“What are you t-talking about?”
“You, my dear. You’re scared of love.”
“That is not t-true.” And why was she arguing with a delusional old man? But she didn’t want to go back inside the theater, not yet. She might run into Mark, and, if she did, she knew she’d break down and lose it totally. She refused to allow that to happen at one of her events.
“Anyway, he’s bad news,” she muttered.
“The good ones always are,” the man said. “I mean, Janis Joplin was a real wildcat in the sack, but it was worth every bruise and scratch.”
“Janis Joplin died of a drug overdose.”
“Exactly,” he said and gave a watery cough. “Imagine if I’d turned her down. I’d always have wondered what it would have been like.” His expression turned wistful.
“That makes no sense.” Did it? Her head was pounding. She put a finger to her temple and rubbed.
“Girl, you gotta take a chance! You gotta grab ’em by the horns!” He made a fist and swung his arm to illustrate his point. “And you need balls to get the horns, right? Everyone knows that!” His watery eyes gazed up at her, excited and expectant. “You got balls, don’t you, girl?”
“I have something better. A brain.” She unclasped the necklace around her neck and dropped it into the man’s hat, where it disappeared into a pile of mismatched change. “Thanks for the advice.”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
The next week Ruby was too busy to notice Mark’s absence.
Almost.
An article had appeared in the Sunday Society section about James Cleaver’s Spring Fling, and ever since, she’d been slammed with people wanting to hire Umbrella Events for weddings, grand openings, galas, and myriad other parties. If the mishap at the preparty was affecting her business, it wasn’t noticed.
But no matter what she was doing, she always felt like there was something missing. And it didn’t take a Jungian therapist to help her figure out exactly what that thing was.
“Call him!” Meg had said on Wednesday over breakfast at Savor. “Emmett says he had a really good reason for blowing off the cocktail party.”
Ruby had to admit she was curious. “I don’t know. What would I say?”
“That you miss him. That you can live with phone sex.”
“Here ya go, girls.” Bree placed a basket of croissants on the table. “I just wanted to thank you again for inviting me to see the Riders last weekend. Getting to meet Yvette after the show was… pretty fucking cool.” She ran a hand over her spiky black hair.
“No problem,” Meg said, crossing her legs. Today her tights were bright green, which went nicely with her short plaid minidress.
“So, what’s going on today, ladies? More business stuff?”
Meg glanced at the server. “I’m just trying to figure out why Ruby has decided to go celibate.”
Bree looked astounded. “Why the hell would anyone want to do that?”
“I have no idea,” Meg said. “But our friend here is pushing two men away, and I’m not sure why.”
Bree brought a chair around to their table. “I can understand the pushing-men-away thing, but the sex part? Not so much.”
“You guys don’t understand. The things I said to Mark the last time I saw him…” Ruby shook her head. “I was awful.”
“That’s what makeup sex is for,” Bree said.
Meg’s brows quirked above her sunglasses. “Okay, so you were a bitch to Mark, and now you’re afraid to call him. But why haven’t you gone out with James? You’ve been pining after him for months, but you have yet to take him up on his offer of a date. Why is that?”
Ruby slumped into her chair. “I don’t know.” She couldn’t admit that after being with Mark, she just couldn’t settle for anyone who didn’t make her heart race like he had. Or grinned like he did. Or wielded a flogger like he had.
“I’m fucked up, aren’t I?” she said, ripping apart the croissant and shoving a huge bite into her mouth.
Bree and Meg nodded.
“But you can do something about it,” Meg said. “Go see Mark. Let him explain. Emmett wouldn’t give me details, but he seems to think you’ll forgive him.”
Ruby shook her head. “We’re too busy right now.”
“Work can wait. I can handle everything.”
“I know, but come on. I don’t even know where he is. Germany or somewhere.”
“Ya, ya,” Bree said in a horrid German accent. “Go to Deutschland an’ spank heez monkee.”
Grinning, Ruby gave Bree a playful slap. “Stop it. Really. It’ll be fine. Hell, he’s probably forgotten all about me by now.” The thought made her heart hurt.