by Natasha West
‘What were the results of the test?’ Ruby asked, intrigued.
‘You’re actually here’ Emily said wondrously.
‘That’s right’ Ruby smiled.
‘But how the hell did you get on this plane? You should still be in LA!’
‘I tried to catch you before you got the flight from LAX, but I missed it. I knew you were connecting at JFK so I just got a flight direct to New York and jumped on this one with about a minute to spare. I can’t believe I still had my passport in the trunk of my car from my last trip, or I would have only got as far as NYC. Lucky eh? I guess it was meant to be.’
‘But you weren’t sitting here!?’
‘No, I was about fifteen rows down, you’d already boarded. Poked my head around about ten minutes ago and I saw you fast asleep. So I asked your seat mate if he’d switch. He wasn’t sure but then I gave him three hundred and fifty-eight bucks and that swung it’ Ruby explained shyly.
‘Three hundred and fifty-eight, exactly?’ Emily said, astounded.
‘All I had on me’ Ruby said with a smile and a shrug.
Emily was knocked sideways. The fantasy, it was happening. She could barely comprehend it. ‘But why?’
Ruby took a deep breath. ‘Because you owe me a kiss.’
Emily smiled slowly. ‘The third kiss.’
‘Yes.’
Emily bit her lip. She was beginning to see that this was no fantasy. It was really happening. ‘But I gave your mother her money back. So I don’t actually owe you a thing’ Emily said coyly.
‘Yeah, I heard about that’ Ruby said, her head cocked. ‘Ripped the check up. All pretty dramatic from the sound of it.’ Ruby paused. ‘So I suppose when you look at it like that…’
‘You owe me the kiss’ Emily finished.
Ruby nodded. ‘I guess so.’
‘Actually, since we kissed twice, you’re two in arrears’ Emily said happily.
‘Two kisses? Well, I guess that’s fair. But you should know that you’ve only got the length of this flight to collect. They expire at wheels down.’
Emily raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s a short deadline. Pressure’s on.’
Ruby put her hands up. ‘What can I tell you? The rules are the rules.’
Emily looked at Ruby, deep into her green eyes. For the first time, it felt alright to get lost in them. She leaned in and Ruby leaned too…
But then Emily froze. ‘Wait.’
Ruby froze too. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I know we always talk to each other like this, everything a game, a negotiation. But just for a minute, I need to know-’
‘I’m in love with you’ Ruby said plainly. ‘I wanna tell you that now. I need to. I think I loved you a little the night we met. But I was scared, that’s why I left. That was the worst mistake of my life. And then everything got even more fucked up and I got even more scared. I’m sorry. I should have been braver.’
Emily’s heart was in her mouth. Ruby loved her. Emily leant in and grabbed hold of Ruby, pulling her close, touching her lips softly to Ruby’s, unable to stop herself smiling even as she kissed her. There was no layer of deceit, trickery. No money. This was a true and honest kiss, the only thing Emily wanted. She felt Ruby’s hands reach around her body and they pulled as close as they could through the seat divider. Emily felt herself tumbling deep into the kiss, not able to get close enough to Ruby. She doubted she ever would.
And then there was a cough. Emily and Ruby snapped apart to see a flight attendant standing over them. ‘Uh, hi. This is a public place. You’re gonna have to stop that.’
Emily looked at Ruby and Ruby looked back and they burst out laughing. Emily looked back at the attendant. ‘I’m so sorry. I promise I don’t usually do things like that in public. It’s just… We both just realised we’re in love.’
Ruby grinned at Emily. ‘Yeah, we did.’
‘That’s cute. Congratulations’ the attendant said. ‘But keep the kissing a little less R-Rated, could you?’ She walked off as a bing beckoned her away.
Once she was gone, Ruby and Emily leaned back in their chairs, relaxed, staring at each other. Just happy to be together.
‘So I guess that second kiss will have to expire. Oh well’ Emily beamed. ‘I suppose there’ll be more on the ground. Kisses that don’t require legal notarisation.’
