“Are you stalking me? You know Kenzie doesn’t like it when I accept rides home from strange men,” Ruby quipped as she climbed into the truck. She was nothing if not consistent. Sarcasm was her natural language.
“And yet, here you are, voluntarily getting in for a ride home,” I joked right back.
“It’s hardly voluntary. Kenzie left a message at the office telling me you were gonna pick me up today. Do I have a doctor’s appointment or something?”
I shook my head and let the truck inch forward in the after school pick-up traffic. “She said I had to ask you directly. Are you interested in a job?”
I must have stunned Ruby into silence. She said nothing but stared at me. “I’m not old enough for a job. Have to be at least fourteen, and I’m only thirteen.”
“I’m not talking about a regular job with timecards. I’m talking about helping me out around my house. I have a barn that needs cleaning out.”
“And you’re going to pay me? Actually pay me cash?” she said as if she had worked jobs before where she had been paid in ways that hadn’t involved money.
“If cash is what you want. Or we can deposit money straight into your savings account. If you want me to pay you in certificates of deposit and savings bonds, we’ll have to make a spreadsheet to track your hours. But my intention is cash, and shopping.”
“When you say shopping, what do you mean?” She clearly didn’t trust me.
I shrugged. “Uh, say you want a PlayStation. We figure out how many hours of work that is. You do the work, we go shopping and buy a PlayStation.”
“Really?” That had gotten her attention.
“So, am I taking you to my place to show you around, or am I taking you to the library to do homework?”
“Your place!”
I drove to the Burger Jeff first.
“This isn’t your place,” Ruby complained as I put the truck in park.
“Observant. I keep telling Kenzie you’re smart. I want your sister to know where you are. Do you want some fries? I’m buying.”
Kenzie smiled as she saw us approach the counter.
“You’re not cleaning,” I pointed out.
“Not until after breaks. Do you two have a deal?” Kenzie asked as she punched an order into the computer system.
“We do.” I held out my credit card to pay, but she placed her hand over mine and pushed it away with a shake of her head. I’d let her comp us some fries and drinks as long as it wasn’t coming out of her pay.
“Do you have your phone with you?”
“Kenzie never carries that thing,” Ruby interjected.
“I do, but it’s not on,” Kenzie admitted.
“I want to be able to text you. I’m paying for it. We talked about this,” I started.
“Since when are you paying for our phone?” Ruby asked indignantly.
“Since I realized how tightly budgeted your sister is. I want to text her, so I’m willing to cover that cost. I gave her a phone card the other day.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ruby pleaded.
“Because it’s between me and Tate. I have the phone, and it’s off while I’m at work. I’ll turn it on when I take my next break.”
I nodded. That was acceptable. “I’m going to text you my address and instructions for getting to the house. Come over after work. I’m making dinner.”
“You’re almost as bossy as Ruby,” Kenzie teased as she handed me the bag with fries. Ruby took the cups and filled them at the self-service machine.
“It’s called commanding. Hazard of the old job. Please, let me make dinner for you tonight. Besides, I want you to see where Ruby will be most days after school.”
“She has homework,” Kenzie started.
“I will make sure she does it. I understand priorities. School first.”
“Ugh, you sound like Kenzie. School is important.” Ruby mocked us.
My chest tightened when Kenzie smiled and waved as we left. I wanted her to come with us and never have to be stuck in that place again. I hated the idea that Mac could walk in and start talking to her at any moment.
“If you’re paying for phone minutes, does that make you and Kenzie—”
“Friends,” I cut her off before she could say anything else. It didn’t matter what I wanted. Until Kenzie felt comfortable with what was happening between us, we were friends.
Hopefully, friends with extended benefits. I could not stop thinking about the other night. It had not been a date because Kenzie didn’t date. But whatever she wanted to call it, I called it fucking amazing, and I wanted to revisit the feeling of her skin against me again.
I took a long drink, needing the cold soda to wash away the hot thoughts that were demanding attention.
“Can I get a phone?”
“What?”
“If you’re willing to pay for minutes for Kenzie, do you think I could get a phone with the money you’re going to pay me?”
