“Aw, Paige. This’ll mean so much to Dad and Mom.”
“I’m doing it for me as much as them. I want to be here.” She glanced around to make sure the coast was clear, then leaned closer. “Speaking of, I’ve been thinking…I have some money saved. If we all went in together, maybe we could send Dad and Mom on a cruise.” While she’d been waiting on her release from the hospital, she’d read a travel magazine. Seemed like a cruise would be the perfect vacation for her parents.
“Mom would love it,” Pete said. “Not so sure about Dad.”
“But he’ll go. He’ll do it for Mom.” This was something she could do for Mom, for both of them. Give them good memories together before things got tough.
Pete slid the tray onto a nearby table and pulled her in for a hug. “Let’s do it, then. I’ll spread the word to the others.” He pulled away and did a double take, like he’d seen her for the first time. “What the hell happened to you?”
She glanced down at her attire. She’d come straight from the hospital as soon as they’d released her. She still wore her river clothes and her hair had dried into a matted mess. But she waved it all off, along with the memories of Ben’s stinging commentary on the accident. “Long story. And not all that interesting.”
“I doubt that,” he said, but he didn’t ask her to elaborate, thank god. She’d rather not think about it, about Ben, specifically. How could she already miss him? It’d only been a couple of hours.
“Come on.” He led her into the kitchen, and sure enough, Mom walked the length of the stainless counters, peering over the cooks’ shoulders, keeping everything moving. Dad stood stationary, of course, while he flipped burgers at the grill with a practiced precision.
“Hey, Ma, Pops, look who’s here.” Pete presented her in an awed fashion, arms raised in a ta-da.
Mom finished redirecting one of the line cooks, then turned to Pete. Her body jolted to a stop. “Paige.” It was a mere gasp, a happy puff of air. “You’re here.” Her cheeks did that crumple thing, then she started to cry.
“Of course she’s here!” Dad’s beefy chest seemed to swell. “She’s back where she belongs.” He slid his spatula onto the counter and lumbered over to grab her an apron. He tossed it at her all brisk and businesslike but his eyes smiled. “Well, what are you waiting for? The customers aren’t gonna serve themselves.” He went back to burger flipping, but she saw it, the hint of pride or maybe relief. He wanted her there. It had to be hard for him to deal with Mom’s diagnosis. Maybe he knew they’d only get through it together.
While going over the specials with her, Pete tied her apron. She smiled down at the cheesy illustration. “I’m a terrible waitress,” she whispered. “You know that, right?”
He patted an extra dose of confidence into her back. “You’re right, sis. You are a terrible waitress.” He swooped in front of her with that grin that made all the grandmothers swoon. “But you’re a damn good person.” He directed her toward the dining room. “Now get out there and break some plates.”
A smile radiated from her heart as she headed for the dining room. She might not be a good daughter. Or the best guide. Or a good candidate for a serious relationship, though it would take some serious time and copious amounts of gelato to forget Benjamin Hunter Noble III. But Petey thought she was a good person.
And that meant more than all the titles in the world.
* * *
If he didn’t know better, he’d suspect Gracie was hiding from him. Sometimes it seemed the woman had an uncanny ability to know when bad news was headed her way so she could get the heck outta Dodge.
Ben slinked around the back of the catering tent so as not to be seen by the crowd. He’d had enough shaking hands, smiling at people he’d never met, making small talk about the caviar. He had one mission and he wasn’t about to get distracted. Edging to the tent’s opening, he peered inside just as a large woman came around the corner.
“Goodness!” She jolted to a stop and did a double take. “Benjamin Noble! My Lord, you’re even better-looking up close.”
She tried to block his view, but thankfully he stood a head taller, perfect height to survey the scene right above her Texas bouffant.
“I saw you at the restaurant,” she said. “It was downright heroic, what you did. Teachin’ that awful man a lesson and rescuin’ that poor girl.”
“Actually, that poor girl rescued me,” he said, and damn, it felt good to tell the truth. Because Paige had rescued him. If it weren’t for her, he’d be fighting for a job he didn’t even want.
