Page 12 of Good For Me

My grandmother eyes me, a familiar appraising look on her face. Finally, she turns back to Jasmine. “Do you like music, sweetheart?”

“I do.”

“She hates classic rock,” I cut in quickly, just because it’s fun to see my Grandma lose her shit over music. To my shock, she merely shrugs.

“Taste is subjective.”

Jas gives me a smug smile as I sputter. “That’s not what you told Santana when she announced she wanted to be a country music singer.”

Grandma scowls. “Well I do have my limits.”

Jas laughs and my chest fills right up to the top with warmth. This is what I had wanted for her, the reason I brought her here. When I’m down, there’s no place like Ruby’s. The familiarity, the chill vibe, the lack of pretension, the music. The damn good food. There are a dozen bars and clubs I could have taken her to, fancier places that might have been more impressive. The kind of place where the bouncers would lift the velvet rope for me while we skipped the line. That kind of place is usually my go-to when I’m trying to show off for a girl.

But I had a feeling Jasmine wouldn’t have gone for that. After a day like she had, she needed something else. I just hope she agrees with me.

“Do you work at your uncle’s bar as well?” Ruby is asking her.

She shakes her head. “I help out with the books and payroll a couple hours a week but that’s all.”

“Jas works at a bank,” I offer. “And she’s in business school.”

Ruby nods, looking very satisfied by this for some reason. “A girl with a good head on her shoulders.”

“I would normally agree with you,” Jas says drily. “But, like you said, I’m out with him tonight.”

Ruby throws her head back and laughs while I try to keep a scowl on my face. It’s tough though—Jasmine’s grey eyes are sparkling with mischief and I just want to kiss the hell out of her.

Someone shouts for Ruby and she sighs, standing. “Are you eating?”

I look at Jas. “You want a burger? They’re the best.”

“Sure,” she says easily, looking much more relaxed than she had back at Davie’s. That warmth rushes through me again. I like thinking that I may have had a hand in helping her feel better.

“I’ll tell Marv to put them right on the grill.” Ruby leans down and kisses the top of my head. “Make sure you come say goodbye if I don’t make it over here again.”

“You know I will.” I’ll be seeing both my grandparents—as well as the rest of our giant family—on Sunday for our weekly lunch, but I don’t mention that. There’s no way I would ever leave this patio without saying goodbye to one of my favorite people in the world.

Ruby is telling Jas it was nice to meet her when the same waitress shouts for her again. “I’m on my fucking way!” my grandma bellows, and a few people around us laugh. Ruby tends to get a lot of repeat customers in here, and they’re used to her sass. She gives us a wave, kisses my hair one more time, then bustles back toward the building.

Jas is staring after her, a bemused expression on her face. “That’s your grandmother?”

I laugh. “Yup. Well, not biologically. But she married my grandpa when I was like, one, so she’s all I’ve ever known.”

“She has pink hair,” Jas points out.

“And a nose ring. And tattoos. She kicks ass.”

Jas shakes her head a little, a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth as she eyes me. “She certainly adores you.”

“‘Course she does,” I say easily. “Everyone does.”

Jas rolls her eyes. “So very humble, River.”

“We’re pretty close,” I say more seriously. “I mean, all my siblings and cousins are close with our grandparents.” I shrug, not quite sure how to explain the relationship without sounding completely sappy. “I always liked going over to their place,” I finally say. “When my parents’ house felt too crowded.”

“You have a really big family?”

I wonder if that’s information she’s picked up from my various cousins coming into the bar or if she read it somewhere. That’s something I’ll never quite get used to—the way people just know things about me without me ever even meeting them. It’s much worse for my parents, of course, and they’ve tried to shield us from most of the press as best as they can, but it’s still weird. One time a chick at a bar asked me how it felt when our cousin Lyric had cancer, and I wanted to put a hole through the wall.