Embittered Ruby (5 page)

“I see we’re skipping the small talk today?” Zach chuckled.

Love you, but not in the mood
. “Yeah, let’s just play.”

Zach threw a ball into the air, reared back his racquet, and skimmed the ball right over the net in a perfect serve.

WHAP!

WHOP!

Carmen returned volley after volley with a vengeance. She raised her arm high above her head in a serve so powerful it lifted both her feet off the ground.

“Wow, girl. Go easy on an old man, will you?” Zach rubbed his face with a towel and guzzled some water. “What’s gotten into you today? You’re playing like you have something to prove.”

More like someone to destroy. “I don’t know. Just getting out some frustrations. Feels good.” Carmen hunched down and shifted from side to side, spinning her racquet in her hands.

“We’ll have to get you worked up more often. Before tournaments, if possible.”

“The way my life’s been going, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

A fifty-something club employee in a sharply creased uniform stepped onto the court with a clipboard in hand. “Excuse me. Are you Carmen Castillo?” She overpronounced the Spanish accent, and her upturned nose gave away her distaste.

What does she want? “Yeah. That’s me. What’s up?”

“I’m Corelle, the membership manager.” The woman’s nose twitched. “I just wondered if your father has signed you in as a guest for today. I don’t have record of it.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have to sign in. We’re members here.” Carmen’s heart began to thud. Pretty clear where the conversation headed.

She lowered her glasses and peered over the rims. “Young lady, your father is a member. Your mother moved away, and she has changed the residency of you and your sisters.…”

How could that she-devil Nazi have such private information? Someone had to have turned it in. Tiffany maybe?

“…which, of course, means you can’t be listed on the membership. Your father may bring you as a guest as often as he’d like though—at the standard guest rates. And of course, you do lose your member pricing on lessons and other amenities.”

“Of course I do.” Carmen looked up at the gymnasium’s fluorescent lighting, hoping it would dry her eyes before she gave Cruella…um…Corelle the satisfaction of an emotional response. “Don’t you think this is a conversation you should have with my dad?”

“I’d love to, but he’s not here. Which, since you’re no longer a member, means you’re trespassing.” Corelle pushed her glasses back in place. “We’ll make an exception today, but in the future you’ll only be allowed to use the club if you’re accompanied by a member.” The country-club Nazi turned on her heels and strode away.

How typical. If it could go wrong for Carmen, it would. She faced Zach. “You wanted me worked up so I’d be powerful on the courts? I guess it can’t get any better than right now. Oh, but it won’t do us any good; I have to leave.” She spun around toward the locker room. Hold the tears until the shower. Don’t cry in front of Zach.

Zach reached out a hand and clutched Carmen’s wrist. “Surely your Dad will work things out for you. It’ll be okay. You’ll see.”

She shook her hand free. “Don’t count on it.”

Carmen snuggled in her favorite deck chair wrapped in the well-worn wedding-ring quilt Grandma had made when Carmen was a baby. The pool spread out before her. Carmen watched as the tranquil water flowed over the rocks and into the hot tub. The rushing of the falls soothed her rattled nerves. Where was Nate? She needed to see him. How could he be late when they hadn’t seen each other in days?

The french doors off the sunroom opened, and an angel stepped out. Carmen’s breath caught as she saw Nate standing across the pool. The midmorning sun shone behind him, and his reflection reached across the water and almost touched her on the other side.

He leaned on the doorframe and stared at her. His eyes went right into her heart and soul. Like he read her from the inside out.

He seemed so far away though. Separated by a world of water. In the moment and in life.
Come closer
. But at least her pool…um,
Dad’s
pool…wasn’t the Hudson River, which divided their states. If she closed her eyes, maybe she could freeze-frame the image of Nate filling the doorway looking at her.

SPLASH!

Carmen raised her arms to shield against the wave rising from the deep end like a tsunami. It rained down a torrent big enough to almost reach her spot on the deck. Had Nate jumped in? No. There he stood, stunned and drenched, in the same spot he’d been before Carmen blinked. Carmen glared at the surface of the water and waited until the intruder came up for air. Who was it? A flash of red appeared in the water near her, and then Kimberley’s head broke the surface.

“What’s your boyfriend doing just standing there? It’s creepy.”

Argh. Kim. Carmen rolled her eyes at Nate. “Can you believe this?”

He grinned.

“What are you doing swimming in that icy water? It might still technically be summer, but it’s freezing out here.” Carmen stood and reached a towel toward her sister.

Kimberley waved away the towel. “I’m going in the hot tub. Want to come? Or are you two going to go make out somewhere?”

“Like it’s any of your business.”

