Her modest two-story home was old and nondescript but as neat as a pin. I imagined that her ancestors built the home brick by brick with the same love that most families in Farmerton put into their dwellings. Ruby had been a wonderful steward of the residence, with its slightly worn wooden floorboards. Despite the natural wear and tear of a house its age, it had no visible cracks in the walls or gaps between the walls and floors.
The only thing that drew my eye to its disorder was three overstuffed bookshelves with books stacked vertically and horizontally. There were so many books that some were stacked in high piles on the floor. I pointed toward the shelves as we sat at her table and ate our chili.
“It looks as if you could use a library.”
Ruby’s eyes followed the spoon I pointed toward the shelves. She smiled when she glanced into the room behind her.
“Yes. Reading is my guilty pleasure. I have more boxes of books in the basement. They’re like good friends I can’t throw away.”
As Ruby spoke about her books, her posture relaxed. Her love of learning tugged at my heart despite her potential hoarder tendencies.
“Maybe one day I could build you a home library that can store those books and lots more.”
Ruby rested her hands on her chest and held back a smile.
“And maybe a reading nook?”
“Yes, and anything else you wanted.”
She reached for my hand across the table and squeezed it, giving me one of the sweetest smiles I’d ever seen.
“I’d like that a lot, but it’s not the needful thing. There’s so much more to do around here.” She lifted her hand and waved it around the room.
I reached for her hand again and held it firmly. “A hard-working woman deserves a space where she can be pampered and catered to.”
She hid her blush behind the napkin she picked up with her free hand.
“Tell you what, Ms. Starks. When I’m done fixing everything else up, I’ll throw in your library for free. Deal?” I rubbed the top of her hand with my thumb.
She nodded.
“Deal.”
Ruby looked at me with a full-on smile that radiated brighter than the hottest sun on a Gulf Coast beach in summer. Its contrast to the chilly weather outside made me want to promise her more little pleasures. I sensed something sweet about her despite her somewhat tough exterior. For now, I’d let her hide behind that wall, but the inquisitive side of me was determined to pull more from her.
Ruby removed her hand from mine and placed it back in her lap. She looked at her bowl before quickly glancing outside the window.
“Was this your grandparents’ place?” I ate another spoonful of piping hot chili.
“Yes. My parents owned it for a while, but they retired to North Carolina. When I left Atlanta, I decided to fix it up and keep it in the family.”
I remembered when Ruby moved here over five years ago. There was some kind of buzz around town from the old biddies that she had been knocked off her high horse. I didn’t pay attention to them at the time, because their words were mean-spirited and unneighborly in a place where community and family were taunted as our brand.
Instead of chiming in with the gossipers, I observed Ruby for myself. As someone whose story had been misconstrued, I often wondered how she fared in a place that wasn’t always forgiving to attractive single women. She was the epitome of grace every time I ran into her. Her gentle and polite nature drew me in so much that I requested that Aspen be placed in her first-grade class.
That set me up to see her more often. When Ruby hinted that she needed home repair services during a morning drop off, I gave her my card and a deep discount, hoping she would take advantage of it.
To the depths of my soul, I believed that Ruby Starks had a powerful testimony. I just didn’t know what it was . . . yet.
“I haven’t had chili this tasty in years.”
Ruby looked up from her bowl and smiled, barely showing me her pretty teeth.
“Thank you. I rarely cook for others, so it’s good to know I’ve still got what it takes to feed a virile man.”
Virile?
Ruby’s suggestive word choice wasn’t lost on me. I gave her a crooked grin.
