Red and the Wolf
Authors: Cindy C Bennett
Red and the Wolf
Red and the Wolf
by
Cindy C Bennett
Copyright 2012 Cindy C Bennett
USA All Rights Reserved
Smashwords Edition
Cover Design: Cindy C Bennett
Cover Photo Copyrighted:
Sergii Shalimov
|
Dreamstime.com
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Red and the Wolf
Part I: Homecoming
“Hey, Red, wait up.”
Ruby stopped, teeth and fists clenched at the voice. Taking a breath and forcing a pleasant look on her face, she turned toward the speaker.
“Hey, Lowell, what’s up?”
Lowell continued jogging toward her. Ruby wouldn’t deny it: Lowell was gorgeous. Tall, dark hair, dark eyes, strong jaw, full lips, just enough stubble to exude a sexy aura . . . buff in all the right places. Even covered in jeans and a jacket in the chill air, his strength was obvious. Most girls in their tiny mountain burg of Piera would give anything for Lowell to turn his gaze their way. And he had, on many of them, leaving a string of broken hearts. Not that it stopped those same girls from continuing to pursue him.
“Just chasing down the elusive fox,” he said, bestowing on her the grin used for melting girls’ hearts. Didn’t work with Ruby. She rolled her eyes and continued walking. If it wasn’t for her lifelong friendship with Lowell’s family, she wouldn’t give the guy the time of day. “Come on, Red, I’m just teasing you.”
Ruby stopped again in frustration. Lowell, hurrying to catch up to her, continued past at her abrupt stop and turned back to her.
“Lowell, I’ve told you how much I hate being called Red. Why do you insist?”
He shrugged, completely unrepentant. “It’s your name, right?”
“No, my name is Ruby.” There was one person who could call her Red and get away with it. And she didn’t need any reminders of
him
.
“Which means red. And if that weren’t enough, well . . .” He lifted a strand of her long, curly hair.
She cursed her parents yet again for thinking they were so clever naming their red-headed child Ruby.
She sighed. “You’re so . . .”
“Charming? Sweet?” Lowell’s fingers lightly pinched his chin. “Incredibly good looking?” He tipped his head comically side to side. Ruby couldn’t help it, she laughed. “See? I knew you liked me,” he said.
“Incorrigible,” she said. “You are utterly incorrigible.”
Lowell placed a hand dramatically over his heart. “Why do you wound me?”
“I’m in a hurry, Lowell,” she said with a grimace, and began walking again. “Is there a purpose to this torment?”
Lowell stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. As she walked away, he said somberly, “Thought you might be interested to know that my baby bro is coming home.”
Ruby’s feet practically skidded to a halt. Her mouth dropped. She raised a hand to her chest as if she could still her pounding heart. She calmed her breathing into a normal pattern, snapped her gaping jaw shut, and said, “Rafe’s coming home?” When Lowell didn’t answer, she glanced back at him. He nodded. “When?”
“Tomorrow.”
Ruby turned away from Lowell again.
Tomorrow?
Hurt threaded through her heart, and she forced nonchalance into her voice. “Good. That’s good. It’ll be good to see him again. Tell him to stop by the shop and say hi.”
Without looking at Lowell again, she walked away. She heard his muttered, “You’re not fooling anyone,” but ignored him, not in the mood to spar with him. Not about this.
Rafe.
Coming home.
* * * * *
“Those will fly off the shelves with their attractiveness.”
Ruby shook herself from her reverie and smiled at Marina. She glanced at the cupcakes she’d been decorating and grimaced.
“Ugh, sorry.”
Marina walked over and picked up one of the cupcakes that had a very lopsided purple flower sagging across the top. “Might work for a stag party, right? Everyone so drunk that they’ll appear upright?”
Ruby took it from her and scraped the frosting off the top into the trash can. “I’ll fix them. I’m so sorry.”
Marina placed her hand on Ruby’s arm and lowered her hand to the table. Ruby released the cupcake as her head dropped.
“Wanna talk about it?” Marina asked.
Ruby glanced at her boss—who also happened to be her best friend. Marina was older than Ruby by six years. She hadn’t been her friend during high school and so hadn’t been part of the story of Rafe and Ruby—and Ruby’s heartbreak when Rafe left her. But Marina knew anyway. Everyone in Piera did.
