“Ah! Yes, that’s a very nice one. If you don’t mind I’ll swap cars with you until I can pick up one of these.”
Ashley set a plate in front of Ben and he smiled at her, seeing the eggs, bacon and toast she’d made for him. “Thank you!”
She swatted his arm playfully. “Oh please Ben, breakfast is the least I can do to repay your kindness!” She put plates in front of the girls and one for herself and sat. They took each other’s hand and Madison looked at Ben. He held out his hand to her and Savannah reached for the other one. Ashley’s cheeks were going to burst from the smile she wore. They bowed their heads and said their prayer.
Everyone tucked into their breakfast and the chatter was happy and light. Once they finished the girls scooped up the dishes, rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher. Ashley got her purse and they exchanged registration forms for the cars. Ben headed home, drove his truck back and put it in their driveway. They swapped keys and Ben drove the BMW back to his place. He’d head down to the dealership this morning.
He went back inside the house and heard the bustle of activity in the kitchen. He poked his head in and saw Tina standing next to Karen at the counter. The mess was gone and in its place were neatly organized ingredients for something they were making.
“Hi, how is it going?” he asked.
The ladies turned to look at him with smiles. “We’re making cookies!!!” Karen cheered.
“We are learning how to bake properly. Then Karen will help prepare dinner for tonight,” Tina explained. Karen looked thrilled.
“Wonderful! I’m going to head down to trade in Ashley’s SUV for a minivan she wants,” he said looking at Karen to make sure she wasn’t upset. She smiled at his look of concern and nodded. He gave them both a kiss on the cheek then headed out.
The BMW drove very well but he found the driver’s cockpit to be a little too snug. He pulled into the car dealership and parked up by the front door. The business had just opened so there were no other customers and most of the staff seemed to be getting their coffees and starting up their terminals. As Ben walked inside he saw the minivan Ashley was talking about in the showroom and headed over to take a look at it. It wasn’t quite as odd looking as the fish tank had been so it had that going for it. This one was white and wasn’t the model with all the nice features. He’d have to ask what was available.
“Looking for a more practical family vehicle?” said a woman’s voice from behind him.
Ben turned and spotted two sales people having a quiet… discussion. Ben got the impression that the two were arguing over who got to serve him. The woman had spoken first. It was a cut throat business. She flashed a grin at her coworker then stepped forward with a smile as he turned to leave.
Her face froze as she got a look at Ben’s face. “I know you!” she said as her grin widened.
Ben groaned inwardly as he expected her next words would be about that blasted bronze statue!
“You’re the boyfriend of Daniel’s mother… Burt, no wait… Ben!”
He took a closer look at the woman and she did look familiar. Then it came to him. “Gwen?” The last time he’d seen her he’d been picking up Daniel from his friends place and Gwen had lit into him about his lifestyle. She’d been wearing tight spandex workout clothes at the time and had a super buff body. The business attire she was wearing now hid those impressive muscles.
Her smile went up a thousand watts as he remembered. “Yes!” She moved forward and they hugged. God! He was bigger and stronger than she remembered.
“How are you doing? You look amazing!” Ben smiled. Her body felt just as hard and tight as it had been the last time they met.
“Thanks! I’m in a much better place than I was then.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “I have a new boyfriend,” she pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the man she’d beat earlier. “He’s a great guy! How have you be-” she began then she got a closer look at the scar across his face and her eyes went wide. “What happened?”
“Had a disagreement with a knife wielding drunk,” Ben shrugged.
She was taking in the scar on his chin and the nicks visible on his forearms. “Geezus, he was pretty good with that knife.”
“Actually he wasn’t, thankfully. So, this is a nice van!” Ben said deliberately changing the subject. She caught that blunt hint and moved with him.
“It’s our best seller! Would you like to take a test drive?”
“Sure!” Ben said. He might as well make sure that it drove well. Ashley told him she’d drive anything but he’d make sure it was safe and comfortable at least.
“I’ll get the tester and meet you out front,” she said with a smile. Ben nodded and walked towards the front door.
Gwen walked towards the back and saw the secretaries looking past her at Ben and pointing at a monitor. Her boyfriend Troy was standing behind them with a grim look on his face. He glared at her and her eyebrows went up.
“How do you know this guy?” he blurted.
