“Well, I will come and pick you up in my trusty vehicle. From there, we meet the bus and take a quick road trip up Providence Road to Charlotte. From there you get to watch a bunch of children chuck baseballs at each other. All while hoping that some kid doesn’t end up snaggle-toothed after being smacked in the face with a blunt object. Afterwards, there will be an American favorite for dinner. Pizza pie, that is and more than likely made by an Asian guy named Peter who hails from Taiwan.”
“Snaggle-toothed? Taiwan?” She sputtered out a chuckle.
“Yeah, you know the missing teeth thing that children have? My mom called it that when we were kids and it fits now that I think about it.”
“Yeah, my mom called it toof-less.” The memory of a time when her life was nothing more than wonder around every corner made her smile.
“So what do you think?”
“About what? Pizza from an Asian guy? It’s okay with me, so long as it’s greasy.”
“See, and here I thought I was the funny one in the relationship.”
“Relationship? I think it takes more than a single meal and,” Amelia glanced at the clock hanging over her doorway. “Twenty minutes of conversation to make a relationship.”
“Well, seeing as I already told the kids my girlfriend was coming, I hope that I can change your mind within the next four hours. Or else the boys are going to be mighty disappointed.”
“I don’t know about that one, Benjamin. You might have to ride solo. That’s too much for the kid.” She had to put the brakes on the errant train before the whole thing derailed on her. If she covered up with her usual turtleneck and maybe some extra concealer she could… She stopped the thought. She was supposed to be the logical one here.
“Please?” He wheedled and the word that emerged was something better associated with a five year old. Rather than a grown man.
“I can tell you hang with children too much, as you seem to know how to pout quite well.”
“Come on, I promise that you will have the time of your life.”
“Ben, you know I don’t go out.”
“Well, I do know that you enjoy the dirt, and there is that aplenty at the field. Plus, it’s all about perspective. I happen to think the woman I ate my meal with last night was the most beautiful person that I’ve ever met. And anyone I know would say the same.”
“Really and who is she?” He must have eaten another meal last night. With someone else.
Yeah right, who has two dinners?
“Well, she is a yank, but she has all of her teeth and a lovely smile with the warmest chocolate brown eyes. Still no idea?”
“I think I need another clue.”
“Hmmm… She also tasted like garlic.” The mashed potatoes she’d served to go on the side of the country fried steaks were loaded with the root vegetable.
“Really? That’s the best you could do?”
“Yep, I happen to love garlic, especially from her purty lips.” He’d interjected an extra twang in his voice and helpless to stop herself Amelia laughed until she cried.
Chapter Four: Can’t Say No, AKA, the Yes Track
Benjamin sat at his desk for hours and wondered when he could call Amelia. He knew she was at home, as far as he knew she hadn’t left the property once since she had moved in. Maybe it was time someone changed that.
The phone rang for over and over, and his mind raced with the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Amelia wanted no parts of him at all. He could just be the only one lost in impossible fascination. But then he heard the click of the line picking up and he released a breath that he didn’t know he was holding in.
He wanted to see her again. After innocuous banter and a few chuckles from his quarry, he felt like the time was ripe to ask for what he wanted. She prevaricated for a while, but he could hear the interest in her voice, she wanted to come out for the evening.
Just one more laugh and he could perhaps get her on the yes track. “Do you have tennis shoes?”
“Yes, I think almost every person in America has at least one pair.” She was a smart ass and as long as this worked, he wouldn’t call her on it today.
“Do you have a hooded jacket?” She sighed and mentally Ben smiled, she was getting irritated with the scenic route.
“Yes.” She huffed.
“And blue jeans?” Last one, he thought and waited for her reply.
“I can safely say that I do own a pair of jeans.” Good girl, he thought.
“Alright, then it’s settled. I’ll be there around at five to pick you up.”
“Yes, Ben. Wait… what?” Perfect, just like he planned it.
“I’ll see you at five then.” She gasped and he knew that she finally caught up to what she had conceded to.
He heard her sputter and knew she was about to rescind her agreement. But it was too late now and he hung up the phone before she could emit another word.
Ben imagined she was going to be pissed at the way he had railroaded her into coming. He couldn’t find it in himself to feel guilty however.
“Yes!” He spun in the chair around in circles with one fist pumped in the air.
“Hey, boss?” Ben jerked and he caught himself halfway before he fell out of his seat. Johnny stood at the door and the younger man’s face screamed confusion.
“Yeah?” Damn, he must look like a plumb fool, spinning around in a chair like a big ass kid.
“I need to grab Ma’s medicine from the pharmacy. Can I go on lunch now so I don’t have to stop on the way home?”
