Little Red’s Riding by Nicole Casey
Lincoln
A sunny daywith a cool breeze: it was a good day to be a cop. Though that could be said about most days, but at the time I wouldn’t have known, since it was my very first day on the force.
I walked out of the house, stood on the front steps, and took in a big breath of fresh Wyoming air. “Ah, what a day to be a cop.”
Of course, I had to jinx it by saying it out loud. Keep your good fortunes to yourself. You don’t say them out loud for the wind to catch wind of them. Invariably, it’ll end up blowing them right back in your face.
It took all but ten seconds for that adage to come true.
I walked down the drive to my car, which was parked on the curb, and before I could wipe that self-satisfied grin off my face, I ran right smack dab into my ex, literally. My head was in the clouds, and, with it, my eyes were too. I wasn’t watching where I was going and then smack. I came crashing back down to Earth. I turned to say my apologies when who did I see but Ruby.
Ruby-Rose Davis. The girl next door. My first love. The girl who broke my heart.
Ruby-Rose Davis. The girl who’d gotten too good for this little town and had gone off to the big city.
Ruby-Rose Davis. The girl who didn’t want to be ‘kept down’ by a simple country boy like myself but had to go ‘discover’ herself. That’s what she’d told me.
Well, whatever she’d discovered about herself ended up bringing her right back here to Magnolia, right back to the end of my driveway where I nearly knocked her over.
“I’m sor…”
“Lincoln.”
“Ruby.”
She looked about her as if she might have dropped something then checked the basket she was carrying.
“When did you get back?”
“Today, actually. Not more than a couple of hours ago.” She looked me up and down, inspecting my new uniform. There was no look of surprise on her face. Why would there have been? My dad was the sheriff, and it was always expected that I would follow in his footsteps.
“So, you’re a police officer now?”
Dammit. Of all people to run into on my first day!
I had been feeling pretty good about myself, even proud for once, until I ran into her. There was a tinge of judgment and disappointment in her flat ‘you’re a police officer now’ comment.
I pulled my shoulders back and held my head high. “Yep. First day, as a matter of fact.”
She looked me up and down again. “The uniform looks good on you.”
That took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting a kind word from her, given how we’d ended things before she left for New York: in a yelling match of escalating insults.
“Thank you,” I said suspiciously. I had my guard up, ready for a sarcastic comment. I was already trying to think up my own. But truth be told, as I looked her up and down, Ruby was looking good. She had her hair pulled back and tied in a ponytail. A loose strand fell down the side of her face, red like a flame glimmering in the afternoon sun. She wore a light pink wrap top tied at the waist like a bow; its ends hung down past the waist of her faded jeans which she filled out nicely.
I caught myself staring at her hips and feeling an erection coming on, so I turned from her and started walking, forgetting that I was supposed to be getting into my car.
“Well, take care, Lincoln.”
I immediately recognized my mistake and turned around. I pointed to my car. “Can I give you a lift?”
She shook her head then brushed the loose lock back and tucked it behind her ear. “Nah, it’s a nice day. I think I’ll walk.”
As I passed her, I could see her staring at me; I could see her holding back a smirk. “What?”
She frowned. “I didn’t say anything.”
I dug in my pockets for my keys. They weren’t there. Dammit, Lincoln. “Looked like you were about to say something.”
She shook her head. “Nope. Just getting used to the uniform.”
There it was again, that smirk.
“You want to take a picture? Or did you give up on photography, too?”
The smirk was gone. “What’s that supposed to mean!?”
Found my keys—in the first pocket I’d checked. I shrugged. “Just that you gave up on horse racing, then you gave up on Magnolia, gave up on me. Looks like you’ve given up on New York. I just assumed you’d given up on photography, too.” I pointed at the wicker basket she was carrying filled to the brim with glass jars. “What’s the new passion now, pickling?”
“What would you know about that?” she fired back accusingly.
“About pickling?”
“No. About passion?”
As I stuck the key in the car door, I remembered that I hadn’t got the hinges fixed and the door would creak and snap open. Nearly two years ago, when we were dating, Ruby asked me when I was going to get that fixed. I had planned to. It would have been easy. But something always came up that took priority. I pulled the key out, turned, and leaned against the car. “I know plenty about passion,”—I twirled the keychain around my finger—“like how to follow through on it.”
She shifted the basket from one arm to the other and glared at me, squinting with her eyebrows pulled together. “What passion have you ever followed through on?”
I pointed to my uniform.
“Hah! You call doing what your dad told you to do, becoming who he told you to become, you call that a passion!?” She frowned and shook her head. “Not surprising.”
Eighteen months and I hadn’t heard a word from her. And now here she was, appearing out of nowhere and coming at me with the same insults she’d come at me with before. I glanced down again at the basket she was carrying and, this time, I could see the rim of what looked like a camera. I pointed. “Is that a camera!?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Just asking.”
“Yes, it’s a camera. So? Would you like me to take a picture of you so you can see what you’ll be doing with yourself in ten years?”
“I’m proud to be a cop.” I wasn’t leaning against my car, anymore. I was standing in front of Ruby, leaning over her. My mouth was inches from her nose. I could have grabbed her by the chin, lifted her head, and taken her lips in mine. I could have turned her and pinned her against the car; shown her what I know about passion.
“I’m proud of Magnolia,” I said, keeping my voice down but the anger in it up. “And I know what I’ll be doing in ten years. I’ll be serving my community. And you? Where will you be? Going off somewhere new, getting tired of it then going off somewhere newer still, giving up on that.”
She huffed.
“Where’s your dad?” I asked.
She gritted her teeth. “He’s out of town on business. Why? What’s it to you!?” Her face was so red with anger I thought she might hit me. I was conscious of what I was doing, what I was saying. I knew what buttons to push. I was also conscious of the fact that I was antagonizing her, in part, because of the mean things she’d said, how she’d managed, in a minute, to spoil my day, but also because I thought it would be fun if she hit me. Maybe not fun, but interesting.
“He’s always going off somewhere for business.” I put the key in the lock again. “So, which one of us is following in our father’s footsteps, really?” I opened the door. Let it creak and snap open. So what, I didn’t get it fixed! Maybe I like it that way.
“I am so glad I dumped you, Lincoln.” She stormed off.
I watched her fast walk down the road. My anger quickly subsided, and I found myself staring at her ass. Ruby was cruel and quick-tempered, but damn she had a great ass.
