Page 56 of It's Not PMS, It's You

She rubbed the outside of the locket, trying to remove some of the caked-on dirt. “I can’t believe you found this. My grandmother gave it to me. Now it’s all starting to make sense because I lost it right around the time she helped me plant the roses. I thought it was gone for good.” She held in her palms, close to her heart.

Then something happened that caught me off guard.

Ruth lunged toward me and hugged me tightly. “Thank you.”

Not wanting to feel like a stiff, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back. “You’re welcome.”

“Seriously. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” I could feel the heat from her words against my neck. Then she suddenly pushed away, as if she just realized how long we’d been hugging.

I cleared my throat. “Hey, don’t thank me. It was Karma.” I laughed. I wiped my hands on my pants and bent down to close my toolbox. “Okay, I’m going to get out of your hair. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”

She stood there, a dazed look on her face, rubbing the locket again with her thumb and index finger, deep in thought.

I decided to leave, since it appeared that Karma and I were no longer in the doghouse.

I grabbed my toolbox and walked toward the side yard.

“You lied to me, by the way,” Ruth said from behind me.

I stopped in my tracks, not expecting that at all.

I guess I needed to turn back around.

And here I thought I had made the perfect escape.

Chapter Thirteen

RUTH

I couldn’t in good conscience let Nick walk away without a word or without offering him a bite to eat after what he had done today. I wasn’t happy with him for not listening to me after Karma had dug up my roses this morning, but I appreciated that he’d tried to make things right, and the way things turned out. His heart seemed to be in the right place.

Nick more than made up for the rose disaster with the miracle of finding my precious locket that I thought I’d never see again. I guess one could argue that if the dog hadn’t dug up my roses, I would have never found my locket.

Still, I wasn’t happy that he had worked all day without taking a break or eating. Sure, I had done the exact same thing numerous times in my career, but my work wasn’t labor intensive out in the sun. Plus, who knew how that affected his heart condition?

I would still find a way to feed the man. It was the least I could do.

Nick stopped and flipped around to face me. “What did I lie to you about?”

“You told me Brandon was exaggerating when he said you hadn’t eaten or taken a break in over ten hours.”

Nick shook his head. “When I said he was exaggerating, I was referring to the part where he said it wasn’t good for my heart. He’s not a doctor. He’s not allowed to make that statement.”

“What if he’s right?”

“What if he’s wrong?”

“Have you eaten today? Yes or no.”

Nick hesitated. “No, but—”

I let out a frustrated breath. “Inside. Now.”

Nick chuckled. “And you callmepushy?”

“Look—I went to an Italian restaurant today for lunch and—”

“For your date.”