by Doyle, S
A few people laughed. I heard Howard say it was about time. And Mrs. Petty got up and walked over to her, patting her on the arm, saying, “Yes, dear we all knew. Late January?”
“Early February,” Ellie told her.
“That’s lovely. Now should we see about putting out the pies?”
Ellie nodded and then the conversation started up again.
It was, in a word, anti-climatic.
Mrs. Petty declared the pies would be served in the kitchen and a few people got up to follow her, most likely fearing there wouldn’t be enough to go around. Although if you asked me we had all the pies in all the land and would never run out.
The men rolling by either gave me a chin up or a pat on the shoulder in silent congratulations. All of the women strolling by told me to take care of their girl. That was without question.
Finally, Ellie came over to me, with her lips in a pout. Which always made me think of blow jobs, which was not a good thing to be thinking of on Thanksgiving with a house full of people, so I opened my arms and brought her in close so she could rest her chin on my shoulder.
“Everyone knew, didn’t they?”
“Yep. You’ve got the equivalent of a beach ball under your shirt. It’s pretty obvious.”
“I look like an ass don’t I?”
“A little bit.” I huffed out a laugh. “But you know folks. They’ll come to understand this was your way of coping. Everyone is happy for you. You know that too, don’t you?”
She nodded against me. “I’m pregnant,” she said again.
“Yep.”
“We’re having a baby.”
A baby. Not the b word.
“Yep,” I said even as hugged her tighter.
“We should think about names. I think… if it’s a boy… I want to name him Jackson Talley Jr. after the greatest man I know.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. She was talking names. She was thinking about the sex. In that moment, I knew it. The fear, while maybe not gone, had lost the battle over her.
Once again Ellie had triumphed. I should have known that eventually she would. Because she was strongest woman I had ever known.
“And if it’s a girl we could name her Petunia Jr.”
I snorted. “You are not naming our daughter after your horse.”
She lifted her head and smiled at me. “I think this is a ten day,” she said quietly.
Yeah, this was definitely a ten day.
I heard something behind me and realized it was the front door opening. I would have thought everyone we knew was in the house already, but then I remembered both Cody and Rich and had been MIA. Rich because he was supposedly sick, and Cody because he’d gone to fetch more wine. A task that shouldn’t have taken as long as it had.
So it was at first with a sense of relief that I saw Cody open the door, until I saw the girl behind him. I didn’t recognize her and it seemed strange to me that Cody would bring a date to dinner without having mentioned it first.
Not that I cared, but I wasn’t certain how it was possible he even found time to date given his work week schedule. I sized up the girl behind him. It was funny, she didn’t look like she was from around here, but there was something oddly familiar about her.
“Oh Cody, you made it!” Ellie called out, peeking around my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I left some turkey and stuffing for you… oh. And I hope enough for your friend too.”
He looked confused. Then he glanced over his shoulder. “She’s not my friend. She said she knew you guys. Her car broke down along Old Oak Road and I gave her a lift.”
I couldn’t speak for Ellie, but I had never met this girl in my life. I glanced at Ellie and she shook her head.
“How do we know you exactly?” I asked her.
She seemed to shrink a bit behind Cody, but then he seemed to glare at her as if upset he’d been caught up in whatever game she was playing.
“Okay, you don’t know me exactly,” she admitted. Then she pulled something out of the beat-up leather purse she was clutching to her chest, and I could hear Ellie gasp.
“Oh Jake,” she whispered, clearly recognizing her handwriting on the front of the letter. “I’m so sorry.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, as the pieces weren’t quite lining up. Finally I spit it out.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Ruby Smithson. Adele Smithson…uh, Adele Talley is my mom. Which makes you my half brother.”
Her half brother. My half sister. None of that was processing, because I was focused on the anger that erupted from hearing that woman’s name. A name I never wanted to hear again.
“She’s gone,” Ruby continued. “Left me a year back to head to Mexico with her new boyfriend. My dad left her years before that. No clue where he is. I don’t have a job or any money left, and then your letter came and I thought…”
“God, Jake,” Ellie said again. “This is my fault.”
