by ID Johnson
Ru pulled a twenty out of her wallet and handed it over. Liddy hated credit cards, said they were a surefire way to end up in big financial trouble, so Ru preferred to pay with cash when she could. She took her change and realized she hadn’t answered Samantha’s question. “Oh, I’m good. Thanks. Just forgot to get cat food.”
“This ice cream is the best. I can’t eat it though. It goes straight to my thighs.”
Ru raised an eyebrow. Samantha probably didn’t weigh ninety pounds soaking wet. It was a shame what society—and in her own case, poor parenting—was doing to young women today. However, Ru wasn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t sound forced, so she only smiled. She took her receipt and the two items. “Have a good night, Samantha.” She headed out into the night, but not before glancing over her shoulder to see if Kyle was anywhere nearby. She just wanted to see him one more time before she left. When she couldn’t catch a glimpse of his brown jacket anywhere, she sighed and headed out the door, disappointed.
Her phone was ringing. Why did it seem that the only way she could wake up on the weekend anymore was from someone barging into her brain—either literally or through the use of her ringtone—to blast her out of sleep?
She looked at the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was past 10:00 and wondered why she’d slept so long. After she’d come back from the store, she’d fallen asleep watching Netflix with Piper and hauled herself to bed before midnight. She hadn’t had any vivid dreams, not that she remembered anyway. With a loud exhale, she picked up her phone, fairly certain whoever was calling would be sent to voicemail before she could answer now anyway. When she saw it was an unknown number, she thought all the more reason not to hurry. Somehow, she managed to accept the call before it transferred to her messages. Falling backward onto the pillow, expecting either a recording or a sales call, she mumbled, “Hello?” Her voice sounded so groggy, she was sure the caller would think she was a zombie, if it was even a person on the other end of the line.
“Oh, no. I woke you up, didn’t I? I’m so sorry.”
Ru bolted upright in bed. Memories from the night before came streaming back. The grocery store. Kyle. Too much ice cream…. “Hey,” she said, drawing it out like a high school girl, hoping her voice sounded a little more chipper, though she thought she might actually be over doing it just a tad. “No, you didn’t…. I was awake.”
“Uh huh,” came the reply. “I’m sorry, Ru. I definitely didn’t mean to disturb you. This is Kyle, by the way, the guy from the grocery store—the one that overshares.”
Ru giggled so obnoxiously it even sounded annoying to her. She wondered what had gotten into her. Even when she really was in high school, she couldn’t imagine having this sort of a reaction to a guy. “What’s up?” she asked, deciding not to tell him she definitely knew who he was, and there was no reason to go into such detail.
“Well, I was going to see if maybe you wanted to grab some lunch somewhere. I told Jess about how you’d said you wouldn’t mind answering her questions, and she’s so anxious about starting her new job tomorrow, she thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Of course, we realize it’s very short notice, and I totally understand if you’ve already got plans.”
Other than catching up on laundry and contemplating why she couldn’t get her spirit to slip out of her body, Ru had nothing on her agenda for that day. “No, I’m free,” she replied, trying not to sound desperate or overly enthusiastic. “There’s a diner downtown, Wilken’s Café. Do you want to meet there?”
“Sure, that sounds great,” Kyle replied. “Jessie’s going to be so excited. I’m sure you’ll make her feel much better about her new job. What time?”
“Well, the after church crowd will get there about 12:30, so we’ll want to beat them. I don’t know. Maybe… 11:30? Is that too early?”
“That’s perfect,” he replied.
Just like you…. Ru kept her thoughts to herself. “All right then. I guess I’ll see you two in a little while.”
“Okay. Thanks a lot, Ru. See you in a bit.”
“Bye.” She hung up and tilted her head back so that it was leaning on the headboard. What was it about this guy that had her all out of sorts? Considering everything that was going on in her life right now, Ru had no reason whatsoever to even be considering dating. And yet, here she was, elated over a phone call from a guy.
