Chapter 183

Ruby

“This is me.” I point to the duplex I’m renting while trying to figure out how to live on a first-year teacher’s salary. It’s not as easy as I assumed it would be back when I was still in the dorms taking classes.

He chuckles as he pulls his Jeep into the gravel lot. This Jeep is the manliest thing I’ve seen. Completely blacked out with all the bells and whistles anyone could ask for. The glow of the dashboard is blue, and the contrast between the light, his coloring, and those soulful brown eyes of his is almost my undoing as we sit here in the dark, alone.

“Why the laugh? I know it’s not much.” I’m slightly offended by the way he’s reacting to where I live. And really disappointed.

“I’m not laughing at you, Ruby.” He grips the steering wheel with those long fingers of his, causing his forearms to flex tight. “It’s just that back in the day, a couple of my co-workers lived in this duplex before they fell in love and got married.”