Granny responded. “Well, it may be nothing to you, but I promise you that it is something to that little boy up there. Alaina might not have known much about you before you arrived, but Ben did. He really looks up to you.”
Looks up to me? Ethan thought. Why on earth would anybody look up to him?
“Granny, I’m just a singer, not superman.”
“Baby, you’re much more than a singer to those young fans of yours. Think about someone you looked up to and wanted to be like when you were little. Now imagine them willingly offering to spend time with you. That’s what you have done for Ben today. In his eyes, a singer is the least of what you are.”
Granny Mae’s words stuck in Ethan’s mind with heavy dissonance. He had never thought about it like that. What would Ben think of him if he knew the real reason Ethan was in Alabama? Would Ben still admire him? Ethan didn’t know, but Granny’s Mae’s words changed something in him. The entire day had begun as an attempt to do something nice for Alaina, but now, he felt somewhat of a responsibility to Ben, too.
Ethan nodded, showing her that he understood, and headed up the staircase. When Ethan reached the doorway to his bedroom, he found Ben sitting Indian style on the carpet; Ethan’s guitar case was laid out carefully in front of him. Ben’s knees tapped up and down with excitement.
“So, I thought about it,” Ben started with a matter-of-fact tone, “and I guess 'Twinkle Twinkle' will be okay. I mean, everyone has got to start somewhere, right? Besides, you can’t put the horse before the car.” Ben paused. “Or is it cart?”
Ethan tried to suppress a laugh. That expression sounded comical coming from a ten-year-old. “Where did you hear that, Ben?”
“My dad used to say it.”
Whoops. That was not a subject Ethan wanted to bring up. He hurried to pull his guitar out of its jet black case, trying to change the subject quickly.
Ethan started by showing Ben a few of the most common chords on the instrument and how to hold his hand properly so that he could place his fingers for each one. After Ben got the hang of those chords, Ethan showed him how to pick out a few notes with his other hand. Ethan was amazed by how quickly Ben caught on. When a little over an hour had passed, Ben was playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" as if he had written the song himself.
Ethan was also a little surprised by how their lesson made him feel. He had never taught anyone how to play before. He’d always been the student, never the teacher. But Ethan got a happy little adrenaline rush every time Ben played a few chords correctly and lit up the room with his proud smile.
A while later, Ben seemed to be getting bored so Ethan suggested breaking for a while to do something else. When asked, Ben decided that he wanted to go hang out at the pier.
Ethan initially objected, Alaina’s words from that morning—“Don’t let him overdue it. He hasn’t been feeling well.”—echoing through his memory as Ben suggested the idea. But when Ethan ran it by Granny Mae, she agreed that it was a good idea. Granny said Ben needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Said it might be good for him. At one point, she even said it could help. Ethan didn’t know what that meant, but he didn’t bother to ask. Ted had returned from town with groceries which meant that the car was free for use.
Ethan and Ben hopped into the Charger and headed for the pier. It had been years since Ethan spent time on the beaches of Fairhope. He’d always loved going there as a kid.
The car ride with Ben was amusing to say the least. He had, of course, insisted on bringing his Ethan Carter CD. Ben sang every single lyric to each song at the top of his ten-year-old lungs while Ethan drove. They parked at a spot on the outskirts of Municipal Park, and after throwing a few pennies into the huge fountain that sat in the center of the park, Ethan and Ben made their way down to the beach.
Considering the great weather, there weren’t nearly as many people out in the water as Ethan predicted. It was a perfect eighty degrees and holding; the waves were calm on the sea, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The brightest, clearest blue sheet hung above their heads like a mirror reflection of the sea below.
Ben started with sandcastles. Ethan helped a little, but he was fairly terrible at it. Ben, somehow, could make the perfect tower with no cracks to be seen. Ethan’s towers, however, crumbled with the slightest bit of wind. Eventually, Ethan gave up and took to lying in the sand, watching Ben play at the water’s edge. He couldn’t help it, but his focus constantly shifted to the little restaurant on the pier, which was only a couple hundred yards away.
