean stopped by today. He’s in a bit of a rush.”
“When is he not in a rush?”
She sighed. “So true. He was especially in a frenzy today. He has a new buyer coming into town that’s already signed papers on the house—sight unseen—and he sold the house as having a dog fence around the backyard. He was wanting you to build the fence, preferably today or in the morning because they get here tomorrow afternoon.”
I scratched the top of my head as I stared at the stack of wooden posts resting on the Bobcat forks. “I’m kind of in the middle of a job right now.”
“I know,” Ruby replied. “I’m sorry to ask this of you, but I told Dean I would.”
“Why didn’t he ask me about it himself?”
“You know how Dean is always in a rush, but we’re never sure what he’s doing.”
“Isn’t that the truth,“ I muttered. I had until the end of next week to finish this job, so I knew I could fit in a small dog fence if I really needed to, but I wasn’t sure what Ruby’s role was in all of this.
“Why did Dean want you to handle this?” I asked again.
“I think he was hoping I could offer my dog expertise. I told him that you knew exactly what kind of fence to build and that you didn’t need my help. Dean insisted, of course. I’m not sure if it works
for you to do the fence. I could meet you there this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I’m not working at the store right now. I’ve just been working with the dogs.”
“Well, how about we can plan on it early tomorrow morning? What house is it?”
“I’ll text you the details, and I’ll even bring donuts.”
“How can a guy resist that?”
“I don’t know, how can you?”
My mind automatically shot to other things I had a hard time resisting, and it was an awkwardly long silence. When I laughed, it came out awkwardly, making me sound like a goofball. “What time should we meet?”
“I’ll text you the details and bring the donuts at six. Should be light enough to work by then.”
“Sounds great!” My voice cracked like an awkward middle school boy. Good job playing it smooth, Jude, I told myself. It was quiet on the other end of the line, and I wondered if she had hung up on me. I would’ve hung up on me if I’d heard that laugh.
“Ok, well, I’ll see you in the morning,” she finally said.
“See you then,” I said in a nice deep voice that didn’t crack awkwardly. I could have sworn I heard her chuckle on the other end of the line. I hung up before I could do anything else to embarrass myself.
Then, I sat there and stared at my phone, waiting for a text to come in. I wondered if she would remember to text me, or if she’d wait till the last minute and text me tomorrow morning.
I should have probably gotten back to work putting in this fence. But I knew if I turned the Bobcat back on and went back to pounding posts, I wouldn’t hear or feel my phone vibrate. As I reached for the key, my phone buzzed, and Ruby’s name flashed across the front of my screen along with an address. Lillian Barker’s. I guess I had a hot date at 6 AM.
I glanced both ways to make sure there wasn’t a Graham lurking around the corner, then I opened the door to Ford’s office.
The beeping of a backing up loader and the hum of equipment filled the yard. Ford’s gravel and cement-mixing business served all over the valley and beyond. His main office was in Boones-Dock, however, since it was close to the pass. There was never a dull moment in the yard.