if he used his amazing powers of peacekeeping in the Middle East or North Korea.”
Boone, ego and all, was similar to the other men Ruby had known in her life. They thought they could charm their way out of anything and women should simply be grateful for their existence. They certainly didn’t have to be responsible or deal with the messy parts of life. They never truly cared about anyone’s feelings but their own.
“Are you telling me you didn’t get his autograph?”
Ruby found her friend’s disappointment a tad disturbing. “Holly, are you not hearing me? Perhaps the sarcasm distracted you from what I said. The guy thought giving me his autograph would make up for the fact that my daughter thinks I hate her. That it would make that little girl forget her father is a lying deadbeat. His delusions of grandeur are ridiculous.”
“Cut the guy some slack. He’s used to people knocking each other over to get a look at him,” Holly said in his defense. “Maybe we can get him to agree to do an interview for the paper.”
“We? I have nothing to do with this. I deliver babies, not the news.” Ruby had moved to Grass Lake because Sadie Greenville decided that after sixty years as a midwife it was time to retire. She had offered Ruby her office space and her handful of patients.
Refusing to give up, Holly reminded her, “You do a great job with the column.”
Ruby had also inherited Sadie’s monthly advice column at the Gazette. Ruby was now responsible for enlightening the town on how to be a good parent. She was waiting for someone to call her out as a fraud.
“Not the same thing,” Ruby argued.
Holly folded her hands together and started with those puppy-dog eyes. “Pleeeease. You have a reason to go to the farm. I only need you to see if he’d be willing to sit down with me. You wouldn’t have to do the interview.”
“I go to the farm because my kid is falling apart thanks to the fact that her dad doesn’t care about her.”
“Oh, man.” Sympathy quickly replaced the pleading look in Holly’s eye. “I know things haven’t been easy, but I thought they were getting better since you moved here.”
That was true, but as long as Levi was still in the picture, things would never be okay. His constant indifference was the reason Ruby had agreed to take over for Sadie. She had an excellent reputation, and that meant a viable business for her successor. Once Ruby made enough money to hire a lawyer, she planned to file for full custody and take off to Seattle to be near her older sister.
“Coming here was the best decision I’ve made in a long time.” Ruby tried to smile for her friend’s sake. She didn’t want Holly’s pity.
“Jon and I knew this community was exactly what you needed. And I, selfishly, love having you so close.”
It had been Holly who had convinced her to come to Grass Lake. Sadie had delivered Holly’s boys and wrote the parenting column for the Gazette, so when Holly found out she wanted to turn everything over to another midwife, she suggested Ruby. Holly even rented her mother-in-law’s house to Ruby dirt cheap.
Friends like Holly came along once in a lifetime.
“I don’t know about an interview, but I bet I can get Boone Williams’s autograph when I go back to pick up Violet.”
Holly grinned from ear to ear. “I’ll take it. But maybe slip in that I’d love to do an interview. My sister will be absolutely Wicked-Witch-green with envy if I tell her I’m going to sit down with Boone Williams.”
Holly’s sister wouldn’t envy her at all if they both knew what Boone was really like, but Ruby would try to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he wasn’t good with first impressions.
* * *
JESSE AND VIOLET were leading one of the horses around the paddock when Ruby returned to Helping Hooves. She noticed the content smile on her daughter’s face as she spoke with her social worker.
Ruby’s heart ached the way it always did when she thought about how Violet would feel if she had a father who actually participated in his daughter’s life. It was so depressing; she couldn’t dwell in that thought for too long.
Slamming the car door shut garnered the attention of both of them. Violet’s smile quickly disappeared, and Ruby’s heart took another stomping.
Someday she’ll like me.
Teenagers weren’t supposed to like their parents, and parents weren’t supposed to be their teens’ friends. In a few years, her daughter would thank her for being a parent and not a friend. Ruby had been given all that advice and then some as Violet approached this wretched age. It didn’t always ease the pain of her daughter’s constant rejection, though.
“Why do you always have to show up so early?” Violet complained. “I still have to clean Sassy up before I can go.”
Ruby took a deep breath and reminded herself not to be offended by her daughter’s tone. “I can wait. No worries.”
“Why don’t you let your mom know what you accomplished today?” Jesse prompted.
There was a small glimmer of pride in Violet’s eyes. “I got Sassy to perform a flying lead change.”
“Really?” Ruby tried to show the right amount of enthusiasm. Violet hated too much and resented too little. “That’s awesome.”
“Do you even know what that means, Mom?”
Ruby had no idea, since she had little to no experience with horses, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “Yeah, of course.”
Violet seemed unconvinced. Jesse saved the day. “Violet’s doing a great job of getting Sassy to change her lead legs. I think the two of them are going to do really well at the horse show in a couple of weeks. Do you want to join us in the tack room, Ruby?”
The look on Violet’s face made it clear she did not want her mother to come with them. The last thing Ruby needed was to agitate her bear of a daughter.
“I need to touch base with Dean about something,” Ruby said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder. “But I’ll meet you in there in a few minutes.”
Violet’s visible relief was yet another punch in the stomach.
“All right, we’ll chat when you get back,” Jesse said.
Ruby headed toward the main house. She’d probably have to go through Dean to land Holly an interview with Boone Williams. He ran his record company from somewhere on the property.
As she climbed the porch steps, the sound of someone screaming bloody murder made her pause. Someone was not happy and was letting the heavens know about it. Fearing someone was hurt, she followed the porch around to see what was wrong.
Boone stood in the yard and was doing his best impression of a woman in the throes of childbirth. He puffed his chest out and let his head fall back as he roared at the sky. He took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders. When he opened his eyes, his gaze fell squarely on Ruby.
Feeling as if she had been caught snooping instead
