by Cheryl Wyatt
Ben stood at the trunk, eyeing a box in his hand as though it held the remains of a late, beloved pet.
She approached. “You okay?”
Somewhat dazed, he looked up. “Yeah. I am. This isn’t.” He lifted the object to show her.
“Eeww. What was it?” Amelia eyed the glob of chocolate at the bottom of a melted plastic mold.
“It was a chocolate Garfield. Musta melted in the heat.”
“It’s still chocolate. I bet it’d still be okay to eat.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t for me.” He carried it with him to the driver’s side. “I can grab another one. It’s just, I’m bummed I forgot about this one.”
She entered the car through the passenger’s side. Ben really was being hard on himself. Since he didn’t strike her as the type to get easily bent, she had to wonder why. What was the significance about the Garfield?
He stayed silent until they reached Haven Street Park. He unloaded their lunch on a picnic table beneath a covered pavilion. Amelia broke Reece’s sandwich into small pieces then opened her kid-sized plastic milk jug. She sat down, stuffing a carrot stick in her mouth. Heat rushed her face.
Ben’s head was bowed and his lips moving.
Reece eyed Ben. “Mommy, why don’t we ever pray for our food?” she asked, after Ben lifted his head.
Now it was Amelia’s turn to avoid Ben’s curious gaze. “We just…got out of the habit. You can pray anytime you want.”
She fought the fear Reece would discover too soon Amelia had crossed a line she wasn’t sure she could ever come back from. But if Reece wanted a relationship with God, Amelia applauded it.
“But I want you to pray, too,” Reece said between bites.
How could she tell Reece that God probably wouldn’t hear her? She couldn’t fake a prayer. What if Reece asked her to pray for something important and her faith shattered when it didn’t happen? No way could Amelia do that to her daughter.
Unexplained tension mounted. Amelia circled the picnic table in an attempt to evade heat from Ben’s precision stare. But it tracked her wherever she walked.
Amelia looked Reece in the eye, knowing she meant every word of what she was about to say. “Believe me, Reece. If you pray, God will hear. He wants you to talk to Him, okay?”
“’Kay. But I wish we could pray together sometimes. May I be excused?”
Amelia surveyed Reece’s near-empty plate. “Yes.”
Reece slid off the bench and scampered to the jungle gym.
Still corralling Amelia with his gaze, Ben patted the seat beside him. “I’ll make you a deal. You tell me what your rift with God is, and I’ll tell you why that kid wanted my autograph,” he said in matter-of-fact tones.
Amelia sat. “I don’t have a rift with God.” Her teeth sank into her sandwich. She took her time chewing her turkey and his words. She swallowed and studied the seeds dotting her rye bread. “He has a rift with me.”
A cough preceded Ben’s deep laugh. He fisted his lungs. “Sorry. I know it’s not funny to you, Amelia, but I can’t imagine God being mad at you over anything.” He turned serious. “I think you’ve got it wrong.”
“Not according to my dad.” Harsh emotion burned her throat.
“Last I heard, your dad didn’t dethrone God. Did he?”
“No, but—”
“No buts about it. I pray you experience His forgiveness in full, as God intended when He sent the best He had for the worst we did.”
She wanted to believe it. She really did. Nothing would make her happier than God not holding her past against her like her parents did. But her parents had been in church longer, so they knew God better. Right?
She sighed. “Thanks for your prayers.”
Ben’s dark brows rose. “But?”
“But that’s all I’m gonna say about that…for now.”
Staring intently, he nodded. But not enough to convince her he was giving up that easily. The intrepid guy was like a relentless K-9 sniffing for information.
She smiled and leaned back. “Now, Sir Helps-a-lot, me-thinks you owe milady an explanation.”
His face shuttered. “I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a televised rescue. That’s it. No big deal.”
She leaned forward. “No big deal? If you made national news, Ben, that is gigantic. Tell me about the famous rescue.”
He grinned. “Which one?”
“There’s been more than one?”
He stood, gathered the trash and tossed it in the metal barrel. “If you’ve heard about it on TV, I’ve likely been there. But that’s all I’m gonna say about that…for now.” He smiled in smug challenge as he replicated her words exactly.