I ignored that and tried to focus on what this girl was saying. This girl who I now understood why she looked vaguely familiar. Because she looked a little bit like a feminine version of me.
“You thought what?”
She shrugged. And something about the gesture caught my attention. It didn’t say, I don’t know. Or, you tell me.
It said, I don’t care.
This girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, shouldn’t not care like that.
“We can figure this out later, I think,” Ellie said, stepping around me. “Ruby, right?”
The girl nodded.
“It’s late, your car is broken down so you’re not going anywhere tonight. You can stay in our guest room. Are you hungry?”
She hesitated as if she couldn’t believe someone was being so nice to her. She was tall, not as tall as Ellie, but rail thin. Like she hadn’t had a decent meal in years.
Finally, she nodded.
“Okay. Let’s get you fed. Cody, didn’t she have a suitcase or something?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said tightly. Not happy that he’d been the person who delivered her to our doorstep.
“I’ll get it,” Ruby said, then rushed out of the house as if she was afraid of anyone touching her stuff.
“I’m sorry about this, Jake…” Cody began.
“Stop. You had no idea. Go get something to eat.”
He looked back at the open door and seemed reluctant to leave us with her. As if he’d handed over something to us that turned out to be dangerous. Something that looked like a helpless puppy, but was really a wolf in disguise.
Ellie put her arm around my waist to offer support, but I couldn’t put a name to how I was feeling right now.
“Well, I screwed up pretty bad,” she said, leaning against me. “But being who we are, it really doesn’t matter who she is, does it? You see that bruise under her eye she’s trying to hide with makeup?”
I did. I saw the bruise.
“She’s in trouble,” Ellie concluded. “We’re going to need to help her.”
Help her. This girl who said she was my half sister. The daughter of a woman I loathed.
Then Ellie patted me on the shoulder. “Look at it this way, Jake. At least this time you don’t have to marry anyone.”
Also by S Doyle
Hope you liked this novella! If you want to read Ruby and Cody’s story it’s coming in September in…
The Homecoming
Read the Excerpt included.
Plus other books by S Doyle
The Bad Assassin
Catching The Billionaire
Excerpt from the Homecoming
Chapter 1
Ruby
Thanksgiving Day
This was so messed up. I was sitting at a table with a plate of turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole in front of me. And gravy. Did I mention the fucking gravy? A bunch of people were milling in and out under the pretense of getting another piece of pie.
What they really wanted, I think, was to check me out.<
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I felt like a fish in a fish bowl, and I wanted out. If my car still ran I would have gotten back in it and kept on going. I didn’t know what I was going to find here. I hadn’t really thought much about it. Only about leaving Tacoma. The letter seemed like a sign.
A get out of your shitty life free card. So I took it, and all the money I could get my hands on that Todd hadn’t stolen. Just got in my car and started driving.
Now I was here and all I wanted to do was leave. There was no real welcome from my half brother. Just a dark scary look when I mentioned my mother. Which I figured, right?
She totally bailed on him. I didn’t even know I had half brother until the letter showed up. I called her down in Mexico when I got it and she was like…
“I put that part of my life behind me.”
That part of her life! It was her fucking son. Not that I should be surprised. I probably should be grateful she stuck around as long as she did with me. I had just graduated from high school when she told me she was leaving with Don for Mexico. I could sublease the apartment from her—thanks, Mom!—but had to find a job that could make rent.
I waited tables and tended bar. I drove for Uber, except my car kept breaking down. It wasn’t enough.
Which is how Todd happened.
But I didn’t want to think about Todd. I wanted to think about how fucking good the gravy was. How nice the pregnant lady was and what an asshole my half brother was. Maybe it was a cowboy thing. The cowboy who had picked me up on the side of the road hadn’t been any charmer.
It was like he was annoyed with me from the get-go, without even knowing me. Most people took weeks to figure out I was mostly an angry bitch.
