The place was a shithole, with peel-and-stick linoleum, no water pressure, and stained ceilings. But with student loans and credit card debt, it was what they could afford. Eventually, sick of being two months behind on every bill, Drew put an ad in the local paper that read “Roommate Wanted.”
The last person he expected to answer the ad was Joey Reyes.
She was a shell of a person, drowning in baggy clothes and long hair that she wore like a security blanket. She had a hard time maintaining eye contact, and her soft voice didn’t carry very far. But despite appearances, she was determined.
“I don’t have a job yet,” Joey said, standing across from Drew and Simone in the tiny kitchen with the black-and-white checkerboard floors. Beside him, Drew felt his girlfriend’s shoulders slump. “I just moved back to Toronto this morning and came here straight from Union Station. But I’ve got cash, and I can pay six months’ rent up front.”
Simone perked up again. “Six months? Up front? That should be plenty of time for you to figure out the job situation. Right, Drew?”
He wasn’t sure. Simone, who never read the newspaper and would’ve had zero interest in reading about criminals even if she did, did not recognize the shy person in their kitchen. Nobody would, as her name and picture were never published.
But Drew knew exactly who she was. It had been easy enough to figure out back when he was in high school. Willow Park Middle School was only a five-minute walk from Ruby’s building. It hadn’t been hard to dig up a copy of their yearbook, which included a photo of a pretty girl in grade 8 named Joelle Reyes, who, at the age of thirteen, already looked a lot like her mother.
At almost nineteen, she was a dead ringer for Ruby. It made Drew uneasy. It was one thing to meet the Ice Queen’s daughter. It was a whole other thing to let the girl move in.
He felt Simone’s elbow in his ribs. He knew they needed the money, and that it would take a person with extremely low standards to be willing to pay rent to live here. They weren’t asking much, but six months up front would get them current on all their bills and credit card payments.
“Welcome home,” Drew said to Joey. “By the way, we’re not actually allowed to have a third person living here. So if anyone asks, you’re just hanging out. Cool?”
“No problem,” she said. “I’m used to pretending to not exist.”
Joey moved in that afternoon. Or more accurately, she simply didn’t leave. Everything she owned in the world was in the duffel bag and backpack she had with her. Her bedroom, which was technically a den, was the size of a postage stamp. She seemed genuinely thrilled.
“I haven’t slept in a room by myself in years,” she said.
The following week, still struggling to find a job, Drew recommended Joey to replace him at the video store down the street. He’d gotten a paid internship at the Toronto Tribune, and he started in two weeks.
“Gustav fired the last guy because a customer caught him watching porn on the store TV,” Drew said. “So as long as you never do that, you’re good. It’s the easiest job. It’s only busy on weekends, so during the week you can do homework, watch movies, whatever. Gustav is cool.”
“I’ll bring a book,” Joey said.
He glanced at the paperback on her bed. “What are you reading?”
“The Long Road Home by Danielle Steel. It’s about a girl whose mother abuses her.”
Their eyes met. He waited to see if she might mention something about Ruby, but she looked away. It would be months before she felt comfortable enough to tell him anything, and even then, he would only learn about her life in fragments.
“I hated Maple Sound,” Joey said to him a couple of months later at Junior’s. “Worst town ever. My aunt and uncle never wanted me there, and the feeling was mutual. And my grandmother is an asshole.”
Drew, who’d been both of his grandmothers’ pets, couldn’t even fathom that. “So you’ll never go back and visit?”
“Trust me.” She offered him a rare smile. “The way I left, they don’t want to see me again.”
Conversations about her mother wouldn’t happen for another three months.
“You know who my mom is, right?” Joey asked him one night, out of the blue. Simone was working at The Keg by then, so it was just Drew and Joey, watching a movie she’d brought home from the video store. “I saw the way you looked at me when I first showed up.”
He paused the movie. It was the first time she’d ever brought up Ruby. “You look like her.”