Page 51 of Strictly Friends
She opened the bottle of water and took a long sip, then screwed the cap back into place and looked Kenny squarely in the eye. ‘Okay, so where do you want to start?’
Leaning forward and resting his forearms on his thighs, Kenny clasped his hands between his knees and held her gaze for a long moment. She looked at him expectantly, but whatever she’d imagined he would say, it certainly wasn’t what emerged.
‘I love you, Rubes. I want to ask you to stay, but I’m afraid of what your answer will be.’ Kenny paused and took a deep breath. ‘Leaving in the way I did, I had lost all hope of seeing you again and I can’t tell you how much it’s meant to me having you and Jake herethese past weeks. I know I don’t yet have your heart but – well, after the time we’ve spent together since you’ve been here, I hope you’ve come to see I’m not the monster you imagined and that there’s enough here for us to build on. Ruby, I know my actions were unforgiveable, but I need you to know there hasn’t been anyone for me since – since you. I haven’t so much as looked at another woman, and what I’m trying to say—’
Ruby stared at him, wondering if she had been dragged into some alternative universe.
Kenny seemed to take her silence as encouragement because he leaned in further. ‘You’d like it out here, Ruby. With your experience, you’d find a job easily – or you could even start your own business. I’d be happy to help. You’ve seen my house, and Jake loves the island... couldn’t we try once more to be a family?’
‘What, so you can let us down again?’ She spat the words out as the anger she had thought was buried exploded with the force of a long-dormant volcano. Hearing his words out loud, whatever thoughts she may have fleetingly entertained about a reconciliation were swept away as the sheeraudacityof Kenny’s proposal sparked a rage she could scarcely contain.
‘Howdareyou say that to me after everything you did?’ she hissed furiously. ‘Youdumpedmeandyour son and disappeared without so much as a goodbye! You sent one letter, Kenny –oneletter in six bloodyyears! Was that all we were worth? And now –now you have the gall to keep telling me you love me and the absolutetemerityto suggest we get back together? Have you lost your damned mind?’
Kenny shook his head and rubbed his temples wearily. ‘You have every right to be angry with me, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m telling you the truth.’
‘Truth?’ she scoffed. ‘You don’t have a clue what that means. You lived with me and pretended to care about me and our son when all the time you were planning to do a runner.’
‘You’re not being fair, and that’s not how it happened.’
For a moment Ruby felt like flying across the small divide of sand between them to physically attack him. ‘I’mnot being fair? So, tell me then, where were you when my parents were killed? Where were you when I was so broken that Auntie Pearl had to move in to take care of me and Jake? Where thebloodyhell were you, Kenny, when I had to raise our son forsixyears without an iota of support from you?Tellme that’s not what happened!’
He took off his cap and rubbed his jaw, his shoulders slumped. ‘I tried, Ruby. For years, I sent you cheques and you never cashed them.’
‘Because we didn’t need yourmoney, Kenny, don’t you get it? Jake needed his father and I – well, I learned the hard way that I don’t needyou.’
‘I don’t want us to fight,’ he pleaded. ‘All I want is what’s best for you and for my son. He’s been so happy spending time with me – with us, as his parents. Can’t you look past what happened and forgive me? Isn’t there any way you can find it in your heart for us to try again?’
The sun had disappeared behind the darkening clouds and a strong gust of wind whipped Ruby’s braids around her face. She pushed them back impatiently and stared at Kenny in appalled wonder. The man still hadn’t given her a decent explanation for his disappearance and yet he dared to suggest that they simply pick up where they left off – using Jake to plead his case, moreover.
‘You leave Jake out of this! This is about you and me. How thehelldo you expect me to forgive you when I still don’t have the first clue about why youreallyleft me – because, let me tell you, I don’t buy that crap about your head being all over the place.’
Kenny stood up and ran a hand over his hair, his expression one of deep frustration. ‘Ruby, I’ve said I’m sorry for my actionsand I mean it. I was wrong and I was weak, but I never stopped loving you or Jake. How could I?’
As her fury slowly subsided and the thick sheet of ice that had protected her emotions for so long melted away, all that remained was a deep well of hurt and the pain of his abandonment that she had carried for so long. She stood up to face him, her eyes filling with tears.
‘So then why did you leave me, Kenny?’ she whispered. ‘Why?’
Just then, Griffin rounded the corner from the adjoining cove, guitar in hand and whistling cheerfully. As soon as he saw them, he came to an abrupt stop, and his smile disappeared. Wordlessly, his gaze moved from Ruby’s tear-filled eyes to Kenny’s set expression.
The wind picked up in intensity, followed by a loud growl of thunder. Ruby looked from Griffin to Kenny and shivered at the naked hostility between the two men.
Kenny was the first to break the silence. ‘Now, why am I not surprised to seeyouhere. It’s like you have some weird sixth sense that lets you know the best time to get between her and me.’
Ruby bristled at the sarcasm in Kenny’s tone and dashed away the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. ‘You have no right to take your frustration out on Griffin.He’sthe one who’s been a father to the kid you ran out on, and he’s got nothing to do with any of this. I asked you a question, Kenny, and I deserve to know the truth!’
Kenny looked at her quizzically as if weighing his words and then he nodded. ‘Yeah, Rubes, you do deserve the truth. But if you really want to know, perhaps you should askhim.’
He nodded in Griffin’s direction and Ruby followed his gaze in confusion before turning back to Kenny.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Griffin here knows exactly why I left, don’t you?’ Kenny’s voice hardened as he directed a searing glare at the other man.
About to explode at Kenny, Ruby glanced at Griffin and her voice froze in her throat. He looked pale beneath his light brown complexion and his head had dropped in the tell-tale sign she knew so well. This was classic Griffin when he didn’t want to lie and yet couldn’t tell the truth. Suddenly, she remembered sitting opposite him in the diner in Brighton telling him about her plans to visit Sorrel Island, and his strange reaction when she’d wondered aloud why Kenny had left.
‘Griffin... what’s he talking about?’ Ruby asked through lips as stiff as cardboard. Another rumble of thunder sounded overhead, and she couldn’t tell if the goosebumps on her arms were from the chilly gusts of wind or the sudden dread spreading through her body.
Griffin still wouldn’t look at her, and in desperation Ruby swung back to Kenny, who was eyeing Griffin through narrowed eyes.
