Camden Home

Eric was pacing the kitchen floor as he waited for Lucy, Annie, and Kevin to come home. He needed to give them the heads up that Martin was coming down. It was going to be hard for everyone, especially Ruthie. She didn't know Martin was coming down and she definitely wouldn't want him to come. Did I do the right thing by asking him to come down? What if things get even worse? Annie is not going to be happy about this. She's gonna be pretty angry with me for not talking to her about this, Eric thought.

Moments later both Annie and Lucy walked through the door. Both of them had smiles on their faces and bags in their hands. The two girls looked up at Eric and both noticed he looked a little worried.

"Eric is everything alright? Is it your heart" Annie asked worryingly.

"No, no…nothing like that." Eric reassured her.

"Well then what is it dad?" Lucy questioned. She knew something was obviously bothering him by the way he looked.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Eric said, "I got a call from Ruthie's school today. Apparently she fed up with her morning class and walked right out the door. Heck she ditched school altogether."

The look on both Annie's and Lucy's face was priceless. Annie's mouth was wide open, her eyebrows raised as high as they could go, and disappointment in her eyes. Lucy was floored. Not only was Ruthie having an emotional and mental breakdown, bur she was becoming like Mary.

"She skipped school!!!!" Lucy yelled. "Why would she do something like that?" Lucy asked rhetorically.

"She's hurt and upset about Martin. I can see not talking to us or putting up this wall, but to skip school? That isn't like her. Heck Ruthie hasn't been acting like herself for the past five months." Annie stated.

"I know…that's why I called Martin and told him everything that has been going on." Eric paused. "That's why I asked him to come down and see her. He should be here this afternoon." Eric informed.

"YOU WHAT!!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT WILL DO TO RUTHIE. SHE ISN'T READY TO SEE HIM. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Lucy shouted.

"Lucy calm down. Your dad did what he thought would help. As much as I would have liked for him to clue me in on his plan," Annie looked over in Eric's direction. "He didn't. So we just have to hope that all goes well." Annie finished. Please let this work…please, Annie prayed to herself.

"What are we going to do when Ruthie gets home? We can't yell at her or say anything that we know she skipped school. We have to act like we know nothing so that way she doesn't leave. I know the both of you are gonna want to say something, but don't." Eric explained.

"Fine!!" Annie and Lucy said in unison. They knew he was right. If they confronted Ruthie, then she would probably get annoyed and leave before she even saw Martin.

Meanwhile

Martin was racing down the road as fast as he could to get to the Camden home. The whole way down all he could think about was Ruthie. He thought about what he should say and how he should say it. Even if the rev. hadn't told him what had been going on and how she had been acting, he still wouldn't know what to do.

What do I say to her? What does anyone say to their best friend after they had a baby with someone and left without so much as a goodbye or even a phone call or anything? I can't just go there and say Hey Ruthie, how have you been. It's not the same. She'll probably yell and push me again or maybe she won't speak to me at all. From what Eric told me…it doesn't sound like she talks at all. Martin thought to himself as he pulled into the gas station.

Everything was getting so complicated. Things weren't suppose to be like this. Ruthie's life shouldn't have ended up like this. He had broken his best friends' heart without even realizing it. I thought I was doing the right thing. I went to college early to be near my son and be responsible. I didn't mean to not keep in touch with her. Between school, baseball, and Aaron, I didn't have time to call or see anyone. Yea I could have email her or wrote her a letter…but I was scared. Martin admitted to himself.

The dial on his gas meter was at full and Martin was off. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, Martin looked over at his clock. "2:30…I should be there by three or a little after." Martin said aloud. Just thirty minutes until I walk into the mouth of hell. Because this isn't going to be easy….Martin sighed.

Camden home…20 minutes later

Eric, Annie, And Lucy were all sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea when they heard the side door open…and in walked Ruthie.

Remember what dad said, act like nothing…just be calm and resist the urge to go off on her, Lucy told herself.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day?" Annie asked in a sweet voice. All she wanted was her daughter back.

"Fine…" Ruthie mumbled. She hated them for being so nosy. All they did was nag her or try and be all sympathetic.

Oh this is going great…I hate to think what's going to happen when Martin gets here, Eric wondered.

Lucy was sitting there drinking her tea and not saying a word. She knew once she opened her mouth all hell would break loose.

"So Ruthie, I'm gonna go to the bakery a little later on today. Would you like to come? We can get those pastries you love so much." Eric offered.

Ruthie just gave her father this look that said does it look like I want to go get pastries? "No." Ruthie replied. How could he think pastries are gonna cheer me up? Is he really that dense? Why can't they just leave me alone? Ruthie wondered.

Annie wanted so much to just take Ruthie in her arms and hold her. All she wanted was to bring back the little girl Ruthie used to be. But it seemed near impossible to even reach her. She needed some shred of hope, some sort of sign that everything would be ok again.

"I'm going to my room." Ruthie announced.

Just as Ruthie headed for the stairs, the side door opened. She figured it was probably Kevin coming with Savannah. But she stopped dead in hear tracks when out of the corner of her eye a figured appeared with jet black hair, nicely toned tan skin, and these amazing blue grey eyes that could stop a girls heart with just one look.

And then, she heard his voice call out her name. "Ruthie……"

AN: I'm sooo sorry that I haven't updated in so long…but I promise I will start updating a lil more…So what will happen now that Ruthie saw Martin???...r&r to find out…remember reviewing goes a long way…I also haven't updated cause I haven't gotten many reviews….soo please review…..the more u review…the more I want to write……