“What the Hell? Where is that coming from?” she barked back at him. He pointed at the monitor so she looked.
There was Ben in all his naked glory… in bronze. He was… big! Her eyes went wide. “Oh my god! That’s HIM?!? Ben is the bronze god?” she gasped.
“Again I ask, how do you know him?” Troy said belligerently.
“He’s the boyfriend of the mother of one of my son’s friends! We met once for like… ten minutes last spring,” she exclaimed.
“You met him for ten minutes months ago and you greet him like that?” he blurted.
Gwen was getting seriously pissed with the attitude. “Yes, he was a really nice guy and made me think it might be possible to meet a nice guy of my own one day. Maybe I was wrong!” She stormed off and grabbed the key to the van. She pulled it around the front of the building and got out. Forcing a smile on her face she held the keys out to Ben.
He could see something was wrong. She was smiling but her jaw muscles were clenched. He took the key and got in the driver’s side as she climbed in the passenger side while looking back inside the dealership.
He started the car and pulled it out of the lot. It had good power and accelerated smoothly. He changed lanes and took some corners a little faster than he normally would to see how it handled and it was ticking all the boxes. It felt like a safe vehicle. Normally a sales person would be peppering him with details about the car but Gwen just stared out the window with a frown. Ben saw a nice little coffee shop that sold wonderful homemade cookies. He pulled into the lot and shut off the engine. Gwen came out of her daze.
“Come on. I’ll buy you a coffee and a cookie and you can tell me about it,” Ben said as he slid out of the van. Gwen’s mouth opened to apologize but Ben was already walking across the parking lot. She got out and heard the doors lock behind her. She walked inside and saw Ben sitting in a booth. She slid onto the seat opposite him and a young waitress stepped up to the table. They ordered coffee and cookies as Ben promised and he waited for her to speak.
“It’s stupid,” she finally blurted.
Ben smiled and waited.
“The ladies in the office recognized you from that bronze statue that was in the news. Troy, my boyfriend, maybe my ex-boyfriend, saw it and started barking at me for knowing you,” Gwen finally admitted.
Ben grimaced and the scar across his face lightened drawing Gwen’s eyes. “That damn statue,” he growled.
She looked at him in shock. She was no art critic but she thought the statue was gorgeous. “I don’t mean to pry but what don’t you like about that statue?”
“It’s destroyed my privacy. Everyone thinks they now have a right to my personal space,” Ben grumbled then shook his head. “Forget that. I’ll deal with it. Does your boyfriend think you’re cheating on him?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen him act like this. It’s good I found out now that he can be a jealous prick before we got more serious.”
Ben looked out the window and saw Troy sitting in his car looking in the window. Ben gestured for Troy to come inside and join them. Troy spun the wheel and screeched his car into a spot.
The waitress was going by so Ben ordered another cookie and turned to Gwen. “How does Troy take his coffee?”
She was shaking with rage and blinked at him. “What? Oh. Black.”
“And a black coffee please,” he said and the waitress left to get his order.
Troy yanked the door open and strode across the room like an avalanche. Ben calmly slid further into the booth and gestured for the man to sit. Troy’s eyes flashed with contempt.
Ben locked eyes with Troy and scowled. His scar flared and Troy froze.
“There are moments in a man’s life when he discovers himself standing at the precipice of a colossally stupid decision. Most don’t recognize it until it’s too late. You are having one of those moments right now. You could open your mouth and lose everything or you can open your ears and heart, sit and listen and learn how you almost lost it all. Be the man she needs you to be. Sit,” Ben’s voice was deep and calm.
Troy was still really pissed but the big man was seriously intense. Shit, he could be equally cool. Troy slid into the booth facing Gwen. He froze again when he saw how pissed she was and she wasn’t showing any guilt for having been caught having a liaison with him.
A waitress appeared and put a mug of black coffee in front of him and a plate with a cookie on it. He stared at the cookie, confused. What was going on here?
“The coffee is really good and the cookies are made fresh in the back,” Ben said and took a sip from his mug.
Troy was feeling totally off balance. He began to speak but Ben locked eyes with him again.
“You don’t know me. You saw that damn statue and you made some assumptions about me. You’re wrong.” Ben wasn’t smiling and Troy was beginning to sweat.