my voice husky, and things stirring that shouldn’t be stirring.
Her lips—those equally perfect, bow-shaped lips—part. “How would you know? You’ve never seen them.”
“I’ve seen you in a sports bra when we go jogging. Trust me, that’s more than enough for this man’s imagination.”
“Maybe, but it’s not the same thing,” she says, a mischievous gleam flickering in her eyes. “I could flash you, if you’d like. So you can know for sure. I bet you wouldn’t be expecting that, either.”
Blood rushes to my head.
The wrong head. The one I can’t be thinking with if I’m going to be the kind of friend Ruby needs right now.
“Tempting, but maybe we should save things that might get you arrested until later in the process?” I say in a voice that’s far cooler than I’m feeling right now. “Hard to get through a Best Life List in jail.”
“Good point.” Her eyes dart to the right as she whispers, “Are they gone?”
At the checkout, the clerk gathers items on the belt into a basket with no sign of Chad or his new woman—who couldn’t hold a candle to Ruby on her best day. “All clear. Guess they decided against groceries.”
Ruby’s brow wrinkles. “Oh, no. I should buy more than a bottle of iced tea, then. I hate that I scared away a paying customer.”
“They’ve got plenty of customers, but you’re sweet.”
“No, I’m not,” she says, the light dimming in her eyes. “I’m scared. Yeah, that felt amazing in the moment, but I can already tell I’m going to regret it later.”
I snort at the idea. “Why? That was great.”
“Because I made a scene. I was . . . embarrassing.”
“No, you weren’t. You were awesome.”
“You totally were,” a feminine voice agrees from over my shoulder. I turn to see the salad-stocking woman nodding at Ruby. “I would love to say some shit like that to my ex. Though, I wouldn’t be as eloquent about it. And there would be more F-bombs involved.”
“Yeah, for me too, probably,” Ruby says with a laugh, “if it had happened a few weeks ago. I’m over the angry part now.”
The woman’s gaze slides my way, a knowing grin curving her lips. “I can see why.”
Ruby laughs. “Oh, him?” She waves a dismissive hand. “No, we’re not . . . We’re just friends. Old friends. Sort of. Or people who knew each other for a long time and then became friends.” She laughs, a little awkwardly. “But he is quite pretty.”
“It’s the eyes,” Salad Woman says, as she studies me in a way that makes me feel like I’m not part of this conversation. “I knew a guy who had eyes like that.”
“My friend Lisa calls them F-me eyes,” Ruby adds, surprising me. I glance at her, but she continues without looking my way, “Like he’s always thinking about you know what. You know?”
“Oh, girl, I know,” Salad Woman says with a laugh as my cheeks start to heat. What the hell is going on here? “And once they start thinking about it, you start thinking about it.”
“And pretty soon everyone’s thinking about it,” Ruby finishes with a nod before finally turning to meet my gaze, this time mastering her signature deadpan, “Sex, Jesse. We’re talking about sex.”
“Thanks. I wasn’t certain,” I say, then I gesture toward the door. “Let’s head to your place, Number Five, before you take this too far.”
“How far is too far?” Ruby asks, waving goodbye to her partner in making-me-blush.
“You’ll know when you get there.” Like how I know I need to part ways with her before she teases me into doing something I shouldn’t. Like pressing her up against the brick wall of the closest building and showing her all the things that go through my mind when I’m looking at her and thinking about “you know what.”
“But will I?” she insists. “What if I start doing unexpected things and I can’t stop?” We step outside into the fading heat of the day and her fretting speeds up. “What if this list unleashes sides of myself I don’t know how to handle? What if I’m not strong enough to be all the things Claire thought I could be?”
I stop at the corner, waiting for the intersection to clear, and turn to her. “You are strong enough to handle anything the world throws your way, Ruby. You’ve already proven that.”
“Have I, though? Physical therapy is easy compared to this. Especially number one.”
I frown. “Try something new? What’s so hard about that? Just . . . take a