Page 8 of Under A Sicilian Sky
‘You have to ask before you raid my closet, Bay!’ said one female in a high-pitched tone.
A door slammed and another girl yelled, ‘Yeah, well maybe if you were nicer, I wouldn’t have to steal things! You’re supposed to share! Tu es si méchant!’
As an only child, Ruby had never had the issue of siblings. She’d always wondered what it would have been like to have brothers or sisters, but judging by the noise coming from along the hallway, she’d had a lucky escape.
There was a gentle knock on the door and Ruby sat up, smoothing down the bird’s nest of natural red curls atop her head. ‘Come in.’
The door opened and Jessica appeared with a tray. ‘I thought you might prefer breakfast in bed. I have croissants from the local bakery and some fresh coffee. I hope that’s okay.’
Ruby smiled. ‘You really didn’t have to do that, Jessica, but thank you.’
A dark-haired girl appeared behind Jessica. ‘H-hi, hi, Ruby Locke. It’s an honour to meet you, ma’am.’ The girl, who was around fifteen, curtseyed. ‘I’m Bayleigh Brodeur.’
Jessica sighed. ‘Bayleigh, go and eat your breakfast. Miss Locke doesn’t need to be bothered. And you don’t need to curtsey.’
‘It’s fine, honestly,’ Ruby insisted. ‘Although your mum’s right. You don’t need to curtsey, and you can just call me Ruby.’ She giggled as Bayleigh’s skin glowed pink.
Another dark-haired girl, almost identical to the first, appeared in the doorway. ‘Mom, I wanted to wear the blue sweater, tell her to take it off.’ She spotted Ruby in the bed and gasped. ‘Oh shiii-ooot. Shoot, I’m so sorry to interrupt you. Miss Locke, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.’ She too blushed.
‘Girls, we’re not in a Victorian era movie, for Pete’s sake.’ Jessica laughed. ‘This one is Brienne.’
Ruby grinned. ‘Hi Brienne. Lovely to meet you.’
‘Oh my god, your accent is so cool. You’re so…British,’ Brienne said.
‘I know, right? So cool,’ Bayleigh agreed. ‘I’ve seen all your movies. You’re awesome. I want to be an actor too. It looks like such an exciting career.’ The smile dropped from her face. ‘Although… I know it can be kinda hard and scary too.’
‘Okay, girls, let’s leave Ruby to eat.’ Jessica ushered the twins from the room before turning back to Ruby. ‘Please don’t worry; the girls won’t say anything about you being here. Their father has instilled into them that they should never gossip about the details of his job and they take that very seriously. I just wish they’d apply it to other areas of their lives.’ She rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her as she left the room.
Once alone again, Ruby devoured the fresh, crumbly croissants with a groan of delight. She was more of a tea drinker but made an exception on this occasion, letting the earthy aroma of the coffee wrap in her in its warm, comforting blanket. She wondered to herself why life couldn’t be this simple all the time.
She reached down to grab her phone from her bag and realised she had several missed calls and messages from Kitty. One of the messages contained a link and simply said:
I’m so, so sorry, sweetie. I love you and would happily smash his pretty face in.
With a combination of trepidation and inquisitiveness, Ruby clicked the link. There on the screen was Tyler at his charity event. A buxom, heavily made up, blonde reporter – wearing lipstick the colour she had seen on Tyler’s shirt – held a microphone in his face.
Flicking her hair and pouting her artificially plump lips, she said, ‘So, what do you think of the comments made by your fiancée this week?’
Tyler’s nostrils flared infinitesimally, but he plastered a clearly forced smile on his face. ‘I have to announce that Miss Locke and I have parted ways. Icannotand will not condone anyone saying such horrific things, especially no future wife of mine.’
Ruby stared at the screen as a mixture of rage, sadness and bile rose within her. So, he had announced to the world last night that he had dumped her before having the common decency to tell her first? Was he hoping she would be watching so his life would be made easy? Maybe he wasn’t expecting her to be at the hotel when he returned? She glanced down at the glinting diamond on her ring finger and removed it. No point wearing it any more. She’d drop it off at Valerie’s office and he could collect the wretched thing from there.
As if Valerie had sensed her name being thought about Ruby’s phone rang. ‘Hey, Valerie. If you’re calling about Tyler, I’ve seen the footage.’
‘What the hell was he thinking? Who is this guy? I feel like I don’t know him at all.’ Valerie’s voice was filled with exasperation.
‘Tell me about it. I feel like such an idiot.’
‘Hey, honey, you weren’t to know what an asshole he is. He’s clearly a better actor than either of us knew. I’m just so disappointed in him.’
Ruby sighed. ‘Me too. Why did I waste so much of my time on him?’
‘Love’ll do that to you. But at least you didn’t relocate to LA, huh?’
‘Very true.’
Valerie paused for a moment before asking, ‘Have you heard from him at all? Directly, I mean?’
