My phone rings in my pocket, so I reach carefully inside with my fresh nails and pull it out.
When I see Cap’s name on the screen, the air in my lungs freezes.
Something must be wrong.
I answer as quickly as possible, my eyebrows drawn into a harsh line.
“Hello?”
“Ruby!”
Oh God.
“Cap? Is everything okay?”
“No,” he says dismally, and my chest compresses.
“What’s wrong?”
When he doesn’t answer immediately, I shake the phone against my ear and repeat my directive. “Cap! What’s wrong?”
“It’s just… Oh, Ruby.”
“Cap,” I whisper, and my heart falls into my damn shoes.
“I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me already!” I snap.
“The contracts are ready at the Porvost office. They can’t fax them because they have to be the watermarked originals.”
“And what else?” I ask, absolutely certain there must be more to the story. That he wouldn’t panic me over a goddamn daily task. Because if he did, I just might have to kill him, and that’s not at all part of the relaxing plans I had in mind.
“And I need them,” he says, and I can hear the pitiful pout in his sappy voice.
“Did you ask Betsy to do it?”
“Yes. I did. But Betsy is so Betsylike.” He sighs. “She does things like a Betsy would do them, and I need this done like a Ruby. It’s totally different.”
Is he being serious right now?
I blink three times. “Cap, I know this might shock you…but the world doesn’t revolve around you. Especially mine. I pretty much have a whole other life to lead.”
“Okay, but can your life lead you in my direction? Just this once?”
“You gave me the day off!”
“Well…I’m revoking it for a couple hours. And then you can have it back.”
I grind my jaw as he lays it on thick. “Come on, Ruby. Don’t be greedy.”
I glance at my watch, calculate the time it’ll take me to run across town to the Porvost office, and come up with a solution. It’s a solution that doesn’t necessarily benefit me as much as it will benefit Cap, but it’ll have to be good enough because I have a sneaking suspicion it’ll still be quicker than if I say no and Cap keeps me on the phone so he can come up with different ways to beg.
“Fine,” I huff. “Meet me at Amsterdam and Fifth Street. I’ll have the contracts.”
“Ooh, a clandestine meeting. I like it.” I can actually picture the teasing smirk that goes along with his words. “Should I bring the ski masks and grappling hook, or do you have it covered?”
I sigh heavily, and he chuckles.
“You really are a buzzkill sometimes, you know that, Rube?”
His arrow is sharp and swift and hits me right in the place where it hurts the most—the truth. I hate to admit it. I hate to face it. And it’s probably why taking a day off felt so painful in the first place.
But he’s right. I’m so busy and so overwhelmed, I forget to have any sort of fun most of the time. I’m letting my life live me instead of the other way around.
“You’re right,” I admit, and he snorts.
“I cannot believe you just agreed with me. This must go against everything they lay out on page one of the Women’s Tactics Against Men Handbook.”
I sigh wistfully. “If only there were such a thing.”
“Riiiight,” he says knowingly. “I understand. You have to keep it confidential.”
I laugh and shake my head as I look at the ground and scuff a piece of dirty sidewalk with the toe of my shoe. “I’ve already said too much,” I say, finally playing along.
“I bet.”
“Anyway,” I mumble, confused by how I started this conversation in a bad mood and ended it talking about a nonexistent women’s handbook. “I changed my mind. Meet me at the park across from Driscol’s instead. We can chat about the contracts and get a coffee. Well, coffee for you and something that doesn’t taste like gasoline for me.”
He chuckles. “All right, but listen. I have a few very important notes about John Porvost.”
“Yeah?”
“He’s partial to cherries, tequila, and redheads. He doesn’t like toast, apples, or any form of unrecyclable plastic, and he must, I mean must, end every conversation.”
I roll my eyes as he continues.
“If you talk to him in his office, make sure you’re on the east side, with the sun at your back.”
“Is that even physically possible?”
“Don’t joke at a time like this. Are you even listening?”
I roll my eyes, but I also feel the way amusement starts to turn up the corners of my mouth. “Yes, of course. I’m writing all of this down in a very important place.”
“Good,” he says, and this time, I can hear the smile in his voice. “And, Ruby?”
“Yes, Cap?” I ask with a sigh.
“I’m sorry about revoking your day off, but I’m not really sorry. Do you want to know why?”