“Sure, take whatever time you need, so long as you’re back by four.”
Johnny skipped out, so fast that Ben only caught a blur of the apron’s hunter green color on exit.
Ben carefully stocked the produce before Johnny’s return. The boy was good kid, but he was color blind and had ADD to boot. Half the time, Johnny didn’t read the labels, just placed items where they looked like they should go. But that didn’t work very well. The last time he’d let the boy stock the fruit, limes were with lemons and granny smith apples laid atop Red Delicious ones.
The hours seem to pass by in a rhythm of quick, slow, quick, slow. There were moments he could look up and an hour had passed by. Then when he would check the clock and only fifteen seconds had passed, until he was ready to tear his hair out. When four o’clock came, Ben left so fast that he was out of the parking lot before four-oh-one.
He was showered and clean shaven early, and he only nicked himself once. Not to mention the quick splash of Issay Miyake that he walked through to make certain he smelled nice. When he arrived at Amelia’s, he rang the doorbell. Once the door opened, Amelia walked outside, but she didn’t look happy about it at all.
He had to change that by any means necessary. “Hi, Amelia. You look fabulous.”
“Uh, thanks.” She looked nervous, as if she would rather run away than get inside his car.
He clasped her shivering fingers in his hands and smiled at her.
“Hey Ms. Barnett?”
“Yes, Benjamin?”
“Why did the chicken cross the road?”
“To get to the other side?” She asked as if she had no idea what he was driving at.
“Nope. He wanted to avoid the KFC on the corner.” Her lips curled up along with his.
She laughed at his stupid joke and the extra flash of white teeth immediately made him feel ten feet tall with good knees.
He kissed her, a speck on the lips. “Now that’s out of the way, allow me to escort you to my trusty steed.” Benjamin held her hand and opened the passenger door. He smiled when she leaned over and unlocked his side. That’s what he was talking about. A woman that would support him in the small ways would be there for the big stuff.
Like losing everything in the stroke of a single second. First, he lost his cardboard cutout fiancée, their child, his knee went, and then his career. He still had money, but the life he led was much simpler than before and the standard of living was much less at home too. He
owned the store, but that was more so to have something to do each day.
Owning the store wasn’t going to make him a rich man. Really, it barely turned a profit due to the food he gave away and the locals made sure to patronize so he could continue to give away groceries to the neediest.
Not to mention when he had busted his knee, the recuperation was slow. Most of the time was spent fishing and the occasional boat ride, but he began to feel sorry for himself. If he would have had less pride and more sense, he could have had a career to rival many a famous player. And he was on that track until his life crumbled around him.
Ben looked at Amelia as he turned left, headed for the practice field. The buses would be there at five thirty and on the road fifteen minutes later.
“Amelia, you know this is going to be a long ride if you don’t talk to me.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Since I know you like books, I’ll tell you a little secret.”
“What?”
“Ambrose Jenner saved my life.”
“How?”
“I was a miserable coot after my last surgery, and I couldn’t walk, shower or go the bathroom without help. My sister noticed I was ready to climb the walls. I’m normally very active, and sitting still is a problem for me. She lugged in the biggest box of books I’ve ever seen outside of a library, and then told me to shut up my griping and read. I picked up the first novel, Shanghai Served With Soy because it was looked more… I don’t know how to say it without sounding like a chauvinist.”
Amelia chuckled. “Okay… just spit it out, and I’ll do my best to make sure that I keep it cool.”
“It was the cover. I knew after reading the jacket, that there was a romance angle, but the cover was something normal… It didn’t make me feel like I was reading porn in plain sight so it was okay if I got into it. But the best part was that even though I knew it was a chick novel, I didn’t care. The sex was hot enough to make my ears beet red. And the mystery about the box? Ugggh, it was pure masochistic genius.” She chuckled.
“Yeah, I liked that too. I had no idea the box was the key to enter the hidden room until she actually used it. I kept swearing that Gaspard had stolen whatever was inside of it. But it never housed anything!”
“Right?” He turned the heater on, to make sure the air circulated nicely. “I never imagined that I would love reading, before that point I read magazines at the doctor’s office and that was about as far as I delved into literary arts.”
“I used to love writing, but even before then I was a reader. I would read for the hell of it and in my youth that was my only indulgence. All of my money went into books. I would take my paychecks from my afternoon job and buy the classics.” Amelia chuckled and he knew those were fond memories. He could see her as a teenager, reading in some nook hidden away from the world because she was so involved in the realm within the pages.
