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Because I needed him to do it again too.

Thankfully, that “What’s Up”catch up session with Ms. Ruby turned into another dinner invitation. And I was all too ready for the distraction. Because if I was left to my own devices, I would have been back at the lake house after an hour of trying to focus on alternate funding for my bookstore. Nothing made me feel more defeated than sitting down and working through the numbers for the millionth time knowing nothing had changed. My dejection made me crave the comfort of Sincere’s presence and Lorenzo’s teasing smile to make me feel better. Hell, even Rome’s lukewarm reception would be better than sitting with the fact that my dream may never see the light of day.

But here I was, hours later, on my third ‘modest’ pour of moonshine Pauly made under their porch, feeling…warm and fuzzy. That had a lot to do with Ruby’s gray Pit bull, Lady, snuggled against my lap. She hadn’t left my side since I drove up and I smiled softly, cupping her sweet face with one hand.

“Hi, pretty girl,” I cooed when she just blinked up at me.

I’d barely hopped down from my van when Ms. Ruby walked up to me, fussing about her being pregnant.

“The vet said there’s five of them in there. What am I supposed to do with six dogs?”

While she looked flustered, I couldn’t help but notice how happy her husband, Pauly, looked at the prospect.“I told you not to worry yourself with all that, Ruby Jean. I’ll take care of them.”

He came up and kissed her cheek before giving me a toothy grin.“Hey there, sunbeam. We missed you last night.”

Like his wife, he’d seen me once and gifted me with a nickname that made me smile every time I heard it.

After hugging them both, I let them lead me to their back porch, where the grill was fired up and the oldies were blasting. A few people I didn’t know filtered in and out the house, but I didn’t get up whenever new faces arrived. Mostly because I didn’t want to disturb the dog nestled against my legs. And partly because I was feeling every ounce of this moonshine coursing through my bloodstream. I was stuck, blissfully mellowed out and enjoying the nighttime air while the chatter of people faded in and out.

“You aight out here, honeybee?”

I turned my head toward the sound of Ruby’s voice and she gave a wheezy laugh when we made eye contact. “Oh, girl. No wonder you so quiet out here.”

She pulled up a patio chair beside me, angling it so her body faced my legs and created the perfect lounging spot for Lady. The dog settled between us, her head on her owner’s shins while she draped her lower body over me.

“Ms. Ruby, can I ask you something?”

“Anything, honeybee.” I loved the way she effortlessly held space for me, whether we were standing on the side of the road or gathered around her firepit. Whenever I needed to say something, she gave me her undivided attention.

Carefully, I filtered through the word vomit in my head and asked, “Would you take an offer knowing it would end in three months if you knew it was a once in a lifetime experience?”

“Probably. My life is the result of choices just like that,” she answered, patting Lady’s back.

“How do you detach yourself from the dread of having to say goodbye when you know it’s going to hurt?”

“I don’t.” She shrugged, but the gesture wasn’t dismissive. It was simply a reflex to accompany her words. “We can’tavoid goodbyes no matter how hard we try, honeybee. Life is unpredictable, so even that person you think you got forever with could be gone in the blink of an eye.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“IknowI’m right,” she huffed with another scratchy laugh. “But ain’t that the beauty in it? Wouldn’t you rather have something good for a while than to always wonder about it?”

Chills erupted and multiplied on my skin at how eerily similar her words were to my earlier thoughts.

I guess I just needed to hear someone say it aloud. And coming from this woman, whose wisdom I trusted the most, was as clear of a sign as I was going to get.

I could be Sincere and Enzo’s for the summer. Maybe the end wouldn’t be so bad so long as I knew it was coming. Besides, I could get to the end of the summer and decide I wanted to move back to New Hope if I didn’t figure something out here. Maybe a summer with them was just what I needed before I said goodbye to this beautiful town.

Ms. Ruby went quiet beside me, her eyes fixed on the trees lining her backyard while she rubbed absently behind Lady’s ear. She looked so pretty and peaceful.

Angling my phone just right, I snapped a quick picture and sent it to her, knowing she’d see it sometime tomorrow since she barely touched her phone when she was home.

Pauly walked outside, gave me a wink and another splash of moonshine in my mason jar. “How you feelin’, sunbeam?”

“Good.Warm.”

Ruby grinned at my reply, shaking her head. “Lord, we done got this child tore up.”

“That’s what the guest room is for,” Pauly reminded her, kissing the top of her hair before disappearing inside.