And so she did.
She explained how she had misunderstood what happened with Marco—and how that fear had followed her for years, convincing her it would happen again.
She talked about the fake marriage to Braden, about two people hiding from the same truth. She told them why she had come home early from New Orleans, though she spared them the worst of the fight.
Then she spoke about Ruby—about what it felt like to see her again after all those years.
Finally, she admitted how good it had felt to stop pretending, even if only for a week. And confessed she had fallen in love with Ruby… even knowing she was still too afraid to choose her.
“She bought a sketchbook and rocket kit for the children because she wanted them to have something special. She cared about them even though she'd never met them.”
“She sounds wonderful,” Ottavia said appreciatively. “Where is she now?”
“I don't know. I…I ruined it by asking to keep our relationship a secret. And she said no, because she deserves better than that. She does deserve better than that.”
And in addition to that, her last words to Ruby had been cruel, throwing her failures in her face and violating her trust by sharing her work without permission.
Ruby would never forgive her. And Celeste wasn’t sure she deserved forgiveness.
“Oh, sweetheart.” Ottavia murmured. “It's not too late. You can still—”
Celeste’s phone buzzed and Braden's name flashed on the screen.
She stepped into the hallway to answer. “Hey.”
“Ruby's here in Cheyenne Valley.” Braden's voice was urgent. “She returned the rental car, said hello, and now she’s heading to the airport to board a flight to Arizona.”
Celeste could hardly believe her ears. “She's here? Now?”
“If you want to fix this, you need to head to the airport now. Her flight leaves in about half an hour.”
Celeste checked her watch with fumbling fingers.
4:15.
“Go,” Braden encouraged. “Just go.”
Celeste hung up and rushed back into the living room. “I have to go. Ruby is here. She’s at the airport. Braden just called me. I'm sorry. I'll explain everything later, I promise—”
“Go,” her mother said, understanding lighting her face immediately. “We'll watch the kids.”
“Go be brave, my little one,” Vittoria said, her eyes shining with pride. “Go fight for your happiness.”
Celeste grabbed her keys and ran.
The drive to the airport usually took fifteen minutes. Celeste made it in eight, hovering on the cusp of breaking what felt like every traffic law in Illinois. She ran red lights and cut offother drivers, and as she did so, she prayed that she’d get there in time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ruby
Ruby stood at the service desk in the arrival hall of the airport and tried not to think about the fact that she was in the same town where Celeste lived and breathed just a short distance away.
Coming back here had been a mistake. The moment she'd crossed the town limits, memories had ambushed her from every direction. The road where she'd almost hit Celeste on that first day, for one, and the rental place where they'd picked up the car that had carried them through the best and worst week of Ruby's life, among others.
It had felt suffocating.
She'd returned the rental car as quickly as possible and then she'd gone straight to Jackson and Braden's house to say goodbye.
