The amber liquid swirling into the glass made a wooshing sound that reminded her of a funnel – toilet water draining, rain water washing off into the gutter. Ruby poured the drink without asking.
Paper streamers littered the diner, but it was dark inside now. Granny's had closed hours ago, but no one had asked her to leave and so she hadn't. She just sat, drinking glass after glass . . . after glass.
She had ripped her own heart out again – bitter laugh. Like there had been anything to rip out after that woman had arrived, after Robin had walked out hand-in-hand with her. There was a dull aching in her chest that had started out feeling like shattered glass grating against bare skin and was muddled more now by the alcohol than the pulsing heart she had shoved into her purse. What difference did it make whether she had her heart, when she could still – feel – everything, when she couldn't move her body without the pain coursing back in?
"It gets easier," Ruby said. Her voice came in as if from far away, but it was cool and clear like the peal of a bell. And something else. Sincere.
Regina felt it, that sincerity, that reaching out, like a tendril – a hand. But she couldn't trust it, so she batted it away. "Now I'm taking advice from a dog?" Her voice was acerbic – acid. It stung, but the sting felt better.
"Say what you want," Ruby said. She gave a single shrug of one shoulder. She leaned in, meeting Regina's eye. "We don't all get a happy ending."
Regina bristled. "What'd I kill yours too?" she asked. She gave a smile that aimed for vicious, but it felt lopsided on her face. And the slur took the edge off her words. She didn't like that.
"No," Ruby said. She opened her eyes wide letting Regina see her, daring her to look away. "No, I did."
Regina felt like she dropped something, a stone held in her hand but there was nothing. "You did it?" Regina said. It came out so quiet it sounded like it had come out of her mind. Her eyes drifted down to the counter. When she looked back up, Ruby was still looking at her. "Why?" Regina asked. She shook her head, and there was a sound like ice clinking in her glass.
Ruby tensed her jaw, a motion that made her look more wolflike and less human. "Because we can't always control the dark inside of us," Ruby said.