“Fair enough.” She got it. The only way he was going to share more would be if she did. Smart, smart man. Because no matter who he was, what caliber of hero, she wasn’t about to give herself completely away again. And judging by the knowing gleam in his eyes, he knew it. Which meant he possessed secrets he preferred to keep from her, too.
For now.
Chapter Nine
Holding the door open for Amelia and Reece, Ben nodded to the owner of Refuge Bed and Breakfast as she approached his car. “Hey, Miss Evie.” He took Reece’s hand.
His landlord appeared with a towel-covered baking pan and her usual generous smile. “Why, hello, Ben.” She smiled more broadly at Amelia and Reece. “Ben’s told me all about you. Welcome to Refuge.”
“Thank you.” Amelia gathered their belongings from Ben’s car.
Miss Evie lifted the pan. “Thought you might be hungry so I made you some coffee gravy pork chops.” She peered over her shoulder at Amelia. “Your room’s right this way.”
Walking along the covered porch, Ben faced Amelia. “I’ve got urgent business. But I’ll call you later.” He needed to pick up Hutton and figured Amelia needed rest. “What’s her bedtime?” He didn’t wanna call too late.
“Eight. But it might be earlier tonight.”
Reece let go of Ben’s hand and reached for her mom’s.
Once Miss Evie opened the door to Amelia’s unit, he set their stuff inside, including Reece’s car seat, though he didn’t expect they’d need it before tomorrow morning. “Thanks, Miss Evie. I’ve got to jet. Catch you guys later.” Ben waved and stepped off the porch as Miss Evie led Amelia and Reece inside.
At his car, he peered over his shoulder through the open apartment door, hoping to catch one more glimpse of Amelia. She stood in profile behind Reece with hands on her shoulders while Miss Evie set the pan on the counter, visible through the door.
Ben stalled, watching the animation on Amelia’s face as she listened to Miss Evie talk.
Then, as if sensing his stare, Amelia’s face angled toward the door and her eyes found him. He grinned wide.
Pink tinged her cheeks and she returned his smile, held his gaze a moment longer, enough to deepen the connection, then returned her attention to Miss Evie.
Amazing how one girl’s smile could leave his tongue arid, and launch his pulse airborne. After remembering how to start a car, he pulled it onto the road leading to Joel’s.
At least the direction he thought Joel lived. Whew! The girl could scramble his brain faster than a missile lock scrambled fighter jet signals.
When Ben arrived at Joel’s, Hutton asked if he could finish playing a video game with Bradley before leaving. Ben scooted back into a chair and joined Joel at the soda bar overlooking the game room.
“You met a girl.” Joel slid a soda to Ben.
Ben laughed. “What makes you say that?”
“I can tell. I haven’t seen your smile that goofy in ages.”
Bradley’s head peeked above a footstool. “Dad, you ask?”
“Not yet, son. He just got here.” Squeaks rankled the bar stool as Joel swiveled it toward Ben. “Bradley wants to know if Hutton can stay the night tomorrow.”
A pop echoed as Ben pulled the soda tab. “What’s Hutton say?” Carbonation bubbles hissed
up his nose as he sipped.
“He seemed excited about it. Said he needed to get your permission first.” Joel lowered his voice when Bradley bumped Hutton’s shoulder and nodded back at them. “Said he didn’t want to hurt your feelings because you guys planned a video night.”
“Actually, we can do a rain check on that if Hutton would rather stay here with Bradley. That might work better for me anyway. Then I can drive Amelia to St. Louis instead of her taking the bus.”
“Amelia, that’s the girl you found at the mall, right?”
Ben grinned. “Yeah. It’s also the girl.”
“Inn-terr-essting.” Joel’s eyes narrowed as he dragged the word out. “Anything else?”
“Nope. Nothin’ else to tell. I won’t lose my head, sir.”
Joel’s grin grew wolfish. “What about your heart?”
Ben thought about it a moment. Amelia’s lovely face graced his mind. Reece’s chortling laugh trailed. “Entirely possible.”
Game completed, Hutton set the controller aside and un-tangled his hands from the cord. He pulled himself up with awkward motions and the help of the footstool. Then he conducted his typical side-to-side waddle up to them.