“Where are my girls?” a voice boomed through the house and ricocheted off the walls and bounced off the high ceilings.

Carmen heard feet scamper down the hall and then slide across the slick wood toward the top of the stairs. Had to be the all-forgiving Harper. “What time is it?”

Nate swiped his finger across his cell phone screen to bring it to life. “Um…three thirty.”

“Oh, he’s only about forty-four hours late. Not bad. Must have been some meeting.” She unfurled from the warm nest she’d built beside Nate on her bed and stretched her arms far over her head. “Want to pause the movie?”

Nate scowled and pointed the remote at the plasma TV, freezing Natalie Portman midword. “You’ve seen this like a hundred times.”

“One hundred and one should probably do it.” Carmen winked at Nate then sauntered toward the stairs. No way she’d go bounding toward her long-lost daddy who’d finally graced them with his presence. Nah. He could wait a minute for her this time.

“Hey, Carmen.” Dad looked up the stairs and watched her descend the last four steps into the foyer.

Carmen crossed her arms and held his gaze with a challenging stare. “Hi.”

He blinked twice then looked down at Harper tucked in the crook of his arm. “How are my girls?”

“We missed you, Daddy, and then you didn’t come for us. Why didn’t you?”

Way to go, Harper. If Carmen had said it, he’d have thought she was being difficult. But impish Harper could get away with it.

“I’m sorry, sweet pea. I had some problems come up at the account I had to take care of in LA. I had to stay until the problem resolved.” Dad smiled. “You wouldn’t want Daddy to lose his job, would you?”

Not that his job did his children a whole lot of good anymore. Carmen bit her lip. Best to change the subject before she said something she’d regret. “There’s a problem at the country club—they won’t let me keep coming since I don’t live here anymore.”

“An oversight, I’m sure. I’ll see what I can do about it on Monday.”

“I’m not sure it’s going to be as easy as you think. The membership Nazi was dead serious about me not coming back.”

“Okay. I said I’d look into it. But come on—I just got home…no shop talk. What do you say we all go get a soda from the kitchen and catch up?”

“Cool.” Kimberley came around the corner with her beach towel slung over her shoulder.

“I can’t. Nate’s over. We’re watching a movie.” Carmen put her foot up on the step behind her, ready to bolt.

“I haven’t seen you in two weeks.”

Eww. She hated it when he whined. “Well, last night and today was supposed to be our time. I kept myself free and available. But…what can I say?” Carmen shrugged and turned away.

Dad exhaled.

Carmen cringed, waiting for him to tell her to come back, but no words came. She won, and her point had been made. Now to get back to her bedroom. She hurried down the hall, dove into the bed, and tried to re-create her pillow cloud beside Nate.

“Since your dad’s home, where am I going to sleep? Will it still be okay to sleep in your room?” Nate twisted a lock of Carmen’s hair between his fingers.

“Of course you can. It’s just, well, you know how it is. You’ll have to keep your hands to yourself…um…for other reasons.” She squirmed. “You know.”

Nate scowled. “The weekend gets better and better.”

Carmen raised one eyebrow. “What? My company isn’t enough for you?”

“Of course your company is enough. It’s…I haven’t seen you in a while. It’ll be even longer this next time and every time after, since we’ll have to wait the whole two weeks. And we were planning a special night. What am I supposed to do?”

Wait. You’re supposed to wait
. Like Carmen should have made him do from the start. “I guess we’ll find out if it’s true. What’s the old saying? Absence makes the heart grow stronger?”

“Fonder.” Judging by his sulk, it didn’t look like he bought it.

Would Nate pass the test? Oh, he’d make it through the night all right; it was long-term Carmen worried about.

N
ight and day. Fire and ice. Happy and sad. The extremes pelted Carmen’s consciousness as she floated ghostlike through the front doors, past the security guard, and into her new school for the first day of her junior year. She looked ahead but watched everything in her periphery. Lockers lining the wall, people walking by, couples kissing in the doorways, students talking on cell phones, sports jerseys, books. Everything existed as it had at her old school, but they looked different: cracked, faded, worn, old. Briarcliff High School had been so…sparkly. And so not…scary.

Nate had suggested she search for some things about Hackensack she liked better than Briarcliff. But did he really believe she could come up with things, or was he just trying to make her feel better? Because, at first glance, the quest for positive at Hackensack didn’t look promising.

Wham!

Carmen hit a brick wall. Her books slid from her arms and smacked the worn tile around her feet. Loose-leaf paper scattered in every direction. Her eyes traveled up slowly—then up even more—until they locked with the dark pair belonging to the guy from the street outside her apartment. He’d looked much shorter from the fire escape. And why did he always stare at her with that same creepy laser-like glare?