Page 3 of Waiting for Redemption

RUBY

“Hendrix,love of my life, please, I am begging you. Tell me where you put my keys.” I stare at him through narrowed eyes with quiet desperation, causing his smirk to grow into the biggest grin that melts my heart. The dimple on his left cheek, as well as his warm brown eyes, match my own, making it damn near impossible to ever stay mad at him. He shakes his headno, making his dark brown hair that falls just past his eyebrows flip around as a little giggle falls from his lips.

“I will let you taketwopackages of fruit snacks to Betty’s if you tell me.” I wiggle my brows as I look at him, encouraging him to give in to my offer. His eyes grow wide and he finally nods his head in agreement.

“Deal?” I ask, putting my hand out.

“Deal!” he shrieks, shaking my hand vigorously before running through the house. I follow quickly behind him, hoping to catch a glimpse of where they are. You never know when a list of your toddler’s favorite hiding places will come in handy, especially since his new favorite game istaking mommy’s phone and keys hostage right before she leaves for work.

I’m not sure how complex a three-year-old’s brain is, but it’s not lost on me that he seems to know when I have to leave, and does everything in his power to keep me home. I sometimes catch myself wondering what life would be like if I weren’t a single mom. Would it be easier to go to work every day if I knew his dad would be around to fill in the gaps when I’m working late or taking on doubles to make ends meet. Though, if I were married, I may not even have to work doubles, stay late, or even work at all. What a dream that would have been to spend all of my time with Hendrix up until he started school. Never missing a single thing.

As always, I stop that train of thought before it picks up enough memento to crush me because none of those things are options for us—it’s simply a fantasy that will remain shoved into the back of my mind. No matter how hard it is to accept, the guy who gave me Hendrix is not the man I would want to bring that fantasy to life with anyhow. He’s the very one who shut down any hope I may have had to build a family like the one I had growing up—simple, happy, and full of love. It may just be me and Hendrix now, but it’s better this way, that much I know for sure.

It still doesn’t make it any less hard—leaving him every day to go to work, having to miss out on important milestones, and never feeling like I have enough time to truly be in the moment with him. Those things alone give me enough mom guilt to last a lifetime and a half. But there’snothingI wouldn’t do for him, so if busting my ass to make ends meet is what I have to do, then that’s what I’ll do.

Betty has been my saving grace ever since I moved here almost four years ago, determined to start over no matter how impossible it may have seemed. I’m not sure what I ever did to deserve the world’s greatest neighbor who also conveniently runs a daycare out of her home, but I count that blessing twicedaily. She has gone above and beyond for Hendrix and me by watching him after her normal babysitting hours when I have to work the night shift, and being available when I’m needed to work on short notice.I always try to show my appreciation by bringing her a coffee when I drop Hendrix off after running errands and putting together little gratitude baskets during the holidays, but it never quite feels like enough.

“FOUND THEM!” Hendrix shouts, pulling my keys from beneath his mattress.

“You are one sneaky little dude,” I tease, snatching him up off the ground and blowing raspberries into his neck until he’s squealing that beautiful little laugh of his. “Alright, let’s go. Mommy is still training someone this week and I can’t be late.” I plop him back down on his feet as he takes off towards the door.

“Don’t forget the fruit snacks!” he calls back over his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t dare.” I giggle to myself as I tuck my keys into the back pocket of my jeans. I grab the snacks from the cabinet, swipe our bags from the bench by the front door, and give myself a once over in the mirror before following Hendrix to Betty’s.

* * *

“How is Hendrix feeling? Any better?” Shane asks as she places two drinks on the bar for her customers.

“Yeah, much better. Thanks for asking. It must have been a virus or something, he was fine after about 24 hours.” I shrug, mixing a martini in the cocktail shaker.

“Poor thing, I’m glad to hear he’s doing better.” She smiles, before whipping around to grab a couple of bar coasters.

Shane started here about a week ago and is catching on surprisingly quickly. She’s easily the nicest human I’ve ever met, which makes Max’s extra grumpy demeanor around her confusing as shit. Not that it’s any of my business though. I know they had a bit of a disaster the night I had to leave to pick Hendrix up—the same night prompting her to ask how he’s feeling now—but who doesn’t have a bad night after starting a new job?

I sure as hell did when I first started here.

I was about seven months pregnant with Hendrix and the bar still hadn’t quite made it on the map yet. I walked in and barely got out the wordsare you hiringbefore Max offered me a job bartending. I started the next day and have worked my ass off every single shift since then. I knew that, if done right, bartenders have the capability to make seriously good money, and I desperately needed all the cash I could get. Despite my hard work and efforts to do the job flawlessly, there was this one time I had a reallyreallybad night.

I was working the Friday night rush alone and wound up leaving the beer tap on a tad too long. I had turned around to set a coaster down for the drink I was pouring and someone else caught my attention. They were asking where the bathroom was, and in the amount of time it took me to point down the hall, beer overflowedeverywhere. Of course, that wouldn’t have been a big deal to clean up and keep going, for someone who didn’t have swollen ankles and a massive hormonal imbalance. But I had both of those things and I ended up bursting into tears right there behind the bar—causing my water to break.

Max had to shut down the bar and drive me to the hospital, which made me feel both humiliated and grateful. That was the night that sealed Max as a lifelong friend in my book. He didn’t get mad, or freak out and overreact. He simply dismissed all of the bar patrons, called Jackie to have someone clean up behind the bar, and guided me to his truck before rushing to the hospital. When he asked if there was anyone I needed him to call, I did my best to hide the hurt in my answer.“No, you’re about the closest thing to family I have these days.”I laughed, then groaned immediately after, from a contraction. I had meant for my comment to land more sarcastically, but I saw the look on Max’s face when I said it and knew he had picked up the truth I’d hidden in plain sight. From that day on he was like the big brother I’d never had.

He’s been there for me and Hendrix without hesitation ever since that day and told me I never had to worry about losing my job at the bar. He said when I was ready to come back to work after maternity leave, my job would be waiting—if I still wanted it. How could Inotstill want to work here after that? He never fussed when I had to miss work because Hendrix was sick, or had a doctor's appointment, and even offered to let him stay in his office if I ever needed to bring him with me for some reason. I believe his exact words were“I don’t know much about babies, but I know they sleep sometimes, and I am fully capable of watching them do that and getting you when he cries.”I begin laughing as I think back to that day, and the absolute shock I was in from hearing him offer me such thoughtful accommodations.

“Rubes,” Max calls, snapping me back to reality from my wandering thoughts.

“Yeah, boss?” I turn to face him as he walks over from his office.

“Tank is going to be starting as another bartender soon. You good to get his paperwork, scheduling, and training done?” I know his inquiry is just a formality since I’ve been taking care of those things ever since coming back from having Hendrix.

“Sure thing. Tank is… Tucker’s brother, right?” I ask for clarification and Max nods. “Do you know when he’s supposed to come by?” He looks up from his phone and nods towards the entrance.

“Now, apparently.”

“In the middle of lunch rush, nice.” I roll my eyes and give a sarcastic smile, as Max gives me a warning look.

As soon as I turn to face the new guy, all my hardass-wittiness disappears. I’m suddenly unable to peel my eyes away from the burly, tattooed statue in front of me. I haven’t bothered giving a man the time of day in the past four years, because theonlygood thing that came from the last guy I was with, was Hendrix. That little man has been my sole focus and love of my life ever since he came into this world, and I have no intention of changing that any time soon. However, my mouth does involuntarily pop open when he flashes a toothy grin at Max.

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