Ashley saw a chance to speak freely but she wasn’t sure if she should. Eli would be extremely upset if he found out she was interfering with a neighbor’s relationship. Hell, he’d be angry for her speaking to an Asian woman at all. She had a sudden flare of rebellion. “I- I saw Trish go into this house with Ben. She wasn’t wearing her bra when she came out.” she blurted quietly keeping her eyes on the doorway. They could barely hear Ben’s rumbling voice and the teens giggling responses.
Tina felt relieved when she heard Ashley’s frantic confession. “It’s OK. Trish is a woman of extreme desires. She uses Ben on occasion to ‘scratch that itch’? It makes Ben sad because he loves her.”
Ashley gasped when Tina admitted that Ben was in love with another woman. Tina smiled again. “Ben is also in love with me and I love him. He is the most kind, generous, loving man I have ever met. He is also the best neighbor you could have. If you have any trouble you can count on him.”
Ben walked back in with the girls in tow. The dishes of ice cream they had were loaded with syrup and whipped cream and a cherry on top. They sat and dug in with big grins on their faces. Soon all three were wearing as much ice cream as they were eating as they tried to race each other.
“Ben! Behave!” Tina scolded with a smile.
He put on a hang dog look which triggered more giggles. Then with a mischievous look he returned to gobbling his ice cream. He suddenly stopped when he got brain freeze and the giggles turned into outright laughter.
Ashley couldn’t help but laugh along. Then she wondered how long it had been since they’d all laughed together. She couldn’t… recall the last time. Her emotions suddenly became too much and she held a napkin up to hide her tears. Her shoulders shook as she stifled her sobs. The room got quiet.
“Momma? It’s ok. We’re sorry for being noisy.” Savannah said.
Ashley shook her head violently. She clamped down on her emotions and dried her eyes. “No baby! It’s not that at all. I was just so happy to hear you girls laughing and I was just so tired from the traveling and moving and the problems we had today that my emotions got all mixed up. I love hearing you two so happy! We should laugh more! But right now I think we have to thank our hosts and say our good nights as we still have to put together our beds, find and unpack our linens and get to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.” She put a smile on her lips and turned her attention to a concerned looking Ben and Tina. “Thank you very much for dinner and your welcoming us into your home. I look forward to becoming good friends with you both.” The girls beamed when she said this. She turned her eyes to them expectantly.
“Thank you very much Ben and Tina!” they said in unison. Ashley looked at them appalled by their use of the first names.
Ben held up his hand. “I insisted they call us that. If you’d like I’m pretty handy with assembling furniture. I could give you a hand?”
“NO- I mean, no, you’ve done enough. The girls and I will take care of the rest. Thank you!” Ashley stumbled through her response. Ben nodded.
“Well if you need a lift anywhere tomorrow, I have no plans for the day so feel free to ask.” Ben said and Ashley realized that she did have several errands that would be impossible without transportation. Errands Eli would not except excuses for being incomplete.
Tina leaned forward. “I can look after Joshua or we can take the two boys to play at Daphne’s daycare while you run your errands.”
Ashley was feeling a little overwhelmed again so she just nodded. Ben saw the tears coming back.
“It has been a long day. We’ll let you get settled in. Tomorrow if you need anything we’re here, ok?” he said gently.
Ashley nodded and smiled. Ben and Tina walked he family back to the front door. Ben had Christopher in his arms and the boy was reaching for Joshua who was in his mother’s arms reaching back. “Looks like someone else wants to be friends.” Ben chuckled.
Ashley had a sudden stricken look on her face and looked away. Ben saw it but didn’t know what to do to help. “Thank you both. Good night!” the woman said and stepped outside. The teens followed and waved at Ben with smiles. He smiled back.
Once they were gone Ben looked back at Tina with a very worried look. She shared it with him.
“Something is not right and I’m definitely getting the feeling it’s the husband. There’s too much fear-” Ben froze, his mind flashing back to a suppressed childhood memory. For a moment he saw the outline of a man. Large, dark and imposing. He smelled whisky, heard screaming, and felt a flash of heat. Then the memory was over and he was back in the foyer with Tina who was taking Christopher from his arms. She was speaking to him and he couldn’t understand the words. He blinked a few times as she touched his face.
“Ben! What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice filled with worry.
“I’m ok.” he murmured suddenly confused as the memory faded.
“You went still and you didn’t hear me for a minute.” Tina said her voice trembling.