Of course, this wasn’t a date. She knew that much. After all, his sister was going to be there. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit of hope that this might turn into something more. He had called her only a few hours after getting her number.
Stretching, Ru contemplated her situation. Piper rubbed up against her side, and she stroked her a few times before climbing out of bed. She thought about Cutter. She’d known he was way out of her league the moment she set eyes on him. Though she had to admit, there were a few times when she thought there was a possibility he was actually interested in her, especially yesterday at the coffee shop when he was swearing he’d always protect her, but she knew it was all about the Keepers with him. He just wanted to find her mom and secure her as part of his team, though she wasn’t quite sure why. It all seemed so far out there. She could never date a guy like Cutter even if he wasn’t caught up in some secret world—or crazy for thinking he was.
Kyle, on the other hand, seemed so down to earth. Though she’d only spoken to him once, their conversation had been easy and completely unforced. Unlike Cutter, he didn’t want anything out of her, didn’t want her to be something she could never be. He just wanted to get to know her better. Or did he? Maybe he just wanted her to help his sister, although, she didn’t think that was the case. He seemed like a genuine guy, and even though he was just as good looking as Cutter, it was in a less assuming way. He wasn’t the stereotypical blond demigod. His dark hair and humanly hazel eyes made him a little less obvious. She had noticed he looked like he was in pretty good shape beneath his brown jacket, sweater, and dark jeans, though. Perhaps she only found him more attractive than Cutter because she was certain Cutter was out of the question. Kyle seemed like a normal guy. Cutter seemed like he’d fallen from the heavens. Maybe he had. Although, that would make him a fallen angel and he professed that was exactly what he was fighting against.
Ru pushed all of those thoughts aside and went to the bathroom to turn on the shower. She’d take things slowly with Kyle, like she did with every guy she’d ever dated or even been interested in. She really didn’t need a relationship right now anyway, but he might be a good excuse to get Cutter to leave her alone once and for all. Then, maybe she could go back to life before angels and demons.
The last thought made her mind flicker to Thanatos. Was he still out there, trying to get ahold of her? Cutter seemed to think he wouldn’t give up, but he hadn’t come to her in a dream the night before, so maybe she’d convinced him that he couldn’t overpower her and that she was perfectly content staying in Reaper’s Hollow as a fourth grade teacher. They could carry on with their magic and what-not without her. Eventually, maybe they’d find her mother, but she wasn’t even sure she wanted a part of that. Even if Seraphina hadn’t named her Ruin after all, she had said that she ruined her life, hadn’t she? And if her birth had sent her mother into hiding, she was probably right. Why would she ever want to see her daughter again? No, Ru was definitely better off just going back to the way things were before Cutter had torn into her life like a tornado. Perhaps Kyle could be just the anchor of normalcy she needed to pull her back to where she complacently sat before any of this craziness collided with her world. She’d definitely take a chance on finding out.
Chapter 16
Wilken’s was one of the only decent places in town to eat, though there was a truck stop out on the main highway headed toward Tarrytown, and they’d gotten a McDonald’s a few years ago, though the latter certainly didn’t fit the description of good eating for Ru. She knew the café would likely be very busy on a Sunday afternoon, but hopefully not until the church crow
d got out, which should give them time to get through lunch without a rush. It had occurred to her that she might see some of her students, but she didn’t think there’d be too many questioning glances since Kyle’s sister would also be there. It wasn’t like this was a date. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
She’d decided to go casual, tossing on a pair of jeans and a blue sweater. Granted, she had chosen that color because it played up her eyes, but it wasn’t like she was wearing a dress. She hadn’t even paid that close of attention to her makeup. She tried to convince herself she hadn’t spent much time on her appearance as she pulled into a parking spot and checked it in the rearview mirror.
A bell chimed over the door as she pushed it open. It took her just a moment to spy Kyle’s increasingly familiar face smiling at her a couple of booths away. Ru gave a little half-wave in her nervousness and headed that direction. As she approached, he slid out of the booth, standing to greet her.
