The cookies were ready. And I could try one—but only one. Mom explained that she had baked them for my grandma, Blanchette.
Blanchette, or Gran, was my hero—the mayor of Magnolia; the first woman elected to public office in Magnolia, a town known for its hyper-macho patriarchal ways.
Sadly, Gran hadn’t been feeling well, my mother told me. So, she’d prepared a basket of goodies for her: jams; pickled beets, pickled peppers, and cookies.
“I’ll take them over to her,” I volunteered with enthusiasm.
“Well…” Mom hesitated and furrowed her brow as if she were trying to think of a reason to say no. Any time I said I was going somewhere, her first reaction was to try to find a reason I shouldn’t go.
“I’d love to see Gran,” I said. “Plus, I could use the exercise. I’ve been sitting all day, either on a plane or a bus or the subway.”
She frowned and rubbed her chin.
“Okay, Mom? I’ll leave right now and be back before supper.”
“Okay, Ruby. But stay on the main road. No shortcut past the ranches.”
“But I want to see the horses.”
“Horses! You want to see the cowboys.”
“Cowboys?” I said innocently. “That never crossed my mind.”
She tilted her head and gave me a knowing grin. “I’m serious, Ruby. We’re approaching rodeo season, and I bet they’re setting up right about now. Cowboys are one thing. But those rodeo types, I’ve heard the stories.”
“What stories?” I, too, had heard stories, but they weren’t the kind that would keep me away from ‘those rodeo types’.
“You know how it is,” she said, waving a dismissive hand in the air. “People come from all parts, women especially. And they have wild parties, lots of sex and orgies and the like.”
I gasped, hoping it came across as more from offense than from excitement.
“You’re young,” she said, wagging a finger at me, “You think that’s all fun and games. But every year, we get more than our fair share of foolish girls and wayward women thinking they might like to go for a ride with some handsome cowboy. Then who do you think’s left holding the baby?”
“Mother!” I said with exaggerated offense. “You know me. I’m not like that. I would never go to wild sex parties with cowboys and get myself pregnant!”
She nodded. “I know you. I know how young girls are, too. That’s why I’m telling you this. Stay away from the ranch. Keep to the roads.”
2
Lincoln
A sunny day with a cool breeze: it was a good day to be a cop. Though that could be said about most days, but at the time I wouldn’t have known, since it was my very first day on the force.
I walked out of the house, stood on the front steps, and took in a big breath of fresh Wyoming air. “Ah, what a day to be a cop.”
Of course, I had to jinx it by saying it out loud. Keep your good fortunes to yourself. You don’t say them out loud for the wind to catch wind of them. Invariably, it’ll end up blowing them right back in your face.
It took all but ten seconds for that adage to come true.
I walked down the drive to my car, which was parked on the curb, and before I could wipe that self-satisfied grin off my face, I ran right smack dab into my ex, literally. My head was in the clouds, and, with it, my eyes were too. I wasn’t watching where I was going and then smack. I came crashing back down to Earth. I turned to say my apologies when who did I see but Ruby.
Ruby-Rose Davis. The girl next door. My first love. The girl who broke my heart.
Ruby-Rose Davis. The girl who’d gotten too good for this little town and had gone off to the big city.
Ruby-Rose Davis. The girl who didn’t want to be ‘kept down’ by a simple country boy like myself but had to go ‘discover’ herself. That’s what she’d told me.
Well, whatever she’d discovered about herself ended up bringing her right back here to Magnolia, right back to the end of my driveway where I nearly knocked her over.
“I’m sor…”
“Lincoln.”
“Ruby.”
She looked about her as if she might have dropped something then checked the basket she was carrying.
“When did you get back?”
“Today, actually. Not more than a couple of hours ago.” She looked me up and down, inspecting my new uniform. There was no look of surprise on her face. Why would there have been? My dad was the sheriff, and it was always expected that I would follow in his footsteps.
“So, you’re a police officer now?”
Dammit. Of all people to run into on my first day!
I had been feeling pretty good about myself, even proud for once, until I ran into her. There was a tinge of judgment and disappointment in her flat ‘you’re a police officer now’ comment.