Page 110 of A Real Good Bad Thing

“I’ve had better days.”

“Pale ale, then?”

“That’ll help,” I said.

She poured a beer from the tap, then set it down and parked her hands on the counter. “Fish not biting today?”

“Nope. Not a one.” I took a drink. Ah, this cool beer was the one bright spot in my shitty day.

“Bummer. Such a shame,” she said. She frowned in sympathy, but her smile didn’t stay away for long. I guessed it was an occupational hazard of being a bartender. You wanted to commiserate, but what if you were having a good day?

She sure seemed to be and since mine was a lost cause, I focused on hers. “But looks like fish are biting for you.”

That smile widened into a grin. “My boyfriend got a promotion and a raise,” she said, like she’d been bursting to share the good news. She probably didn’t get many customers asking about her day.

I lifted my glass in a toast to Maris’s man. “Congrats. That’s always nice to hear.”

“It’s not every day when you can help catch a thief.”

The glass nearly slipped from my hands. “Sorry. What did you say?”

She dropped her voice, sounding eager to share. “Remember that robbery we talked about the other night?”

“Of course,” I said quickly, eager to get to the news.

“It was all a setup to catch the real thief. Turns out that the assistant manager at Sapphire tried to steal some diamonds today from Ruby’s stepfather. But they were fake. Too bad for her. Going to jail for a lot of nothing.” She didn’t even pretend to sympathize with Clarissa’s incarceration.

I gripped the edge of the bar, shaken by this revelation. “Who’s your guy?”

“Oh, just thisverysexy Brit. Nigel Harris,” she said proudly. Holy shit. The other night she saida very sexy guy with a snake tattoo.I had no idea, of course, that Nigel was her guy. She never said as much, not that it would have made a difference in the investigation then. “He did everything he could to help catch Clarissa and Tristan. They’re both behind bars now. The police move fast in this town when it comes to helping Eli Thompson.”

Is there anything you might have said, inadvertently.

I was a world class jackass.

I’d all but suggested it was Ruby’s fault Clarissa knew when all along Eli, fucking Eli, had been orchestrating a game of diamond-encrusted chess. And none of that mattered—the jewel thieves, the embezzlement…I’d been callous, hurtful, and the real tragedy wasn’t letting the diamonds slip through my fingers, but Ruby—the best thing that had ever happened to me.

As Maris hustled over to a new customer, that celebratory smile on her face, I picked up my phone, ready to call Ruby. To sayI’m sorry, I fucked up, forgive me.

But I stopped.

Was that enough?

Just to apologize?

No way. I had to do more than say I was sorry.

I had to get down on my knees and grovel. I’d flown off the handle all because of my past, my wounds, my own prideful emotional scars. That was no way to start a new relationship.

And I really wanted to start a new relationship.

I returned to my hotel room, devastated by the silence. She had a key, of course, so she’d already come by and taken her things. No more scarves, no more bikinis, no more lotions and potions.

No more Ruby.

She was gone. The room was empty. Like how I felt without her.

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