Page 91 of From Fling to Ring

“Liar! I know there’s more to it than a ‘little misunderstanding,’” she says, using air quotes.

God, I hate how everyone uses air quotes these days.

“Look, I might be young, and it’s true, I’ve not met the love of my life yet, so I’m no expert in all this stuff, but I’m not a total idiot. I do read romance novels, you know.”

Ruby has all my mom’s tattered old paperbacks. Maybe I should read one or two, see what I learn.

“Come into the living room, Rubes. I’ll tell you the whole story.”

She looks at me with suspicion, which is strange because we are always honest with each other.

We settle into the sofa. “First tell me,” I say, “why are you so worked up about this? Lucy’s the woman I was dating, not you.”

She rolls her eyes. “Ty, I really like her. Dad really likes her. Everyone really likes her. She’s the first normal person you’ve ever brought around. I want to be friends with her. And now you drove her away.”

Impatience creeps up the back of my spine. I love my kid sister, but I have only so much patience.

Especially lately.

“Lucy and I each did something crappy to each other.”

She taps her fingers on my sofa, waiting for me to say more. I don’t.

“What did she do to you?” she blurts out.

Fuck. I really don’t need my little sister involved in this drama, but I guess I have no choice.

With all kinds of reservations because I am not at all proud of how things went down, I go through the whole sordid tale of Lucy’s book project, as well as my own dumb-ass move of betting against her.

Ruby looks me in disbelief, like I knew she would. “You made a bet with Rake and Jonas? Are you kidding? Those guys are such Neanderthals.”

“No they’re not, Lucy. The whole thing started as a joke, an immature joke, but still a joke among friends. We let it go too far. I never should have let the guys goad me into proving I could date a woman for ninety days. It was stupid and it hurt somebody. Somebody important. Somebody I probably didn’t deserve, anyway.”

It’s true.

She slaps my arm. Hard. “See, there you go! I’d like to know why you don’t think you deserve a nice, smart, pretty, emotionally-healthy woman? Why have you wasted so much time with, I don’t know, girls who just want you for your money and fame? You deserve better. And I wish you believed that.”

Her voice breaks, and my own throat chokes up.

“I… I appreciate that Rubes,” I say quietly.

How does a twenty-year-old kid see so much? When I was twenty, I had my head about as far up my ass as it could go. The world could burn down around me and I wouldn’t have noticed unless it affected me directly.

My father always says Ruby was born an old soul. I think I finally get what he means.

She takes my hand. “Ty, you’re my best friend. I want good things for you.”

Well, shit. Now my eyes are filling up too.

I clear my throat loudly and wipe my face with the sleeve of my T-shirt. “Wanna make some cookies? I just picked up some good butter. The kind Mom used to use.”

She smiles. “Yeah. Guess so. But can we try something new?”

New?

“What are you thinking?”

“Does Mom’s recipe box have anything for ginger cookies or something like that?” she asks.

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