“Hi, Benny.” He leaned forward and held out his arms.
Ben hugged him. “Hey, buddy. Have fun today?”
Hutton grinned so big his upside-down-moon-shaped eyes disappeared. “Yeah. Yeah, Benny. I like video games.”
“Yeah, Mom and Dad don’t have that at their house, do they?” Their parents were more earthy than techie.
“No, Benny. Hutton likes video games. Hutton likes Bradley too. Um, I never stayed over the night at a friend’s house before. Mom always worried and said I’m not big enough. But I’m twenty.” Hutton’s brows pulled together in consternation.
“Don’t feel bad, buddy. She hardly let me stay over at friends’ houses, either. So, I hear Bradley invited you to spend the night tomorrow night?”
Hutton nodded vigorously. “Yeah. Yeah. But I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Benny, or make you mad if you want to watch videos.”
“Hutton, it wasn’t so much the videos I wanted to watch as much as I wanted to hang out and show you a good time.”
“Okay Benny.” Hutton swayed side to side and blinked hard.
“But we can always do the video stuff another night, so you can stay with Bradley. How’s that sound?”
“Yeah. That sound fun Benny. Fun. Fun. Fun.”
“Yay!” Bradley jumped up and down.
Ben eyed Hutton. “You’ve never stayed the night anywhere besides home before. Well, except for my house. You sure you’ll be okay if you wake up in a place you’re not used to?”
“Yes, Benny. I be okay. Hutton wants to stay the night with Bradley and play video games all night.”
Ben laughed. “Not sure you’ll last all night, but if you want to stay tomorrow, I’m fine with it.”
“Okay. Okay. Can I play another video game now, Benny?”
“One more before we leave. Be back in a minute, Hutton. Joel and I are gonna go shoot the bull.” Ben motioned Joel to another room. A sudden shriek sent both of them into combat mode. Crouched and whirled all in one motion, their hands to their sides, drawing weapons not there.
They straightened, realizing a fire truck hadn’t just crashed into the living room with horns blazing. Hutton.
He stood in the corner, near the lamp he’d knocked over on his way to hide behind a table so dainty it wouldn’t protect him from a hummingbird. Eyes wide, he wailed in a ratchet-child voice, “You-you have a bull? In-in-in your house?”
Ben swallowed his tongue to keep from laughing. Joel must not have been as successful because his head dipped and stayed there while his body twitched all the way to the hall.
Ben rushed Hutton. “No, buddy. It’s a figure of speech. Not a literal bull, I just meant we’re gonna go talk.” Ben replaced the lamp.
Breathing hard, Hutton snatched up the lamp, swung it over his shoulder like a baseball bat and craned his thick neck to peer around Ben. “B-B-But you said you was gonna shoot it.”
Now Ben felt terrible for nearly laughing. He hadn’t realized Hutton was serious. “I don’t kill animals. Honest.”
“But Joel does.” Hutton eyed the elk and deer heads mounting the game room wall. “Did they get in his house too?”
“Uh, no.” Beyond that, Ben didn’t have a clue what to say.
Joel, now controlled and contrite, approached Hutton. “Oh, wow, Hutton. My apologies, bud. If they bother you, I can take ’em down. I didn’t even think about that stuff scaring you.”
“No, I—I just don’t wanna be here in case it don’t die right away. I don’t like to watch nothing suffer. And bulls are big. If it got away it’d be mad for getting shot and I don’t want it to come in here and get me if you miss.”
“Hutton, there is no bull and we’re not shooting anything. ‘Shooting the bull,’ or ‘shooting the breeze,’ it’s a figure of speech. It means we were just gonna go talk for a minute.”
But Ben could see by the twisting of emotions evident on Hutton’s face, Joel’s words only served to confuse him more. He set down Amber’s lamp, at least. “It’s silly those animals halfway in the wall. Is the rest of them outside?”
Ben shook his head. “No, they’re stuffed.” No way was he gonna be the one to inform Hutton the animals’ heads had been severed. That would have toppled him right over the edge.
Hutton laughed. “Joel likes stuffed animals too? It’s funny he makes them stay on the wall.”
