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“It isn’t.” He looks back at her. “Come in for a few minutes. Corinne should be here any minute.”

Ruby hesitates. “I’m supposed to be getting groceries.”

“You’ve got five minutes.”

She looks at me over the roof of the car, and I can already tell she knows better than to trust that estimate.

I get out and close the door. “If you move fast, you can still escape.”

“Helpful.”

Before she can answer, Mom comes around the side of the building. She spots Ruby and changes direction without missing a step.

“Well, hello. It’s good to see you again.”

Ruby gets out of the car, plainly accepting defeat. “Hi.”

Mom comes closer, and I watch her take Ruby in. The red hair, silver nose hoop, black clothes, rings, and bright floral tattoos are enough to make people stare sometimes. Mom doesn’t. Her attention settles on the flowers covering Ruby’s forearm instead.

“Those are beautiful.”

Ruby glances down. “Thanks.”

“Did you do them?”

“Some of them. The rest were done by artists I’ve worked with.”

Mom smiles. “I like the color against all the black. It suits you.”

Something in Ruby’s expression softens. “Thank you.”

Mom’s eyes flick briefly toward my arm before settling back on Ruby. “And your neighbor.”

Ruby looks at me. “Apparently that part traveled fast.”

I smile. “Around here? Absolutely.”

Mom gives me a quick look before turning back to Ruby. “I’ve heard good things about Black Fern. Sloane said you’ve been busy since you got here.”

“It’s been good.”

Before Mom can ask anything else, another vehicle crunches across the gravel.

Lachlin pulls in with Briar beside him.

Ruby glances toward the truck. “Is this turning into some family gathering thing?”

“It might.”

“You said five minutes.”

“Technically, it was my dad who said five minutes.”

She gives me a look, but she’s smiling when Lachlin gets out.

Briar climbs out more slowly from the passenger side, and Lachlin is around the front of the truck before she has both feet on the ground. He opens the rear door and starts unbuckling Jack from his car seat while Briar watches him with the patient expression of a woman who has already accepted that her husband is going to hover for the foreseeable future.

“Hey,” Briar says when she sees us. Her eyes move to Ruby, and recognition flashes. “You’re Ruby.”