Page 3 of Saved By Love at Christmas
“Oh, Rubes. I wish you’d left him earlier. We got the impression that he wasn’t all that he seemed but couldn’t quite put our fingers on it. We understood you wouldn’t listen to us. But don’t youeverdaresay you deserved it. You were in love, and love sometimes doesn’t let us see the reality of what’s happening around us. You are not to blame for this.”
There was no accusation in his tone, only sadness and understanding.
“I wish I hadn’t ignored the signs. But after he hit me, I knew it was only going to get worse if I stayed.”
There was a pause. I imagined Ben working through in his head what I’d told him.
“I’ll be there to pick you up. But I want you to message or call me when you get to the airport in the morning, when you get through customs, and when you’re sitting on the plane. Okay?”
I smiled despite my situation. He sounded like the caring older brother he’d always been to me.
“I promise.”
After ending the call, I stared at my phone for a few minutes. This next call was going to be hard. I didn’t want to break down. This conversation was going to be traumatic enough. Exhaling a deep breath, I rang my grandad.
“Hey, Grandad.”
“Ruby! It’s so good to hear from you, love. How are you?”
The sound of his voice sent more tears tumbling down my cheeks, but I took another deep breath to stop them sounding in my voice. He didn’t need to know everything yet.
“I’m coming home,” I whispered. “Jamie and I are over.”
I heard his sigh and imagined him shaking his head with sadness, and a little relief. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am. Jamie was never the man for you.”
I closed my eyes against the pain in my heart. It was almost like it was crushing in on itself. I clutched at my chest in an attempt to stop it. My head still ached from the injury and a tension headache pounded at my skull. “I know that now. I’m in a hotel in Malaga and I’ve got a flight first thing tomorrow. Ben’s coming to get me.”
“Ben?”
“Yeah. I called him just before you. I know you don’t like driving too far from home. Ben can come and get me.”
“I understand. But for you, love, I’d have done it. I’ll give him a call and come with him, so he has some company on the journey.”
“He’ll appreciate that. Grandad?”
“Yes, Ruby?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I was grateful he didn’t ask me any further questions. The thought of breaking down on the phone to him was too much.
After a shower, I sat on the edge of the bed and cried. My face still stung from where Jamie had backhanded me, and one side of my temple had a scab forming from where it had connected with the wood on the freestanding mirror.
How had it come to this?
CHAPTER2
BEN
The call from Ruby had come out of the blue. Since going to Spain, contact had been getting less frequent. Her grandad, my sister Marie, and I were all worried about how quickly her romance had progressed with Jamie. We’d never liked him; he always seemed to treat my friend like an object rather than a person. Marie had confided in me that the first time she’d met him, he’d ogled her and given her the creeps. He’d even said to me once that she spent too much time with me, which he consideredunhealthy. It was almost a threat. I’d tried to explain we were best friends, nothing more. But he chose to disbelieve me. When I mentioned it in passing to Ruby, she’d laughed it off.“Oh, Ben, I’m sure he was only joking.”She hadn’t heard the threat lurking in his voice like I had, though.
But telling Ruby to leave him or what we thought he was like wouldn’t have worked. She was strong-willed and frustrating. When she made her mind up, there was no convincing her otherwise. It didn’t help that she was a hopeless romantic. I’d lost count of the times I’d been her shoulder to cry on when her latest partner had let her down or cheated on her. The thought that Jamie had used physical violence on her made me want to hunt him down and beat his ass.
A few minutes after her call to me, Tom—her grandad—had called, asking if he could come with me to the airport. He said it was to keep me company on the journey down, but he wanted to be there for her. Poor guy had been going out of his mind with worry. He’d often voiced his concerns to me about how domineering Jamie was with her. I did consider calling Marie too, but I thought it might be too much. She could be quite exuberant. I got the idea we’d all have to tread carefully around Ruby for a while. Hell, she might even require professional counselling after this. Who knew what damage that man had done to her mentally?
I called Tom just before I left my home. It only took about fifteen minutes to get there, so it’d give him time to get ready. My chocolate Labrador whined and pawed at my leg. Fred always knew when I was stressed. He looked up and barked.
