‘Oh. My. God. I love this bit of the movie,’ Jacie whispered to Ruby as Daniel Day-Lewis’s Hawkeye shouted above the thunderous sound of the waterfall to Cora about staying alive and not giving up no matter what occurred.
Ruby nodded in the darkness. She had always loved this part of the movie too because she’d believed, like Hawkeye, that Cora could survive anything.
But as she watched the drama unfold on the screen, The Royale packed with all of their regulars, the community Matty had made and she’d nurtured for so long as riveted as she would once have been, Hawkeye’s declaration didn’t seem quite so magnificent anymore.
He was abandoning Madeline Stowe’s Cora, quite possibly to a fate worse than death. And while that was empowering for Cora, it also sucked.
Survival was tough enough without the man you loved beside you.
And as nuts and delusional as it was, she had fallen in love with Luke Devlin. Because if he had stayed – if he was here right now, beside her – surviving the end of The Royale would be so much easier to bear.
As Hawkeye and his adopted father and brother dived into the waterfall and disappeared and Magua and his angry band arrived to capture Cora and her sister and the dull British guy, Ruby didn’t feel empowered, she felt scared and inadequate and so far out of her depth it wasn’t even funny.
Would losing The Royale really have been easier with Luke here? Probably not, but the truth was that somehow, in a ridiculously short space of time, he’d come to mean so much more to her than the theatre. She hadn’t wanted the theatre, if she couldn’t have him. It was as simple as that. Which she supposed was a powerful lesson to learn and an important one.
The Royale had never been what gave her life meaning. Or any of the films she had adored watching within its walls.
It had been her friendship with Matty, with Jacie and Gerry and Tozer and Beryl and Brynn and everyone else in the community they’d built.
But even if she’d been able to keep the theatre, Matty would still be dead and eventually everyone else here would have drifted away too. Because they all had a life outside it, unlike her. Jacie had her granddad Errol and her mum and a huge circle of friends from school and college who she hung out with when she wasn’t working. To Jacie this was a job she enjoyed, but it was still just a job. Brynn had his bar – not to mention his partner Thérèse. Beryl had her children and grandchildren and all of her fellow septuagenarian film buffs at the Pensioners’ Club screenings. And so on and so forth with every other person here. If nothing else, Luke had opened her eyes to the truth, that she’d spent too much of her life hiding.
I don’t want to own The Royale if it means spending the rest of my life here alone.
‘Ruby,’ Gerry hissed from behind her. ‘There’s someone in the lobby to talk to you.’
‘Who?’ she murmured. She did not want to miss any of The Royale’s final screening, even if the film was making her feel miserable. Jacie had been right, it was a total downer.
‘I think you’ll want to find out for yourself,’ he said. ‘He couldn’t come into the auditorium, he’s soaking wet. It’s pouring with rain outside.’
He?
She left her seat and headed out of the auditorium, just as Cora’s wannabe fiancé Duncan – the dull British guy – got strung up over a burning fire.
Luke turned as she rushed into the lobby. Elation surged up Ruby’s torso.
His dark hair was plastered to his forehead, those cool blue eyes hot on her face. But as soon as the joy exploded in her heart, leaving her light-headed, the adrenaline fizzled out. Luke wasn’t back to declare his feelings, because he’d convinced himself a long time ago he didn’t have feelings.
‘Luke, what are you doing here?’ she said.
If Luke had come back to torture her some more, she would survive it.
I’m stronger than I look. I’m at least as strong as Cora.
Water dripped from his suit on to the new carpet.
‘I’m not leaving,’ he said. ‘I can’t.’
Her heart leapt at the passion in his voice, the purpose – only to sink back into her abdomen. He was here to save The Royale for her, to try to persuade her to take the money again. But that wasn’t what she needed.
‘If you’ve come back to save the theatre …’ She stepped towards him, placed her hands on his cool cheeks, felt the muscle bunch and tense. ‘The answer’s still no.’ She took a deep breath, determined to keep going when all he did was stare at her the way he had before – conflicted, unsure. But there was something else there now, something open and less guarded.
So she told him everything she now knew to be true. After almost a week without him. A week she had survived, and would keep on surviving even if it killed her.
