Chapter 9: The Truth will Set You Free

It had been two weeks since Elizabeth or "Bess", like she was now being called, was born. Lucy was back to being crazy and somewhat mean because of her lack of sleep. Kevin was falling asleep at the job much to the chagrin of Chief Michaels, who keeps sending him home. Annie was helping out as much as she could.

Sam and David had discovered best friends, in some twin neighbors who moved in down the block so they were constantly together.

Eric was taking over for Lucy while she was maternity leave. For the past week, he had been holing himself up in his office trying to write a sermon that was perfect enough for his first retirement sermon.

As for Ruthie, she had returned back to school for her second semester and tonight was preparing for her first official date with Bryant.

She sat at her vanity table with her chin resting on her hands and staring at herself in the mirror. But yet her mind wasn't on her reflection. Her mind wasn't on her appearance. In fact, she found herself completely calm and collected as she's ever been before a date.

As usual her mind was on Martin. Ever since declaring their friendship back on, they talked to each other on the phone constantly. Yet, in the past week, she hadn't received one call from him. She called him and left him messages. She even called Sandy to find out what was going on. She admitted that Martin had been acting a little down lately but didn't understand why he wasn't returning Ruthie's calls. Sandy promised to tell Martin to call her but no call had come. Ruthie was so sick of waiting on guys to call her. First, Vincent, then T Bone and now, Martin. Was this the way the rest of my life will be like? She wondered.

The doorbell rang downstairs. Ruthie looked at the clock. 7 o' clock on the dot. She wasn't dreading her date with Bryant. Instead, she was looking forward to it but more in a desperate hoping that she could actually really like him.

"Ruthie! Bryant's here." Eric called up the stairs.

"I'll be there in a minute." Ruthie yelled a reply.

"Why don't we sit?" Eric motioned Bryant toward the living room.

"Sure." Bryant said walking with Eric and sitting down on the couch as Eric took the arm chair.

"So, what do you plan to do after community college?" Eric began the inquisition.

"Oh, I've already been accepted to Stanford. Pre med." Bryant said humbly.

"Wow! You know, my oldest son, Matt, is in his second year of residency."

"No. I didn't know that. Honestly, I don't know all that much about your family. Ruthie hasn't been all that talkative." Bryant admitted hoping Eric may explain his daughter's behavior.

Eric seemed puzzled. "Really? Ruthie's always been the chatty one in our family. Sometimes we can't keep her mouth shut."

Bryant looked insecure at Eric's words.

Reading the young man's thoughts, Eric quickly recovered. "But she's been kinda mute to everyone even me lately."

Bryant breathed a sigh of relief yet was still curious on why, according to Eric, Ruthie had been acting out of character.

"Hey, Bryant." Ruthie walked into the room. "Ready to go?"

Bryant stood up. "Yeah. You look great." He commented on her appearance consisting of straightened hair, a brown suede skirt, mint green blouse partially covered by her overcoat, and brown heels.

Ruthie smiled weakly. "Thanks."

"Well, have fun you two." Eric put his hand on Bryant's shoulder walking with them to the front door.

Ruthie rolled her eyes but kissed her father on the cheek before exiting the house. Eric was surprised but pleased by Ruthie's show of affection.

It was a cold January night so Ruthie was glad when they arrived at the restaurant. To her surprise, it was the same restaurant she remembered Lucy telling her about. The place where Lucy went on her first date with Jeremy and ended up running into two of her old boyfriends. Let's hope this place isn't still haunted by old boyfriends. She thought as Bryant opened her door for her.

Bryant took her arm politely and led her into the restaurant where the hostess took them to their table.

After taking their orders, Ruthie quickly jumped into conversation. She didn't want to give Bryant a chance to ask her anything about her personal life else certain people, better left unmentioned, may be mentioned. "So why are you at community college? You've shown yourself to be incredibly smart?"

Bryant grinned mischievously. "I could say the same about you?"

Ruthie couldn't help but smile a little. "I'm at community college because I finished high school a year early but didn't know in time to apply to any four-year schools."

"Oh, well, my story is much more interested." Bryant claimed sarcastically causing Ruthie to laugh.

Bryant suddenly got serious. "I was all set to go to Stanford last summer when my father had a heart attack that left him held up for weeks. My family owns and runs a small hardware store on the east side of town. I knew they needed me so I got Stanford to be willing to give me a deferral until this coming fall."