“Wow. I know of people that read that way, but I’m slow. It takes me a week to finish a single novel.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. Whenever you read slower, you capture all of the details. I read so fast that it seems like skimming more than reading. I can finish a book within a day and almost any book at that rate… Actually as a teen, I read the Count of Monte Christo unabridged in twelve hours one Saturday afternoon. The book was thirteen hundred and sixty-five pages long, but all that mattered was finding out how he got his revenge…” She smiled and looked out of the window. “But when I reread the book I had missed things. They were small and still grasped what I read the first go around, but the slow way is best. A turn of phrase here or a twist of linguistics there can make a scene so much more than mere words. Those phrases can paint the story and because I didn’t pay them their due diligence the first time, I missed something special that the next read can’t give me.”
“Hmmm, well that’s fine, to err is human right? I would suspect that for most things in life, you can go left or right and be okay either way. I don’t have to be the same as you, and you only have to be yourself.”
“Hmm… ain’t that the truth?” Amelia chuckled and he noticed the way she combed habitually at her hair to cover her cheeks. It made Ben feel as if she were ashamed of the distorted skin.
He wasn’t ashamed of her, and he wasn’t going to let her feel humbled about her appearance either. That was the whole point of his invitation, Amelia needed to see the world around her and realize that she was an integral part of the workings within it. When Ben reached the corner to make the next turn, he pulled over on the shoulder. Traffic here was nonexistent, so he didn’t have to worry about blocking the flow. If one broke down out here, may as well start walking, as the cell signal was spotty and the nearest house was at least two miles back the way he came.
“Why are you stopping?”
“Look at me.” Ben unbuckled his seat belt.
“What is it?” Amelia appeared dumbfounded and a bit afraid.
“Don’t make that face. I would never hurt you.” He wouldn’t. In fact, he would do whatever he could to protect her. She just didn’t know it yet.
“Well, stopping unexpectedly on the side of a deserted road and unbuckling your seat belt are not the best ways to keep a lady from being nervous while she is in your company.” Ben smiled. Amelia was always such a pragmatist.
“True, but the reason I stopped is because I want you to know that I care about you. I like you, Amelia, just as you are.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I know you don’t leave your own place too much, and that’s not the way that it’s supposed to be. You like sunshine and being under the wide blue canopy of sky. I can see that every time I see you, the way your skin reacts to the warmth of daylight. As if you want to bask in it. But instead of enjoying the feeling, you shun it. Come here.” He jumped out of the driver’s side and walked around to her door. There was just as moment to enjoy the surprise on her face when she stepped out of the car.
“Is this a new exercise in crazy?”
“Not quite.” He took her face in between his hands and kissed her gently on the lips. “Look up at the sky. I want you to feel the wind on your face.” Ben tugged at the hat that rested atop her head, the brim was distressed and cap fit closely. There was a university logo on the face of the cap, but he didn’t take the time to note which one.
“Hey! Give that back!” She jumped for the hat and he held the bill high in the air, farther up than she could possibly reach. Unless she had the genes of Michael Jordan in her family tree.
“Nope. I’m keeping it for now.” Ben tucked the locks of hair behind each ear, and she smoothed her flyaway strands with a shaky hand. Now that the sun shone fully onto her face, he could see where she had been injured better.
Before the mottled skin just appeared slightly rough in appearance, but now he could actually see where the grafts had been applied. The skin wasn’t bad to look at per se, just different. It was as if her cheek was tougher in quality than the rest of her face. There were more hair follicles, and the shape was a large square where the normal skin met the irregular flesh.
But none of that bothered him. What really got to him was the fact that he could see that she was ashamed. Even as he took stock of her, she seemed to cringe under the directness of his gaze.
“I love the way you look. It doesn’t scare me.” His free hand cupped the scarred cheek, even as his lips met hers again.
But she didn’t melt into his easy caresses. Instead, she shook the hand away and stepped backwards.
“That’s easy for you to say. But you could never know what it feels like to be normal one day, and in the blink of an eye, become a creature from some little kid’s nightmare.”
“You are not a monster, Amelia!” Ben didn’t realize how loud he was until he heard the birds scatter overhead in all directions. She looked at him in owl eyed shock as she blinked twice.
“I didn’t say monster.” The tone was quiet and resigned.
/> “You are always working offense with a twist of semantics, aren’t you? But you can’t talk your way out of this one. You said, and I quote, a creature from some kid’s nightmare. Open your eyes Amelia. That is a monster.”
“I-I…” She stuttered as if she wanted to parry the direct riposte of words. But when none were found her mouth garbled over the lack of language to sputter anyway.
“Let me ask you a question.” She swallowed audibly, the gulp of muscles seemed dry and he made a mental note to get her a drink when they got on the bus.
She nodded, just a simple bob of her head north and south. “Are you a registered sex offender? Do you hurt children? Stolen from someone? Are you a murderer?”
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