“Ru, hi. Nice to see you.” He offered his hand, and she took it, that warm feeling spreading up her arm again.
“It’s nice to see you, too,” she replied, letting go.
“This is my sister, Jessie.”
Ru noticed the slight woman he’d been sitting next to for the first time, wondering how she hadn’t even seen her there before. She was tall, though not as tall as Kyle, with the same dark hair. Her eyes were brown, and though her face was pretty, it had a sharpness about it that was a bit off-putting at first. As soon as she smiled, Ru felt more at ease, thinking maybe Jessie was just cursed with the tragic condition known as resting-bitch-face.
Taking her hand as she slipped into the booth, Ru said, “It’s nice to meet you, Jessie.”
“You can call me Jess,” she said releasing Ru’s hand, still smiling. She wore a deep purple sweater that contrasted nicely with her eyes, and Ru thought perhaps she’d made too hasty of a first impression. Her hand also seemed warm and familiar, though not quite in the same way that Kyle’s had.
She returned her attention to him. The emerald polo shirt he wore beneath the same brown jacket he’d had on the evening before made the green in his eyes pop. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”
“No, we just got here,” he assured her. What was it about his smile that seemed so inviting, like she’d known him for years?
Before she could say more, a waitress came over to take their drink order. She jotted it down on her notepad and said she’d be back in a few minutes.
“So what’s good here?” Jess asked, opening her menu. “I was looking at the chicken fried chicken, but that seems like a lot of food for lunch.”
“It is a lot of food,” Ru agreed, “but it is really good. The chicken and dumplings are also very good. And you can never go wrong with one of their sandwiches.” She was contemplating what she might get herself. While the chef salad was one of her favorites, she didn’t want Kyle to think she was one of those girls who ate like a bird. Of course, he did know she’d downed a pint of ice cream last night….
“I always thought the idea of an open-faced sandwich was odd,” Kyle said, looking from Jess to Ru. “Who wants to eat something with a face?”
Ru was doing her embarrassing laugh again and fought to rein it back in. Why did everything he said strike her as hilarious? “I guess I never thought about it that way,” she said, once she had control of herself. She decided to go with a grilled chicken sandwich and set her menu aside. The other two were still looking at theirs when the waitress brought back their drinks.
Taking a long sip of her iced tea, Ru tried not to stare at Kyle. The waitress was also having a hard time, though he was probably half her age. Ru knew her from around town, but they weren’t exactly friends. Her name tag reminded Ru that her name was actually Melinda even though everyone called her Mendy. “Are we ready to order?” she asked, still staring at Kyle even though it would’ve been more polite to start with one of the ladies. They each ordered a sandwich of some kind and fries, and Mendy wrote it down before smiling at Kyle one more time and heading for the kitchen.
“I just want to say, I really appreciate you taking the time to meet with me, especially since you don’t even know us,” Jess was saying, and Ru had to force herself to look in her direction. “I’m super excited about tomorrow, but I’m also scared.” She gave a nervous laugh, and her brother patted her on the shoulder reassuringly, which Ru found endearing.
“I can imagine. Are they going to have you start out all on your own tomorrow?”
“No, thankfully. They said there would be a substitute for the next two weeks while I transition. So I’ll be observing and interacting with the kids, but they want to keep the woman whose been covering the class the last week in there for a while, so they have a familiar face.”
“That makes sense,” Ru nodded. Thoughts of what would happen to her own babies if she was swept away, either with Cutter and his group or by something else, crossed her mind. It was never an ideal situation to take over a class in the middle of the year but especially not when something tragic had happened. She hadn’t called Liddy last night to see if she knew anything, turning to the Tarrytown newspaper instead. Apparently, the young teacher had been found dead in her home of natural causes. It was both alarming and heart-wrenching since she was only twenty-seven, just a couple of years older than Ru.
