He figured if she really wanted to slow everything down, she’d tell him she was planning to read or something, and maybe another time.
Sure. I don’t have much for lunch stuff, so you can bring something or we can raid Rosie’s kitchen.
Turkey sandwich from the diner?
My favorite. Then there was a happy face. See you soon.
He sent back a happy face, knowing if he got up and looked in the mirror, he’d see the same expression looking back at him.
When his phone chimed again, he held it up, expecting to see another text message from Laney.
Please help your dad figure out why the lawnmower won’t start before he sets it on fire in the driveway.
At least he’d have a way to pass the time until he could head for the diner, and then out to the lodge. He never would have guessed he’d come to love pink chairs so much.
On my way, Mom.
* * *
“I can’t believe you’ve never seen Armageddon. How is that even possible?”
Laney laughed and balanced her takeout box on the arm of her chair. “That’s a space movie, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but it’s way more than a space movie. It’s an action movie and a drama and a comedy and a romance. You’re on the edge of your seat and it makes you laugh and then cry.” Ben stopped, frowning. “I didn’t cry. But you probably would.”
“Because I’m a girl?” She arched an eyebrow, thinking maybe he’d squirm a little and she’d enjoy that.
“Because you just told me the book you’re reading made you cry. If books make you cry, then movies do, too. And Armageddon definitely will.”
“I’ll have to watch it, then, and see for myself.”
“I own it. You can come over some night and watch it with me. I’ll put tissues on my grocery list.”
She wasn’t sure if that was an actual invitation—like a date night—or a throwaway comment, so she just smiled and ate another fry from the box. She’d already eaten her sandwich, which had been delicious, as usual. And Ben had remembered it was her favorite lunch offering from the Trailside Diner. He either had an exceptional memory for random things or he cared enough to remember her likes and dislikes.
The possibility it was the latter both pleased her and jacked up her anxiety level. She liked Ben, and she knew he liked her. It worried her that she was happy and couldn’t tell if she was accomplishing her summer goal of rediscovering herself, or if being with Ben made her happy. Patrick had made her happy once upon a time, too, until she’d gotten so caught up in making him happy, she’d lost sight of what she wanted.
“Wow, that is one serious expression,” Ben said, jerking her back to the present. “I can just lend you my copy of the movie if that’s what’s making you frown like that.”
“No, I was thinking about something else.” A man she didn’t want to think about anymore. “I’d love to watch it with you sometime, and I can bring my own tissues, although now I feel like I have to not cry just to prove you wrong.”
“A challenge,” he said, grinning. “Trust me, you’ll cry.”
“Have you ever cried during a movie?” She was watching his face, so she saw the truth even though he shook his head. “Come on. Tell me. Was it for the volleyball in that Tom Hanks movie? Everybody cried for Wilson. There’s no shame in that.”
“I didn’t cry for the volleyball.”
“Tell me.”
“I’ll tell you if you go for a walk with me. There’s a nice breeze today and we can walk off those fries.” He stood and picked up their empty takeout boxes. “A short walk, anyway. I don’t like to be too far from my vehicle, just in case.”
“You take your job pretty seriously,” she said, walking beside him to the Dumpster so he could toss the trash.
“It’s a pretty serious job.” He started walking toward the tree line. “And Dave and the other guys from the fire department have been doing a great job for years but now that I’m here, I feel like I need to be ready. It’s different than before, in the city, when there were other guys who could do the same job.”
“Did you ever think about becoming a doctor?”
“Nope. That costs a lot of money and trying to work to support yourself and get through medical school never appealed to me. I like what I do. What about you? What do you do when you’re not spending the summer working at a campground?”
Laney shrugged. “I got a business degree I never used, and I worked at a jewelry store before I got married. Then my job was being Mrs. Patrick Ballard for ten years. I much prefer working at a campground.”
He laughed, and when his hand brushed against hers and then lingered, it felt totally natural to lace her fingers through his. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do when the season ends?”
It was a question she couldn’t really answer yet. “I’ve thought about it. I don’t know yet. My dad wants me to work for him, but I can’t imagine anything I want to do less.”
“What does he do?”
“He sells insurance.”
“I think you like being outside too much to be stuck in an office all day.”
Laney squeezed his hand, smiling. “I think you’re right. But I try not to think about it too much because then I’ll feel like I need a plan, and then a plan to execute that plan. Before you know it, I’ll be stressed out and planning instead of enjoying my time here.”
“Cross that bridge when you come to it.”
She’d figured out that he was simply walking the tree line around the field, rather than going into the woods, so they were about halfway through with their walk. He’d told her when he first arrived that he’d promised his mom he’d have dinner with them and they ate at five o’clock.
“It seems unnaturally quiet around here today,” he said, looking at the empty campground.
“It wasn’t earlier, when they had the kids outside, but Rosie decided today was a good day for cartoons and hanging around inside. Paige and Katie didn’t go on the ride because they’re pregnant, and I think Katie went to work. But I guess they traditionally do a big ride to someplace where they can have a picnic. You wouldn’t believe the stuff they packed on their four-wheelers. Leo even had a small barbecue grill on his.”
