Page 66 of Break Me Like a Promise (Oak Valley)

The sous chefs picked their cubby and their jackets before scattering to the stainless steel work table. Colton felt a little out of place, accidentally bumping into a stack of mixing bowls and bumping his hip on a marble table he assumed was used for rolling out dough. Eliza and Adam seemed to be hitting it off, none of the friendship he’d had with Adam during the kitchen test coming through.

Pierre immediately went into instruction, moving quick and flipping between English and French. Annette and Julien brought out ingredients for the croissants, and they got to work while they and Pierre looked on. For the next breakfast dish, they swapped out the ingredients, and so on. Colton found his hands not rolling as tightly as they should, over- or under-sprinkling raisins, occasionally bumping into someone while they moved about. It got very hot, very fast. Sweat trickled down Colton’s spine, his chest, he had to keep wiping his forehead with his sleeve to keep it from dripping.

And even after an hour lunch break at the sixth hour, his knee was killing him with a vengeance by hour eight.

By hour twelve, Colton was leaning against the table for support.

When they were finally released at 6 p.m., Colton was trying to use kitchen tables, shelves, carts, anything to get to his cubby and out the door. Eliza and Adam had left together, laughing, best buds. Annette and Julien had joined Pierre in a back office. Colton was left in the dark kitchen. Alone.

Again in the silence.

It was spacious and gray, metal and tile and cold despite the ovens being all day.

It was nothing like For Goodness Cakes.

As Colton hobbled out of the shop, his back starting to twinge from all the movement and standing and ways he tried to alleviate pressure from his knee, he tried not to think about if he made a huge mistake.

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Ruby passed the length of red PEX tubing to Olive’s older brother, Rhys, who was helping plumb her bus, Olive out picking up lunch for everyone. The other Dougherty boys, Finn and Kade, were setting up the water tanks with Mr. Dougherty, the grey tank being housed beneath the frame and the freshwater being plumbed inside Ruby’s soon-to-be utility closet. The solar company she’d hired were affixing the panels to the roof as she sat on her plywood floor, listening to all the people helping with her project.

By the end of this weekend, her bus would have running water and electricity.

When she thought that, her heart swelled. It’d taken a lot of hours, a lot of manpower, but they did it. She’d pulled it off, and while she was confident she could’ve done it alone, it would’ve taken four times as long and there was something about knowing her home was built by people who cared that made her feel even more accomplished.

Even if most of the heavy lifting had been done by Colton, the last person she ever would have wanted touching her home, and exactly for this reason. Every time she saw the plywood floor or the exposed ceiling metal, she thought of him. Every time the back emergency door was open and a man leaned through with his arms on the floor ledge, she thought of him. When she eventually placed her IKEA order, she knew every time she saw the couch he sat on sitting in her living area, she’d think of him.

And that kind of fucking sucked.

“Pass me that fitting, would you?” Rhys nodded to a bag of gold circles, and Ruby handed one to him. Now that she’d decided to stay in Oak Valley — especially knowing Colton was gone and would hopefully stay gone — a sense of calm had settled over her. Like she could move on with her life, could start letting go who she’d been in New York City. And dating would probably be a good start. When they’d gotten to an appropriate adult age, Penelope had started saying, ‘The best way to get over a guy was to get under another one.’ Ruby never disagreed, but she rarely put it into practice. She preferred to be alone.

But getting over Colton again would take every trick in the book.

Rhys asked for another fitting, his blue eyes piercing hers, ruddy cheeks extra flushed with the cold and labor. He was pretty cute — she understood why all the girls in high school swooned — but messing with Olive’s brothers was probably out of the question. Ruby didn’t need the drama. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have friends…

Olive’s car came down the driveway, and Ruby yelled out to the workers.

“Damn, you make quick work,” Olive said, getting out of the car and passing out the boxes of ten pizzas and six dozen wings to the guys, who traipsed into the basement where Beryl insisted they set up several folding tables for lunch.

Olive turned to Ruby as they brought up the rear. “Are you going to live in your mom’s driveway when it’s done?”

“I’m not sure, actually. Probably depends on how she’s feeling, or if I can buy land close by.”

“That makes sense, although I’m sure your mom would love it if you lived literally next door.”

“I mean, I would, too,” Ruby said, smiling at the idea. “Maybe I can talk to Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham, see if they would be willing to part with some of the old Ryder Farm.”

Olive pursed her lips and nodded. “Not a bad idea, Ruby. Not a bad idea.”

The guys were already seated, a chair left empty for Ruby. But she made sure to plate a slice of cheese and deliver it to her mom’s room, where Beryl was sitting up in bed with a smile. The color was starting to come back to her cheeks, despite looking like death for the past week or so.

“I could hear you guys hammering away or somethin’, how’s it coming?”

Ruby smiled. “Amazing. Sounds like they’ll all be back tomorrow, so we may have to make room in the fridge for a fuck-ton of pizza tonight, but by end of day tomorrow I can technically register the bus as a motor home.”

“I’m so proud of you, honey,” Beryl said, looking Ruby in the eyes and grabbing her hand.

Ruby shook her head and chuckled. “It wasn’t just me, Mom.”

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