Catch A Fallen Star

“Fine,” Violet said, climbing the stairs back to her room, where she had been holed up since the attempted shoplifting incident. The child was so stubborn; she could argue with a wall...and win.

“Knock, knock,” Holly said, opening the front door and popping her head in. “Can I come in?”

“You’re my landlord.” Ruby shut her laptop. “Of course you can.”

Holly dropped her purse on the floor and flopped down next to Ruby on the couch. “Jon’s sister took the boys to the lake to go swimming, and I have a whole hour of me time.”

“So you came here for wine or chocolate?”

“Chocolate. My four-year-old patted my belly last night and asked me if there was a baby in there. If I have to endure looking as though I’m eating for two, I might as well enjoy it.”

Ruby couldn’t keep from giggling. “Oh, come on. It was probably just wishful thinking on his part. Zander’s always saying he wants a baby sister.”

“Well, he can keep wishing if he wants to, but my baby-making days are over.”

Ruby went to the kitchen and grabbed two chocolate chip cookies she had made the day before in a failed attempt at luring Violet out of her room. She handed one to Holly and took a bite of the other.

“They weren’t both for me and my pretend baby?” Holly whined as Ruby sat back down.

Ruby elbowed her friend playfully in the side. “At least your children talk to you and ask questions about how you’re doing.”

“Vi’s at it again, huh? What did you do this time?” Holly asked before devouring her cookie and snatching Ruby’s half-eaten one from her hand.

“I grounded her from all electronic devices for one week. You would think it was a fate worse than death.”

“How long could you live without your phone?” Holly challenged her.

“I use my phone for work. It’s a necessary evil.”

It was Holly’s turn to laugh. “Keep telling yourself that. I saw your new high score on Jelly Chains posted to Facebook. Was that for work?”

Ruby gave her another elbow.

“Speaking of work,” Holly continued. “Any chance you asked Boone Williams about that interview?”

Hearing his name sent a strange tingle through Ruby’s body. Ever since they’d made amends on the Strattons’ front porch, she couldn’t stop thinking about the way he had looked at her and tried to make her feel better about her shortcomings as a mother.

“I’m not too sure he’s a big fan of the press.”

“Oh, please. I’m hardly the press. We’re a tiny paper, eager to hear what the other half thinks of our humble hometown.”

Ruby smiled. “Boone and humble definitely don’t mix.”

“So you asked him and he flat out said no?”

“I mentioned I had a friend at the Gazette, and he made it clear he wasn’t interested in being interviewed.” Ruby left out the part where she had threatened to have Holly write a scathing article on his bad behavior.

“Did you at least get him to sign something for me?”

Ruby cringed. “I forgot,” she said, making Holly frown. “But I will the next time I see him. Violet’s got a session over there tomorrow.”

“Maybe I could come with you. If he meets me, he’ll like me and want to do the interview.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” The foundation of Boone and Ruby’s truce wasn’t the strongest. Bringing “the press” would likely cause some strain.

A couple of days ago, Ruby wouldn’t have cared. But Boone had shown her something she absolutely hadn’t been expecting—compassion. He had also made her believe his intentions were to help and not make things harder on her when he intervened with Violet.

“What’s that look?” Holly snapped Ruby out of her thoughts.

“What look?”

“That’s the look you got the first time you saw Levi ride a bull at the rodeo,” Holly accused her.

Ruby shook her head. “No way. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The first time she had seen Levi, she’d been a naive twenty-year-old with absolutely no idea what she wanted in life. Falling for a cute bull rider had seemed like a perfectly rebellious thing to do. It was a stupid crush that had turned into a horrible marriage that ended in an even worse divorce.

Ruby did not have a crush on Boone Williams. And she certainly wasn’t some naive kid without a clue. Ruby knew exactly what she wanted, and it had nothing to do with getting involved with a man who clearly had more issues than she did.

“You stared into those blue eyes and got Booned, didn’t you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Booned. It’s what happens when Boone Williams makes you fall in love with one look.”

Ruby let out a sarcastic chuckle. “I did not fall in love in Boone Williams. In fact, his first impression was terrible.”

“And then he gazed into your eyes and you were Booned. It’s okay. You can admit it. He’s the hottest guy over thirty-five I have ever seen.”

“Holly, I was not Booned. He was a total jerk that day I stopped by your office. Then he caught Violet shoplifting, and instead of telling me what happened, he told her to keep quiet about it.” Ruby went on to share her embarrassing conversation with Mary Ellen and her confrontation with Boone. “In the end, he apologized for not telling me and we parted on friendly terms. At no time did he Boone me with his eyes. I swear.”

“I can’t believe he cared enough to look out for our little Violet. That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard.”

“That’s your takeaway from this story?” The woman was hopeless. Ruby had always trusted Holly to be a levelheaded, reasonable person, and here she was acting like a love-struck teenager.

“I think the boys and I would like to come with you to the farm tomorrow. They think the horses are cool. And I want to see for myself that you can resist Boone Williams the way you say you can.”

Hopeless and impossible. Holly was almost as stubborn as Violet, and that was saying something. “Fine. I can’t stop you from showing up at Helping Hooves, but I am not hunting down Boone while I’m there.”

“Don’t worry.” Her best friend smiled. “Leave that to me.”

* * *

THE NEXT DAY, Ruby’s stomach was in knots. Holly brought the boys over for lunch and couldn’t be talked out of following Ruby and Violet to Helping Hooves.

She prayed Boone would be nowhere to be seen and there would be no way for Holly to get to him. She didn’t want him to think she’d ignored what he’d said about interviews. His mistrust of the media was clear.

“Did Dad text you to get the information on the horse show yet?” Violet asked.