Cricket lifted a shoulder. “I don’t care as much about the money as I do winning against Scott. He doesn’t think I’m smart or motivated enough to best him. I want him to know that he’s wrong.”
Juke motioned at his phone and stepped away, leaving me with Cricket and Griff. I glanced down at where Ed Earl stood against the hospital wall, holding a honey bun and chatting with someone on the phone. “You didn’t have to come.”
Cricket wrapped an arm around me and gave me a squeeze. “Ruby, you’re my friend. I wanted to be here.”
“But you have so much going on and—”
She shook her head. “I know you think you’re an island, Ruby, but you’re not. We all need someone. Look how much you’ve been there for me. Do you know what that means to me? You roping your cousins into helping me, into conducting a sting to nail my husband? That was pretty cool. And generous. And slightly bloodthirsty, but I like that about you.”
That made me chuckle. “Well, we know how to choose our weapons.”
Griff snorted.
Cricket grinned and then watched as Juke approached, pocketing his phone and looking like he had juicy info. “Okay. Jim Arnold is the contact. He wants you to come in to meet him as soon as you’re able. I get the sense that they’re ready to move.”
Cricket looked surprised. “Like when?”
“Can you go by tomorrow?” Juke asked.
Cricket pulled a planner out of her purse. “Let me check my calendar. Well, um, I have to go to Julia Kate’s school for an awards service at nine thirty a.m. Then I’m supposed to have lunch with Mother and then meet Whitney Peacock about the Spring Fling. She wants me to—” Cricket snapped her mouth closed and made a face.
“What?” I asked.
“I have to go to the academic award thing, but then I can put off the other things. This is important.”
Juke nodded. “Good. I’ll tell him you’ll come by after lunch.”
We all stood there, somewhat satisfied, still a little awkward because how do you end a sting? Juke probably knew, but the rest of us were amateurs.
So we all went to the cafeteria and got coffee and a slice of pie while Ed Earl and Jimbo went to see Gran. We were a motley bunch, but I took comfort in my family and Cricket being there with me. My grandmother seemed to be feeling better, and Jimbo bumbled in to let us know that the urinalysis was clear and she was being released. Oh, and he also polished off my pie. Jimbo probably needed to heed the doctor’s warning himself since he looked as if he could deliver a full-term infant at any given moment.
So I told Cricket that I was taking the afternoon off to help Gran get settled. To which she said, “Of course you are.”
Then I walked with them to the parking lot to say goodbye. Juke climbed into his old truck, throwing me a salute. He seemed pleased with himself, and I was happy that he’d found some purpose and seemed to be doing much better. I would keep an eye on him. And then I sort of let my mouth hang open as Griff handed Cricket a bike helmet.
“You came with Griff? On the bike?”
Cricket grinned. “Heck yeah. I love riding a motorcycle. I mean, I could never get one for myself while my daughter is so young. Can’t take that risk, especially since she’s about to lose her daddy. And probably not while my mother is still living. She would die if I rode a hog, or whatever you call them. But Griffin is a very good driver. I trust him.”
My cousin’s chest may have puffed out a bit.
“This is so weird,” I said.
Cricket made a face. Then she smiled cheekily. “Well, it turns out I like weird. I hired you, didn’t I?”
I should have been insulted, but I knew Cricket didn’t mean it offensively. She meant it the way my cousins had meant it when they teased me about wearing makeup, crying when my Tamagotchi pet died, and writing “Mrs. Dakota Roberts” all over my notebooks. She meant it with love.
“You did.” I laughed as she slung her leg over the seat of the Harley and wrapped her arms around my cousin’s waist.
Griffin looked as pleased as Juke did. As pleased as I felt. Even if I was still worried about Gran and how I was going to get her to stop eating Pop-Tarts every morning.
They drove off, and I turned to go back inside the hospital. And just when the doors slid open, I heard someone behind me say, “That country chick went home. You owe me a Coke.”
Dak.
“I believe I was the one who said she was going home. Don’t you have to go console her or something?” I asked, turning around and setting my hand on my hip.