#ruby thread; general

"Did you kick Riley out for the night or will that groom of yours be joining us a little later?" Monet asked, placing her bag on the nearby table as she made her way across the room, arms instinctively wrapping around her best friend. "And thank you for finally putting me on your calendar. I thought I was going to have to come camp out on your couch with the dogs until you showed back up here." she spoke, tossing her friend a wink. "What's on the schedule for tonight? Because I'm in the mood to bake."

"I'm not sure what you want to do with this -" Emma shrugged, placing the cardboard box on Ruby's table. "But, when I cleaned out my office at Linden & Sage this box of signed books were still there for that store opening we never got to put them in." she exhaled. "We can try to sell them here, or online if you want. I'll still take care of that for you but if you tell me to contact those as -" a pause as she tried to contain herself. "People at that publishing company I may cry so please don't."

"Okay, I know you said no house warming parties but I couldn't help myself." she stated, placing a box wrapped in a gorgeous lavender wrapping paper on her cousin's new kitchen counter. "This is just a gift from me to you; not only to say thank you for being my secret keeper for all these years but also to welcome you back home." she winked, her eyes focusing on her cousin. Anli and the Little sisters had always been kind of inseparable, even when they'd not all lived in the same town. And while they'd all grown, thankfully the bond they had never waivered, and Anli was happy to have Ruby back in town. "I hope this is useful to you." she stated, looking at the box and back at her cousin as if her eyes were trying to tell her to 'open it already.' "Please don't make me wait longer than I already have."

"Okay, she packed basically her entire closet." Anli exhaled, placing her daughter's overly packed suitcase on the floor of her cousin's home. "She may get that from me." she winked, letting her gaze meet Olivia's as she pulled her daughter into a hug. "Love you kid, behave." she emphasized, kissing the top of Olivia's head before she were pulled into the kitchen by Riley, giggles erupting almost immediately. "If you decide to, we can leave those two here and you can join me." she smiled. Though, she had to admit that she were excited to get away for the weekend, even if it was different for her. "I won't have access to my phone per your request but if something happens you know where Mom and Dad are." she stated. "And you all three have the number for the resort, if you have to get ahold of me." she explained. "I don't know why I'm so nervous." she sighed. "It's not like this is the first time I've left her."