The woman said something else, but he scanned the crowd. His eyes homed in on Gracie, standing near a melting ice sculpture. He tried to step around the woman, but she reached out and shoved her chubby hand in his.
“I’m Virginia Mayflower. From Dallas. I want you to know, Mr. Noble, you’ll have my vote come November.”
He withdrew his hand and slipped past her. “That won’t be necessary,” he mumbled as he charged straight for his mother.
“Benjamin!” Her exaggerated smile practically blinded him.
Uh-oh. He slowed. What the hell was she up to?
Gracie came at him, a blond woman trailing behind. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Why?” He checked out the woman who stood behind Gracie. Her platinum blond hair hung straight and sleek down her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkled with an awed shyness. She wore a flowered sundress that stood out against her evenly tanned skin and, despite his best attempt not to notice, that also accentuated her disproportional bust.
“You remember Cecily Banks, don’t you, darling?” His mother purred. “The party planner?”
“No, I can’t say that I do.”
A red hue shadowed his mother’s face. “Of course you do. Hubert and Beth’s daughter. You met her at a party a few years back?” Her brows danced in a plea for him to be polite.
Ah, Cecily. Of course. How could he forget? Her hour-long monologue about the joys of party planning had gotten him good and drunk. Nice try, Gracie. He could see where this was going, so he shrugged. “Sorry. Guess I don’t remember.”
Cecily giggled as if that was the cutest thing she’d ever heard. “That’s okay, Mr. Noble. I remember you.”
Good god. He had to get Gracie alone.
“Cecily has been a godsend,” Gracie gushed. “She put this lovely event together. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.”
He offered the poor girl a token smile. “It’s great. Thanks for the help.” He looked at Gracie. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?”
She backed away. “Don’t be silly, Benjamin. I have so much to do, so many people to chat with. I’m sure you would love to get reacquainted with Cecily while I make the rounds.”
His stern glare sent her a message. “We need to talk. Now.”
“Of course,” Cecily bubbled. “I have a million things to do, anyway.” She looked up at him through her fake eyelashes. “I hope we can catch up soon, though.”
“Probably not,” he said, then dragged his mother to a deserted corner. No use making a promise he didn’t intend to keep. Not anymore.
“Benjamin! Let go of me this instant.” Gracie ripped her arm out of his grasp and straightened her blouse. “What are you thinking? Have you lost your mind? You were so rude.”
“I’m pulling out of the race,” he blurted out above the music.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She glanced around and laughed softly. Her cocktail party laugh, he called it. “You can’t quit. Not now. After all these months of work. And the money…”
“I don’t want to be a senator.” That was the bottom line. He’d caught a glimpse of what life could be like with Paige, and that’s what he wanted. Maybe he didn’t know her all that well, but he knew he’d never meet another woman like her. That was all he needed to know. “I’m makin’ the announcement today. Here. And I’m holdin’ on to the land.”
Rigid breaths raised Gracie’s shoulders.
“Absolutely not. What do you think your father would say? He would be humiliated. After everything he did for you…”
“No.” He wouldn’t let her use that against him, to manipulate him. Not anymore. “Dad would want me to be happy. I have to believe that.”
Her gaze fell to the ground, eyes shifting like she didn’t know where to look. Then she staggered back.
“Mom?” She didn’t look good, pale and unsteady, like she’d suddenly gotten dizzy. “Are you okay?” If she even tried to fake a heart attack right now…
“You’re right,” she murmured.
“Pardon?” Had she ever muttered those two words together in her life?
“You’re right. He would want you to be happy.” She looked around, drew in a lengthy breath, then closed her eyes. When she opened them they were full of tears.
Whoa. She hadn’t even cried at Dad’s funeral…
“I can’t do this,” she whispered.
“Can’t do what?” he demanded, getting a few looks from the people around him.
“Hush, Benjamin,” his mother hissed, tugging him to the side of the tent where no one could see them.
You’ve got to be kiddin’. Didn’t she ever get tired of the dramatics? “I don’t have time for this.” He turned to walk away from her. From all of it.