“I can’t see why not. Kenzie will have to decide whether you’re old enough and all that kind of shit—sorry, stuff.”
Ruby laughed. “Just don’t let Kenzie hear you drop the F-bomb, or she’ll make you clean the kitchen.”
“Noted.”
Ruby munched on her fries as I finished the short drive to the house.
“Holy moly, you live here?” She climbed out of the truck after I put it in park and shut off the engine. Her big eyes were glued to the front of the house.
I guess it was impressive. I probably looked at it with some form of awe the first time I pulled up. It was a multi-storied Victorian style with a wrap-around front porch, a tower, and lots of crenelation and decorative moulding. But it was weather worn, and the front stairs were noticeably off plumb. One of the dormers also listed to the side.
Ruby looked like she saw magic and potential. All I saw was a growing to-do list, and that was just the outside.
“What do you want me to do? Clean this?”
I gestured toward the back. “I really need help out back, in the barn. It’s full of junk. And tools, but it’s all so piled in, it might as well be junk.”
“Good, I hate cleaning bathrooms,” she said as she returned to the truck and dragged her backpack and skateboard out.
“Come on, I’ll show you where you can put your stuff.” I jogged up the stairs and opened the door.
Once inside, her expression of awe quickly vanished. Inside, the glamor of potential was replaced with the reality of old furniture and layers of dust. “It’s not as bad as it was. I’m making progress. It’s slow going but it’s going. This way.”
I led her through the kitchen, where I told her to put her things, and then out the back door. We crossed the yard, and I hauled open the sliding barn door.
“Whoa, you weren’t kidding. I’m so getting a phone. Not to be rude, but this is a lot of work. Are you sure you can pay me?”
“Don’t worry about that. I can afford to pay you. The real question is, do you think you can handle this?”
“As long as you don’t expect me to get it all done today.”
I laughed. Her sarcasm was on point.
“There is a lot of wood in here. Just boards and planks and blocks of it. And it’s all over the place. I think” —I pointed toward the ceiling where an old-fashioned line shaft pole was installed— “this was some kind of workshop. All of that is how they used to power tools before electricity. There’s probably a steam generator or something to drive it, but it’s buried in all of this. I want to spend a couple of hours today piling up wood.”
“Do you want it sorted or anything?” Ruby asked.
I shook my head. “We can sort it later. I wouldn’t even know how to sort what’s here.”
Ruby got right to work. I cleared an area next to the door, and she began piling up all the pieces she could get to and drag over without help. When she found a piece too big, she called me over. Some of the wood was definitely high-quality and would be valuable to the right person.
“These are skis.” Ruby held up matching planks.
“Looks like wood to me.”
“Seriously? These are vintage skis. Look how long they are.”
She held up the long, slender skis that I had mistaken for more random planks of wood.
“Those are skis?” I crossed to where she stood and took them from her. “They’re good quality, but long.”
“These are for soft snow.”
“You ski?” I asked.
“Ski-board. You can’t live around here and not ski. I mean, we have ski days at school, where the whole school goes. Do you ski?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. How about Kenzie?”
“Yeah, she used to ski. She hasn’t in a long time. I haven’t been since last year.”
“How long before you’re allowed to go skiing again?” I pointed at her wrist.
She lifted her arm. “This has no impact on whether I go skiing or not. I don’t use my wrist to ski. We’re broke, and lift passes are not cheap.”
“Do you think you and Kenzie would want to go skiing with me sometime?”
“Seriously? You’d take us skiing? Wait, that’s not going to come out of my pay? Because I’d rather have a phone.”
“Hey, Bowers, you here? Major?”
I looked at Ruby as someone called my name.
“In here!” I yelled, turning toward the door.
I watched the silhouette of a man drop a duffel bag and step into the darker confines of the barn before I recognized him.
“Major Bowers, it’s Allan Calder, Sir. You said I should come find you if I—” He stopped when he saw Ruby.
“Calder, welcome. Come on in. This is my friend, Ruby. Ruby, this is Allan. He was one of my soldiers in the Army.”
