Page 47 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late
“It is?” Relief washed through her face, and JJ moved over to the fridge.
“You want water, juice, milk? We’ve got it all.”
“I’ll take some juice,” she said, and he wasn’t sure why that made him so happy, only that orange juice was his favorite drink of all time. If he could mix soda pop with it, that only doubled the happiness quotient.
He pulled out the carton of orange juice and a bottle of Sprite. “You want a little soda mix-in?”
“There you are, Ruby,” someone said outside his field of vision.
JJ turned back toward the door, holding the juice and the pop. A woman, clearly Ruby and Tate’s mother, entered the frame and took Ruby into her arms.
“You can’t be wandering off like that.”
“We agreed to meet back at his apartment.” Ruby sniffled against her momma’s chest. “You guys left me in the museum.” She straightened and glanced over to JJ, and his hands had turned totally slick.
Maybe because of Ruby’s presence. Maybe because the soda pop bottle had already beaded with condensation. No matter what, the bottle of Sprite slipped from his hands, and his ninja-like reflexes abandoned him in his moment of greatest need.
The soda pop hit the floor with a horrifying, loud, plasticthunk!against the linoleum. Suddenly, everything about his apartment was dirty, dingy, and downtrodden. They did have cleaning inspection next week, which meant they hadn’t tidied up in a while, and all of these thoughts ran through his mind as the bottle bounced up in slow motion.
It tipped toward Ruby and her mother, hit the floor again with a less impressive thud that still managed to pop the lid right off.
Soda sprayed toward them in all its fizzy glory, and both women shrieked and held up their hands to shield their faces.
JJ stood there with the orange juice carton in his hand, completely humiliated and staring as clear soda dripped from Ruby’s hands and her mother’s elbow.
“Hey, hey.”
JJ recognized his best friend’s voice, and Tate added, “What is going on here?” as he arrived in the apartment too. He scanned his momma and sister from feet to face, his eyes widening.
Ruby shook her hands of the offensive, sticky soda while her mom simply blinked with wet eyelashes. JJ could only stare, but thankfully, something kicked at his brain that told him to move, to act.
He set the orange juice on the counter and spun to get a towel from the handle on the stove. “I’m so sorry,” he gushed as he stepped toward Ruby and her mother. “I didn’t mean to drop it.”
JJ’s cowboy boot came down in a puddle of Sprite, and oh, it hadn’t had time to dry into a sticky mess. He slipped, his balance getting thrown completely off.
This cannot be happening, he thought. He threw his arms out to try to catch himself so he wouldn’t embarrass himself further.
Tate lunged through his momma and sister, his arm reaching for JJ’s. He grabbed onto him and said, “Whoa, whoa, cowboy, I got you.”
They righted themselves, thankfully, and JJ looked straight into Tate’s eyes. “Your sister’s looking for you,” he said needlessly.
Tate grinned and laughed. “Yeah, brother, she’s right there.”
Foolishness filled JJ, and he was so done with today.
“Did you meet her?” Tate stepped back to Ruby’s side and put his arm around her. “This is my little sister, Ruby. Rubes, this my best friend, JJ—Jeremiah Jonah—Walker.” He grinned like they’d all have birthday cake later, but if he knew what ran through JJ’s mind, Tate might feel differently.
“And my momma,” Tate said. “Louise.” He looked at her too. “Daddy’s coming up.”
As if summoned by his son’s words, another man came into the apartment—their father.
JJ had already made a complete fool of himself, and he wasn’t going to stick around and flirt with Ruby, wasn’t going to try to get her number, nothing. He’d put her straight out of his mind, because she was nowhere near old enough to date him.
He was almost twenty-two, and she hadn’t even graduated from high school yet. So he stepped forward and with his towel-less hand, he shook hands with everyone, feeling all of the stickiness on Louise’s and Ruby’s hands.
He retreated to get some cleaning wipes while Tate led his family into the living room, where they settled down to chat about Ruby’s college campus tour. JJ got himself out of the room as fast as possible, mentally grumbling to himself about how he had the worst luck when it came to almost everything.
He headed to his bedroom and closed the door, paced to the window and back, and then told himself, “Walkers are winners,” under his breath. “Things like this happen, JJ. It’s not just you.”