Except all of that was supposed to change.
I wasn’t going to be that angry person anymore. I wasn’t going to be so mad at everyone all of the time. I wasn’t going to snap. Instead, I was going to smile. Except I hadn’t exactly gotten off to a great start with Cowboy Number One.
Jake, Cowboy Number Two, was over by the door of the kitchen talking to his wife.
Ella.
No, Ellie.
She of the turkey and stuffing and extra gravy extravaganza. Of the guest room that smelled clean and nice. The easy smile that made other people around her want to smile.
Her, I thought. I wanted to be like her.
But I could tell, I was so not her. Miles away from her. How did I get back to that? I used to smile and laugh as a kid. Sometimes. Before fighting with Adele became a constant in my life.
“Something wrong with the food?”
I looked up and it was Cowboy Number One. He also had a plate with him and was sitting down at the table in the kitchen. Everyone else was starting to head out. Bellies full. Gossip to start spreading.
“No,” I muttered. It was too good. Too delicious. Too homey. Like I was the kind of person who could have a homemade Thanksgiving dinner.
That had not been Adele’s thing. Cooking. Or cleaning much. Or holidays in general. She used to say it was all commercial and overrated. She’d even given up on Christmas presents when I was twelve. Said I was too old for that kind of thing anymore.
Too old for Christmas at twelve.
That kind of sucked. Which contributed to me being mad all the time. About everything.
I took a bite of the turkey with the stuffing and gravy all on one forkful. As if to prove how much I enjoyed it. Not that I had to prove anything to Cowboy Number One.
Which I guess I could have asked his name. Had I even said thank you for driving me? I had been so nervous on the way here. Fearful that my half brother was going to take one look at me and tell me to get the hell off his property. Which I’m not sure if his wife Ellie wasn’t around, he very well might have.
Anyway, this was supposed to be a new start. That change had to start with me.
“Thank you for the ride.”
He scowled at that. “What are you up to?”
“What am I up to?” I parroted. Escape. A new life. A job. Family? But that was probably going way to far.
“Yeah. What’s your game? These are good people, and I swear to God if you’re here to rip them off…”
“I’m not a thief, if that’s what you’re suggesting.” I was a lot of things. I wasn’t that. I didn’t want to steal from them. “What’s your problem anyway? You don’t even know me.”
He took a forkful of food and eyed me warily. Like I was a cat about to pounce.
“You show up here, out of the blue. With no plan. Dropping a bomb on a guy that he’s got a sister.”
“Hey,” I protested. “I didn’t drop the bomb. I got a letter in the mail telling me about a baby on the way.” Or at least my mother did. “I was curious and wanted to meet them. What’s the big deal?”
“On Thanksgiving. With no notice? I don’t buy it. You’re running from something, and people who run usually have trouble coming after them.”
“Well, I don’t.”
Todd had no idea I was leaving, let alone having a clue about where I was going. He could ping my phone I guess… but why would he bother?
“Yeah, well just know I’m watching you. I don’t give a shit what your sob story is, I’m not letting you hurt these people. Not when they’ve got a baby coming. You ever live outside a city?”
I shook my head. Born and raised in Tacoma. Which wasn’t anyone’s definition of a big city. More like a poorer suburban sprawl an hour south of Seattle.
“I didn’t think so, Seattle. FYI, around here nobody gets a free ride. You aren’t a guest. We’ll see how long you last once your city hands start getting dirty.”
“I’m not afraid of work,” I said. I wasn’t. I had been working at least twenty hours a week since I was sixteen. I could handle anything they threw at me—I just hoped they would throw something at me. Instead of telling me to get lost, which they had every right to do.
I had no illusions this was going to be some kind of family reunion. I just wanted… a chance.
“You know, I started this conversation thanking you for helping me and you’ve done nothing but shit on me. FYI, you’re an asshole. Happy Thanksgiving.”
He didn’t respond to that. Instead he finished the food on his plate. When he was done he excused himself, which I supposed meant he had a mother who raised him right, and left the room.
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