“Yeah. He likes to display them. Kind of like the trophies you have from Special Olympics.” Great. Now all Ben needed was Hutton poking holes in Miss Evie’s walls with nails to perch his own stuffed animals on. He knew Hutton thought about it too, because he chewed his tongue as the cogs in his brain turned.
“I skied on the game, Benny. Fast! Wish I can ski again.”
“That right? If you want, go ahead and play another, okay?”
“Okay. Okay, Benny.” He tottered off, hands clapping.
Ben followed his team leader to the next room. “I feel bad, Joel. Not only did I forget to give him his Garfield, I don’t know how to explain things at his level. I forgot how literally Hutton takes everything. It’s frustrating to think I don’t know my brother at all. Maybe it’s best he doesn’t live with me. But my parents have already booked their travel plans abroad. Everything I do and say further traumatizes him.”
“Nonsense,” Joel said. Then he laughed. “But don’t feel bad, Dillinger. When I picked him up from the airport, the same thing happened. The intercom announced, ‘Will the gentleman in Terminal P who reported missing luggage please return to baggage claim’ and it took me two hours to convince Hutton there was no one in the airport with severe bathroom trouble.”
Ben chuckled but eyed his brother fondly through the entryway. “I can believe that. He has always hated the thought of anything suffering. He’s got the biggest, softest heart on the planet. I don’t ever want to break it again.”
“You’ll figure it out, Dillinger. And what you don’t conquer, you’ll wing with the ingenuity you do everything else.”
His team leader’s faith in him made Ben feel increments better. Still, he hoped Hutton would emotionally survive his season with Ben. Besides…
“I’m hoping time spent together will grow the bond Hutton always wanted. I never gave him the time of day. But now, time with Hutton means everything to me. Just like Dad and Mom told me it would.”
“Amazing how much smarter our parents become the older we get.” Joel laughed. “Now to convince my son of that.”
Joel’s wife, Amber, poked her head in. “Had dinner, Ben?”
He shook his head.
“Will you and Hutton join us?” Ben knew Amber always made plenty, since Joel’s seven-man Pararescue team often dropped by at odd intervals.
After dinner, Hutton migrated back to the video game. In preparation for tomorrow, Ben
provided explicit instructions and pointers to Joel and Amber that his parents passed on to him about ease with Hutton. They reentered the game room.
“You ready, buddy?”
The brothers bid goodbye to the Montgomery family and headed back. Ben tried to fill the miles with chatter, but Hutton stayed reserved around him, as usual.
Once at the B and B, he noticed Amelia’s light on in the living area. After getting Hutton settled, Ben went out on the porch and phoned her. He didn’t want to go down there in case she was in her pajamas.
She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
He smiled at the sound of her voice. “Not used to answering someone else’s phone, are you?”
Pleasant laughter breezed through the line. “No. I almost didn’t answer it, thinking it was for you. Then I remembered you mentioning you planned to call. Is everything okay, Ben?”
“Sure. Why?”
“You left in such a hurry.”
“Everything’s all right.” He loosened his collar against discomfort for not mentioning Hutton. But he wasn’t ready to yet. “How’s your room?” Mission strategy: Change of subject.
“Wonderful. More like an apartment. Have you eaten dinner? We have pork chops left over.”
“I ate at Joel’s. Then gorged myself on Amber’s Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings.” He patted his stomach. “I’m stuffed. But thanks.” Ben walked back into his apartment.
“Mountain Dew?”
“Yeah, sounds bad but they’re really good. I’ll bring some by for you and Reece tomorrow. Hey, I forgot to ask if you guys needed anything before I left earlier.” He’d been preoccupied with thoughts of Hutton. “I noticed yesterday at Mayberry Market you bought breakfast and lunch stuff. Need milk or anything?”
“I might borrow some. Reece will eat oatmeal without it, but prefers it with.” Amelia laughed. “But I got the really important things for oatmeal.”
“What’s that?” Ben treasured the sound of her laughter. Wished he could keep her on the phone all night.
“Sugar.”
He laughed and started to say he was glad she was eating that, then stopped himself. Might hurt her feelings. He didn’t need to tell her what she already knew. It would put some much-needed weight on her.
