There was a moments pause before he answered. She wished she could see his face. “I can always use help. ”
Ruby felt a rush of relief. She tightened her hold on her mothers shoulders, and together they walked up the slightly angled bank and across the lawn.
At the front door; Mom smiled. “Go ahead. And Ruby?”
Ruby reached down for the afghan on the rocker and slung it around her shoulders. It was getting chilly out here. “Yeah?”
He loves you. "
That would be a miracle. Ive done everything but stare him in the eye. "
Nora grinned. “All love is a miracle. Now, go to him. Dont be afraid. And try not to be your usual obnoxious self. ”
Ruby couldnt help laughing. “Thanks, Mom. ”
As she hurried across the yard, a cloud scudded across the sky and revealed a nearly full moon. It lit up the sky, tinged the world in eerie blue.
At the edge of the bank, Ruby paused, tightening the blanket around her shoulders. She knew what she needed to do, but knowing didnt grant her courage. She was afraid that shed taken too long to grow up and had lost her chance.
He was standing at the end of the dock, with his back to her. She moved soundlessly down the bank and stepped onto the dock. Her footsteps were indistinguishable from the ordinary creaks and moans of old wood. “I remember when we used to jump off of that dock at high tide,” she said softly. “Only Washington kids would swim in that water. ”
He spun around.
Ruby moved toward him.
She was afraid suddenly to speak. She wanted to simply put her arms around him and kiss him until she couldnt think, couldnt move, couldnt remember everything that was between them. But she couldnt do it. For once, she had to do the right thing. She owe Dean a few words-small, simple words-and she couldnt be too cowardly to speak.
She couldnt turn back now.
The silence between them felt loaded, dangerous. In it, she heard the slap of the waves on the pilings below
She closed the last, small space between them an took hold of his left hand, caressing his fingers. Then slowly, she drew her hand away. I remember the first time you kissed me. I got so dizzy, I couldnt breathe. I was glad we were sitting down, because I would have fallen. But I fell anyway, didnt I? I fell in love with my best friend. When most kids were planning how to sneak out of their parents house on a Saturday night you and I were dreaming about our wedding . . . the children we would have. “ She swallowed hard and smiled. ”When we were fifteen, you said wed live in a penthouse on Central Park . . . that wed honeymoon in Paris. When we were seven, you promised that someday wed own a boat as big as a ferry, with a bathtub in the master stateroom, and that Elvis would sing at our wedding. “ She gave him a smile. ”The dreams of children playing at adulthood. We should have known we were in trouble when Elvis died. "
Dean closed his eyes for a moment, only that, and she wondered if it hurt him to hear the old dreams. “Yeah,” he said woodenly, “we were young. ”
“I tried to forget those things we said, but mostly, I tried to forget how it felt when you kissed me,” she said. “I kept telling myself it was a crush . . . that Id grow up and go on and feel that way again. But I didnt. ” She heard the rawness in her voice, the desperate tenor of hope, and she knew he heard it, too. She was exposed now, vulnerable.
“You never fell in love again?”
“How could I . . . when I never fell out of love the first time?”
“Say it. ”
She stepped closer and tilted her face up to his. “I love you, Dean Sloan. ”
He didnt respond for a heartbeat, just stared down at her. Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her the way shed always dreamed of being kissed. And suddenly she wanted more. More . . .
She fumbled with his T-shirt, shoved it over his head, and let her fingers explore the coarse, wiry hair on his chest. She touched him everywhere, moved her hands across the hardness of his shoulders, down the small of his back, down into his underwear.
He yanked the afghan down, letting it puddle on the dock around their feet. With a groan, he slipped his hands beneath her shirt, scooping it off her; and tossed it away. She kicked it aside and grappled with the buttons on her cutoffs.
Naked, kissing, groping, they knelt on the blanket, smoothed it out, then collapsed on top of it, laughing at the awkwardness of their movements.
Ruby heard the hiss of paper ripping. She blinked, feeling drugged by the intensity of her desire, and saw that he was opening a small foil packet.
It stunned her. “You planned this?”
He gave her a crooked, boyish grin.