Ruby Red 3 - A Romance for All Time (Complete)

Chapter 7

"Martini with a twist for the lovely lady."

The bartender at the club placed the wide-brimmed glass in front of Ali and put on his panty-dropping grin.

She thanked the boy politely and using her left hand, picked up the drink causing the engagement ring on her third finger to twinkle in the late afternoon sun. The cute blonde's face fell slightly and he sauntered away down the bar looking for more attainable prey.

The cold vodka hit her tongue offering relief from the humid heat. After today, she was in dire need of a good stiff drink. To start.

Her mother had met her at the hospital entrance. Alone. At least Jack had the decency to stay away from the hospital. Ali knew there was a good chance he would. Watching his uncle waste away after a long battle with cancer had left him with an irrational fear of any place where the trending outfit was a white lab coat or scrubs.

Upset at herself for fleeing like a coward from her parents' house the night before, Ali was determined to talk to her mother about the situation. She should have discussed it with Sam but this morning when he had called something held her back. Jack was a sore spot for her fiancé and Sam had more than enough of those lately. Besides, it would be used as a reason to drop everything and come out to be with her. The irrational side of her wanted nothing more. It had only been a day since she left yet she felt like a part of her, a limb or a portion of her heart was missing.

The more logical side knew Sam needed to be in New York right now. If he was here he would only worry about what responsibilities were being neglected back home. So the words had stuck in her throat.

Besides she had to figure this out for herself. Sam was a great support, a willing partner in her troubles and her triumphs and she truly did not know what she would do without him. Still, she could not completely lean on him.

She had recognized of late running away from unpleasant situations was a pattern of hers. In her marriage, it had been Jack's abuse. With Sam, it had been her feelings of being abandoned. With her parents, it was wrapped up in thoughts of being unworthy. No matter the cause, it was a pattern she had to break.

In the recent episode with Sam, she had returned to him to work things out. After more than a few long talks where they were not only honest but open with each other, things had changed. They were the better for it. Stronger. Had a deeper understanding of each other.

No amount of talking was going to work with Jack though. She was going to have to make a stand. It started with getting him out of her family home. It was her house, not Jack's. The man was up to something, that much she was sure of. There was no way Ali was going to make things easier for the master manipulator. He may have her parents wrapped around his finger, but she no longer played his games. There was a new sheriff in the Stinson family and Jack needed a wake-up call.

Giving her mother a piece of her mind was first on her agenda but the older woman derailed the plan, demanding they check on her father first.

When her mother broke the news of the stroke, Ali grasped the concept, yet she had not been prepared for the reality. Seeing her father lying unconscious in a hospital bed shocked her into understanding the gravity of the situation.

Ali felt a tingling in the back of her throat at the sight and had to swallow to keep her emotions in check. Once upon a time, she could have pulled her armour, as Sam called it, around her to hide her feelings from the world. Since meeting Sam and through his encouragement, she no longer suppressed things. For the most part, everything was better for it. Feeling life was better than only watching it go by. Standing in the room with her ill father, she longed to keep those emotions at bay.