How It Needed to Be by T. S. Joyce

Author:T. S. Joyce [Joyce, T. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wicked Willow Press
Published: 2021-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Five mornings in a row, Ruby had woken up to a good morning text from Divar, sent in the middle of the night when he woke up and thought about her. She’d expected to find a text when she’d got out of bed to get a glass of water, but she hadn’t expected it to come from one of her co-workers instead of Divar.

Ruby pulled her rubber-soled snow boots on and yanked her thick coveralls over them. She pulled the hoodie she’d put on under her coveralls over her hair, and pulled on her thick, wool-lined jacket.

Jack, one of the other officers at the jail, had messaged her at two in the morning, and asked if she wanted to give up her shift today so he could earn a little extra income for holiday presents. It was his first year working at the jail and he wasn’t salaried yet. She’d been in his shoes before, working every shift she could to earn money to put a down payment on this house, so she’d texted back, Of course. I’ll let them know we are switching for the day.

Now she had a random day off, and she couldn’t go back to sleep.

Random days off were the best. She hadn’t spent enough time working on the four-wheelers lately because she’d been a little distracted by a hunky growly bear-man, but with her surprise time off and apparent insomnia, she was going to start her day off right.

Ruby grabbed her thermos of hot chocolate and shoved her cell phone into her back pocket, then made her way out into the frosty night. Or…morning, she should say. It was four-thirty, and the stars were still out.

Not a cloud graced the sky and good golly, it was freezing. She tramped through the snow to the barn, but something made her pause and listen.

Her outdoor lighting was very good when she remembered to flick the switch inside, which she had, so she could see the woods clearly. Nothing moved but the branches of the trees as the wind swept them back and forth like a painter’s paintbrush. Snow clumps fell from the needle-clad evergreens, but nothing else stirred.

She was losing her mind.

Ruby shook her head and laughed at herself, then stomped her way to the barn and pulled one of the sliding doors open. From the hours she’d spent in here she had this place memorized, even in the dark. She flipped the switch for the single swinging lightbulb high in the rafters. The space was dim in the dark before dawn with no help from natural light, so she made her way to the brand-new shop lights she’d picked up yesterday at Divar’s request for more lighting in here.

She clicked the first one on, nearly blinded herself, and then moved to the other corner and clicked that one on, too.

Ruby hooked her hands on her hips and looked around proudly. The new lighting made a huge difference.

The tarp over the four-wheelers was stiff from the cold, and it took a minute to get them all rolled back.

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