“She was very happy,” Hector replied with a smile.
“Good, good!” Ben said looking around. There was still a little trim work and painting left to do. “Is Dominic working on his own place?” he asked.
“Yeah, the boss-man and his lady are over there now with two of the crew working on the kitchen.” Jayden answered.
“Well I just wanted to see how it was going. Excellent work, guys!” Ben exclaimed. They nodded happily.
Ben turned to Hector after he slipped his boots on. “Listen, we’re going to Golden Sun for dinner before we go to the club. You and your significant other are welcome to join us.”
“Thanks but Mariana is making my favorite dinner tonight. We’ll definitely meet you at the club though!”
“Great! See you tonight!” Ben said stepping outside. He walked over to Dominic’s place and rang the bell. A woman answered and smiled widely at Ben.
“You must be Ben Shepherd! I’m Sophia.”
Dominic’s wife was lovely. Dark brown hair falling to her shoulders in waves, she was maybe 5′ 6″ with nicely padded curves. Hazel eyes and a naturally smiling mouth were currently expressing how happy she was in her new home.
Ben smiled at the woman and followed her into the foyer when she invited him in. She gave him a warm hug.
“I want to thank you so much for helping my Dominic buy this home! I understand you were in the process of buying it yourself,” she said. Her voice echoed a little in the empty house. Ben guessed they were waiting until the renovations were done before they’d move in.
“Yeah but I was far happier with Dominic getting it. More good neighbors!” Ben said earning him another hug.
“Come this way. Dominic is working on the kitchen with his team,” she said leading the way.
Ben found the man in question with three of his team installing the new kitchen island. Ben noticed the backsplash was another custom design, this one using glass tile inlays. The glass tiles were also used as a border detail on the ceramic floor tiles. Ben thought the floors looked great as well.
“Hey there!” Dominic boomed happily and came over to shake Ben’s hand after he helped get the new stone countertop in place. He caught the direction of Ben’s gaze and grinned. “Yeah, Jayden’s work! His designs are going to help us expand into the customizing market.”
“That’s great!”
“How did he get started with this?” Ben asked.
“He was looking at the new slate floor tiles on 11 Ashburn and out of the blue he just suggested adding slate accents in the backsplash. I had him mock it up and it looked amazing so I made him do all the custom cutting.” He chuckled recalling how tired Jayden had been. “He didn’t like that part so much but the results speak for themselves. For my place he suggested we use the glass backsplash tiles as a border on the floor and damn if it doesn’t make the room look like a million dollars!”
“I love it!” Sophia gushed.
“Well, I just dropped by to say hello and see how the renovations were coming along,” Ben said.
“Did your doctor say it was ok to be poking around home renovations?” Dominic teased.
Ben held up his hand to show he was no longer wearing the brace. “All better!” he said with a grin. “I’ll let you get back to it!”
Ben made his way back to his house and found a large number of boxes piled by his garage door. He checked the labels and realized these were the pieces for the new panic room door. They’d finally arrived. He opened the garage door and began moving the boxes inside.
Tina opened the inside door and looked out. “I thought I heard the garage door open. The delivery man did not want to carry the boxes up to the front door so I told him to leave them by the garage door. I was sure you would be back quickly. Was that alright?”
“Yes, that’s great. I’ll take the boxes downstairs after I disassemble the old door and take it out. I have to give the milling shop a call to see if the new door is ready.”
“Are you going to visit them?” Tina asked with a grin.
He knew she enjoyed the visits there as they made a fuss over her. “Sorry, not this time. They’re going to have to deliver the new door in their truck.”
Tina pouted and Ben grinned at her. She went back inside after giving him a quick smile.
Once all the parts were stacked neatly against the back wall of the garage Ben closed the garage door and went inside. He called and discovered his new panic room door was scheduled to be milled next week so he still had time.
Ben walked into the living room and saw Gretchen and Tina using their tablets. Tina was helping the Internet novice find her way around. He walked over and gave them both a kiss which earned him some happy smiles.
Settling in his chair in the living room he opened his laptop and went back to designing the extension for the house.
“What are you working on now Ben?” Tina asked.
He smiled and carried his laptop over to them. Gretchen moved over so he could sit between them. He showed them the new floorplan and their eyes opened wide in appreciation.
“The new master bedroom will be beautiful! I love the French doors leading out to the deck!” Gretchen sighed.
“I think you will need a larger bed Ben.” Tina said with a grin.
He looked over at her questioningly.
“Your current one only holds three people. There are four of us now,” she explained.
