Maybe they could beg for food at a church on Sunday. That would make the rest of the journey easier.
Begging for food from grubs. Jon shook his head. If Luke could see him now. Or Coach. But he’d earned the food they’d gotten until now.
Jon grinned as he remembered how he’d tried to help Carrie with the housework. How he’d claimed training for soccer was work. How he hadn’t known how to make breakfast.
Mom would be proud of him now, he thought. Sarah would be, too.
They were both lost to him. But it hurt a little less to know they’d both be proud.
“Well, that’s what Daddy always said.”
“What, Sarah?”
Ruby laughed. “You sleepwalking or something? Look around, Mr. Jon. You won’t see no claver girls here.”
Jon shook his head. He hadn’t been sleepwalking, but he had been trying to remember the details of the dream he’d had just before waking. Sarah was in it. They were in the garage, only it wasn’t the garage. It looked more like a cottage, with furniture and a fireplace giving off warmth and light. He could remember the sensation of Sarah’s skin next to his.
“Sorry, Ruby,” Jon said. “I had something else on my mind.”
“Someone else,” she said. “This Sarah of yours. She someone special?”
“You met her,” Jon said. “What did she seem like to you?”
“I can’t answer that,” Ruby replied. “Claver boys, well, they ain’t different from grubber boys. Boys all want the same thing. That’s just your nature. I never really known a claver girl though. The few I’ve known mostly looked right through me, so I never much bothered to look back. Why ain’t you with this Sarah, if you think about her so much?”
“She’s in Virginia,” Jon said, hoping that would explain it all.
“That where we’re going?” Ruby asked. “That’s a long haul from Tennessee, Mr. Jon. Me and my family walked it from West Virginia, and that’s got to be closer than Virginia proper.”
“We won’t be going that far,” Jon told her. “I don’t expect to see Sarah again.”
“What do you expect?” Ruby asked.
“Nothing from you,” Jon said. “Except companionship.”
Ruby snorted. “Don’t know how much longer you should expect that from me, neither,” she said. “One of these days I’m going to leave you be and go off, do something good with my life. Don’t need to waste all my energy on a lost soul like yours.”
“I wish you could have known Sarah,” Jon said. “She wouldn’t put up with too much from me, either.”
“Well, I guess claver girls is smarter than I thought,” Ruby said.
“Could be,” he said. “Grubber girls are certainly smarter than I thought.”
“That’s ’cause you claver boys never did learn to think,” Ruby said. “Come on, Mr. Jon. I think I see a stream up ahead. Water ain’t food, but it’s better than nothing.”
“How long we been walking?” Ruby asked.
Jon looked at his watch. “About six hours,” he said.
“Not today,” she said. “How many days we been walking?”
“A week,” Jon said. “Today’s our one-week anniversary.”
“Don’t you think it’s time to honor me by saying where we’re going?” Ruby asked. “Or don’t you know?”
Jon took his time before answering. Ruby was tough—stronger and smarter than he would have guessed. But they’d put in over a hundred miles and not in a straight line. There was no way she could walk back to White Birch on her own, and she wasn’t foolish enough to take a lift from a trucker.
“We’re going to my brother’s,” Jon said. “If we’re lucky, we should get there Monday night.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother,” Ruby said.
“Gabe’s my brother,” Jon pointed out.
“That’s not the same,” Ruby said. “This brother of yours, he’s older than you?”
Jon nodded. “Five years,” he said. “He and his wife live in Coolidge.”
“Do they know we’re coming?” she asked. “You call them to let them know?”
“They’re not clavers,” Jon said. “They don’t have a phone.”
“If they ain’t clavers, what are they?” Ruby asked. “Grubs like us, Mr. Jon?”
“I’m not a grub,” Jon said. “As you perfectly well know, Mrs. Ruby.”
“Pardon me,” she said. “Is this brother of yours a grub?”
“No,” Jon said. “He’s a courier. That’s like the cops and the teachers. Not clavers but not grubs either. Like me.”
“His wife a courier?” Ruby asked.
“She’s a domestic,” Jon said reluctantly.
Ruby burst out laughing. “She’s a grub,” she said. “Marry a grub, you’re a grub, too. Right, Mr. Jon?”
“They were married before they got here,” Jon said. “Besides, what’s the difference?”
“Plenty,” she said. “What happens when we get there?”
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Jon said. “Gabe’s staying with them. I guess with Lisa dead, they’re his parents now.”
Ruby stood still. “Wait a second,” she said. “All that time the cops were beating me, you knew where Gaby was?”
“They hit you a grand total of twice while I was there,” Jon said. “And once was at our wedding. It had nothing to do with Gabe.”
“They hit me plenty before you got there,” Ruby said. “I still got bruises. They kept asking me what I did to that little boy, and every time I told them I didn’t know nothing about it, they hit me again.”
“I’m sorry,” Jon said. “Come on, Ruby. Let’s keep walking.”
“No,” Ruby said. “Not till you admit it was your fault I kept getting hit.”
“What difference does it make?” Jon asked. “It happened. It’s over and done with.”
“My life ain’t over and done with,” Ruby said. “I got family back in White Birch. My parents don’t know what’s become of me, whether I’m alive or dead. All because you lied about where little Gaby was.”
“All because you ran away,” Jon said. “Everything happened because you ran away, Ruby.”
“Mrs. Evans didn’t shoot herself because I ran away,” Ruby cried. “Gaby didn’t end up with your brother because I ran away. I don’t know what’s going on, Mr. Jon, but I know it ain’t my fault.”
“All right,” Jon said. “Things happened because of Miranda, and I guess you were a victim. At least partly. And yes, I knew where Gabe was and I didn’t tell the police, and they hit you and you didn’t deserve it. And I didn’t do anything to protect you except marry you, which is pretty big, and I don’t remember hearing you thank me, but all right. We’ll let that pass. We’re going to my brother’s, and he and my sister-in-law have Gabe. That’s what I was thinking about. Gabe was crazy about you, Ruby. You could stay with Matt and Syl and take care of Gabe for them. You’d be safe there. You could make a whole new life for yourself.”
Ruby started walking again. Jon gave her a moment then caught up with her.
“You’ll really like them,” he said. “Matt . . . well, Matt’s great. And Syl’s been through a lot, but you’ll like her, too. Think how happy it would make Gabe if you were there.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Ruby said. “Grubs can’t have domestics.”
“Why not?” Jon said. “There’s no law against it.”