It took every ounce of his being to turn away from her. But he did. It felt like he was forced to wake up in the middle of a perfect dream. But he did. He turned away from her regardless of how his body screamed at him to stay. But he couldn’t. Not like this.
Ben went over to Izzy and whispered something in her ear. Ally watched as they exchanged a few words. Ben nodded to Izzy and cam back to Ally. Without looking at her, he took Ally’s hand in his. She laced her fingers into his warm grasp. He led her off the dance floor and she floundered behind him. Their perfect moment of fervor fizzled, just like the feeling in Ally’s head.
Great. No more happy fun time.
“Where ‘er we goin’,” she slurred, confused by the force of his grip.
Through her alcohol induced haze, it dawned on Ally that she didn’t really even know Ben at all. Could she trust him? He could be taking her anywhere. She shook the absurd thought from her foggy head. She was sure she had nothing to worry about with Ben. But, just in case, she scanned the room for Rocky, whom she guessed might come to her rescue if she needed rescuing.
“I’m taking you home.” Ben’s jaw clenched as he looked for the exit. The club was like a zoo of people. Everywhere, bodies were entwined together with some of them making out in dark corners.
“Ah jeez, I was just getting started.” She stumbled behind him in her new heels.
“Yeah, I know, but I think it’s time to call it a night.”
Ally had never heard this firm tone of voice from him before. What had she done to make him so angry?
Getting to the door was like an obstacle course there were so many people packed in the club, but he held tight to her hand and maneuvered his way through the masses. He flung the exit door open and sucked in a breath of fresh night air. People mingled around the alley smoking cigarettes and whispering in the darkness.
In the parking lot, Ben found his car, put her into it and got into the driver’s side.
“This must be a tight squeeze for Moose.” Ally giggled at the thought of the two-hundred pound dog wedged inside of the sports car.
“Huh?” He thought she was deliriously drunk, then he understood what she was talking about. “Oh, yeah. That’s why I have a truck for Moose. This is for me.”
She nodded solemnly. “You don’t like me.” She pouted as he started the ignition and the Corvette purred to life. She huffed and her bangs flew off her face and back down to her eyes again.
“I do like you. That’s why I’m making sure you get home safe.” He pulled out onto the main street and drove in the direction of her house.
She looked over at his profile. It was solid and unmoving except for a nerve twitching near his temple.
“You don’t think I’m pretty,” she said in a child’s voice. The alcohol had gone straight to her head. “I bought this new dress and these silly new shoes. But it doesn’t matter. Now you’ll never make love to me.”
He looked over at her in surprise and she hiccupped in response.
I’ll thank the vodka for my loose lips in the morning, she thought.
His brown eyes softened and he released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding in. “That’s why I had to get us out of there. Because I would have made love to you right there on the freakin’ dance floor.”
“You’re so nice.” A giggle turned into another hiccup. She patted his hand and snuggled down into the leather seat. “Take me home,” she mumbled and he thought he heard her say something about the number 20. Then she promptly fell asleep for the ride home, snoring softly next to him.
He tried to keep his attention focused on the road and used the remainder of the drive to calm himself down. Still, he couldn’t help but look over at her occasionally. And to think he almost passed up Dom’s invitation tonight to stay home and play video games. Passing street lights periodically lit up the car’s interior, adding a glow to her golden hair.
God, she was beautiful.
After a few deep breaths and several “keep your eyes on the road” later, he found her house according to Izzy’s directions. When he pulled the car to a stop at the curb, he was surprised by how tiny the house was. From the outside, it looked a tad smaller than his garage. It didn’t look big enough for one person to live in, must less Ally and her grandmother.
He got out and went around the car to open her door. She was still sound asleep and he smiled at the sight of her curled up in his car. What a week it had been! He took her purse from her lap and searched through it for her keys. Carefully, he carried her into the house. It was cozy inside and he noticed grandmotherly type touches all around. Doilies, afghan blankets and lots of framed photos. No modern bells and whistles, but if felt like home.
A light was on inside one of the bedrooms and he saw an old woman on the bed reading, so he carried Ally into the only other bedroom.
Like the rest of the house, her room was tiny. Furnished with a bed, desk and a few book shelves. Decorated in pastels, it was soft, like her and actually kind of warm and inviting.
Carefully, he laid her on the bed and she mumbled something incoherently before rolling to her side, nearly hitting him in the face with her flailing arm. He set her purse down on a stack of veterinary medicine books on the desk. When he slid her shoes off, red toenails caught his attention. He hadn’t pictured her as the red nail polish type. She was just full of surprises, wasn’t she?
I wonder what else she’s hiding.
His gaze traveled to her ample cleavage peeking over the top of her dress. He watched her breasts rise and fall with the steady rhythm of her breathing. He wondered if the skin there felt as velvety as it looked.
Ben shook his head, breaking her spell over him and pulled a blanket over her. Maybe with her body covered he wouldn’t think about her curves and skin and…
Again, he found him self caught off guard by how much he wanted her. He had never wanted anything so badly before. Well, besides to play hockey, of course. But she stirred a craving deep inside him. And it wasn’t just a sexual need, but he wanted to know her inside and out and devour every bit of her. Her mind and her body. He had the feeling that no matter how much he had of her, it would never be enough. He wanted to know more about her. Her hopes and dreams. Everything.