“Oh! I thought Gretchen would prefer her own bedroom!” he exclaimed and turned to look at the woman.
She was looking back at him with a hopeful look in her eye. “You don’t want a room of your own?” he asked. She shook her head. “Oh! Well… I’d- I’d better take another look at my floor plan then.”
He stood up and went back to his chair.
Gretchen moved back beside Tina and quietly thanked her. Tina just smiled and nodded.
“Ben? Are you going to be home for dinner tonight?” Tina asked.
“Hmm? Oh, no sorry. I’m going out with the twins, Karen, Penny, Jayden, and Frank. I finally get to meet my doppelganger,” he replied.
Tina grinned. “An overnight date?” she asked.
Ben paused. “I- I’m not sure.”
Tina looked to her tablet and sent a quick text to the twins. “Yes, you should bring your overnight bag.”
Ben snorted and shook his head at Tina’s smile. “Once you’ve had our baby I’m taking you out dancing!”
Tina’s smile flashed brilliantly across the room. He looked to Gretchen. “I’ll take you out once your arm heals.” She gave him a happy smile too.
Ben turned back to his laptop. He had designing to do. He was going to need one hell of a large walk-in closet!
As Ben parked his truck in the lot across the street from Asylum he sighed with contentment. His stomach was pleasantly full from a good meal, he’d enjoyed his dinner with his daughters and their dates (Frank did remind him of a younger version of himself), and the twins looked breathtakingly beautiful tonight. Under their coats Lisa and Lori were wearing body hugging dresses of red and black but Lisa’s dress was red with black accents and Lori’s was black with red accents. To finish the look, they each had one red and one black four-inch heeled pump. Their manes of red hair were teased up and Ben wanted to nibble his lips down the sides of those long smooth necks. Their eyes twinkled with joy at the hungry looks he was sending their way.
Karen and Penny had their party dresses on making Jayden and Frank grin widely. Reminded of their state at the end of their previous outing the girls were behaving tonight and had only one drink with dinner. Jayden and Frank stuck with a single beer each.
They left Ben’s truck and began walking towards the club. As Ben and the twins had… plans for after the club the others would be taking a cab home.
Ben looked up at the windows of the factory conversion. Like the last time they were here the lightshow even from outside was dazzling.
Everyone met in front of the club and they heard someone calling out Ben’s name. They turned and spotted Hector and a petite woman with a very large head of hair approaching.
“Hey Hector- Oh. My. God!” Ben paused with a wide grin as he took in the man’s freshly shaven upper lip. He looked so different. Better! Younger yet more mature at the same time.
“Yeah yeah, don’t rub it in!” Hector said with a smirk.
“No, it looks really good!” Ben grinned then turned to the woman who was staring up at him in awe. “You must be the reason for Hector’s sudden appreciation of class and style.”
The woman seemed at a loss for what to say so Hector stepped in. “This is the love of my life, Mariana Torres.”
Ben took the woman’s tiny hand in his gently and shook it. “Delightful to meet you, Mariana!”
“Th-thank you!” she stuttered.
Ben made the introductions and her eyes were wide by the end when she saw Ben was dating twins.
“It’s cold out here. Let’s-”
“Mr. Shepherd!”
Ben turned to see a man with an earpiece hustling over to their group. He struggled to recall the man’s name. Ah! “Damien! How are you! And please call me Ben.”
The man’s face lit up with a thousand watt smile when he saw Ben remembered him. “I’m doing very well! You’ve come to grace our club once more?”
“Indeed I have and I’ve brought along my friends,” Ben said with a nod towards Hector and Mariana who looked star struck at Ben’s treatment.
“Right this way then!” Damien smiled and led them back to the front doors. The two men guarding the door nodded to Damien and held the doors open for the group.
They made a quick stop at the coat check then Damien handed them off to their personal server, Mandy, who brought the group to their table in the reserved section. Hector and Mariana were delighted and took seats smiling at Ben as the others took theirs. The server handed Ben the menu for the bottle service options. Ben recalled the package they purchased last time and asked the others if that would be satisfactory tonight. They nodded happily. He gestured for Hector to put his wallet away and the man grinned at him.
Ben was once more fascinated by how they engineered the sound baffling system to allow the music to be so strong on the dancefloor but muted sufficiently in the seating area for conversation. He could still hear the music but it wasn’t overpowering here.
The server left to get their initial drinks as a tall slim man approached the table.
Ben smiled and stood to shake the man’s hand. “Stephane! I said I’d come back!”