“The team seems very supportive,” Jess continued. “I just have so many questions, I’m afraid I’ll drive them crazy asking them all. And most of them were close to Ms. Paul, the woman who died, so they’re contending with that as well.” Jess looked a little green, and Ru wanted to do everything she could to reassure her. She knew what it was like to be a new teacher.
“Well, ask away,” she said, smiling as encouragingly as she could. “I might not be able to answer your specific questions about how things are done at your new school, but I definitely know the state curriculum and can help with routines and procedures, that sort of thing.”
Jess seemed to relax a bit and launched into a series of questions. Ru did her best to answer them, and even after their food was delivered, the conversation continued between bites. Ru’s sandwich was delicious, and her new friends seemed to like the café’s fare as well. Ru couldn’t help but steal glances at Kyle, who she assumed would have to be bored to tears listening to two teachers talk about student expectations and the best way to get twenty-two kids’ attention at the same time, but he looked genuinely interested. She felt his eyes on her face more than once and turned to give him a shy smile before returning her outward attention to Jess.
Ru loved talking about her job and became enthusiastic about answering Jessie’s questions pretty quickly. She gave her as much help as she thought she should without overwhelming her. Even though Jess seemed excited, she was certainly a new teacher. A few times, she had to ask Ru what something she said meant, and Ru remembered to take it back a few notches. There were some things only time and experience would teach her.
Over an hour after she’d first sat down, Jess leaned back in the booth and said, “Well, you’ve certainly been very helpful, Ru. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ve been willing to take time out of your weekend to come and help me.”
“Oh, don’t mention it,” Ru replied waving her off. “Obviously, I love to talk about teaching. If you have any other questions, feel free to give me a call anytime. It’s too bad we aren’t at the same school.” She thought about mentioning they’d just hired someone at the beginning of the year but held back. Clearly, she couldn’t trade Cutter for Jess—this was teaching, not baseball—and that would potentially open a whole can of worms she didn’t even want to think about.
“Well, I need to go to the restroom. So, if you’ll excuse me….” She looked at her brother who politely slid out of the booth to let her out and then sat back down across from Ru.
“Thank you, so much,” he said, his face sincere. “I think you’ve really calmed her down.”
“Really, it
’s no problem,” Ru said, happy to finally be alone with the handsome stranger, even if it was just for a few minutes.
“I could tell she was nervous when she ate the whole pint of ice cream in one sitting. She never does that.” Kyle laughed, his eyes crinkling around the edges.
“You’re kidding?” Ru said. “Who does that? I still have most of mine in the freezer!” She hoped she made it clear she was being silly, and when he laughed even more, she joined in.
“Well, anyway, thank you. It’s really hard being out here all alone. She had a lot of friends back home, and she almost didn’t take the job because she was afraid she’d miss them too much. It’s great that she’s already met someone so nice. I honestly can’t tell you how amazing you are to go to all this trouble.”
“It’s really no trouble at all.” Ru smiled but was struggling to hold his gaze. Once again, she could feel the color creeping into her face. She almost wished Jess would come back from the restroom before she said something silly. As far as she could tell, Kyle was just being nice and wasn’t interested in anything more from her than a friendship. Ru was finding it difficult notto stare at his bottom lip, thinking about leaning across the table and biting it. Hard. She shook her head and refocused her attention to her hands in her lap.
“I was thinking, if you’re not busy Friday evening, would you like to go catch a movie or something?”
Ru raised her eyes, almost wanting to ask if he was serious. She gazed into those deep hazel orbs and realized she didn’t need to ask. He was. “Uh, yeah. Of course. That sounds great.” The urge to explain to him that there was no movie theater in Reaper’s Hollow and they’d have to go out of town was suppressed as his smile widened. He probably already knew that or would figure it out. She’d still go. Gotta travel to the moon to see a flick with you? No problem. I’m there.
For some reason, Kyle looked relieved, as if there had been a chance she would turn him down. “Great,” he said. “I’ll call you later this week, and we can work out the details.”