This girl was definitely trouble.
He leaned down and kissed her temple, breathing in her incredible fragrance and tucking the memory of it away for his forthcoming night alone. Suddenly, the moment was interrupted with a voice from the other room.
“Allison, is that you?” the old woman asked from the room across the hall.
Ben went to the doorway and cleared his throat. This must me Gram. She looked very old. At least in her mid-eighties with silver hair she wore just above her bony shoulders.
“Um, I was just bringing Ally home, ma’am,” Ben answered.
The woman furrowed her brow in concern. “Is she all right?” Her gnarled hands closed the book she was reading and she looked up at him.
Gram had Ally’s blue eyes. They had a friendly warmth like Ally’s, but also a lifetime more of wisdom.
“Oh, yeah. Everything is fine. Ally was really tired and fell asleep in the car.” He glanced around the small room. It was mostly bare except for the bed, a chair, a chest of drawers and a stack of jigsaw puzzles in the corner.
“What is your name, young man?” Gram asked.
He looked back at her and apologized for not introducing himself sooner. “I’m Ben.”
“Ah, you must be the young man Allison met the other day. I thought your date wasn’t until tomorrow.” Her face crinkled in worry. “Oh, dear, how dreadful. I am getting terrible at keeping track of time.” She placed her hand on her cheek. Did she forget Allison’s big night? She silently cursed the feeble memory that time had bestowed upon her.
He smiled, thinking of Ally telling her grandmother about their upcoming date. “We still have a date tomorrow. We just happened to run into each other tonight. It was a fluke thing.” Well, a part
ial fluke. When he heard Dom was going to the club, he knew Izzy might be around and if Izzy was there, it was possible Ally could be there as well.
“Oh, how fortunate.” Gram struggled to swivel herself and finally swung her legs over the edge of the bed.
“You don’t have to get up, Mrs. Monroe.” He motioned to stop her from standing. “I will lock up for you on my way out.”
“Please, call me Gram.” She paused to think. “Would you like to have some tea with me?”
He was touched by her thoughtfulness. It wasn’t every day that he had the opportunity to have tea parties with old ladies.
“Are you sure? It’s getting late. I don’t want to disturb you.”
“That’s perfectly all right. I couldn’t sleep anyway, knowing that Allison was out at some nightclub. She doesn’t go out very often and I worry about her. So, how about that tea?”
“I would love to have tea with you.”
“Oh, good,” she clasped her hands together. Her smile forced a set of wrinkles to bunch up at the corners of her mouth.
“Now be a dear and help me into the kitchen. These old bones don’t work like they used to.”
Gram put her frail arm through his and he led her to a dining room chair.
“You might as well break out some cookies, too,” she said with a twinkle in her blue eyes. “I have a bit of a sweet tooth.”
“Sounds good.” He filled the teapot with water and they munched on cookies and chatted while waiting for the water to boil.
A large unfinished jigsaw puzzle took up most of the kitchen table. The pieces of a cottage were finished and all that was left was the sky and a sailboat in the background.
“I haven’t done a puzzle since I was a kid,” Ben said.
“We always have one in progress. It’s good to keep the mind active.” Gram studied a pile of pieces, looking for the perfect fit.
Ben tried to help Gram with the puzzle but he only managed to put one piece in place. Nonetheless, Gram was delighted to have the help.
“It’s not very often that we have company. Especially not a tall, handsome boy like yourself.”
“Thank you, Gram.”
“Thank you, for making sure Allison got home safe.”
“No problem.”
“So, if I remember correctly, Allison said you were a hockey player?”
“Yeah. I play for the Red Valley Razors.”
“We don’t follow sports as much as we used to before my beloved Henry passed on.”
“I’m sorry. Was he your husband?” Ben asked taking a sip of tea.
She nodded. “We were married for forty-one short, but wonderful years before he was taken from me.” Gram looked wistful as she examined the puzzle piece in her hand. She looked back at Ben and asked, “Benjamin, can I give you some advice?”
“Sure, Gram.” He was interested in what kind of wisdom she had to share with him.
“When you find a woman you love and can’t imagine being without, you latch on tight and never let go. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because life is too short to let that kind of love go. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I think I do.”
“Now, Benjamin,” she smiled again. “Tell me about yourself.”
* * *
Ally woke up the next morning and everything was fuzzy. Not fuzzy bunny fuzzy, but cotton mouth, kick in the head fuzzy. She rubbed her eyes and tried to remember how and why they had been glued shut during the middle of the night. Someone must have switched her Visine with Crazy Glue.
She tried to lift her heavy head, but was afraid her neck might not be able to support the weight of it, which now was roughly the weight of a semi-truck, so she lay there a groggy mess as bits and pieces of the night before began splintering into her memory.
Club 21.
Oh yes. Now I remember.
Dancing.
Ben.