“They’re a fun bunch, but you’ll probably be a little relieved when they’re gone.”
She thought about that for a moment before shaking her head. “Not really. I like them a lot. I was worried before they got here, because they’re the boss’s family and all that, but they’re so nice and they clean up after themselves, so it hasn’t even seemed like work.”
When they had made the circle around the field and back to her camper, she wasn’t sure if he was going to tell her he was leaving, but he didn’t. Instead he sat back down in the chair and took a sip of the lemonade she’d poured for him.
“Okay, I went for a walk,” she said. “Now you tell me when you cried during a movie.”
The tips of his ears turned pink. “I was hoping you’d forget.”
She laughed. “Not a chance. Come on. A deal’s a deal.”
“One of my mom’s favorite movies is Hope Floats, and there’s this scene where the asshole ex is driving away and his little girl is chasing after the car, crying for him.” He stopped and cleared his throat. “I might have had something in my eye, though.”
Laney knew the movie well and she always cried during that scene. “That’s definitely a multi-tissue movie for me.”
“If I’m lucky enough to have kids, I couldn’t imagine doing that.”
She couldn’t imagine him doing that, either. She’d seen him with the Kowalski kids, and she’d also seen him with people in general, and he was too good a guy to abandon somebody he loved. But she was also reminded that Ben did want kids, and the sooner, the better. He was a man who
was past ready to settle down, and she just wasn’t there yet.
For now, though, he seemed content to sit in the shade of her awning and talk to her. It was a relaxing way to spend an afternoon, and she found herself wishing it wouldn’t end. But two lemonade refills later, they heard the distant rumble of ATV engines, and Ben stood.
“I should go before they get here,” he said. “Otherwise I’ll end up standing around, shooting the shit and listening to the stories and, before you know it, I’ll be late for dinner.”
“I’m glad you came over today.” She stood up, too, since it seemed rude not to.
“Me too.”
He was standing close to her, and she watched his gaze lower to her mouth. But he wouldn’t kiss her goodbye because she’d told him she wanted to hit the brakes. After three days of not seeing him, though, she didn’t want brakes. She wanted going too fast, skidding through corners, barely in control.
She closed the gap between them, and put her hand on his arm. It was all the invitation he needed, and he lowered his mouth to hers. He was gentle at first, almost tentative, but when she put her hand on his neck and slid her fingertips into his hair, he deepened the kiss. His tongue slipped between her lips to dance over hers. And as her knees got shaky and she couldn’t stop the small sound of need from deep in her throat, Laney wondered how she was supposed to resist this man. Hell, she wondered why she was even trying to.
He kissed her until the sound of the four-wheelers got too close to ignore anymore. Then he broke it off and smiled at her.
“I should go. Tell everybody I said hi, though, okay?”
“Yeah. I hope you have a nice dinner with your family.”
He started to walk away, but then he turned back. “You could come, you know. To dinner. My mom wouldn’t mind.”
Meeting his family was too much and her stomach knotted, but she wasn’t sure how to say no when he was looking at her like that. And part of her really wanted to meet them because she knew Ben and his parents were close, and she couldn’t help but be curious about them. “I...are you sure she wouldn’t mind? Unexpected dinner guests are one of my mother’s worst nightmares.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”
“Okay.” When he grinned, she felt the knot of anxiety loosen a little. It was dinner. It wasn’t that big a deal. “So a little before five?”
“Sounds good. You remember how to get there?”
She nodded, turning her head as the ATVs grew louder. “They’re almost here. You should run if you’re going to get out of here before they see you.”
When Ben winked and then took off at a jog toward his SUV, Laney sighed. First the kiss, and now dinner with his parents. She was not good at braking.
* * *
When Ben heard Laney’s Camaro pull into the driveway, he restrained himself from jumping up off the couch and running to the door, but only because his dad was watching him. He was trying to keep everything as casual as possible, so Laney wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.
As casual as it could be when a man told his mom he was bringing a woman home for dinner, anyway.
He didn’t regret inviting her, and he was damn glad she’d come, but it hadn’t seemed like that big a deal when he was standing outside of her camper, with the taste of her mouth still on his lips. But now with his parents eager to meet her, and Jimmy and his wife and kids there, it seemed like a much bigger deal. He didn’t mind, but he was worried about what Laney would think.
He met her out in the driveway, and he couldn’t help but notice she’d showered and changed before coming over. Her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders, and she was wearing capris with a summery blouse and sandals. She looked beautiful, and he was touched that she’d seen dinner with his parents as a reason to get dressed up.
“Thank you for coming,” he said, giving her a quick kiss hello. “You’re gorgeous.”
She blushed. “Thank you. I figured dinner at a friend’s house was a good excuse to get out of my shorts and T-shirts for a little while.”
Dinner at a friend’s house. Ouch. “Come on in and meet everybody.”
