“I like your boots.” Rubi pointed under the table. Up close, they were even more adorable. Purple with a black belt and a gem-studded buckle. She really did like the boots and was pretty sure she’d been recognized. No sense trying to fly under the radar now.
The date’s grin widened. “Thanks. I picked them up on a trip to Mexico last spring.”
“Shoot.” Rubi snapped her fingers. “I was going to ask for the label.”
“Oh. I’m sure they’re a knockoff of something.” She pulled out her phone. “I saw some like them online. Let me find the link.”
Cash sighed dramatically. Rubi was an actress; she would know what a dramatic sigh sounded like. She’d done that shoulder drop in front of millions of viewers all through her teen years. This guy was totally amateur. Rubi ignored him. “That’d be sweet of you. Thanks.”
The waitress appeared, took everyone’s order, and then paused. “Do you want to sit with your friends?” she said to Rubi. “We can move you over lickety-split.”
“She’s not—” began Cash.
Rubi cut in with a grin, “I’d love to.”
“I found the link!” said his date and her new best friend.
Rubi slid in next to the woman. She had no desire to be any closer to one of Trent’s friends than she would to a lion with a toothache. “I hope you don’t mind,” she said to the date.
“Not at all. Here.” She leaned close to show Rubi the screen. The boots were gorgeous. “I’m Cheri.”
“Pleasure to meet you. Thanks.” She didn’t volunteer her name, but like a good hostess, Cheri didn’t press. To her disappointment, neither did Cash. “I’m going to buy a pair right now.” Her thumbs flew as she ordered size-seven boots, having no idea where she would wear them. A date would work; they were definitely date shoes. Except she didn’t go on dates to diners. She walked the red carpet with an escort—sometimes a famous one. She was sure Cheri had recognized her, but she was playing it cool and Rubi was good with that.
Cash leveled his gaze in her direction. “Imind.”
Rubi and Cheri both jerked in surprise at the annoyed tone.
“Cash,” Cheri said in that you’re-making-a-scene whisper that all women have in their purses for just such an occasion. The whisper can be pulled out for children, inebriated friends, or a man who needs to be brought around.
“She’s not here to buy boots. She’s following me.” Cash shooed Rubi with his hands. “Go on back to your own table. You’re ruining our evening.”
Rubi looked around the café. The grout covering the floor may or may not have been growing something; she wasn’t going to look. Their table was missing a corner and the menu listed a side of gravy for two bucks. “You call this an evening?”
“It’s not the venue that’s important; it’s the company,” he ground out.
“Then it’s a good thing for her sake that I came along,” Rubi fired back.
Cheri giggled.
“Whose side are you on?” he asked her.
The dozen or so bracelets on Cheri’s wrist jingled as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Cash, you and I both know we were only doin’ this to get our mamas off our backs.” She turned to Rubi while pointing at Cash. “I’ve known him since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, and that’s enough time to know we weren’t meant to be together. But my mama was grousing with his mama over their lack of grandchildren and they had thisbrilliantidea to set us up.”
Rubi bumped her shoulder. “I know all about mamas wanting to be grandmamas.”
Thoughts of Jelly Bean had her smile sliding right off her face. Her heart was still tender in that spot. Mama’s was too. She’d refused to answer the phone for days after the service. Daddy was the only one allowed in the bedroom until she could stop crying long enough to put on mascara. Rubi couldn’t blameher. It still amazed her that she loved someone so fiercely when they’d never met. “We just lost my niece, premature. My mama’s taking it real hard.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. She’d gotten to know that lump quite well over the last three months.
Cash leaned forward, his brow twisted in concern. His cornflower-blue eyes held her gaze for several seconds, silently offering support she hadn’t asked for. Feeling exposed for having shared one of her family’s heartbreaks with strangers, she cleared her throat. “I can’t let you out of my sight, Lowell.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
Cheri looked back and forth between them, her earrings flapping away. “What’s going on?”
Cash jerked his chin in Rubi’s direction. “She’s after Trent to sign some papers and she won’t leave.”
“That leech in your guest room?” Cheri took a sip of her water.
Rubi held up a fist in triumph.
“Hey.” Cash wiped his thumb down his glass, clearing away the condensation. “He’s goin’ through a rough time.”
