Better With Ben

by Casey McMillin

  "Me too," Hannah said. "We can go by the shop when we're done if you want to show them your new arm."

  Taylor shrugged. "We'll see," she said. "Right now I feel like I'm cool with just having sushi and chillin' over here, but I might change my mind."

  The girls went in and sat at the sushi bar. It was Monday night, so there were only two other people at the bar, which meant they had their choice of seats. They sat in front of their sushi chef friend named Tak and made small talk with him for a minute before setting to work choosing their rolls and filing out the little paper order form.

  Once they had their order in, Hannah, who was in the middle, sat back in her chair so they could all talk.

  "What have you been up to?" Molly asked Taylor. They'd seen each other in passing, but hadn't had the chance to speak since the whole Ben thing. Taylor decided to give her the standard answer since she wasn't about to let her in on the turmoil she'd been in for the past two weeks.

  "I've been really busy with work."

  Molly smiled, and Taylor was relieved it worked. "Nick's parent's are really excited about the party this weekend," Molly said.

  "I'm excited too," she said. "I've worked events at Mason Place, but never given one. It should be good."

  "We'll be there," Molly said. Taylor wanted to ask if Ben was included in we, but she refrained. "Ben's coming too, I think," Molly said, reading her mind.

  Taylor gave her a confused look, wondering how she knew what she was thinking. Molly took it to mean that Taylor couldn't understand why Ben would be there. "I invited him," she explained. "I hope that's okay."

  Taylor shrugged as if it were of no consequence. "Oh, it's up to you who you invite. I figured he'd be coming."

  "I'm not sure that he will, but I'm trying to talk him into it. I've barely seen him in weeks."

  Taylor's head whipped up to regard Molly. "Why?"

  Molly raised a shoulder as if she didn't even really know the answer to that. "I'm really busy with school and Reflections, so I'm sure he's around more than I think, but he's never, I mean never home when I'm there lately." Molly took a sip of her green tea, but Taylor didn't say anything. She just waited for her to continue. "He's had to be out of town quite a bit lately, but even when he's home, he's never at the apartment. I don't think he's trying to avoid me or anything, but I've barely seen him at all lately." Taylor wanted to know more about Ben. She wanted to know where he was right then. Was he out of town? It was all she could do to keep from asking Molly all of her questions. "I honestly think he took it pretty hard when you said you couldn't be friends with him anymore." It was rare for Molly to speak so candidly, but she loved her brother, and it was hard to see him suffering, which was exactly what she suspected was going on.

  Taylor didn't know what to say. Part of her felt like Molly was trying to call her out, but the other part was overjoyed that he might just be affected by her absence. As hard as she tried to forget, she was most definitely troubled by not seeing him, and was relieved that maybe, just maybe, he was feeling the same way. She must have let Molly's comment process for too long because Molly spoke again. "I'm not trying to give you a hard time," Molly assured her. "In fact, I'm pretty sure if something went down with you guys that it was his fault. I just wanted to be honest with you that I don't think he's been quite right since—"

  "It wasn't his fault. It was mine. He's just such a great guy, and I didn't want to feel like I was too dependent on having him around."

  "So you asked him to leave you alone?" Molly asked.

  "Pretty much," Taylor said. She thought for a second before continuing. "He was probably relieved. I know he doesn't really have time for a—"

  "I don't think he was relieved," Molly said.

  Taylor looked past Hannah, regarding Molly with a quizzical, sincere expression. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

  Molly smiled sweetly. "Maybe I'm overstepping my bounds. Maybe I'm making assumptions, but I know my brother pretty well, and I just don't think he's been quite right since you broke it off."

  "What do you mean by quite right?"

  Molly put a hand up as if to say she'd probably already said too much. "I don't really need to get involved," she said. "You're both capable of making your own choices. You both know how to use a cell phone. I know it's a two-way street, I just wanted to bring it up in case you had any feelings."