“Rafe’s coming home,” Ruby said, angrily wiping away the single tear that fell.
“Oh, sweetie,” Marina sympathized, taking Ruby’s hand and leading her into her office. She pulled Ruby onto the small couch next to her. “Okay. Tell me.”
Ruby took a shuddering breath, eyes on her wringing hands in her lap. “I don’t want to be
that
girl.”
“What girl?”
“The girl who pines over lost love. If it can even be called lost love.” Ruby shuddered again. “I loved Rafe, not just as a friend, but . . . well, you know. He was my best friend growing up.”
Then she’d fallen in love with him. She thought he felt the same when, a week after graduation, he kissed her. The kiss was more amazing than Ruby had dreamed. Her entire world had shifted when he kissed her. And then he left. Without saying goodbye.
“I wrote to him so many times,” she told Marina. “I didn’t tell him I loved him. I didn’t beg him to come home or ask him why he’d left or if he was seeing anyone. I talked to him like I always did.”
“He didn’t write back?” Marina asked.
“Yeah, he did. At first. Then he quit writing at all. Everything I knew about him I knew because of Lowell. Now, he’s coming home. Without warning, without telling me. Why? Why now?”
Marina pulled one of Ruby’s hands into hers and squeezed it. “Well, he’s done with school for the year, right? I mean, it’s springtime. Classes are over.”
Ruby closed her eyes. “He’s been gone three years. He hasn’t come home any other summer.”
“So?”
“So, why now?” Ruby said, agitated. She stood and paced. “There’s nothing for him here, anymore. If he’s coming home, there’s probably only one reason.”
“And that would be?”
“A girl, right? He’s bringing a girl home to meet his family.”
“He is?” Surprise shone in Marina’s eyes.
“Well, I don’t know,” Ruby admitted. “I just can’t imagine any other reason he’d be coming.”
Marina smiled, but quickly dropped it before Ruby could comment. “C’mon, Ruby. There’re a lot of reasons. Maybe he wants to see his brother.” Ruby shot her a look. Marina held up a hand. “You never know. Maybe they’ve made amends over the years. His parents are here also, you know. And he has friends here. Maybe he just misses home. Or my cupcakes.” Ruby sank back onto the couch, burying her face in her hands in frustration. Marina put a hand on her back. “Maybe he misses you.”
Ruby shuddered at her words. “If he missed me, Marina, he’d have called or written. How am I supposed to deal with him?”
Marina placed a hand under Ruby’s chin and urged it upright. “The same as you always have, like the strong, confident, amazing woman you are.”
“You mean not like the sniveling idiot I’m being right now?” She smiled tremulously.
“If there’s one thing you’re not, it’s an idiot. I wouldn’t hire an idiot to help me create my world famous creations.”
Marina joked, but she spoke the truth. Her cakes and cupcakes were shipped all over the world, and paid premium for. Only here in Piera did she sell them for the almost free price of a buck a cupcake, an entire cake for eight dollars, or wedding cakes that were always given away as Marina’s gift to the couple.
“I
am
a complete idiot when it comes to Rafe,” Ruby said. She spoke as much truth as Marina.
* * * * *
Word of Rafe’s homecoming spread quickly. Excitement spread throughout Piera. Rafe had been well loved before leaving. In the past six months, the only thing noteworthy in Piera was the sudden rise in wolf attacks on animals. Wild claims of an oversized wolf spotted had sent the citizens into panic, to the point that people rarely went out after dark now, keeping pets locked up inside their homes or barns. Not that the barns stopped the wolf who was more intelligent than some of the locks people used.
For some reason, people assumed Ruby had insight into Rafe’s return. How could they know she hadn’t spoken to him in over a year? Still, each time someone asked her about his return, her stomach knotted and her heart twisted.
Ruby was placing some pale green cupcakes in the window that looked like ice cream cones when Lowell’s car stopped in front of the shop. She froze with a cake in her hand. She wanted to run and hide, but couldn’t move if her life depended on it. She knew exactly who was in the car with Lowell.
Lowell stepped out the driver’s side, but Ruby’s eyes were glued to the opposite side of the car. The door opened and Rafe stepped out, facing the opposite way. The sun glinted off his short, dark blonde hair. He turned and Ruby’s heart stopped. It would have been too much to hope he’d turned into an ogre during his time away, she supposed. Instead, he looked better than ever.