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“You and Landry?”
I nod. My phone buzzes again, and I’m ready to send Conor back to voicemail but see it’s a text from Rowan, telling me he’s going to be late. I text him back.
While I wait for his reply, I set the record straight with Ruby. “I just met him a few days ago, and we’re really just…”
Her head rocks back, but she still doesn’t look pleased when she looks at me again. “You know his nickname, right?”
I giggle. More at Rowan’s texts than Ruby asking me if I know his nickname. Of course I do. “Magic.”
“AndMr. Heartbreaker.”
I cover my heart. “No breaking this heart because it’s not involved in our arrangement.”
She hems again. I’m starting to hate that sound coming out of her.
I go back to my phone and continue to text Rowan, laughing at what he’s saying. I have to say I love flirting with him. I’m kind of impressed I haven’t second-guessed every word I write, worried about what he might think of me.
“That him?” Ruby asks.
“Yeah.” I snap a picture of the coffee Ruby made for me and feel myself smiling like a goon.
She hems.
“What?” I ask with exasperation, putting down my phone.
“Nothing.”
“Ruby, just say what you want to say.” I have a feeling if I don’t let her, we’ll keep going around in circles.
“You don’t look like a girl whose heart isn’t involved.”
She’s so wrong, but my parents brought me up to respect my elders, and I don’t have to prove anything to Ruby anyway. She’ll know I was right when this ends with Rowan, and I’m still very much intact. Maybe he’ll be the one who’s a little broken up.
“Why don’t we set that topic aside and talk more about you selling this establishment?”
“You interested?” she asks me again.
“I wouldn’t know the first thing about running a bar.”
“It’s easy. A pretty face like yours would sell the drinks, no problem.”
I laugh. “I feel like you’re sweetening me up.”
“You have this look about you like you’re about to go through a change.”
“Are we back to the heartbreaker stuff?” I sip my coffee, checking the time on my phone, wondering where Rowan is.
“No. It’s something else. A booty call doesn’t show up at ten on a Monday morning. And your eyes are red and swollen from crying. I’ve been giving you hell about Landry, and you haven’t cracked and told me what really has you so upset.”
I suck back the tears threatening to fall. “I…”
“Bartender oath,” she says.
“I found out that my mom is cheating on my dad.”
Whoosh, a huge boulder on my shoulders loosens, along with a flood of tears.
Ruby pushes a bar napkin over to me. “You’re not the first with that story. Although it’s usually a wife or husband complaining or confessing about the cheating, not a daughter.”
