That shuts Kate up, and I feel like giving Dean a high five.
The rest of the morning passes slowly. After breakfast we all sit outside while Ben’s half-brothers swim in their pool.
“When is it okay to bail?” Dean asks me, approaching me while I’m lying on one of their hammocks.
“About an hour ago,” I tease, blocking the sunlight with my hand. “Do you want to go now?”
He nods. “Yeah, I think we’ve done our time.”
I grin at his choice of words, then hop down from the hammock and say bye to Ben’s brothers.
“You’re leaving so soon?” Kate asks, looking between the two of us. “When will I see you again, Dean? How long are you staying for?”
“Just a couple more nights. I’ll come and see you before I head out,” Dean says, kissing her on her cheek. “Maybe I could take the boys out somewhere, spend some time with them.”
“I’m sure they’d love that.” Kate beams, her smile dropping as she turns to address me. “I’ll be over one of these days to help pack up Ben’s belongings. There are some gold chains of his that I want to give to his brothers; I’m sure you understand.”
“Kate,” Dean chides, a scowl appearing. “Now is not the time, and it’s up to Sabina what she wants to do with Ben’s belongings.”
“You can give them whatever you want, I don’t mind,” I tell her in a small voice. And I don’t. As long as I have our photo albums, that’s all I really care about. And maybe a few of his t-shirts to sleep in. I appreciate Dean trying to stick up for me though.
“When will the life insurance money come in?” she then asks, making me freeze.
I’m about to open my mouth and tell her that unlike her, money doesn’t make my world spin, and that I haven’t even rung the insurance company, when Dean wraps his arm around me and speaks for me. “Aunt Kate, now is not the appropriate time to talk about this.”
He leads me out, and I follow him blindly, speechless. I didn’t want to come here, and I wish I hadn’t. Still, I wouldn’t want Dean to be here alone, either. He opens my car door, forever the gentleman, and I hop in and put my seat belt on.
“Sorry,” he says, when he gets into the car. I can hear the cringe in his tone. “She’s so inappropriate. If it wasn’t for my mum and my cousins, I’d never bother to come here in the first place.”
“It’s fine,” I say, crossing my legs. “I’ve been dealing with her for years now.”
“I know,” he simply says, sounding appropriately sympathetic.
“I haven’t done anything in the last month, definitely not calling Ben’s insurance company asking for his life insurance money. It didn’t even cross my mind until she mentioned it,” I say, turning to look at Dean. “Her son just died and she’s thinking about money? I can’t believe her sometimes.”
I know that she loved Ben, but Dean summed it up perfectly: she’s so fucking inappropriate.
“What have we got planned for the rest of the day?” I ask him, knowing that going back to bed isn’t an option. At least it’s not while he’s still here. The second he leaves though, I know exactly how I’m going to be spending my days until I have to return to work.
“I don’t know. What do you want to do? Name it and we’ll do it,” he says, then adds, “Except sleeping or staying in bed.”
“There’s always a catch,” I mutter, then rack my brain thinking of things that I’d actually enjoy doing today. “You can’t really go out in public, so that limits the options.”
“No,” he says, acquiescing. “But I do come with some other pros to make up for that.”
I eye him warily. “Such as?”
I suppose he would have some pros, but the ones that I can think of I wouldn’t be comfortable with. I’m not going to let him throw his money around to try and temporarily cheer me up, no matter how much I appreciate the gesture.
“We could travel somewhere, or we could go see any concert that’s in town with backstage access. We could hire out your favourite restaurant so no one else is there….” He pauses and glances at me. “But knowing you, you wouldn’t want any of those things. So how about a hike and a picnic? Away from everyone, and we get to go out and about and see some cool views.”
I smile widely. “That sounds perfect.”
He makes a noise of amusement in his throat and shakes his head, his brown hair moving. “We could fly to New Orleans and have beignets, or fly to Vegas to hit one of their clubs, but no, that’s too much for you, isn’t it?”