‘I hope so’ Ruby said and then she glanced up the aisle, toward the back. At the bathroom. ‘Or… How would you feel about joining the mile-high club?’
Emily gasped. ‘How dare you. I’m a lady!’ She looked to the toilet, where there was a red light above. ‘And anyway, it’s occupied.’
The light went green and a woman came out.
‘Still a lady now?’ Ruby asked.
Emily stood quickly. ‘Not for the next ten minutes. Come on!’
‘Ten?’
‘It’s an airplane bathroom. People are gonna get angry if we’re in there any longer.’
‘Alright. But can we at least make it twelve?’ Ruby asked as they dashed up the aisle.
‘Agreed’ Emily said as they squeezed in together, locking the door behind them.
Thirty-Two
Exactly one year after a fake wedding between two drunk people took place, in the exact same chapel, a real one happened. Both brides were stone cold sober.
In attendance were only two guests, Denise and Emily’s brother, Phil. They were an odd pair, but they were the only people permitted to the wedding. Phil was allowed because he had given his sister major time off work to go back and forth across the Atlantic, visiting her girlfriend. Denise was allowed because she said she was.
The two brides walked up the aisle hand in hand, where the registrar, the same guy from the last wedding, waited. The ceremony took ten minutes and when it was over, Ruby and Emily kissed each other lightly but sensually.
After that they threw a bouquet together. Denise caught it. ‘I suppose you think that’s funny’ Denise said. She glanced at Phil, who said, ‘Don’t look at me. I’m taken.’ Denise glared at him. ‘Not in your wildest dreams.’ Phil looked terrified.
Emily laughed at her new mother-in-law. She had to. She was shackled to the woman for the rest of her life. It was the price of loving Ruby. But it didn’t take a thing away from what it meant to be here today, doing this for real. Not even a bit. Because she was married to the love of her life. Again.
It had been a funny year, starting with getting dumped by someone who wasn’t good enough for her in the first place. But Emily had learned one thing in all this madness. Life could turn around fast, if you only had the confidence to get in the driver’s seat and put your foot down.
***
‘So what’s the plan with living arrangements?’ Phil asked later, over drinks with Emily, Ruby and Denise.
Ruby looked anxiously at her mother. ‘I’m, er… I’m moving to the UK.’
Denise said, ‘What? The hell you are!’
‘I’ll be back over all the time for work’ Ruby assured her mother. ‘But I never really liked LA, anyway. I think Oxford is more my speed. And honestly, I think an ocean between us might not be the worst thing.’
‘Nice, Ruby. After I paid for your wedding.’
‘It cost three hundred dollars’ Ruby reminded her.
‘Which I paid’ Denise said. Ruby held her breath to see what her mother was going to say next. But she simply sighed and said. ‘You know what? You never listen to me so I’m not going to fight it. What would be the point?’
Ruby smiled fondly at her mother. For Denise, a comment like that could be considered progress. ‘Thanks, mom.’
Denise rounded on Emily. ‘And you… This means you need to take care of her. You got that?’
‘She already is. She cooks for me all the time. I’ve gained five pounds’ Ruby interjected, happily.
‘That’s not what I mean’ Denise said. ‘Are you listening to me, Emily? Your job is not to keep her fat and happy. You gotta keep her on track. Momentum is ever
ything.’
‘Yes, Mommy Dearest-In-Law’ Emily said with a grin. She was long past being scared of Denise. ‘
Denise rounded on Ruby. ‘Did you tell her to say that?’
‘Funnily enough, she doesn’t need coaching to talk. She just opens her mouth and stuff comes out, completely unprompted. It’s one of the things I love about her’ she said, sliding an arm around her new wife. Emily leaned in, putting her own arm around Ruby’s neck, teaming up against Denise. ‘You better get used to it Denise. We’re family now.’
‘Christ’ Denise said and took a big pull on her whisky. And then she seemed to re-invigorate. ‘Ruby, I hope you don’t think getting married means you can start slacking off. Because that froofy indie shoots in two weeks. You need to be on point.’
