Just Her Luck (77 page)

I fidgeted.

I went to shovel in another chocolaty morsel, an excuse not to answer, but she snatched the plate back.

“Hmph.” She held it just out of my reach, lips pursing impudently.

I hmph-ed right back, eyes narrowing to little slits.

Evil wench!

And the staring match ensued.

It went on for about a full minute before I threw my hands up and broke.

“Fatch bwoke his weg and Weeve is an ass. Gimme!” I confessed with a mouth full of cookie goodness.

She reluctantly handed the plate back, snatching three or four for herself and nibbling on one daintily.

“Oh,” she waved her hand, “is that all?”

I swallowed and frowned at her.

“They were all being jerks. Except for Thatcher, he was on cloud nine at the moment, probably still is...”

“So? They’re jerks.” She shrugged. “That’s never made you come ‘round here to hide out before. And you
are
hiding.”

I gasped a little, giving a huff. “I am
not
hiding.”

Am I?

I had to think about that for a minute.

Okay, maybe I am a little.

She snorted.

“Keep telling yourself that, dear. Let me know when pigs fly too.” She smiled an evil little smile, patting my hand.

“You’re point, madam?” I groused, waving a half-eaten cookie at her.

“My point, dear heart, is that you’re hiding, not from them beings jerks, but because you’re scared.”

NO!

Nuh-uh!

I went to protest out loud, but she stayed me with her hand held up.

“He’s alright, Genevieve. It was just a broken leg.”

She would have hugged me, but I pulled back and leapt to my feet.

“It was not
just
a broken leg! He was hurt! He could have been seriously injured! How the hell do you people not see this clearly? He could have…” I choked a little, “He… He could have…”

“But he didn’t,” Ruthie stated firmly, tugging me down towards the side of her bed.

I complied immediately, sinking down into the smell of Ruthie and lavender, a hint of the perfume she always wears still on her skin.

I wrapped my arms around her and sniffled into her shoulder.

She patted my back reassuringly.

“He could have gone outside and been hit by a milk truck, came down with cancer like you’re dear old Ruthie right here. A broken leg is the
least
of your worries, dear heart.”

She pulled me back to stare at me, pushing my bangs off my face.

“Don’t be scared. You’ll regret it before you know it if you do. Don’t let fear get in the way of your happiness, of what matters most. Go to them.” She nudged me.” They love you, you love them, they won’t leave you unless it’s their time,
and you know it
. If that’s ever the case, you can’t do a damned thing about it either way. We don’t get to decide those kinds of things. It’s out of our hands. No regrets, remember? Be yourself. Be with them. Be happy. End of story.”

She gave me a tiny shake, and I laughed.

“Be happy, okay? Be happy for me.”

I nodded, wiping my eyes.

“I can do that.” I smiled.

“Good. Now, quit being a watering pot, get the hell outta here, and go make me some babies. Somebody has to win that stupid wedding bet, and it better be before I’m dead!”

Talk about just saying it!

“Ruthie!”

She knows about that?

“What?” She shrugged, unrepentant, “I’m dyin’. I can make demands. Marry one of them already, make me some babies to hold, and let me go with a smile on my face.”

Her cell phone rang right then, dinging a text message, and she turned to check it.

“But, you can’t, I mean. We haven’t… how did you… and…”

Her shoulders shook a little.

I quit babbling and studied her.

What the…

I peered around and got a glimpse of her face, her frail hands typing away like a fifteen year old texting away at her bestie, her body shaking with laughter.

I didn’t even know she knew how to text message.

I growled when I got a good look at her.

She was messing with me big time and the crazy smile on her face gave it away, her fit of shaking laughter only confirming my belief.

“You’re horrible!” I sputtered indignantly.

She hid her phone message, pressing it to her chest and looking up at me thoughtfully.

“Huh. Did I lay it on too thick? Was I that obvious?”

I turned my head towards the open door.

“Barry! Is Ruthie on happy pills? She’s actin’ funny and demanding babies!”

I brought my head back around.

She winked, cackling.

“What?!” Barry shouted, a banging, clanging sound coming from the kitchen.

Marney laughed loudly, talking quietly with her new husband, their voices soft undistinguishable murmurs.

“You probably gave that boy a heart attack!” she chortled, dropping her phone in the process.

“Don’t worry, I’ll…”

I paused as I picked up her phone and saw a familiar name in the sender box.

I stepped back, ignoring her protests as I read the message, safely out of her reach, then went to her inbox and checked the dozens of other messages she had in there, ignoring her threats to blister my ass for being so ‘impertinent’.

Apparently she’s never heard of erasing her inbox, giving away the Harrison house’s snitch.

I jerked when I got to the text before last, gaping for a minute.

“He was jumping off a cliff!” I screeched, my free hand gripping my hair. “A cliff!!!”

“Oh, now don’t get too upset. Boys will be boys.”

“They’re grown assed men! Grown assed men don’t jump off cliffs into large bodies of water! They could break their legs! What were they thinking?!”

“Your eye is twitching again, hun. You need to calm down. It was a small cliff, I’m sure…”

“Oh, my god! I’m going to kill them!”

I went to storm from the room.