That’s where Alaina was at that very moment, probably waiting on some vacationing couple, smiling and being polite in her own little Alaina way. His mind averted back to their almost kiss in the car.
Ethan had run through the events of the past night over and over again in his mind. Had he moved too quickly? He didn’t feel like it. Ali seemed genuinely interested in him, too, but when he’d tried to kiss her, she’d pulled away. Said, “She wasn’t ready.”
What did that mean? Was she talking about her parent’s accident? Was it too soon after their death for her to show interest in guys? Surely not. That happened over a year ago. Had someone broken her heart recently? Maybe she wasn’t ready because she’d been burned in a past relationship? Ethan wasn’t sure, but for some reason, he didn’t feel like any of those hypotheses would ring true. Alaina talked as if there was something going on right now that she was dealing with and that kept her from becoming close to anyone.
Ethan wanted to know what it was. He wanted to help her. Not because he wanted her physically, but because he wanted her emotionally. He loved talking to Ali. She excited and calmed him all in the same breath. Their personalities meshed. But he knew that as long as she was dealing with whatever was bothering her, she would never fully open up to him.
Ethan continued to focus on the pier as a shadow fell in the midst of his gaze. It was the shadow of a little boy. A dripping, sopping wet little boy. Ethan looked up to find Ben peering down at him as though studying him with a microscope.
“She’s probably not that busy right now if you want to go say hi,” Ben said, plopping down in the sand to begin work on another masterpiece castle.
“Who?” Ethan asked ignorantly, already knowing precisely who Ben was referring to.
“My sister, duh. I know you like her.”
Ethan chocked with a little cough, surprised by young Ben’s candor.
“And how do you know that?” Ethan asked.
“Because you stare at her with googly eyes.”
“Googly eyes?” Ethan wondered if googly was a real term or just a Ben term.
“Yeah, like this.” Ben tilted his head to the side and put on a goofy smile. He widened his eyes and batted them, doing an impression that Ethan hoped he never truly resembled.
“I don’t do that.”
“Well, maybe not that bad,” Ben giggled. His focus shifted back to his sand castle. “You do like her though, don’t you?”
As strange as it felt to be having this conversation with a child, Ethan felt the need to be honest. “Yeah, I do. Is that okay with you?”
Ben thought for a moment. “I guess so. Just as long as ya’ll don’t go around doing that gross kissy stuff.”
Ethan laughed. “Gotcha, dude. No kissy stuff.”
Ethan couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the way he had treated Ben when he first arrived in Fairhope. He’d been so ridiculously full of himself and his own self inflicted circumstances that he hadn’t even bothered to take notice of what kind of kid Ben really was. After spending time with him today, Ethan was beginning to realize that Ben was not like most little kids. Ben had this way of taking any situation, no matter how good or bad, and twisting it around until it fit happily inside his own beautiful world. There was no bad inside of him. Only pure, innocent truth, love, and loyalty.
“You wanna go swimming with me, Ethan?” Ben asked a few minutes later.
“Sure, kiddo. Let’s hit the waves.�
��
Ben jumped up and dashed to the water’s edge.
“I beat you!” he screamed as Ethan ran to catch up with him.
Ethan joined Ben out in the water and they jumped and splashed and swam around in the briny sea. Ben giggled and jumped up and down as if it was the most fun outing he’d ever participated in. By the way he acted, Ethan thought, it seemed Ben hadn’t left the house in months. But after thirty minutes or so, Ethan was beginning to notice a subtle change in Ben.
Ben was still playing as hard as he could go, but he was looking tired. Pale even. Ethan was several feet away when Ben suddenly stopped playing. Ben turned to Ethan, went to say something, but nothing came out. Ethan paused for only a second.
Something was wrong. Ethan didn’t know what it was, but he could see it by the terrified expression suddenly washing across Ben’s face.
Seconds before Ethan reached Ben to ask if he was okay, Ben’s eyes rolled back in his head and his little body went limp. He collapsed into the waves with hardly a splash. Ethan panicked.
