Page 5 of Loving Her

“I wasn’t worried at all, but I will say I appreciate your concern. You’re going to do fine.” More than fine, really. Sasha looked better than any of the guys Ruby’s sister and cousins had ever brought home, and Ruby knew for a fact she was a thousand times more respectable as a soft-spoken and talented chef. She’d be proud to have Sasha on her arm at Danny and Angela’s wedding, she realized, and was pleased.

Sasha seemed to blush, and then fumbled for a menu from the little holder at the center of the table. “Have you eaten yet? The food here is so good.”

“I had a coffee, but I was waiting for you.” Ruby plucked up a menu for herself and opened it. She’d tried to look at it before, but everything sounded great, and it had only made her hungrier. The same thing was happening now, and she couldn’t decide.

The menu was whisked out of her hands. Startled, Ruby looked up to see Sasha grinning at her. “Hey. You trust me?”

“Always,” Ruby replied, puzzled.

“OK. Let me handle this. I know what hunger does to you, and I know what you’ll like.” Closing the menus, Sasha waved a lanky redheaded waiter over. “Hi, Benji.”

“Sash! Great to see you again. You want your usual?”

“Sure thing, Benji. And listen, for my friend here, can Frankie make the roasted deli chicken and arugula sandwich with herbed goat cheese and red pepper pesto? And the marinated mushrooms and olives with bocconcini, please.” Sasha tapped her chin. “And the raspberry cannoli for dessert.”

Benji winked at Ruby as he wrote the order down. “You’re gonna love it. Sash and our chef went to culinary school together, so she knows what Frankie does best.”

“It sounds amazing,” Ruby said, and blushed as her stomach growled loudly. Benji and Sasha chuckled.

“I’ll get the appetizer plate out here fast,” Benji promised, stuffing his notebook into the pocket of his apron.

When he’d departed, Ruby tilted her head and smiled at Sasha. “So you really do come here a lot.”

“Sure, Frankie and I go way back, and we support each other’s places. You’ll probably recognize her when she brings the appetizer out, she’s at the Lounge all the time.” Sasha looked thoughtful. “Actually, she’s hooked up with Cam a couple of times in the past.”

“Who hasn’t?” Ruby laughed. “I’ll look forward to meeting her properly. But hey, can we get started with our little note swap? It’ll take my mind off the food while we wait.”

Sasha asked. “Didn’t eat breakfast, did you?”

“I did! I mean, I had a Pop-Tart and a raspberry smoothie…” Ruby thought back over the many hours she’d spent foodless. “I did forget to eat a snack, though.”

“I don’t know how yousurvive,Rubes. You need someone to look after you.” Sasha looked like she might be blushing. But before Ruby could decide for sure if she was, Sasha pulled out her phone and busied herself pulling up the Notes app. “OK. So, here’s what I know about you.” She passed the phone over.

Ruby pulled up her own list and handed her phone to Sasha. She was shocked to see the length of the neatly categorized list about herself. Compared to her own hurriedly written list about Sasha, this was a novel. It was embarrassing how short she’d come up. She was an author! Supposedly writers were the best observers of people and Sasha was a friend she cared about a great deal. Yet her notes felt like a pathetic grocery list. Sasha,though, knew so much about her, Ruby couldn’t take it in. She must talk about herself so much for Sasha to know all this.

Ruby Margarita Fierelli, Age 35

Food: Loves fruit and vegetables. Eats meat, but not on pizza—never on pizza! Sweet potato chips are a fave, mango-passionfruit milkshakes too. Hates any seafood except for shrimp. Not a breakfast fan, big on lunch. Forgets to eat.

Drink: Prefers Diet Coke over anything. Drinks coffee, smoothies, sometimes fizzy water. Iced tea is a no. Likes dirty martinis or hard cider for alcoholic beverages.

Family: Has one older sister (Rose), two older brothers (Domenic and Dante, twins), one younger brother (Daniel). Mom is Elena, Dad is Dom but they call him Papa Dom. Many, many aunts, uncles and cousins. Born and raised on Staten Island. Catholic. Parents are second-generation Italian Americans.

School: Graduated from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart girls’ Catholic high school in NY. Did all right enough to get scholarships. Went to UCLA for a BFA in Creative Writing. Decided to stay in LA after, tried to write screenplays but didn’t like it. Worked as a receptionist at a car dealership, wrote in her free time. Self-published a few romance novels for fun and got picked up by a publisher. Between the self-pubs and publisher and some ghostwriting, she has been able to support herself on writing for five years now.

Pet: Has a Scottie named Winston. He’s ten and Ruby makes his food herself. Likes to play ball, doesn’t love noise. A Good Boy.

Music: Likes Fall Out Boy, old Panic! At The Disco, Paramore. Seems to have had a Taylor Swift phase in college—only ever heard her listen to that Speak Now album. DiscoveredPhoebe Bridgers and Chappell Roan in the last year and enjoys them enough to have gone to concerts. Does not usually like going to concerts, too many people.

Hobbies: Hiking, writing, sometimes attempts to crochet things but has yet to complete a project. Likes watching crime dramas. Otherwise, not many hobbies, works too hard and should take breaks more often.

Ruby had never felt so seen in her life. It made her even more deeply ashamed of how little she’d ever observed about Sasha in return.

Sasha couldn’t look at Ruby. Her friend had handed her a perfectly normal list of things she knew about Sasha. In return, Sasha had basically handed over a stalker’s dossier. Was Ruby going to think she just lurked outside of her apartment building in her spare time? How embarrassing.

Sash - Things To Remember

CIA culinary school in Napa. Also did some other courses elsewhere in the world. Really good at cooking, very imaginative! Comes up with amazing flavor combos people wouldn’t think of. Very conscious of allergens for friends and regulars.

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