  Hannah looked at Taylor with wide eyes, waiting for her maybe juicy response.

  "I could easily have feelings for your brother," Taylor said looking at Molly. They shared a few seconds of sincere eye contact where neither of them knew quite what to say. Taylor relished the idea that he might miss her since she most definitely missed him. She had to suppress a smile at the thought of him being not right. It wasn't that she took joy in his pain, but she sure did enjoy imagining him being miserable without her.

  They were interrupted by Tak, who had just finished the first few rolls and held out a plate for them to take. They talked with him while he made the rest of their order, telling him they were there to celebrate Taylor getting her cast off. Even though he didn't know all the details, he'd seen her cast and congratulated her for getting it off.

  Taylor spent the rest of the meal in an excellent mood. She was already happy about the cast, but the revelation about Ben and his moodiness over the past two weeks had her walking on clouds. As a result of this excellent mood, the girls decided to go by Common Grounds before they went home. Gina, Kent, Anne, and Matt were all working and everyone was happy to see her out of her cast.

  The girls were all still so full from sushi that they didn't eat or drink anything at the coffee shop. They were only there for about fifteen minutes—long enough to show everyone her cast free arm and check the schedule for next week while they were at it. Kent gave Molly a hard time since she was the only one of the three who didn't work there, and Molly told him that she would get a job there in a heartbeat if only there were enough hours in the day.

  Hannah and Molly both went home after they were done at the coffee shop. Taylor invited them to stay at her house for a while, but they each had to be going. Molly was planning on spending the night at Nick's and just going straight to school from his place in the morning. First, she had to stop by her apartment to get her things.

  Her brother was leaning against the kitchen counter eating a bowl of cereal when she came in. "What's up?" she asked.

  "Nothing. I'm just hanging here for the night. I have to head out early in the morning."

  "Where you going?"

  "Atlanta."

  She looked like she wanted to know more, but didn't ask.

  "It's just a training exercise. I'll be back Friday." He rinsed the empty bowl and loaded it and his spoon into the dishwasher.

  "Aren't you going to ask where I've been?"

  "No, not really."

  Molly scoffed. "You're being a real asshole lately."

  He let out a little laugh and gave her a shrug. "I'm not trying to be an asshole I just wasn't going to ask where you were."

  "Fine, then I won't tell you I was with Taylor, and she got her cast off, and she looked amazing."

  Ben's expression was unreadable as he took in his sister's statement. "That's cool she got her cast off," he said, seemingly unaffected. "I'll bet that felt good."

  "Yep. Also, I'm hooking her up with this guy I work with at the salon."

  "Hairdressers are gay."

  Molly gasped. "They are not! I'll have you know Jesse is very straight. He's hot too. I think he does CrossFit or something."

  "CrossFit's gay."

  Molly gasped again. "You better stop," she said. She threw her hands into the air as if he was a hopeless cause. "Okay, I guess you'll find out how gay he is after he hooks up with Taylor." Molly really did work with a guy named Jesse at Reflections. He was both hot and straight, but she had no intentions of hooking Taylor up with him. She was just trying to get a rise out of her brother, and obviously it was working.


  "I went to see her family." Ben's statement came out of nowhere. Molly had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. "Taylor's," he said. "The eleven-year-old got my number out of Taylor's phone and called me the other day."

  "What'd they say?"

  "It's a girl. Abby. She said Taylor said I couldn't come back and wanted to tell me how sad they were that they wouldn't get to see me anymore. She also told me Henry said I could keep the motorcycle."

  "What motorcycle?"

  "Just a little toy."

  "What'd you tell her?"

  "I told her I could still come see them sometime since I'd already promised to take Jack for a drive."

  "So, you went over there?"

  "Yeah."

  "Without Taylor?"

  "Of course without Taylor."

  "What'd you do?"

  "I picked up the four kids, took them to dinner, and bought them some shoes. It was no big deal. I like them. I'll probably do it again sometime."

