Had she been falling in love with him? Or was she merely in love with the idea of having an attentive boyfriend? A guy who up to now always looked at her like she set the full moon in the sky for them both to enjoy.
Maybe then, but it was all over now.
She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “I’m going back to my office. Since you don’t need me anymore.” Wow. Saying that out loud really hurt, but Max wasn’t impacted at all. Without turning around or slowing, he lifted one hand in the air, waved a couple of times and then sped up, if that were even possible.
Ruby slowed to a stop, hands landing on her hips, trying not to blubber like a child who’d lost her best friend. She sniffed hard as hated tears spilled from her lower lids to her cheeks and resumed walking at a more leisurely pace. When she got to the end of the block, she turned left, taking a different route to her office to avoid following Max.
Tucked in the sanctuary of her workspace, she officially closed the pro bono file she’d started for Max and filed it away. Something bothered her. What was it? Ruby pondered a bit, but nothing came forward to relieve the itch at the back of her brain. Best to let it go for now. Eventually it would come to her.
Her mind wandered to practical things. Would Max still meet her for lunch at Howlers tomorrow? Given his current “I can’t even look at you” attitude, it didn’t seem likely.
Her cell phone made a noise, surprising her. She retrieved it from her pocket and Uncle Milo’s name popped up in the window.
“Hello?”
“Hey, I just called to thank you for all you did.” His voice was low, as if he didn’t want anyone to hear him.
“What? Oh. Sure.”Whatever.She wondered if he’d known or ever seen the guy on the video. Now that her love life was a shambles, her mind went straight to work. “Did you recognize the guy on the video feed?”
“He looked a little familiar, but I can’t say that I did. No.”
“What did the Sheriff say?”
“About what?”
“About Max being the number one suspect.”
“Oh. Max had a private conversation with the Sheriff before we left. Turns out the Sheriff isn’t going to pursue charges against him. On the way back to the motel, he told me that Sheriff Merrow told him he could go.”
“Well, that’s good news anyway.”Too bad the rest of the news today is so sucky.
“Sorry you and Max aren’t going to see each other anymore.”Wow. Hearing those words out loud from someone else really hurt, again.How many more times would that sentiment be repeated? How many more times would she want to cry like a baby when she did hear it?
“Yeah. Well. What can I do?”Cry buckets of tears alone in bed tonight.
“From experience, I can tell you long-distance relationships don’t work, so maybe it’s for the best things turned out the way they did.”
What did that mean?“Long-distance relationship? I don’t understand.”
“Oh? Right. Well, Max and I are headed back to Alpha-Prime by way of Alienn, Arkansas tonight. There’s a flight out of Georgia in the next hour or so and then an interstellar ship leaving for our home planet in about five hours. We can just make it there if we leave right away and catch this small airplane ride from the local Nocturne Falls airport. Actually, I’m looking forward to trying out an Earth-styled plane. Last trip I rode down here in a car.”
“Max is going back to Alpha-Prime to visit his parents?” That was a big surprise. He hadn’t even wanted to be pen pals with them before. Maybe the spells had done more than just make him tell her he loved her and speak the truth.
“Yep. Guess he wants to mend things with them before it’s too late. Plus, he wants me to go back with him for moral support. I agreed, of course.”
“Right. Well. Good.”I guess.That answers the question of whether we are still meeting at Howlers for lunch tomorrow. Big fat no. At least she and Max wouldn’t be running into each other here in town for awkward encounters. That was something.
“Could I talk to Max for a minute?”Stupid.You don’t want to hear his cold-toned, I don’t love you and I don’t want to marry you voice, do you? Stop being a glutton for punishment.
Milo made a sympathetic sound. “No. I don’t think so, Ruby. He said he wanted to make a clean break. He thought it would be better not to let you think there was any future between you.”
Wow. That hurt a lot.
Tears welled up in her eyes and slipped over the edge onto her cheeks. “Right. Good. Okay. Good call.”
He sounded forlorn when he responded, “I’m sorry, Ruby. I truly am.”
In the cell phone’s background, she heard Max’s voice call out, “Are you ready, Milo? We need to leave now if we want to make it in time.”