‘Firstly, you’re not my manager anymore so if I want to slack off, you can’t say a word. Second, I wouldn’t anyway. Because that ‘froofy indie’ has a great script.’
‘I know I’m not your manager. I’m making a lot of money managing an action star who actually listens to me. I’m just saying, the show isn’t going to be paying the bills next year. You gotta be on it.’
‘I’m not worried’ Ruby told her mother. That was a lie. She was a little worried. The cancellation of the show and thus, the loss of a regular pay check was going to be tough. But she’d never have to see Rock again, and she’d never have to read any more of that show’s crappy lines. So she was nervous, but hopeful. Because she’d been working hard, choosing roles carefully for her time off, building a better IMDb list than she used to have, ready to launch herself as a serious actress the moment she wrapped the last episode of Wolfwater Cove. So the future awaited. Because Emily always told her that she was a star. Ruby couldn’t help but think she shone a little brighter for having Emily in her life.
Phil spoke up, a thing he basically feared to do in front of Denise. But he clearly had something to say. ‘Well, I’m glad you’re going to be around, Em. Because I really, really need to fire Josh.’
‘Please do. I’m gonna be around a lot more’ Emily told him. And then she smiled. ‘But one thing. We should be co-managers.’
‘Eh? Where did you get that idea?’
Ruby knew. From her. She’d been telling Emily for months that she was as qualified to call herself the manager of the family bookshop as Phil was. She didn’t give a damn what Emily’s parents said about it. If they couldn’t see how competent and smart she was, they were dummies. And her new wife wasn’t one.
‘Look, hear me out’ Emily went on. ‘I’ve been there nearly as long as you and I know way more about Russian literature and the romantics than you do. I just want to be on equal footing with you. Don’t you think that’s fair?’
Phil sniffed and looked at Ruby. ‘I don’t know what you’ve done to her but I’m not sure I like it.’
‘I just love and respect her’ Ruby shrugged. ‘The rest is all her.’
Phil rolled his eyes. ‘Americans’ he muttered. He turned to his sister. ‘Alright, go on then. Partners.’
Emily beamed and shook her brother’s hand.
‘So where’s the honeymoon?’ Phil asked.
Ruby and Emily looked at each other, trying not to laugh. ‘Here.’
‘You’re kidding, aren’t you?’ Denise said, looking around the casino. Nearby, a man in a mobility scooter fed a slot with quarters. ‘I know it’s some big romantic gesture to get married here. But a honeymoon? At least go to Hawaii for crying out loud.’
‘Mom, we’re not gonna come out of our hotel room so it doesn’t make a lot of difference where we are’ Ruby explained.
‘I didn’t need to hear that’ Denise said primly.
‘Neither did I’ concurred Phil.
‘Then I’d advise you to look away right now’ Ruby said.
‘Why?’ Denise and Phil asked in unison.
‘Because I owe her a kiss’ Ruby said, looking at her wife.
‘No, I think you’re one in front’ Emily informed her. ‘It’s me that owes you.’
‘You sure? Wasn’t the wedding one yours?’ Ruby asked in suspicion.
‘Nope. It was yours’ Emily assured her with a happy smile.
Denise and Phil looked at each other. ‘You know what this nonsense is about?’ Denise asked. Phil gave a look that indicated he hadn’t the slightest clue. When they looked at the newly married couple, they’d missed the chance to ask. Their attention was only for one another.
Ruby leant in and Emily slung her arms around her. No one else mattered. Not her mother, not Phil, not the people drinking nearby, not the casino full of gamblers, not anyone in LA. Because she’d made an agreement, to love Emily forever. And she had to pay up. Starting right now.
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In the meantime, feel free to enjoy these other books by Natasha West
Hawke’s Prey
Hawke’s Game
Hawke’s Flight
The Plus One
Plus Two
Something for the Weekend
A Marriage of Connivance
Joined at the Hip
A Mistletoe Moment
Real Love
Waiting for the Punchline
Chase Me
Close Ups and Mess Ups
Meet You at the End of the World
By Any Other Name
Never the Bride
The Dropout
Only Ever You
The A to Z of Girlfriends