Page 10 of On the Rocks

I wondered when the last time was that she had fun.

I wondered if she’d ever had fun at all.

The way she looked when she laughed, I hoped she had. I hoped it wasn’t the first time that laugh had been genuine, the first time that sound had made its way into the airwaves. She laughed the way the wind blew — softly, and then all at once, without an ounce of shame for how that sound might permanently shift the atmosphere around it.

When she’d decided on the barrel she wanted, Ruby Grace regretfully slipped back into her heels, and I tugged my t-shirt on before leading us out of the warehouse and toward the welcome center.

“So,” I said, walking slow so she didn’t kill her feet in the process of getting back to her car. “What are Anthony’s plans when you go back to school in the fall?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you guys moving in together and he’s getting a job there? Or are you guys doing long distance for a while or what?”

She laughed, her hair falling over her face a little as she watched our feet. “I’m not going back to school.”

“Oh…” I paused. “You don’t want to?”

“I mean, I guess I do… but, there’s no point. You know? I’m getting married. I’ll be his wife now, and I’ll have so much to do. He’s already getting into the political arena, and he’ll need me to be by his side, campaigning and networking and all that.” She shrugged. “I don’t really need a degree to do that.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s what I want to do,” she said quickly. “It’s what I was bred to do.”

“Bred?” I frowned. “You’re not a horse. You’re a human.”

Ruby Grace stopped with an abrupt click of her heels once we reached the welcome center entrance, and she crossed her arms defiantly as her eyes found mine. She didn’t even have to say another word for me to know I’d pushed the wrong button, and I was about to get the same woman I met in this very spot an hour before.

“Look, you don’t know anything about me, okay? Or my family, or what I want or what Idon’twant, so just stop trying to presume whatever it is you’re presuming.”

“Oh, look at you,” I chided, stepping into her space. “Using big words again.”

She scoffed. “They say nothing changes when you leave this town and come back, I guess you just proved them right.”

“Well, that’s my job,” I fired back. “Proving the ominoustheyright. Glad I’ve still got it.”

Our chests were close again, the stains on my off-white t-shirt highlighting the crisp cleanness of her dress.

“Lucy will take your money inside,” I said, nodding to the doors behind her. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

I turned just as her mouth popped open, but I didn’t look back.

“Thanks for thetasting,” she said, making sure her voice was loud and clear.

“Go ahead and say it louder, princess,” I threw behind me. “You’d be in just as much shit as I would.”

She didn’t respond to that, and when I chanced a glance back in her direction, there was steam rolling off that cute face of hers as she ripped the door to the welcome center open.

And I couldn’t help it — I chuckled.

I didn’t mean to ruffle her feathers, but damn if I didn’t like getting under that pretty bird’s skin.

Ruby Grace

“Ergh!”

I gripped the steering wheel on my convertible tighter, not even attempting to tame my hair as it blew around in the wind. Mama would be upset that I’d messed it up after she fixed it that morning, but I didn’t care.

I needed the wind to blow away my anger.