“Can I at least have my phone back? I never did get to send my message!” she called as I stomped down the hall.

I stomped back and handed over her pilfered cell. “Here.”

She gripped my shirt and waited.

I knew what she wanted and obliged.

Leaning down, I hugged her, kissed her cheek and went to leave.

“Take it easy on ‘em, Vieve. At least let one of them live!”

She was guffawing from her bed, cheeks rosy from laughter.

I walked back and hugged her again, tucking her quilt in around her.

“You’re crazy, you know that? Maybe that’s why I love you so much,” I muttered.

“You won’t get after Bowen for giving me little tidbits about the goings on at the house, will you?”

“No,” I shook my head, still shocked to find out it was my big bad wolf gossiping with her.

Never would have pegged him for it.

Looks like the mystery is solved though.

Bowen, a gossip? Huh…

“Nah, I won’t even tell him I know. I wouldn’t spoil all your fun,” I teased, “how are you going to berate me if you don’t have any of the juicy details?”

She grinned and sent off her next text message.

“Thank you, hun. Glad you understand.”

“Of course, I do. That’s why I hit Barry up and we gossip about you.”

“You ungrateful little brat,” she huffed, feigning consternation.

“I love you too!” I sang, waving out of her room.

“Of course you do. How could you not?”

I burst out laughing, bumping into Barry in the hall.

He rolled his eyes.

“And she wonders where you get it from?” he chuckled.

“I heard that!”

“Of course you did, you old battle axe! You were supposed to!” he shouted.

“Barry!” Marney scolded from the kitchen, making Ruthie cackle gleefully.

I grinned.

He leaned towards me, shooting worried glances towards the kitchen.

“She can hear
everything,”
he whispered, “she’s got like super human hearing or something.”

“I heard that!” Marney yelled.

Ruthie was doing a wonderful imitation of a hyena.

See?
He mouthed, making me laugh.
She can hear everything.

“Bye, Marney!” I called, laughing softly.

“Sure you can’t stay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I gotta head home.”

“Okay, bye, Genevieve!”

Barry stopped whatever he’d been doing and headed back towards his wife. I heard his voice when he hit the kitchen, just as I was closing the door.

“What? What did I do
now?”
He sounded completely exasperated with his new wife.

She giggled, he grumbled, then mushy wet kissing noises followed, and I couldn’t be happier for them.

Now it’s off to bash some numbskulls,
I thought determinedly, ready to head home.

I looked up at all the gray clouds hovering in the darkened sky and figured I might want to hurry it up.

Looks like it’s going to rain again soon.

****

So sooner was sooner than I thought and it started pouring down with a vengeance.

I drove carefully, aware of the unfavorable driving conditions, cooling my jets a little as I focused on not slipping and sliding everywhere.

I knew, the second I heard the noise, that something was wrong.

My little bug started to die, sputtering and chugging as I eased it off the road, pulled over and shut it off.

“Damn it! Not you too!” I groaned, searching for my cell phone.

I found it and went to dial the ranch, only to discover the damned thing was dead, my charger still inconveniently in Reeve’s truck.

“You have got to be kidding me!” I bellowed, smacking my palms on the steering wheel repeatedly, watching the rain slosh down over the windshield.

I went to try and start my bug again, but it was no dice.

Looks like I’m walking the rest of the way home.

I glanced out the window again.

In that.

I found one of my jackets wedged in the back seat, wishing it had a hoodie.

“Well,” I sighed disgustedly, “it’s better than nothing.”

I put it over my head and got out, careful of the muddy road as I navigated my way home.

****

It was late enough when I got home, too late, and I couldn’t have been happier to see the front of the house as I came up the road.

I hurried up the steps and practically ran inside, hoping it was much warmer inside than it was outside.

Lucky me, hallelujah, it was, much, much warmer.

Ahhh, I wanted to sigh, my water soaked skin cherishing the warmth.

“Where have you bee…” Reeve started, then stopped when he got a good look at me.

The jacket I’d used to fend off the rain landed in a wet splat at my feet as I tossed it.

“So much for my old blisters, these ones would make those ones blush,” I muttered, sitting down on the entry way tiles to take my shoes off.

My feet whimpered in protest as I wiggled them around, my socks in the wet clothes pile I’d started next to me.

It had been a
long
walk.

“Baby? What happened?” Ephraim knelt down in front of me, and I glared at him.

“Have fun cliff diving, cowboy?” I muttered.

“Uh…”

I looked over at Reeve, who’d joined Ephraim. “Where’s Thatcher?”

“He’s sleeping.”

“Good,” I nodded, shaking my wet head, “I’ll deal with him later.”

Reeve frowned, helping me when I struggled to get out of my shirt.

“What the hell happened, hell cat? You had me worried. You can’t go traipsing around in the rain like that.”

“Oh, yeah, you know me, I just go ‘a’ traipsin’,” I snapped.

His mouth clacked shut.

I rubbed my forehead, cold and tired, ready to crawl into a warm snuggly bed.

“My car broke down and my cell phone died. Sorry,
sir
,” I mocked, “this was all I could think off.”

I paused before I actually removed anymore clothing.

“Is anyone else here?” I asked.