His mom had come out of the kitchen when she heard the car, so they were all in the living room when Ben led Laney inside. “Laney, those are my parents, Alan and May. My brother Jimmy. His wife, Chelsea, and their two boys. The one in the Batman T-shirt is J.J. and the little one is Zach. Everybody, this is Laney.”
She was gracious and friendly, and Ben relaxed as he watched his family warm up to her. They all moved into the dining room when his mom told them, too, and he pulled her chair out for her. When he sat down next to her, he realized it had been a very long time since he’d had somebody with him at his mother’s table. It was always his parents, Jimmy and Chelsea and their boys, and him.
There was the usual small talk as they started eating, until Laney leaned close to whisper in his ear. “These are the best Swedish meatballs I’ve ever had.”
He nodded, but he also caught the speculative glance his mom sent their way. Ben knew he and Laney had a strong enough chemistry so most of the Kowalskis had pegged them for a couple even before they were one, so they certainly weren’t going to slip anything by his mother.
“Have you been home to visit this summer, Laney?” his mom asked when there was a break in the conversation. “Rhode Island, isn’t it?”
“Yes, home is Rhode Island, but I haven’t gone back. They’re keeping me pretty busy at the Northern Star.”
Ben knew there was a lot more to it than being busy, but he also knew she wouldn’t want to talk about her former marriage or her relationship with her family while eating dinner with his parents for the first time. She’d talked to him enough about them to know it was a painful subject, since they’d sided with their former son-in-law in the divorce. Maybe not publicly, but emotionally, and it was them Laney had needed a break from, not her ex.
“What will you do when the summer’s over?” his mom asked. “You can’t stay in a camper during snowmobile season, can you?”
Laney laughed. “I don’t know about can, but I definitely don’t intend to. I’ll be gone before the snowmobilers start showing up.”
“Gone? You’re going back to Rhode Island?”
“Probably. Working at the Northern Star is just a temporary job for me.”
“Oh.” Ben watched his mom frown at her plate, stabbing a piece of meatball with her fork. He willed her to let it go. He wasn’t sure if she was disappointed the first woman Ben had been interested in for a while was leaving, or if she was afraid he’d run off to Rhode Island with Laney, but he could practically hear the wheels turning in her mind. “You should stay until the leaves turn at least. The fall foliage is beautiful around Whitford.”
“We don’t really have a hard end date, so it’s possible. It depends on how busy it stays after Labor Day, I guess.”
“That’s a nice car you’ve got,” Jimmy said, and Ben could have jumped across the table and kissed him for changing the subject. “Six or eight cylinders?”
Laney snorted. “Eight. I’m not sacrificing power in a muscle car to save a little gas.”
Jimmy swallowed the bite he’d popped in his mouth and pointed his fork at Laney, though he spoke to Ben. “I like her.”
They all laughed and talked cars for a while, until the meal was over. Chelsea took the boys back to the living room since they were getting fidgety, and everybody else helped clean up.
Ben tried not to dwell too much on how it felt to watch Laney moving around the kitchen with his mom. They talked easily—something about Nola promising to teach Laney how to knit—while they worked, and it felt right to him. It was too easy to imagine their kids playing with Jimmy’s kids in the other room, or all sitting around Grandpa and Grandma’s Christmas tree, waiting to open presents.
With his throat
feeling tight all of a sudden, he went to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle. He needed to take a page from Laney’s book and put the brakes on. Not even an hour ago, she’d made it pretty plain she planned to be back in Rhode Island before the snow flew, so there would be no little cousins to hang out with J.J and Zach anytime soon.
“I really should get back to the Northern Star,” he heard Laney say, though he’d missed what she was responding to. His mother had probably offered to make dessert or offered her an after-dinner drink. “But dinner was amazing. Thank you so much for having me over on short notice.”
“You’re welcome anytime, honey. You don’t need an invitation.”
Ben walked through the house with Laney as she said goodbye to everybody. “It was nice to meet you all.”
“If we’re here the next time you visit Ben, pop in and say hello,” his dad said.
Ben wondered if Laney caught the fact his parents knew she’d spent some time in his apartment. Not that it mattered, but there were no keeping secrets in a town like Whitford.
It was almost a relief to close the door behind them, even though it meant she was leaving. He took her hand in his as he walked her to her car, and tried to think of something to say.
“Your family’s really nice,” she said, leaning against her car door without letting go of his hand.
“They are. And they liked you.” He smiled. “Which isn’t a surprise.”
“They’re not watching us out the window right now or anything, are they?”
He laughed, but he also looked. “They don’t seem to be. Why?”
“Because I want you to kiss me good-night, but maybe not with an audience.”
He ran his thumb over her lower lip, inhaling deeply. “You do, huh?”
“I do. I think my brakes are slipping.” She laughed. “Or something like that. Basically, I’m not very good at not wanting you.”
“Good.” He lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her until she had his T-shirt bunched in her free hand and moaned against his lips. Then he forced himself to remember they were in his parents’ driveway and put a little space between them.
What It Takes: A Kowalski Reunion Novel Page 18