“Ben!”
Ethan dove to where Ben’s lifeless body had been picked up by the rolling tide. He caught Ben only seconds after he submerged beneath the salty water.
“Ben! Ben!”
That’s when Ethan first noticed. Ben’s hat had lifted from his head in the rush of the waves and now floated next to them in the water. The cute messy brown curls that normally hung out of the bottom of the hat . . . continued to hang out of the bottom of the hat.
Ben’s head was nothing but perfectly smooth skin. Too smooth to have been buzzed or shaved. The little curls Ethan had grown so accustomed to seeing on Ben had been fake all along. Ben had no hair of his own.
Ethan swatted to grab the hat before the tide could pull it out to sea. His other arm was wrapped around Ben’s tiny little chest; Ben’s head was limp against Ethan’s shoulder. Ethan dug his toes deep into the sand and pushed against the current toward the water’s edge, all the while trying to keep from having a panic attack/mental breakdown. When Ethan reached the shore, he laid Ben down gently in the sand. Ethan racked his brain trying to remember anything he had ever heard or seen that would give him the slightest idea of how to handle this situation. Ben lay unconscious, but still breathing, at his knees. Finally, Ethan resorted to smacking Ben’s cheeks, trying to be forceful enough to bring him to without hurting him.
“Ben! C’mon Ben!”
Ethan’s heart did summersaults in his chest when Ben’s eyelids gave a slight flutter. Ben opened his eyes slowly. A guilty expression washed over his features as he realized what had happened. Ben sat up and his hands slowly reached up and felt of his bald head. His eyes darted around and Ethan knew instantly that he was looking for his hat. He handed it over and Ben rushed to put the hat back in its rightful position on his head.
“Ben, what the heck was that? What happened to you out there?”
Ben’s guilty expression only intensified, but he tried to hide it by flashing a fake grin, only it was too weak to fool Ethan. “Uh . . . I dunno . . .”
Ethan tried again. “Are you okay?”
Ben replied almost before Ethan got the words out. “Yep.”
Yep? The kid almost drowns in Ethan’s arms and all he gets is a yep?
“Tell me what happened, Ben.”
“I got . . . tired . . .”
“You got tired.”
“Yep.”
Ethan had never heard of anyone being fine one minute and tired enough the next to cause them to lose consciousness.
“Ben, what happened to your hair?”
Ben thought for a moment and looked up, burning Ethan with his big brown innocent eyes.
“Bad haircut?” Ben suggested.
Ethan didn’t believe it for a second, but decided not to press the issue. Ben had never before held back on anything when talking to Ethan. If Ben wanted him to know, he would have told him.
Ethan sighed and accepted his defeat. “We better get back,” he said, trying to calm his racing heart. Ben’s . . . whatever it was . . . had scared him to death.
“Do we have to?” Ben pleaded. His voice was frail.
Ethan didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, we have to.”
Ben’s skin was pale and he looked exhausted. Ethan wondered if this was what Alaina had meant by not letting him overdue things. Well, so much for that.
Ethan helped Ben to the car and drove directly for Granny’s house. All he wanted to do was get Ben home before something else happened. By the time they reached the house, Ben still looked drained, but at least he wasn’t passing out again. Ethan helped Ben into the house and found Granny Mae in the living room reading from the Bible that she kept on the coffee table.
Granny took one look at Ben and it was as though she immediately understood something that Ethan didn’t. “Come on, sweetie,” She took Ben’s little hand in hers. “Let’s get you to bed. Did you have fun today with Ethan?”
“It was awesome, Granny Mae,” Ben said with weak excitement. “Ethan taught me to play guitar, and then we went to the pier and made sand castles, and then we went swimming and then . . .” Ben shot Ethan a pleading expression from behind Granny’s back. Ethan realized that Ben didn’t want him to mention what actually happened in the water. “. . . and then we came home because I was getting tired.”
“Well, I’m glad you had a good time, baby,” Granny Mae said gently as she led Ben up the staircase.
