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and
earth-tinged breeze wafted across the porch.
    Half way through the box, Ruby glanced
at Madeline. “Did I ever tell you why I left here?”
    Madeline grinned, remembering what Ruby
had first told her years ago about leaving Diamond Back. “To live
in a commune, in the desert?”
    Ruby snorted and took a drink of
coffee. She cleared her throat, an action that always preceded a
discerning confession. “It sounds good. But, no. I left over them
Copper Creek men. “
    “ Not Mitch,” Madeline
blurted before she could stop herself.
    “ Oh, hell, no.” Ruby
laughed. Then frowned. “It was that hard-assed brother of
his.”
    That was just— shocking. “Jude? I can’t
believe you never told me. Why? I told you about Mitch.”
    “ I don't know. Who wants to
admit they were young and stupid?”
    “ Not me.”
    “ Anyway, Nick doesn’t care
to be reminded of it either.”
    “ Your brother knew?” She
watched Ruby swat a bee away from the doughnut box, then shift in
the chair. Somewhere down the street, someone was annoyingly trying
to start a chain saw.
    “ He had to get me out of
here,” Ruby confessed under the dull sound that finally flubbed
out. “I was going a bit crazy. These days they call people like
that stalkers. I was a kid. What did I know?”
    “ Seriously. You followed
him, spied, what?”
    “ I was sixteen. I all but
lay down in front of his car,” Ruby said mockingly. “I offered to
become his mistress, his love slave.”
    Madeline laughed, thinking she was
joking. Then she realized Ruby wasn’t. “Oh, my. God. I can’t see
you that way. You’re free, independent, and
emotionally…healthy.”
    “ Years of living in the
desert, with a bunch of pseudo-therapists will do that for you. You
realize they’re the nuts, and you’re the healthy one.”
    She shook her head, blinking, still
stunned. “I’m sorry. What happened?”
    “ First, I want to say, I’m
only admitting this because I happened to see Brook in Copper Creek
the other day.”
    “ Oh, Hell. You’re not still
following Jude?”
    “ No, I had a commission
there. A church order for stained glass art I’d finished
up.”
    “ Well, good.”
    “ Knowing you the way I do, I
figured you were freaking out about Brook and all.”
    “ That’s putting it
mildly.”
    “ Actually, I think your kid
has more brains than we did. A strong woman raised Brook. You.
She‘s been exposed to women who know it takes more than a man to
exist in the world, she’s been educated about sex the way we
weren‘t. Hell, Brook is more savvy and mature than I am. We didn‘t
dare read the kind of stuff kids do these days. We didn‘t have her
pluck and self-esteem. Brook‘s a born leader, not a
follower.”
    Madeline relished that assurance, but
she knew the heart could be blind. Instead, she inquired, “Was he
ever in love with you?”
    “ No. He told me things he
hadn’t told anyone. He couldn’t seem to get enough of me sexually.
In those days, I was pretty much the same. I am nothing if not
dramatic though. I couldn’t live another day without him, didn’t
care or think about anything else.” Ruby’s harsh laugh was
self-mocking.
    “ That was before the Brown
woman?”
    “ Yea, but it lasted for
years. Our so-called affair.”
    Ruby shook her head, her expression
suddenly serious. “Nick freaked out when he discovered I was
obsessing over Jude. It was unhealthy. Comes from growing up with
cold, intellectual, parents. I was starved for affection and
attention. I was always reading things and watching movies, and
imagining fiction was real life.”
    “ So, Nick and you went to
California?”
    “ Yup. Mom and Dad were in
Florida making their tight circle of friends. We had plenty of
money. Nick had to sit on me, tie me down, and get me in the middle
of nowhere. Cause I was sure I’d die without Jude
Coburn.”
    “ How do you feel about him
now?”
    “ Horny.”
    Her coffee spewed out as she gasped,
laughing.
    “ It’s the good