Ruthie's face drop. "Oh, I'm sorry. But that's a great thing you did for your family. More than I probably would have done." She thought back to when she had selfishly wanted to stay in Scotland despite her father's grim heart prognosis. She made a mental note to apologize to her Dad when she went home.

Bryant trying to brighten the mood decided to delve into a question he thought would have a humorous answer, "So when'd you get the tattoo and who's T Bone?"

Ruthie shot her eyes up. Apparently the curse was still alive and well at the restaurant. "Oh, um, how'd you…"

"I saw it one time when you bent down from your desk to get a pen you dropped." He blushed at admitting he was checking her out.

"Oh, well, uh, I got the tattoo about a year ago. T Bone was my boyfriend at the time." Ruthie finally confessed. "It was a stupid idea."

"Ah, so I guess T Bone was the one you were dancing with at the dance." Bryant pried even more.

Ruthie shook her head. "What do you just notice everything about me? No. That wasn't T Bone. It was another guy."

"Another old boyfriend? How many do you have?"

"Technically he was never my boyfriend."

"Then you wanted him to be your boyfriend." The young man deduced.

Ruthie wished the conversation would just end. "Maybe."

"You're in love with him." Bryant declared.

Ruthie was taken aback at his bluntness. "What makes you think that?"

Bryant seemed a little exasperated by this point. "Because you are. I could tell by the way you two were dancing. And then the old women sitting at the table next of ours, were commented on how they expected the next Camden wedding to be you marrying that guy."

"Martin." Ruthie said.

"Finally I name to work with." Bryant teased.

Ruthie smiled. "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm in love with Martin Brewer. I always have. I guess I just need someone to tell me the truth so that I could accept it."

"Glad to be of service." Her date said somewhat disappointed.

Ruthie looked at him feeling guilty. "I really am sorry. I should have never agreed to go out with you. I thought I could get over Martin but apparently not."

Bryant just waved his hand. "It's okay. You can't help who you love."

The waiter arrived at that moment delivering their food.

When he left, Bryant continued. "So tell me more about this Martin guy. I want to make sure he's deserving of you."

"Thanks for the night out." Ruthie said as she and Bryant walked up to the front door of her house. "And again, I'm really sorry things didn't work out."

"Hey, don't worry about it." He lightly hit the brunette's arm.

"Yeah." Ruthie smiled appreciatively. "Good night."

"Good night." Bryant returned turning to walk back to his car. He hesitated at the stairs and turned around. "And don't forget. Tell Martin."

Ruthie laughed a little. "I'll try."

He turned back around and walked down the stairs toward the driveway. Ruthie watched him go before sticking her key in the lock and entering into the foyer. Locking the door behind her, she was heading toward the stairs when she noticed the light on in her father's office.

Traveling through the dim foyer, she knocked on the door frame of the office.

"Hey." Eric looked up from the desk. "How was your date?" He asked taking off his glasses.

Ruthie shrugged. "Okay. I don't think there'll be another one."

"That bad?"

"Uh, it wasn't bad really. It's just that as much as I wanted to, the truth is I just didn't care for Bryant that way."

Eric nodded his head. "That's too bad. He seemed like a nice guy."

"Yeah. He is." Ruthie agreed. Eric thinking the conversation was near end looked down at his sermon notes. Ruthie hesitated at the doorway before saying, "Hey, Dad?"

He looked up again. "Yeah."

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for being so selfish and insensitive when you asked me to come home from Scotland." She felt her tears well in her eyes as she remembered her horrible attitude.

Eric face perked up in surprised. "Thanks. I appreciated that."

Ruthie smiled and walked quickly over to him and gave him a hug. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, honey." Eric returned the hug.

After they released from their embrace, Ruthie walked back over to the door. "Good night."

"Good night."

Ruthie started out the door when she remembered one more thing she wanted to ask him. "Oh, and did Martin happen to call tonight?"

Eric hesitated. His eyes moved to the side as if hiding something. Keeping his eyes off Ruthie, he said, "Uh, no. He didn't."

Ruthie was too tired and her mind too full to read into her father's actions. She just gave him a weak smile and left to go up to her room. Once she was gone, Eric turned his head upward. "Forgive me, Lord. I just lied to my daughter."

Next Week on Far Away: Ruthie and Martin take a trip down memory lane.