“Ben, the accident wasn’t Paige’s fault.”
He stopped. Wasn’t Paige’s fault. His knees buckled. He turned slowly, dizzy from his hammering pulse. Because she made it sound like it was someone’s fault. Not an accident…
The fearful look on her face confirmed it.
Anger rushed in, making him lightheaded. “What. Did. You. Do?”
Gracie suddenly looked small, almost frail. “Kevin,” she whimpered, squeezing a hand over her mouth. “I knew he was up to something. When we got to the river, he told me to go back to the ranch with Bryce. But I didn’t know—”
“You didn’t know what?” he asked, body boiling so hot he had half a mind to run down and jump in the river.
“While you were changing, I asked him what happened.” She looked around like she wanted to make sure no one could hear. “He said he used his pocketknife to slit a small tear in the floor so no one would notice.”
Blood rushed to his head. Everything went dim. “How? When?” But then it hit him. When they’d pulled over on the side of the river. When Paige had taken him up the hill and yelled at him. Shooter was in the back of the boat. He must not’ve seen…
“He didn’t mean to cause an accident,” his mother said, her voice still wavering with an uncharacteristic weakness. “He only wanted to make Paige look bad. So you’d stop pursuing her.”
Ben scanned the crowd looking for the son of a bitch. “Paige was hurt. She could’ve been killed.” Heat coursed through him and tightened his gut.
Gracie clamped onto his arm. “I didn’t know. You have to believe me. He didn’t tell me what he was up to. I would’ve stopped him. I never would’ve let him put anyone in danger, especially Julia.”
“I believe you.” As crazy as she was, she’d never do anything to hurt either one of them.
“What are you going to do, Benjamin?” she whispered like she was afraid to ask.
“I’m gonna let the authorities handle Kevin.” Bryce’s cousin, Sawyer, was a cop. He’d seen him earlier at the buffet table chatting with Ruby. He was probably still around somewhere. No matter how much Kev had done for him, he couldn’t let him get away with this.
As for Gracie…well, she wasn’t totally innocent either, especially with the way she’d treated Paige from the beginning.
“Don’t worry, Mother.” He linked her arm through his and strolled back to the party. “You and I are gonna fix this.”
He already had a pretty good idea of how they could make it up to Paige.
Chapter Thirty-One
In one week Paige had broken fourteen dishes. Yes, fourteen. Two bowls, six plates, and now, counting the two that lay in shards at her feet, six glasses. She tiptoed through the glass strewn across the floor, the Larsens’ iced tea sloshing in her sandals. “I’m so sorry,” she said to the older couple for about the hundredth time.
Mrs. Larsen swatted the air. “Not another word about it, sweetie girl. You’ll get the hang of this gig. All in good time. You’ll see.”
“I hope so.” They couldn’t afford to keep replacing the dishware. At least Dad and Mom were out of town, thanks to the bargain she’d found on that last-minute cruise. He tried to hide it, but every time she broke something, Dad got that stressed look on his face. “At least no one got hurt,” he’d mumble, but she could tell he wondered how long it would take before she did hurt someone, drop a plate on someone’s foot, maybe. Lose a tray on someone’s head.
Damn it. She tried, but she’d been so distracted. It didn’t help that she’d first seen Ben again at the restaurant. He and Julia and his mother had sat at that table right over there. He’d sat in that chair. She still remembered the way he’d smiled at her, like they shared some secret she didn’t know, yet. Now, every time she looked at that chair, she saw him, felt him all over her like he was the night in the hammock, and that torturous yearning would radiate in a warm pulse as she remembered how his hands had slid down her back…
“Are you all right, Paige?” Mrs. Larsen was peering at her over her bifocals. “You’re as flushed as Ed gets in a lingerie shop.”
