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“Oh—” I perked up. “Oh my god, I’ve been a shitty friend. You mean you got the job?”
She beamed. “Yep. I already miss Queen Pearl like hell, but… time for a new adventure, you know?”
A new adventure. I liked her mindset. I pulled her into a hug, squeezing her tightly. “You’re going to kill it,” I said. “Excited to hear how ag-tech goes for you. Riding a tractor around the field.”
“Please. I’m C-suite. None of my coworkers have ever touched a tractor. I’m not that exciting.”
I laughed, stepping back from the hug, but there was something so deeply aching in my chest all of a sudden—or not suddenly at all. It had been there for a while. Maybe before Queen Pearl even folded. Just… waiting to be activated. “You’re in sales still?”
“Contract brokering. So, sort of.”
“You’re a natural at that stuff. You’re going to fit right in.”
“Forget that,” she said. “Movies.”
I paused. “Er… you don’t mean tonight.”
“I mean tonight. Get your damn shoes on.”
“Um—”
“I said get your damn shoes on.”
Well, what the hell. There was no sense trying to push back on Ruth when she got something into her head like this.
Besides, maybe I needed that right now.
It was good for me to get out, heading out alongside Ruth and hitting up the theater, seeing some cheesy action flick that was solidly exciting, fun, and satisfyingly forgettable, and we landed at a chic club that wasn’t quite as glitzy and extravagant as LIV, but perfect to have a drink and dance hard until I was worn out a bit past midnight.
Once the night had gone on and we were tapering off, Ruth nudged me where we sat at the bar close to the dance floor, gesturing across the room. “Hey, weigh in. The girl over there, with the ponytail and glasses. You think she’s gay?”
I didn’t even look. “How should I know?”
“C’mon. You have gaydar.”
“You can’t just tell by looking at someone.”
She nudged me again. “This is why you never get with anyone, girl. Where’s your drive?”
I forced out a thin smile. “I’m really just fine. Besides, I told you I’m leaving this city.”
She sighed, turning back to her drink, pounding the last of it and setting it down hard. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she said. “So you’re actually planning on it.”
“If things don’t work… hey. I can always come back here.”
“Why wouldn’t things work? You’re a genius. Ugh… Philip just screwed us over.”
“Because. Something’s always getting screwed over.”
“You and your bad luck? That’s it? Finally driven you out of town, thinking you might find better luck somewhere else?” She snorted. “What about you and Cameron, anyway?”
I rubbed my forehead. “We weren’t dating, Ruth. I don’t know where you got this idea into your head.”
“I don’t care if you were dating or not. Whatever you were doing… you like her, don’t you? I’m talking a lot.”
I pursed my lips, staring down at the last little dregs of diluted cocktail among the ice at the bottom of my glass.
“Whatever you were doing to charm her,” Ruth said, speaking carefully, “I know you spent some time with her. And you’d just… I don’t know. Something in you, something about you. It was like I was really seeing you flourish.”
