Begin Again

| Chapter Twelve |

Well, that was a bust, Ruth thought miserably, as she started her journey back to the car.

Though she thought shooting hoops would help clear her mind, she quickly realized it did no such thing. Each basket toss was missed, and by the time she actually made a couple hoops, the courts were increasingly getting popular, as the afternoon settled and kids from all ages came out to enjoy some ball. Defeated, Ruth decided to pack up her ball and make her way back to Jana's.

It wasn't like she was going to be any good, anyway. Not with her mind as jumbled as it was.

Somewhere on the journey back to her car, with her hoodie drawn over her head and sunglasses pushed against her face as a poor disguise to avoid the man who lived nearby, she ran into a solid body just as her foot hit the asphalt of the parking lot. Her ball fell free from her grip and bounced once on the cement before being caught by the stranger who ran into her.

"Shit, sorry about that," the stranger cursed, and Ruth quickly snapped her head up at the familiarity of the voice.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

Did fate have a damn agenda that consisted of ruining all the days Ruth had left in Oklahoma? Did her grandfather, whom she hadn't seen yet, want to have a laugh or two up there for putting off visiting the gravesite? Or was the Creator mad she was avoiding her parents' messages like the plague?

Either way, life just didn't seem fair, as she continuously saw this man at the most inopportune times.

Raffo's eyes widened, his arm frozen mid-action as he held out her basketball to her. His throat bobbed with a swallow and Ruth tried not to follow the movement of his bobbing Adam's apple. With his medium length hair pushed back, and his jaw sharp and tight, something in her chest moved like a boa and constricted itself around her wounded heart.

She swallowed thickly and took a step back. "Why the hell are you always around?"

Clouds rolled over his familiar, dark eyes as they narrow with disdain. "I should be asking you that. You don't even live here anymore," Raffo scoffed.

Ruth's nostrils flared, and she snatched her sunglasses off her face. Jutting out her chin, she pushed her curls out of her eyes so he could see how truly angry she was with him. She didn't know if he even cared, but it sure as hell made her feel better.

"Well, my family's here so I have a right to be in this town just as much as you," she bit out harshly. She reached out her hands and snatched her ball back away from him.

"Whatever," Raffo said, rolling his eyes and going to step around her.

Ruth, oddly feeling up to confronting him, blurted out an angry, "Why are you mad? If anyone has the right to be mad in this situation, it's me."

He turned back around at that, irritation flickering in his gaze. "How privileged of you to dictate what I'm feeling."

Heat ignited in the pit of her stomach like a stick of dynamite. She took a step towards him and let her tongue do the talking before her brain and heart could catch up. "You used me. You used me and you didn't look back or cared—"

"That's what you think?" he barked a bitter laugh, shaking his head. "You think I fucking used you? That I really didn't care about you?"

"Of course you didn't care!" she hissed, emotion swelling like a balloon in her throat. "I waited for you and you left me at the airport looking like a damn idiot! Do you know what that's like? To be left waiting for someone while their family's watching everything? Do you know how embarrassing that is?"