Page 69 of Under A Sicilian Sky
‘It is, I know. I’m still pondering firing her, but part of me knows there was no malice in it, just ignorance. And she really did look after me when I first broke into the spotlight, so I don’t want to lose her from my life entirely. But this is something you can’t brush under a rug. When things are put out there on the internet, people take them as fact. A small portion of society may take them with a pinch of salt, but the fact remains, once it’s on the internet it can’t be erased.’ Sadness washed over her as she fixed her gaze on the kind-hearted older lady. ‘Even when all this is over and my name is cleared, there will still be people who believe the lie, Morag. I’ll still be tarred with the same brush as the people out there who areactuallyguilty of vile opinions and bigotry. So, the way I look at it is this; I need to live my life. I need to be out there and to be seen. I’m not one to shy away, never have been. And I’ve always wanted to use my fame to help others, but I’ve been stopped from doing that recently. I want to help. Please let me help.’ She paused as another thought occurred to her. ‘Unless you would rather I didn’t? After all, there may be repercussions. The village may be swamped with angry protestors. I can totally understand if you’d rather that didn’t happen.’
Morag placed her cup down and interlocked her fingers. She tilted her head and regarded Ruby with kindness in her eyes. ‘I’ve never known a guilty person to fight so vehemently to have their name cleared. Ruby, you don’t need to hide on the village’s behalf. And I’m sure I can speak for everyone in saying we would be honoured to have you open our new village hall. You must let me know your fee.’
Ruby shook her head and narrowed her eyes. ‘Fee? There is no fee, Morag. I’m doing this because I want to. This isn’t a publicity thing like Mitch assumed. This is me doing something for people I have quickly grown to care about and a village I feel at home in.’
Morag placed her hand over her heart. ‘Goodness. You really are a very special young woman. The sooner the world sees that, the better.’
* * *
Ruby tried to sneak into the house when she returned from Morag’s. After all, she had left without letting anyone know where she had gone. But Mitch was sitting on the stairs when she opened the front door. ‘Hi. Are you okay?’
She sighed as she removed her coat. ‘I’m fine. Are you going to have a go at me for leaving the grounds at night without permission?’
She expected fireworks like the first time she left the villa in Palermo to visit ‘Clark’. But it didn’t happen.
Mitch walked towards her. ‘No. Morag called. She told me what you’d said to her. In fact, she gave me a right old ear-chewing.’ He smiled. ‘It seems she thinks a lot of you. And that I owe you yet another apology. I keep hurting you.’ He had the decency to look guilty about the fact. He shook his head and walked closer. ‘I think it’s a self-preservation thing. I guess… I guess I keep waiting for you to not actually be so nice, so genuine. I keep expecting to be wrong. I mean, let’s face it, I’m not exactly the best judge of character.’
Ruby didn’t know how to respond so she didn’t and Mitch continued, ‘Morag told me that you’re doing the opening and I want to thank you. In spite of how it seemed earlier, I am grateful to you and I didn’t mean to insinuate you were publicity-hungry. Far from it. It just came out wrong, like things usually do with me. This place and its people mean a lot to me. It’s good to know you’re starting to feel the same. Let me know if you need any help chatting to Dougie about it all. I know he was keen to escort you to the event before, but he may have something to say about how things have changed.’
He was so close now that she could smell his cologne, fresh and clean like the Highland air. Her heart rate picked up and she exhaled a shaking breath. ‘Thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.’
Before she knew what was happening, his arms were around her and he was holding her close, his chin resting on her head. ‘I really am sorry, Ruby. I hope you can forgive me for being such an arse. And for not listening to you.’
His body was hard against hers and the feeling of him being pressed against her sent shivers to places that had lain dormant since Tyler dumped her. She lifted her arms and hesitantly wrapped them around his back. He was broad and muscular, and it felt nice to be held, even if it was just a friendly hug.
‘Oh, excuse me. I didn’t mean to interrupt,’ came Shelby’s voice from the direction of the kitchen.
Ruby and Mitch quickly stepped away from each other, both with flushed cheeks and Mitch ran his hand through his hair. ‘Na. It was nothing. Just an apology. I’ve been a dobber, that’s all.’
Ruby glanced at Shelby. A crease had formed between her brows which betrayed the smile on her face. ‘Oh right, okay. Well, I was just wondering if anyone liked the idea of pizza for dinner? I thought I could maybe order in if there’s somewhere that delivers.’
Mitch walked towards the kitchen. ‘Already ahead of you. I made dough earlier. You can help with the toppings if you like, Shelby?’
Her face lit up. ‘Wow, what is it they say about great minds?’
Mitch smiled awkwardly. ‘Aye. Spooky.’
* * *
On Wednesday morning, a message came through from Philippe. Apparently, her stalker, Clark, aka Hamilton, aka Bryan, was a repeat offender. Philippe’s new sports personality client knew of a female singer who had been stalked by the same man and he had now been charged in that case. There was a lot more evidence in the singer’s stalking and a date had been set for trial. He was looking at a custodial sentence for sure. The message was accompanied by a photo of the kind-hearted Frenchman giving her a thumbs up. She immediately responded with a ‘thank you’, and asked him to hug his girls for her, as she always did. Relief flooded her at the thought that Clark/Hamilton/Bryan couldn’t harass anyone again, not for a very long time, at least.
Wednesday evening, Ruby sat on Caitlin’s bed in the house behind the bakery, surrounded by dresses in all the colours of the rainbow and all the fabrics she could think of. It was overwhelming. ‘I really appreciate this, guys. I just didn’t want to send Shelby shopping again. It doesn’t feel right, making her run errands like that.’ The truth was, now that she knew Shelby was here under false pretences, it felt wrong asking her to do anything and she was still contemplating telling her to go home. But she was glad to have reached out to Jules and Caitlin to ask about borrowing a dress for the village hall opening. It was fun spending time with them.
Jules held up a black wrap dress in one hand, and a flowery print summer dress in the other, her head tilted to one side as she regarded them both. ‘Hey, it’s our pleasure. You can’t beat a girlie day. Have you figured out what you’re going to say yet?’
Ruby chewed on her lip for a moment. ‘I was just going to say whatever came to me on the spot. Do you think I should plan? I’m not great with speech writing.’
Caitlin entered the room with a tray of wine glasses and a bottle of something fizzy. ‘What do you usually do when you’re accepting awards?’
Ruby shrugged. ‘To be honest, I wing it. I never expect to win so…’
Jules placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘You’re so bloody lovely and too modest. And I think you should say whatever you feel in your heart at the time. The locals will be blown away by the fact that you’re even doing it.’
Caitlin handed the wine glasses out and topped them up. ‘Has that giant of a man spoken to the local press yet?’
Ruby giggled at Caitlin’s reference to Dougie. ‘I think he terrified them into silence. Shelby was there to help too, I think she was worried he’d beat them up or something. The agreement is that the article should be centred on the village and the work the co-op has done to make it happen. The emphasishasto be on the hall, not me.’
Caitlin gasped and blurted, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got the perfect dress! I’ve just remembered!’