  "You bought them shoes?"

  "Yes."

  Molly shook her head and stared into space.

  "What?" Ben asked.

  "And Taylor doesn't know about any of this?"

  "No. And they're not gonna tell her."

  Molly was silent for a few seconds. She didn't know how to feel or what to say about him seeing her family, so she dropped the subject completely. "Don't forget Nick's parents are throwing that party this weekend and you're invited," she said on her way to her room to pack her things.

  Chapter 21

  It was a big night for Taylor. Her own little event planning business had been hired to organize a party for country legend Leroy Logan. Sure, she only got the job because she was friends with his son, but the job was hers nonetheless and she was really excited about it. They were having the event at a venue she'd worked before. It was a nice, old house called the Mason Place. It had beautiful, ornate furniture and fixtures—a place that didn't require an overabundance of decorating to make it look good.

  She was basically a contractor, hiring crews to take care of the set up, food, beverages, and tear down, and everything was in place for a successful night. She was nervous, but kept reminding herself everything would be fine. The party was from 7-10PM, which meant Taylor had the whole day to worry about everything that could go wrong.

  She decided to go over to her mom's house for a little while that morning in an attempt to keep from geeking out on party details all day. Everything was taken care of and she had to trust that showing up a few hours early was more than adequate.

  Taylor knew her mom would be home, so she didn't even bother calling to let her know she was on the way. She got to the trailer at 10AM Saturday morning with four shopping bags full of groceries. Her mom was sitting on the couch watching television and Charles was nowhere in sight. The kids ran from the back of the trailer into the living room to greet her when she arrived—all except Jack. The three younger ones ran up to hug her even though she had armfuls of groceries. She laughed and leaned into their hugs awkwardly before handing the bags to the girls.

  "I didn't know you were coming," Jennifer said, not budging off the couch.

  "I have a big job tonight that I'm nervous about, so I've been up since seven. I figured I'd come see what y'all were up to." She said that hoping her mom would ask about the job. She usually didn't give Jennifer details about her accomplishments or her life for that matter, but she was just too excited about being hired to plan Leroy Logan's party to keep it to herself. Jennifer stared so blankly at the television that Taylor wasn't even sure if she had heard her.

  "What's your job?" little Henry asked sweetly. The girls had already taken off with the groceries and he was staring up at Taylor who was staring at her mom. She looked down at him and smiled thinking how funny it was that he was only six and understood social cues better than their mom.

  She bent to whisper in his ear so her mother wasn't able to hear. "I got hired to throw a big party for a super-duper famous person."

  His eyes got huge. "What's hired mean?"

  Taylor giggled. "They're paying me—like a job."

  "You get to go to a party for your job?"

  Her eyes widened as well. "Yes, can you believe it?"

  "How famous?"

  She smiled and rubbed his head. "Super-famous! Come on, I'll tell you in the kitchen."

  They turned to walk to the kitchen, and when Henry took a step, a flash of light caught Taylor's eye. She looked down at his feet. He was wearing Spiderman tennis shoes that had lights all over them. Green, red, and yellow lights blinked like mad in the dimly lit living room. Henry saw that Taylor noticed and stomped the other foot, making his left shoe begin blinking. He laughed with pleasure.

  "Where'd you get those shoes, Henry?"

  "Ben got them for me."

  "Henry Joseph!" Jennifer said.

  If Taylor would have understood that Henry meant her Ben, her heart would have dropped at that point, but she didn't understand that. She had no idea what or who Henry was talking about.

  He looked up at Taylor. "You know, your friend who came over with you that day. He came back to visit us. He got me these." He paused and stared up at her with a big grin. "I only take them off to sleep."

  A few things happened at once.

  Taylor's mom yelled, "Henry Joseph, you were not supposed to tell her that," Abby and Alexis came into the living room screeching and yelling at Henry for telling, and Taylor's heart officially dropped. It felt as though something in her chest literally fell to the floor. An instant wave of nausea hit her at the thought that Ben had been over there without her. It was bad enough with her there to run interference.

