I’ve been here many times over the years, but when I step up to the counter, I check out the menu anyway. “I can’t decide if I want carnitas or birria.”
“If you get carnitas, I’ll get birria and we can share.”
I smile up at Liam and nod.
The owner is finishing up with a customer when she spots me. She’s a beautiful, older Mexican woman with a heavy accent and the most vibrant personality. She lights up the entire dining room when she greets her customers. She’s the real reason I fell in love with this place—the incredible food is just an added bonus. There’s something to be said for finding somewhere you can feel at home in a big city like Nashville.
“Ruby! It’s good to see you again! Who is this handsome young man you brought with you?” she asks, eyeing Liam like he’s the best damn thing on the menu.
“Miss Gloria, this is my friend, Liam.”
Friend doesn’t feel like the correct term for what Liam is to me, but we haven’t really discussed labels.
“She’s a special one, my Ruby,” she says. “You treat her right, young man.”
Liam nods. “It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am.”
She clutches her chest. “Ma’am, he says. Do I look that old already?”
Liam looks horrified, but Gloria laughs. “I’m kidding. What can I get you?”
He orders for us, and Gloria sends it off to the kitchen. We make small talk while we wait for our takeout, and say a quick goodbye before heading back out onto the street.
The park is just a few blocks away, and I insist on walking there despite Nico’s protests. The ease of small-town life in Oak Ridge has spoiled me. The cavalry follows in the SUVwhile Liam and I walk hand in hand down the sidewalk, stopping when we reach the steps of The Allee.
“Here,” he says, placing one of the boxes on my lap. He opens his and swaps out two of his tacos for two of mine.
He groans around the first bite, and the sound brings me back to that night in the tent. The tacos are good, but they’ve got nothing on Liam.
“That good, huh?” I say.
“Incredible. Where has this been all my life?”
I giggle and dig into my own food, savoring each bite.
I can’t eat all of my food, so I give the leftovers to Liam, and he finishes them for me. When he’s done, he places the empty containers beside us on the steps and wraps an arm around my shoulder.
“How are you feeling about tomorrow?” he asks.
“Surprisingly ok. I just want to be done with it so we can go home.”
Home.
I’m not sure when I started thinking of Liam’s house as my home, but I think it has less to do with the place and everything to do with the man who owns it and the kid who stole my heart.
Sitting like this in the open air with Liam at my side, it’s almost possible to believe I live a normal life, but that feeling is fleeting as a group of bystanders approaches and our quiet afternoon alone turns into an impromptu meet and greet.
After lunch, I stopped by the children’s hospital. I spent a couple of hours meeting patients in various stages of illness and their families. Some of them may never make it out of thehospital—young children who’ve barely lived a life. The feeling of helplessness their parents must experience is gut-wrenching, but they never give up. It’s devastating and awe-inspiring all at once.
I sat with a little girl named Scarlet. She told me that our names are both shades of red, and her favorite song is “Kaleidoscope.” We sang and I signed a few things, then her parents told me about her diagnosis, and I had to blink back tears. Her mom said she’s a fighter, but I couldn’t miss the hopelessness in her eyes.
The visit left me emotionally depleted and ready to fall apart at the seams. Liam must have sensed my imminent breakdown; he tugged me into a quiet corner of the hospital and hugged me. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown closer to the children in my life recently, or maybe it was having Liam with me that I finally felt comfortable enough to let myself fall apart. I haven’t cried like that in years, and Liam held me tight, steady and patient. He called me baby and kissed my head, and I fell a little deeper in spite of myself.
When we arrive back at the apartment, my energy is completely drained. I kick off my shoes in the entry and head over to the sofa. When Liam doesn’t join me, I look back and find him in the kitchen, staring into the open fridge. Before I can ask what he’s doing, a notification pops up on my phone. It’s a message from Abby with a link to a video. There’s a celebrity gossip reporter on screen, and my stomach sinks.
“Country star Ruby Lynn Hayes was spotted in Nashville for the first time since the dispute with her former label was made public, but that’s not what has fans in a tizzy. The Country Music Darling was seen canoodling with a mystery man in Percy Warner Park earlier today.”
The video cuts to clips of me and Liam in the park. First, we’re quietly eating lunch, oblivious to the paparazzi that wereclearly lurking in the distance. Then, it shifts to footage of me interacting with my fans.
