The Notorious R(uth) B(arakat) G(rimaldi)

Chapter 40: Wise Words

It was all over the school that Ruthie and Elliott had fought at the tables, and he'd walked away. Ruthie was getting texts from people she barely knew, asking about their status; she had no idea how some of them had even gotten her number.

She ignored them, finally just shutting her phone off altogether, something she'd never done before. When she turned it back on that evening, after dinner, it was full of texts from everyone and their brother, but there was nothing from Elliott.

Ruthie reached for her phone at least a dozen times that night, wanting to text him about something, when she'd remember their status and put the phone down.

Surely he'd contact her? He couldn't be happy with the way they'd left things, could he? Normally she'd ask even-tempered Linda, or her good friend Gordon about such matters of the heart, but Linda was at some family function, and she and Gordon just weren't on those terms anymore. Pepsi would've offered moral support, but couldn't contribute anything sensible, Ruthie knew, so she just sat at the table and did her homework.

Ruthie felt completely alone.

She snuck out on the roof, something she swore to herself she wouldn't do anymore, to watch him. Even though it was late March, it was a warm evening, and she didn't even need a blanket anymore.

Elliott was arguing with someone in the living room, she could tell. She couldn't see who he was talking to, but Ruthie assumed it was a grandparent, or more likely, both grandparents. He would talk, then wait and listen, and talk again, getting more and more agitated.

He finally rose and went toward his room, though Ruthie couldn't tell what had been resolved. He looked neither happy nor upset; he looked merely tense, which he would no matter the outcome.

Ruthie wanted success for Elliott with all her heart, but she couldn't bear the thought of him being away from her, and she could not understand how he was okay with it.

Her dads again came to tuck her in when she went to bed, recognizing the signs in their girl.

"So what's going on with you and your beau?" Pop asked, using the antiquated term on purpose to make her smile.

Which she did, appreciating the effort.

She told them, in broad strokes, making sure to sound logical and lawyer-like, and not melt into a puddle like she wanted.

"How can he even consider going?" she concluded. "I'd never want to leave him, and he just casually throws it out there, like I don't even matter!" In spite of everything, her voice got soft and quavery on the last word. "Like it's nothing for him to do a show with his ex, who's the English equivalent of--of--Ariana Grande!"

Her parents laughed at the comparison, though it was sort of apt. Ariana Grande had been on Broadway at a ridiculously young age, and in spite of a serious case of mush mouth, she was extremely successful and beautiful, practically oozing talent from every pore.

"I mean, you guys would never have done this, would you? Just one leave the other for a job?" She looked from her dad to her pop, for reassurance, for some hope that she was doing the right thing.

"Well, Rosebud, two things, okay?" Her dad smoothed her hair away as he spoke. "And no interrupting," he warned, lifting a finger.

Ruthie nodded.

He held up one finger. "First, something like this did happen to us when we were young, though by young I mean in our twenties.

"We'd both passed the bar, and your pop had the opportunity to represent a Kurdish freedom fighter who was being deported against his will. Like in Bridget Jones."

This made Ruthie smile once again.

"Because of his knowledge of the language and customs, he was asked to this tremendously important thing," her dad continued, smiling at his husband. "Unfortunately, we were both living in San Francisco at the time, and the trial was in the Netherlands, in The Hague.

"As you can imagine, I didn't want to be apart from him. We were just starting the adoption process, so we could have the family we always wanted. We were looking at houses so we could buy something, put down some roots. Him going would put our plan for our life together back months, possibly years, because we didn't know how long the trial would be."

"But he went, didn't he? I know he went," Ruthie concluded, looking between her parents.

They nodded at her. "He went, and he was gone for nine long months, and then he came back, and we picked up the pieces from where we'd left them and continued with our future.

"The truth, Rosebud, is this: If a relationship is meant to survive, it will, and not much can crush it. And that brings me to the second thing.

"Unless you're with your forever person, relationships have to end, or be ended, by one or the other person," he said, his voice regretful, but firm. "Relationships are just a series of break ups, until you find your forever person, if you believe in that sort of thing.

"Are you telling us that you believe you've found him, your soul mate or whatever, at fifteen?"

Ruthie's eyes welled up. "But I love him. I love him, you guys, almost as much as I love you. I don't want to be without him for that long, and it hurts so much that the thought of being without me doesn't seem to bother him at all, at all!"

"I know you do," her dad said, taking over the conversation. "But if you two are meant to be, past this, you'll still be together, even when he's finished with the run of the show, don't you see? If you're supposed to be together, you will be, that's all.

"And if your relationship doesn't survive this, if it ends over a play, then it wasn't meant to be, plain and simple," her pop concluded. "It's like pruning a rose bush. You know how sometimes you're not sure if you should prune back a cane or not? So you leave it alone, you don't cut it yet, you just move on and cut the other, obvious ones, right?"

Ruthie nodded through her tears. This was stuff she'd learned from her pop when she could barely walk, when she'd sit on her Miss Spider gardening stool and listen to him as he worked.

"And what happens? The more you prune the others away, the more obvious it becomes whether or not you should cut it, right? Your choice becomes obvious, your path becomes clear."

Pop leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"You're just a baby, Rosebud, with your whole life ahead of you. If it's to be with Elliott, that would be wonderful, he's an amazing young man. But you can't know that, not now, not at this age. I know your feelings are so deep, and it hurts so much, but you need to let him live his life and fulfill his dreams too, you know?

"If you two are meant to be, it will become obvious," he concluded as her dad nodded behind him.

"But I can't go to him now and say all that," Ruthie replied. "I'll look and sound like an idiot."

"That sounds like your pride talking," her dad chided her gently. "And something only someone very young would worry about."

"Well, like you guys said, I'm only fifteen," Ruthie reminded him, smiling.

"Already fifteen," Pop said in wonder. "My my, where does the time go?"

"We wouldn't be against a family vacay in London over the summer, you know," her dad added. "If the opportunity were to arise?"

"Oh my god, I love you guys so much," Ruthie said in a soft voice, sitting up to hug them both. "You're the best, the absolute best, thank you. You deserve medals, both of you."

"Just hang it with our other plaques," her pop quipped, hugging her back. "Now get some sleep, Rosebud, and try not to cry too much."

"I'll try," Ruthie promised, snuggling down in her blanket.