Oh, no! She had made a complete and utter fool of herself. Ally hauled herself out of bed and groaned as the blood came rushing to her head. An unfamiliar ache throbbed between her ears. This must be how it felt to be Izzy every morning. The unglamorous part of being young and glamorous. The part that didn’t end up on the party pages of Elle magazine. Everything came with a price. Even cocktail hour.
She tried to remember how many drinks she had the night before. Three? Four? They had kept magically appearing in her hands like a magician’s coins. The first one or two were just to take the edge off. Well, the edge was back and now it was slicing through her head.
She slipped her robe over her wrinkled party dress and shuffled into the kitchen. Heading straight for the coffee pot like a bee to honey, she muttered good morning to Gram who already sitting at the kitchen table, her gnarled hands wrapped around a delicate tea cup. Gram didn’t try to hide her knowing smile.
“Good morning, Allison.”
“Gram, remind me in the future not to go out and try to have fun after a long week. Just send me straight to bed, okay?” She poured herself a cup of steaming coffee, thankful for the morning pick-me-up.
“Ben was nice enough to see to that for me,” Gram said.
Oh god. She knew.
“Really?” All Ally remembered was getting into his car in the club parking lot. The rest was a blur.
“He is a nice boy.” Gram said it so sweetly that Ally knew something was up.
“Really?” Ally asked again, too groggy for more than one word sentences.
“We had tea together.”
Ally’s eyebrows shot up and she groaned again and rubbed her aching forehead. Before delving into the story further, she took a sip from her mug.
Aahh, sweet caffeine.
“You had tea together?” Ally conjured a mental picture of Ben’s long legs folded beneath her tiny kitchen table. She couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of his big hands holding one of Gram’s fragile little tea cups. She didn’t know much about his personal life, but she couldn’t imagine that he had a Victorian rose-painted tea set at home.
Wow. He had been right here in her kitchen just a few hours earlier. That meant he must have been the one who put her to bed. She didn’t remember doing it herself and Gram certainly didn’t have the strength to.
He was in my room.
“He’s a very well-mannered young man,” Gram said with satisfaction.
“Are you giving me your approval, Gram?” Ally took a seat at the table.
“Well, yes, I suppose I am.”
“Gram, I just met him a few days ago.” Ally fingered the coffee mug handle. “But I have to admit, I really like him. You know how sometimes you just get a feeling about someone right away when you meet them?”
Gram nodded.
“I just really like him,” Ally repeated.
“Allison,” Gram reached over and patted Ally’s hand, “Any young man, who takes time out of his day to have tea with an old woman like me is mighty fine in my book.”
The two women smiled at each other and went to work on the puzzle in front of them.
* * *
Later that morning, when her head began to clear, Ally dialed Izzy’s number as she tidied up the house. It was laundry day and the dishes weren’t going to wash themselves. Izzy answered her phone on the second ring.
“Do you have a vice clamped around your head, too?” Ally asked.
“No. Why?” Izzy was used to her ‘party all the time’ lifestyle. Hangovers were for wusses.
Ally filled the sink up with warm soapy water and began doing the dishes. “They hung out last night.”
“Who?” Izzy asked.
“Ben and Gram.” Ally washed the coffee mugs and wondered which one he had drank out of last night. The one with the pink roses or white daisies?
“Really?”
“Gram hasn’t been this excited about something since she got new knitting needles for Christmas.”
“Wow,” Izzy replied in awe, “He charms women of all ages.”
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br /> “Gram gave him her stamp of approval.”
“Jeez, you haven’t even had your first date together yet and he’s already a keeper. How did you do it, Al? And, on your first time out?”
“I didn’t do anything but have too many drinks and act like a complete fool.”
“I think that’s actually rule number two in the “How To Reel In A Man” manual.”
“I won’t be surprised if he cancels our date altogether,” Ally said somberly, rinsing dish soap off of a chipped dinner plate.
“Uh-uh,” Izzy disagreed. “Not after your Dirty Dancing demonstration last night. That guy isn’t going anywhere.”
“What are you talking about?” Ally tried to remember dancing at the club. Dirty Dancing? What was Izzy talking ab---? Then it rushed back to her. She had danced for him. And with him. She had touched his chest and his hair… OMG. What had she been thinking? She was not that kind of girl. That was the last message she had wanted to send to Ben.
“Girl, you were all over him like geometric print on a Pucci dress.”
Ally groaned then heard her phone beep. “I gotta go. That’s my call waiting.”
“All right, Miss Popular. I’ll be over around five to help you get ready for your date.”
Izzy insisted on coming over to help Ally get ready, because according to her, Ally was “incapable of styling herself out of a paper bag.”
“If there still is a date,” Ally sighed. “That’s probably him calling to cancel.”
“There will be a date. Trust me.”
“Okay, bye.” Ally clicked over to the incoming call. “Hello?” Ally dried her hands on a dish towel and went down the hall to start on the laundry.
“Hi.” Ben’s voice warmed her eardrum. How could two little letters send shivers of electricity down her spine? H. Zap. I. Sizzle.
“Hi,” she answered. A smile lit up her face. One she knew he couldn’t see, but she couldn’t help herself at the sound of his voice.
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