entire car collection up for auction to raise money for the relief fund.”
Surely I’d heard her wrong. There was nothing Malcolm loved more than those cars.
Ruby took my silence for the disbelief it was and went on. “I know! I never thought I’d see the day either. And seeing as it would put me out of a job when I’m over there, I wasn’t thrilled at the news. I mean, Wes can handle the remaining family cars on his own in a snap. But Leo said Mal was buying a few old classics for us to restore in place of the auctioned ones, so how could I be mad about that?” She craned her neck so she could see her uncle. “You hear that, Uncle Carl? How jealous are you?”
“Me and Sal are fine at Crankshaft. We don’t need any of the headaches some of those old foreign cars come with.”
Ruby laughed and switched her gaze back to me, her face falling. “You look sick.” Good God—I clearly needed a suntan with everyone pointing out my blood’s tendency to flee my head at the first sign of trouble.
“Not sick, just… surprised.” And I’d been beginning to doubt anything could surprise me anymore. In addition to everything else, I’d only just discovered that Andrew had been the leak to the press, not Victoria, a fact that had me reeling.
“This is good news, isn’t it?” Ruby pinched a slice of bell pepper from the roasting pan and popped it into her mouth.
“Of course it is. I just…” Where was my mind these days?
She talked around her pepper and stifled a laugh. “You just didn’t think you’d ever see the day Malcolm finally grew up.”
“That sums it up nicely, I think.”
Ruby helped me with dinner and then we gathered at the table with Carl to eat and chat. Subjects ranged from the relief efforts to the local autumn festival to Sadie and some apparent caginess of late. I listened as well as I could manage, but my mind kept returning to Malcolm as if he were a magnet for my thoughts.
When all the dishes were done and the kitchen clean, I said my goodbyes, promising to check in on Carl and force-feed him greens. But as I was leaving, Ruby pulled me aside on the front porch.
“I just wanted to let you know that Sadie’s coming up on weekends now to keep an eye on Carl since she’s only an hour and a half away.”
“That will be nice.” I didn’t understand why this was a secret until Ruby continued.
“And I’m going back to Dunwall tomorrow, but I haven’t told Carl yet. He could give Leo a run for his money on worrying about me when there’s not a damn reason to.”
This made me smile. “I can work on him for you. But I thought Leo had—what was it? Laid down the hammer?” The mental image of Prince Leo attempting to forbid Ruby from doing anything was reason to laugh.
Ruby rolled her eyes and perched a hand on her hip. “I’m done sitting around here. If Clara can work relief, so can I. Leo’s just going to have to deal with it.” Then she shook her head as if resetting her mood “You been thinking about going back anytime soon?”
She was clearly fishing but I evaded. “The office is so hectic and the work piles on itself daily. My future looks to be filled with plenty of late nights at work.”
“Have you heard from Malcolm?” She went straight to the point.
I only nodded, not wanting to talk about it. Or, more precisely, not knowing what to think. We’d both behaved badly when we’d argued, but he’d more than redeemed himself, hadn’t he? I wanted to fly over with Ruby and go to him, beg him to forgive me for leaving, ask if I could stay forever. But I’d ignored all his texts and calls, not knowing where to start and fearing that history would repeat itself. In some ways, it was easier to shut him out like I’d done the first time I’d left.
But putting my head down and not allowing myself to stew in my own feelings and emotions—giving them the chance to settle or grow or change or drive me absolutely mad, whatever it might be—hadn’t helped me thus far in my life. It had only made me miss out on some wonderful things. So I needed to spend some time getting to know myself again—what it was that truly made me