What Dreams May Fall

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

“I’m telling you, girl,” Jessi exclaimed as she sped with Ruby toward Wenatchee, “we totally need to get you out more. This is the first time you’ve left that farm in what, like a month?”

Ruby rubbed her throbbing temples.

“Headache again?”

Ruby shrugged, downplaying her discomfort. “Just a little one. It’s not too bad.”

“How many headaches did you get when you were still working at County?”

Ruby didn’t answer.

“So I heard from Mace yesterday.” Jessi glanced at Ruby out of the corner of her eye. Ruby wished she’d keep her focus on the road.

Jessi drummed a little beat on her steering wheel. “Sounds like he’s got a pretty light semester, which is perfect for him. I honestly have no idea how he’s made it this far already.”

Some people might not find it all that much of an accomplishment to be a sixth-year senior who hadn’t flunked out of college yet, but Jessi’s brother Mace was a special case.

Ruby didn’t reply.

Jessi glanced over at her. “What’s wrong? You’re like a fish out of water after it’s done flopping.”

Ruby tried to straighten down her windblown hair. It could be the middle of winter, and Jessi would still be driving with the windows down. “I’m just tired.”

“That old quack have another one of her bad days?”

Ruby tensed. I will not get into another fight with Jessi, she repeated to herself like a prayer.

Jessi shrugged. “Well, I swear I’d trade you jobs any day of the week. Tell you what, those little brats at the daycare are always screaming so loud that I come home with a migraine every night.”

Ruby knew for a fact her best friend had never suffered a migraine in her entire life but didn’t want to argue.

We will not get into another fight.

Jessi groaned dramatically. “And then there’s all the older kids coming in the afternoons now, bringing home all their back-to-school germs and everything else. I swear I’ve caught five different colds in the past week.”

Ruby didn’t point out the medical implausibility of her statement. We will not get into another fight.

“Anyway, Mace seems to be settling in well. I swear, it’s not fair that he got all the brains in the family but he’s wasting it all just to party hard in Spokane. I’m twice the worker he is, and what have I got to show for it? A stupid associate’s degree that means squat and a job at a snot factory.” She swatted Ruby’s leg playfully. “Come on. I’m talking to you. What are you thinking about?”

“Just Grandma Lucy.”

Jessi snorted. “That old bat? Seriously, you know I’m only saying this because you’re my absolute best friend in the entire world and we’ve gone through literally everything together, but this woman has kind of got you bewitched. Know what I mean?”

We will not get into another fight, Ruby repeated to herself while Jessi continued talking over the roar of the wind outside.

“Seriously. Like one minute you’re just your normal, average self. And by average I don’t mean average like that. I’m just saying you’re who you’ve always been, then you come home from one little night shift at County and tell me you’re giving this whole Jesus thing a try, and you know me. I was like, hey that’s awesome, whatever tickles your goat, know what I mean? But then next thing I know, you’re going over to her house to spend time talking about who knows what, then you’re breaking up with my brother …”

“Mace didn’t have anything to do with this,” Ruby snapped, forgetting her well-rehearsed mantra.

Thankfully, Jessi was too absorbed in her own soliloquy to argue. “I mean, hooray Jesus and all, I hear he’s got some really awesome things to teach us about loving each other and stuff, and wasn’t Gandhi sort of like a Christian? Like not a Christian Christian because I think he was a Hindu, or maybe it was Buddhist, I don’t know. But I mean, I think he read a lot of Jesus’ teachings and stuff, so hey, if it’s good for Gandhi, it’s gotta be good for all of us, right? But you’re kind of carrying it a little far, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know,” Ruby mumbled. Why did she have to live in a small town like Orchard Grove, where if you wanted to get any real entertainment you had to drive at least an hour and a half to arrive anywhere?

Jessi took in a deep breath before jumping into the next round of her monologue. “I mean, you remember when I got all into those billionaire romance novels, and you finally told me I was wasting my brain cells? And I listened to you, right? Or that summer I thought it’d be cool to start smoking but you talked me out of it before I got too addicted? That’s what friends do for each other, right? You think it was fun listening to you tell me how degrading those novels are about women getting beat up and slapped around? But you stood your ground, and I eventually came to realize you were right. Out go my trashy romances, or at least most of them. Next you tell me you’ll never let me ride in your car if I smell like smoke. Out go the cigarettes before I ruin my lungs and die of cancer. Because that’s what friends do.” She enunciated each word with even more melodrama than normal.

“So think of this as your own personal intervention.” While her best friend railed on, Ruby just wished she could tune out her words. Jessi didn’t know what that first conversation with Grandma Lucy did to her, how much hope it poured into her soul. Jessi didn’t know about how much Ruby had been struggling until that night at County. She didn’t know how far Ruby had slipped into despondency and despair, how lonely she felt even when she was surrounded by friends.

Grandma Lucy had changed everything.

No, Jesus had changed everything.

Why couldn’t Jessi be happy for her and leave it at that?

“I’m not telling you to stop believing. I’m just like the Journey song. It’s not my place to decide what you’re supposed to think about God or religion or anything like that. That’s totally against everything I stand for. And hey, if this whole church-girl act is working out for you, all the more power to you. But isn’t it the Bible that says everything in moderation? No wait, maybe that was Gandhi. Or Martin Luther King. I forget now, but that’s beside the point, although now that I think about it, wasn’t King a Christian too? So I mean, yeah, let’s be all for team Jesus if that’s what’s working for you now. But I’ve always said religion’s like underwear. Some people like boy boxers, and some go for the bikini briefs. If you’re going on a hot date you might choose something with a lot of lace, and then there are people who go totally commando, and that’s perfectly fine too as long as you don’t go announcing what you’re wearing to the world, right? Like those desperate girls who wear a thong with their hip huggers. Get what I’m saying?”

“Not really,” Ruby mumbled.

“I’m just saying that some things like your underwear and your religion are between you and the washing machine and not too many other folks. Unless of course we’re talking about that hot date. Which brings me to my last point.”

Ruby rubbed her throbbing temples. Not Mace. Please don’t bring up Mace.

“You and my brother. You two have been destined for each other since the day we all met. You know that, right?”

Ruby should have known Jessi wouldn’t shy away from bringing him into this very one-sided conversation.

“And we promised each other when the two of you started dating — again — that no matter what happened with you and Mace, it wouldn’t get in the way of our friendship, the whole sisters before misters thing and all that. I hate to put it this way, but you kind of sort of broke his heart. And you know me. I’m not one to be melodramatic or anything, but he was pretty devastated by it all.”

Ruby shook her head. Whatever Jessi thought it was that had split her and Mace up, she was wrong.

Dead wrong.

She grabbed Jessi’s cell phone and plugged it into the car speakers. “I’m really tired. Mind if we just listen to some music for a while?”

“Be my guest.” Jessi shrugged, and Ruby turned on their favorite 80s rock playlist.

Two minutes later, Jessi was shouting Don’t Stop Believing at the top of her not-quite-so-musical lungs, and Ruby was leaning back in her seat, praying her headache would go away, wondering if she’d made a mistake to hang out with Jessi tonight in the first place.