Page 24 of Stuck With the Best Man

I continue driving. I don’t really need to get back to New York with any urgency. In spite of my father’s call the other day, the board doesn’t really need me present until next week.

I want to talk to her. I want her towantto talk to me. I want to discuss ballet and the company and pick her brain about what she thinks we can do to make it the best performance season in years. I want to know what her favorite ballets to dance are and how long she’s been training for and… wow, I just want to know everything about her. She fascinates me.

Instead, I keep my mouth shut.

At last, we’re able to merge from Route 6 onto I-495. I’ve been to Boston a few times before, and Providence once, but I’m generally unfamiliar with the area this far north. Still, it’s easy enough to navigate… which, unfortunately, leaves me a lot of mental space to continue fretting about Ruby.

I should say something. I should make pleasant conversation.

“Are you hungry?” I ask her.

She doesn’t even turn her head to answer me. “No.”

“Would you like to stop for coffee? That sign said there’s a Dunkin’—”

“No. I’m fine.”

Erik’s annoying voice echoes in the back of my mind.Another swing and a miss.

I try again. “Would you like to drive?”

That gets her to throw me a glance. “What?”

“You can drive if you’d like. You have your license, don’t you?”

“Of course I have my license.”

“So? Do you want to drive?”

“You’d let me drive your Porsche?”

I shrug. “Why not?”

“Aren’t you worried I might crash it or something?”

I smirk at her. “Have you ever crashed a car before?”

“No.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

Ruby snorts humorlessly. “Right. Because if I totaled your Porsche, you could just buy a new one.”

“I mean, I could, but it would be a huge inconvenience. I don’t have infinite Porsche funds.”

“Don’t you? You seem to have infinite funds for other things.”

Like controlling the NYC Ballet,she doesn’t say, but I hear, nonetheless.

“So, you don’t want to drive?”

“No, I don’t want to drive!” she snaps.

It’s an effort to keep the smile off my face. At least I got her talking.

Suddenly, Ruby sits up even straighter and leans toward the windshield. “You were supposed to merge back there. On to I-195. That will take us south. We’re not supposed to keep going north.”

“Yes, I understand that New York City is generally south of Cape Cod, Ruby. Thank you for that geography lesson. However, the news mediaandthe GPS have both advised me that taking the coastal route would be unwise, given the amount of flooding that the storm caused. Especially since there’s a second storm coming this evening.”

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