  Taylor's expression was one of shock and disbelief. She looked at her mother. "Are you kidding me?"

  "Well, I'm not the one who said anything," she said with a scowl in Henry's direction, "but Henry's not kidding."

  "You let him come over here without me?" She was slack-jawed and utterly dumbfounded. She had so many questions she couldn't get them out fast enough. "When did this happen? Did he just knock on the door? Are you talking about the Ben that came over with me a few weeks ago? The one with the big black truck?"

  "Yes," Jennifer said.

  "Yes to what?"

  "That it was the same guy. The one with the black truck."

  "Why did he come over here?"

  "Abby called him," Henry said.

  Taylor's penetrating gaze shifted to Abby.

  Abby looked at Henry with the same murderous expression Taylor was using on her.

  "Abigail please tell me you didn't call him and ask him to come over here," Taylor said. She tried to speak patiently but it was obvious by her tone that she was not happy. Abby's eyes instantly started to well with tears.

  "I just called to tell him Henry said he could have the motorcycle," she said, defensively.

  "How did you even get his number?"

  "I got your phone out of your purse when you weren't looking," Henry said. "His name is spelled B-E-N."

  "I am so disappointed with you guys right now. I haven't even talked to Ben in weeks. He's an extremely busy person. You can't be calling and asking him to come over here." Taylor paced in a circle and grabbed her forehead as if she had a headache.

  "He was happy to do it," Jennifer said. She used a sarcastic tone indicating that Taylor was way overreacting.

  Taylor let out a deflated breath. "Of course he acted like he was happy to do it, mom. He's a nice guy. He's not going to act like it's a chore." She paused and considered how much she should say in front of the kids. "You shouldn't take charity," was all she said. She wanted to say much more than that. She wanted to chew her mom out right there in front of God and everyone. "Where the hell is Jack?" It was something she been meaning to ask but hadn't had the chance with the ton of bricks that just hit her.

  "He stayed the night at a friend's house," Jennifer said.

  "Ben got Jack shoes too," Henry said. "Nikes with air in the bot
tom. Jack can jump like ten feet in em."

  "When did this happen?"

  "I don't know, like a week ago. Last weekend I guess."

  "Mom, I was over here last weekend. Why didn't you tell me?"

  "He came after you. The day after maybe."

  "Yeah because we had to get his number first," Henry said.

  Taylor was continually grabbing at her head as if to massage away a headache. She paced and looked to the ceiling, but none of them dared talk to her.

  "Listen to me very carefully, all of you," she finally said. "I do not want you taking anything from him. I don't want you calling him, or checking in with him, or letting him buy you things."

  "It's not charity," Alexis said, a bit hurt. She'd been quiet the whole time and Taylor just looked at her wondering why she'd chosen that moment to speak. "He likes us. And it was his idea to get the shoes anyway. He said he'd come see us again sometime."

  "No, Lexie, absolutely not."

  "What's charity?" Henry asked.

  Taylor just sighed. Her brothers and sisters were precious to her and she loved that Ben had done something nice for them, but she had to protect them. He wouldn't be around forever, so it was better if they never got attached in the first place.

  "You don't have your cast anymore," Abby said.

  Taylor offered her a half-smile and lifted her cast free left arm.

  "Cool!" Henry said. He reached up to take hold of it and hang, trying to test its reliability.

  Taylor dropped her arm immediately, not allowing any weight to hang on it. "It's still fragile baby boy," she said.

  Henry stood and peered up at her. "Is it still broken?"

  "No, but it isn't quite ready for a hanging Henry."

  "Okay," he said.

  She wasn't quite ready to let go of the whole Ben thing. One by one she looked at all four of them in the eye. "I'm asking you to not call Ben again, okay?" There was no doubt how sincere she was and they all nodded. She went into the kitchen where she started putting away the groceries.