When they reached the boy’s bedroom, Granny helped Ben change into a pair of PJ’s before he climbed into his bunk. She asked Ben if he was okay and if he needed anything. Ben curled up into his pillow—his soaked hat was reattached to his head and left wet stains on the fabric. He insisted that he was fine.
Ethan watched the entire ordeal in bewilderment. It was obvious that Ben wasn’t feeling well, but Granny Mae acted as though she dealt with it every single day. As if it was no big deal.
When Ben was tucked in and comfortable, Granny Mae turned to leave the room. She squeezed Ethan’s shoulder on her way out and he caught a glimpse of something in her eyes.
When Granny Mae was out of earshot, Ethan spun back toward Ben. He decided to try one more time.
“Ben, what happened to you out there today?”
“I told you I got tired.”
Ethan wanted to press the issue farther, but Ben did look so tired and so comfortable snuggled into a little ball with his bedding. Instead, Ethan let it go with a confused sigh.
He turned toward the door when he heard . . .
“Hey, Ethan?”
“Yeah, Ben?”
“Thanks for hanging out with me today. I know you only did it for my sister, but I really had fun.”
Ethan paused. “It may have started out that way, little guy, but it didn’t end that way.”
He turned to leave and Ben spoke again.
“Hey Ethan . . . about what happened today . . . can you do me a huge favor?”
“What’s that, Ben?”
“Don’t tell my sister, okay?”
Chapter 15
Alaina
Alaina was down to the last hour of the longest work day she had ever experienced. Not only had the double shift been exactly double the amount of hours she wanted to be there, but the hours had drug by as if she was watching paint dry. It was such a beautiful day outside and Alaina could think of about a million things she could have been doing besides serving food to tourists.
No matter how busy they got, or how distracted she attempted to be, Alaina was never able to yank her thoughts away from Ethan. Ethan spending the day with Ben was one of the sweetest things any guy had ever done for her.
But then again, there weren’t many guys in Alaina’s past, and the worst part was that she wasn’t the only one who was aware of her previous lack of involvement with boys. The girls Alaina worked with were always trying to get her to go out with them to meet boys or to go on a double date with them. She always said no.
So after showi
ng up out of nowhere last night with some guy they had never seen, Alaina naturally expected a few questions from her co-workers. What she expected, however, was nothing compared to what she’d been forced to endure the entire day. Alaina had been asked everything from “Who was that guy you were with last night?” to “Are you guys serious? to “How long have you been dating?” to “Is he the one?”.
Alaina didn’t understand what the big deal was. Could two people not have a nice dinner with one another without the whole world thinking they were making wedding plans? Her co-workers acted as if this was the first guy they had ever seen her spend time with, for goodness sakes.
Actually, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t been seen with a guy since her parent’s accident . . .
But still, Alaina didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. It’s not like she and Ethan were dating. Okay, sure, they had agreed to call their outing a date . . . but that was only a one time deal. One date did not connote dating. Their relationship was merely . . .
Alaina didn’t know how to finish that sentence. She did a quick mental reevaluation of the entire situation. Ethan was an extremely famous superstar who had, for some crazy reason, chosen her as the person to help him conceal his true identity from the world; which had led into dinner; which had led into him trying to kiss her and her freaking out; which had led into him hanging out with her brother for no apparent reason while she worked.
It all sounded very nice and “fairytale-ish” in theory, but no matter how Alaina looked at it from there, all roads led back to the exact same destination point.
Ethan leaving.
She sighed.
Nope, definitely not dating.
Alaina pulled her cell phone out of her apron pocket to get a quick time check. Only fifteen minutes to go. She and Gabby, the hostess from last night, were putting the finishing touches on the dining room so that the restaurant would be good and ready to go in the morning. Gabby had been one of the main interrogators thus far, and Alaina thought surely she was questioned out at that point. But that assumption proved too good to be true when Gabby’s voice rang out, yet again, through the dining room.
Redemption Song Page 10