“I’m fine,” she squeaked out past the throbbing in her throat. Then she knelt to start cleaning up the mess. As soon as she figured out how to stop fantasizing about Ben, she’d be fine. Right? For a few days at first, she really thought he’d come by. Or at least call. Okay, she hadn’t thought. She’d hoped. Hoped that he couldn’t forget about her the way she couldn’t forget about him. Hoped he’d forgiven her for risking Julia’s life…
“I’ll help you out.” Luke Simms strode over to where she crouched, standing above her, peering down like he was looking right down her shirt. Just her luck that the elite members of the Aspen Fire Department had nothing better to do this morning than sit and drink coffee and harass her.
“Don’t need help,” she grumbled.
Luke crouched across from her with a grin. “Come on, Paige. Don’t be mad anymore. Let me take you out again, make it up to you. This time, no drinking. I swear.”
Right on cue, Pete strolled out from the kitchen with the small hand broom she used to clean up all of her messes. That’d become their system. He’d hear the crash of breaking glass and emerge from the kitchen like a dutiful little elf, saving her from having to have this conversation with Luke yet again.
“Here you go, sis.” He handed off the broom and dustpan and returned to Dad’s post—the grill, in preparation for the noon rush.
Heaving a sigh, she started to sweep up the glass, but Luke took the broom away. “See? I can be a good guy. What was so great about that senator, anyway?”
What was so great about Ben…his protective nature, his tenacity, his love for life, his carefree outlook. The way he loved his sister. The way he’d held Paige all night. God, his smile…
“A hobby. That’s what you need, Paige,” Mrs. Larsen insisted. “Then you’ll be so busy, you’ll forget all about that man.”
For the last three days, Mrs. Larsen had offered her infinite wisdom on the subject of Paige’s most recent romantic debacle while Mr. Larsen nodded and smiled at his wife. So far, in each of their brief counseling sessions while she’d taken their orders, Mrs. Larsen had concluded that Ben must, and she quoted, “be the dumbest son-of-yank she’d ever known because how could someone smart walk away from you, Paige?”
“I’ll be your hobby.” Luke elbowed her lightly.
While she appreciated the efforts to rebuild her self-esteem, neither Mrs. Larsen nor Luke had been able to help her find a way to kill that sweet vulnerability Ben had tilled up in her heart. Maybe she should turn to shock therapy…
“Belly dancing!”
Still on her hands an
d knees in the pile of glass, Paige looked up. Uh…
Mrs. Larsen clapped as if applauding herself for such a fabulous idea. “Oh, Paige, you would make a wonderful belly dancer. You’ve certainly got the abs for it. My daughter, Myra, said they’ve started a new class at the rec center. Why, we could go together! I could sew us some matching outfits, you know those little crop top numbers and flowy skirts with all the sequins? Oh! And we could drape beads all over ourselves.”
“I’d love to see that.” Luke raised his eyebrows and slid a sleazy glance down her body.
“Um…” She made eye contact with Mr. Larsen, and swear to god, his eyes bulged like he was choking on his own laughter. “Wow, Mrs. Larsen…that’d be so…fun. Unfortunately, I have no rhythm.” No lie there. “But you’re right. I need to start thinking about something else.”
Something else.
Hmmm…something else.
Dogs! Maybe she should get a dog. She’d always loved Moose. She could go to the Humane Society after work. Then her apartment wouldn’t feel so lonely. It hadn’t been lonely before she’d met Ben. It had been fine. Her whole life had been fine because she hadn’t known what she was missing. But now…
Mrs. Larsen gasped.
Her head snapped up. “What? What’s wrong?”
The old woman’s mouth hung open.
Was she having a heart attack? A stroke? Paige’s hands splayed in front of her, training ready to take over. “Are you okay?”
Raising her hand, Mrs. Larsen silently pointed past Paige’s shoulder.
She cranked her head.
Ben.
Her eyes blinked. But when she opened them, he still stood right behind her.
“Looks like my work here is done,” Luke muttered, dropping the broom and dustpan and retreating back to his table in a sulk.
“Can I help?” Ben lowered to his knees right across from her.
“You’re here,” she whispered and her whole body sighed in relief because he wasn’t gone.
He wasn’t gone. He knelt two feet away from her in those jeans that made her knees wobble and certain parts of her body hum.
Something Like Love Page 28
