Page 31 of Together at Ruby's

“I don’t look like one of them?” Liza said, putting her hands on her hips. “If you mean looking like a woman who loves other women, I am most definitely like them.” She tossed her head. “I have never been happier than who I am now.”

The man snorted a laugh. “Oh, I’m pretty sure I could make you happy.”

Tate heard enough and knew things would only get uglier from there. After helping the young man to his feet, she put an arm around Liza’s waist and pulled her back. “Let’s go,” she said, and the man laughed.

“Now isn’t that a sight,” the man said with danger in his eyes as he stared at Tate. “We got ourselves a knight in shining armor with this little butch.” Tate grit her teeth. It was all she could do to not punch the man in the face. He outweighed her by probably fifty pounds, but it looked like he had run to fat, and she knew she could take him. But there were others behind him, and she could not fight them all. Instead, she put Liza behind her and looked the man in the eye. “If you mean I protect my own, then yes, I suppose you’re right. We all have each other’s back. It’s part of who we are and the community we belong to. I doubt you understand though. All you can see is hate.”

The man’s eyes narrowed, but before he could say another word, Tate saw two police officers approaching out of the corner of her eye. “Break it up,” one of them said, but Tate refused to step back. She wanted the ugly man to move first. Staring him down, she saw something in his eyes behind the hate, but then it was gone.

As the cops closed in, he put up his hands and waved them off. “Nothing is happening here,” he said and took the step back.

“He’s right,” Tate said. “There is nothing happening here.” Turning, Tate took Liza’s hand, joining the young man with the skateboard, and together they walked away.

Liza had never beenprouder of Tate or more furious at another human being. The actions of the protesters were insane, and she wasn’t going to stand for it. Even though Tate tried to stop her, she had rushed in and given the man a piece of her mind. But in the end, she was not able to break through his ignorance and instead, they walked away.

As they crossed the street, Liza saw Marty in line. Clearly, she and the entire line had watched the whole thing, and as Liza and Tate approached, they started to applaud. “You have nerves of steel,” Marty said once they joined her. “Both of you.”

“I’m not sure that best describes me,” Liza said, the adrenaline slowly fading and letting her heart rate return to normal. “Tate is the one who is steel. I’m more like a heat seeking missile.”

Marty grinned. “Fair enough,” she said. “Step in line with me. Rey’s already inside helping with setup.”

They were almost to the tables where security was checking bags, and Liza pulled her oversized purse off her shoulder to hand to the woman who then searched it. “That could’ve been real trouble,” the guard said as she opened the purse and peeked inside. “They are worse than ever today.”

Liza glanced back at the crowd of protesters and nodded. “Yes, they seem to multiply every year, but this is crazy.”

“A sign of the times,” the woman said handing back the purse.

Once they were through security, Liza, Marty, and Tate wandered the venue until they found Vivian and Allie’s large corner ‘Welcome to Ruby’s’ booth. The space was decked out with red and gold neon lights, a disco ball, and plenty of rainbow flags. Dance music played from a small speaker, and hanging from the most prominent corner was a lit Ruby’s bar sign, a perfect replica of the one that stood outside the actual bar. “This is fantastic,” Liza said, taking in everything with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you pulled all this together so fast. You’ve totally outdone yourself.”

“Do you think so?” Allie asked. “I won’t lie, the last twenty-four hours have been crazy.

Feeling a pang of guilt for not helping more, Liza nodded. “It really is amazing. There’s not another booth like it.”

“That’s what we are aiming for,” Vivian said with a wide smile. “And here comes a large group, so everybody, man your stations. Or women them in this case.” With a laugh, Liza did as instructed. Tate stood beside her ready to serve mocktails. Taking a last look around at the booth, Liza noticed that they weren’t all there. “Where’s Nikki?”

“She let me know she was running a little behind schedule,” Tate said. “Late night.”

Liza rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised,” she said and couldn’t help but wonder why her friend always needed a different woman every weekend. After their rough week, Liza was thankful she could wake up next to Tate every day. A woman she loved and knew loved her in return.

Workingat her station Tate helped to serve the mocktails, loving all the energy of the growing crowd. People were crazy about the margaritas Vivian had concocted. A line formed, and it wasn’t even noon. While she was chatting with one of the customers who had not heard of Ruby’s bar, she noticed something odd out the corner of her eye. Glancing, she saw a man dressed in a suit complete with a tie and dress shoes. He could not look more out of place but was clearly interested in the ‘Welcome to Ruby’s’ booth.What is that guy doing here?Tate wondered, not feeling threatened, but curious.It’s like he wandered in here by accident.And why does he care about us?

Before she could think about it further, she saw Nikki wandering through the crowd with a large rectangular box in her hands. When she saw Tate, she smiled. “I found you,” she said. “What an awesome looking booth.”

Tate smiled back. “Glad you could make it,” she said, and Nikki winked.

“Well… I was up a little late last night,” she said. “And maybe up a little early this morning too.” The comment made Tate recall her morning with Liza, and she felt a bit of heat run through her. Their lovemaking had been amazing, amplified by the scary week they had. “Now what are you thinking about?” Tate heard Nikki ask. “Please tell me you had a great morning too.”

Tate felt a blush rise up her cheeks at being caught, but it didn’t keep her from giving her friend a quick nod. “Let’s just say things have significantly improved,” she said and as Nikki swept into the booth past her, her friend leaned closer and whispered in her ear.

“Nothing could make me happier.”

Then, with a sudden flourish, Nikki set the box on one of the tables in the booth. “What is that?” Liza asked as everyone turned to look.

“Well, Liza,” Nikki said. “I figured since you were already mad at me that I might as well bring you a birthday cake.”

“A birthday cake?” Liza asked as Tate studied her face to see what kind of reaction she would have. When Nikki suggested surprising Liza, Tate hadn’t been sure, but when everyone else in the group text agreed with Nikki, she went along.

Nikki opened the box to display a beautiful white cake with colorful roses forming a rainbow across it andHappy Birthday, Lizaspelled out in cursive on top. “Okay?” Nikki asked. “You don’t think we could let this special day go by with no celebration, do you?”

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