‘The Royale isn’t what I love,’ she said. ‘It’s just a building. The reason I came here after school, and every weekend, was to hang out with Matty. And the main thing that helped me get over that huge loss …’ She sucked in another unsteady breath. ‘Or at least begin to get over it … was you. You’ve already helped me so much more than you know. The Royale will be fine without me because, ultimately, without someone for me to love inside it, it’s just four walls, a new bar, lots of seats in desperate need of re-upholstering and a projector. And loads of other people’s dreams. I think it’s way past time I started making my own dreams, don’t you?’
***
Luke stared, shell-shocked, cold to the bone, and struck dumb all over again. He’d been trying to figure out what to say all the way here, had even jumped out of the taxi and into a thunderstorm to give himself extra time to think up a couple of good lines. And she’d beaten him to the punch, opening her heart all over again. All he wanted to do right now was drop to his knees in front of this insanely hot, sweet, honest, capable, smart woman and thank her. But he knew he had to be straight with her first, and it was killing him.
‘I’m scared …’ The words choked off in his throat. ‘I’m scared I can’t give you what you need, that I’m not that guy. That’s why I wanted to save The Royale. Because I guess, underneath everything else, I wasn’t sure I could give you more than that.’
Her smile was sweet and sad, but also confused as she tilted her head and stared back at him. ‘Oh, Luke. Can’t you see what I’m trying to tell you? You’ve already given me everything I need.’
‘Like what?’ he asked, because he still didn’t get it. But the damp from the early summer rain, which had started to seep into his bones, didn’t feel so cold anymore.
Probably because of the naked tenderness in her expression, which was full of hope and understanding, uncomplicated truth, compassion instead of judgement, and something more …
Something he wanted, more than anything else he’d ever wanted in his life. And he’d wanted a lot of stuff once. Stability, security, a house with a picket fence, a dad who showed up when he said he would and didn’t look through him like he wasn’t there, a mom who didn’t draw the attention of every photographer within a twenty mile radius and would tell Becca to brush her teeth and Jack not to jump off that roof so he didn’t have to. Funny to think that none of that stuff seemed to matter so much anymore.
‘Well, orgasms.’ Ruby’s cheeks lit up brighter than the fairy lights in her bedroom. ‘You gave me lots of orgasms. And then there’s your amazing DIY skills.’
‘DI-what skills?’ he asked.
‘Repair skills,’ she clarified. ‘And having your arms around me when I needed a hug …’ Her smile quivered and he knew she was thinking of Matty. ‘And I’ve needed a lot of those lately. You got me almond croissants in the morning because you knew they’re my favourites. You cooked me grilled cheese sandwiches, and gave me the sexiest hair wash I’ll ever have. You fixed my boiler and sat all the way through The Wizard of Oz even though you hate singalongs and flying monkeys. You watched About a Boy even though you don’t fancy Hugh Grant and …’ She leaned into him, bringing her rose scent with her and whispered: ‘And there was a scene in it that reminded you of something absolutely terrible.’
His gaze got stuck on the lush, sexy mouth he’d feasted on for days, and dreamed about often, but had never gotten enough of.
It was what came out of it next, though, that was the hottest thing he’d ever heard.
‘You don’t have to save me, Luke. I can save myself. Just like Cora under that waterfall.’
‘I know,’ he said, even getting the movie reference. For once.
She dropped her head. Examined the puddle forming at his feet.
‘I could get your suit dry cleaned, before you go?’
She was giving him an easy out. But he could hear the courage and the strength it was taking her to make the offer sound casual. When he knew it was anything but.
And it was the only thing he needed to finally break the seal on all of his insecurities. And step up to the plate.
His mother was right. Love was a gift, and he’d be nuts not to grab it with both hands – simply because he was too scared he might not be up to the job.
Taking her arms, he dragged her towards him, dampening her T-shirt and making her eyes pop wide.
‘Fuck the suit,’ he said.
And then he kissed her, like he meant it. Deeper than Babs and Bob, more desperate than Jake and Heath, curiouser than Judy, and even more selfish than Hugh the asshat, because he’d finally found his own Cora under her waterfall. But he’d be damned if he was ever going to let her go.