Amy Vastine - Catch A Fallen Star

She scavenged some ham that still smelled edible and some cheese from the deli drawer. With any luck there would be four slices left of the bread she bought a week ago. If Violet gave her any grief, Ruby would serve her the heel.

While the frying pan heated up, Ruby found one apple in the refrigerator and half a can of Pringles in the pantry. Ruby’s mother had always been a stickler about serving a proper dinner, which consisted of a meat/protein, a starch, a vegetable and a fruit. Everyone was expected to eat everything, no exceptions. It didn’t matter that Ruby hated brussels sprouts or that her sister gagged whenever a banana was near.

Violet had never known such horror. Too bad she didn’t appreciate how cool her mom was.

Ruby grilled up two sandwiches and cut up the apple. Before she could call Violet down to eat, there was a knock on the front door.

“Hey, Ruby.” Mary Ellen Kingston lived next door and had twin daughters who were almost two. Ruby envied how put-together she always was. Her blond hair never failed to look like she’d just left the salon. She always wore some cute little sundress and strappy leather sandals that required buckling.

When Violet was two, Ruby had been lucky to get out of the house wearing clothes that weren’t covered in something Violet had wiped on or thrown at her. And if her shoes didn’t slip on, she went barefoot.

“How are you tonight, Mary Ellen?”

“Good. We’re on our way home from gymnastics. The girls and I have had a busy day. In fact, we were shopping at Valu-Save earlier and—” her voice dropped lower “—I don’t want to come off like I’m minding your business, but I feel like I need to tell you what I saw there.”

The uneasy feeling in Ruby’s stomach told her Mary Ellen wasn’t here to share information about a sale on orange juice. “What did you see?

“Well, Violet was there with her friend, but I noticed her later in the checkout lane with a man I didn’t recognize. I think he might have bought her something. She walked out of the store with him. I think he was trying to get her to go in his truck, but she kept on walking. Not that I would have let her go with him, of course,” she added.

Mary Ellen glanced back at her minivan parked in Ruby’s driveway. Her angelic twins were probably strapped inside, waiting patiently for their mother to return. They would never talk to strangers when they were older, or break any rules. Or shut their mom out of their lives.

“I swear I would have stopped her if she had made a different decision. I just thought you should know. We gotta look out for one another, being neighbors and all, right?”

“Right.” Ruby didn’t know what else to say as her heart beat out of control. She thanked Mary Ellen for her concern and shut the door.

For about a year after deciding to leave Levi, every communication Ruby had with her mother contained some reminder of the damage divorce did to children. Children raised by their mothers were ten times more likely to be physically hurt or murdered. Seventy percent of long-term prison inmates were from broken homes. Children from two-parent homes were happier, healthier and better-adjusted.

Ruby hadn’t needed scientific studies to tell her what divorce did to children. Her father had walked out of her life when she was seven years old. He hadn’t even tried to pretend he cared like Levi did with Violet. Ruby knew better than anyone the cost of a failed marriage and how the children paid the price.

Given Violet’s tendency to make trouble, Ruby always figured she needed to be more worried about her daughter ending up in jail than becoming someone’s victim. But the thought of Violet almost getting into some strange man’s truck caused tears to prick at the corners of her eyes.

This time she raced upstairs and didn’t bother knocking. Violet was on her bed and sat up when Ruby burst in.

“Mom! Seriously, leave.”

“Who was the man you were talking to at Valu-Save?”

“What?”

“Don’t play games with me, Violet.” Ruby clenched her fists to keep her hands from shaking. “Mrs. Kingston saw you and someone who isn’t from around here standing in line together. She said he bought you something and tried to get you to come into his truck. What happened?”

Violet rolled her eyes, and she flopped back on her bed, phone in hand. “Oh my gosh,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “People need to mind their own business.”

Ruby sat on the bed and blinked back her tears. “Honey, there are dangerous people in the world, even in small towns like this one.”

“I know, Mom. I don’t need you to lecture me about stranger danger. I got it. You can leave now,” she said, going back to her phone.

“Vi.” Ruby snatched the smartphone from Violet’s hands. She would not be dismissed. “Do you have any idea what I would do if something happened to you? You are all I have in this world.”

For a moment, Ruby thought she saw a flicker of remorse in her daughter’s eyes. It was quickly replaced with familiar annoyance.

“Nothing is going to happen to me. Stacy dared me to steal a lighter so she could smoke these cigarettes she snagged from her mom’s purse, but that guy from Helping Hooves who thinks he’s famous caught me and made me stand in line with him because he said the manager saw me, too. He wouldn’t even buy me the lighter. He’s so lame.”

“Boone Williams was the man in the store?”

“I don’t remember his name because he’s old. And not cool. Can I have my phone back now?”

Ruby felt relieved and enraged at the same time. Thankfully some creepy pedophile hadn’t attempted to lure Violet into his car. However, Boone had interjected himself into Violet’s life without any thought to how his actions might affect Ruby’s ability to parent her troubled teen.

“I will be holding on to this until I can think of a more appropriate consequence for attempted shoplifting,” she replied, standing up and slipping the phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “And tonight at dinner, we will be discussing all the reasons someone your age shouldn’t take up smoking.”

“Oh my gosh! Are you serious? I didn’t say I was going to smoke.”

Ruby paid her no mind as she headed for the door. “Dinner’s ready, by the way.”

“I shouldn’t have told you anything. Boone was right. I should have kept the whole thing between him and me.”

That, on the other hand, got Ruby’s attention. She spun back around. “He told you not to tell me?”

Violet rolled over and curled into a ball. “I’m never telling you anything ever again.”

The heat of her anger crept up Ruby’s neck and burned her cheeks. Violet didn’t have to tell her anything. Ruby would confront the supposed adult in this scenario. Of course, that was if she didn’t knock him out instead.

CHAPTER FIVE

STARING AT EMMY’S number on his phone, Boone contemplated what he could say on her voice mail today that might make her finally call him back. He paced the inside of the Airstream and fought the anxiety that made his palms sweat.

He pressed the button to call. Four rings and there she was.

“Hi, this is Emmy.” She giggled, and Boone’s heart swelled, then dropped. “Leave me a message or text me and I’ll get back to you.”

Boone cleared his throat and waited for the beep. “Hey, Em. It’s Dad. I, ah, I’m trying to remember the name of that horse you used to ride when you took lessons at Tressman’s. You know, the all-black one? They’ve got a beautiful black gelding here named Renegade. Cool name, huh?” This had to work. Nothing he’d said in the past few months had earned him a response. He hoped her love of horses might convince her to reply this time. “Well, if you remember that horse’s name, give me a call back. I miss you, honey. I hope we can talk soon.”