The Promise(102)

“Works for me,” Cal muttered before shoving seafood risotto in his mouth.

“Joe!” Vi practically yelled.

Cal looked to his woman and swallowed before saying, “Well, it does.”

“Can we please end this discussion of Violet, otherwise known as the one-woman baby-making factory?”

Cal gave her a look that eloquently said that baby making required two, which fortunately the girls missed since they were giggling at what their mother had said.

But it was then I felt something coming from my side. I looked there to see Ben leaned back, arms resting casually on the arms of his chair, his eyes on his cousin, his face holding another expression I wished I had a camera to capture for eternity.

He was happy for Cal. Openly. He was happy that after the nightmare Cal had lived that forced him to live half a life, it ended with this: a beautiful, kind woman, pregnant with his child, opposite him at the end of the table; two gorgeous girls, who acted like Cal hadn’t been sitting there for eight months but he’d been doing it for eight years, and they liked it; a lovely home; a fabulous meal on the table.

Happiness.

Goodness.

Everywhere.

I reached out a hand and curled it around Ben’s thigh and he aimed that look at me.

I leaned toward him and he read my lean. This meant he met me halfway and touched his mouth to mine.

When we pulled away and turned back to our plates, Keira, who’d obviously witnessed the PDA, asked Cal, “It’s been months. Can I make my move on Jasper Layne now?”

Cal leveled his eyes on his girl and said, “No.”

“Joe!” she cried.

“No,” he repeated.

“He’s only had one girlfriend the last three months,” Keira informed Cal, sharing plainly how into this Jasper Layne she was and, thus, how closely she paid attention.

“Yeah? He still with her?” Cal asked.

“Um…no,” Keira muttered.

“And how long was he with her?” Cal pushed.

“About a week,” Kate put in, and Keira cut her eyes at Kate, giving her the look any little sister gave her big sister for ratting her out.

“Then, no,” Joe said firmly.

Keira slumped in her seat.

“Keira?” I called, and her eyes came to me. “Good things come to those who wait.”

After I said that, Ben slid an arm along the back of my chair. Keira watched this, eyes darting between Ben, me, and his arm on the back of my chair. The devastation lifted and she smiled. Then she resumed eating.

It was then that I caught a glimpse of Cal looking at Benny with much the same look as Ben had been giving him earlier. Not as open, not as out there, but the contentment in his eyes was easy to read.

This meant what he read in Ben was that Benny was happy.

And the reason he was was because of me.

When I saw that, I felt a warmth spreading, starting from my belly.

I looked back down at my plate of the phenomenal risotto that Vi made, which Cal had told us would be the “best shit we ever tasted.”

He was wrong. Benny’s pies were better.

Still, it was amazing.

So I resumed eating.

* * * * *

“This sucks,” I whispered late afternoon the next day.

“Yep,” Ben whispered back.

“My turn next,” I reminded him.

“Yep,” Ben agreed.

“I’ll get on that immediately.”

“Good, baby,” Ben replied. “Now kiss me.”

I looked into his eyes before I rolled up on my toes and kissed him.

Ben kissed me back.

Then I had to let him go so he could get in his SUV. As he was doing that, starting up and pulling out, I made my way back to the sidewalk in front of my apartment.

I stood there and waved as he pulled away.

And I kept standing there, though not waving, until I couldn’t see his truck anymore.

Only then did I repeat in a whisper, “This sucks,” and walked into my empty apartment.

* * * * *

The next day, I swiftly made my way to my office, got there, closed the door behind me, sat behind my desk, and snatched up my cell.

I found him easily. He was all over my Recents.

I hit Go and put the phone to my ear.

“Cara,” Ben answered.

“Guess what?” I asked.

“Tell me,” he ordered.

“Well, I have a bunch of travel coming up the next three weeks. But after that, I just talked with my boss, and he said he couldn’t see why I could occasionally work from my place in Brownsburg but couldn’t work from your house in Chicago.”

“No shit?” Ben asked.

“No shit,” I answered.

“Excellent, baby,” he said, deep, easy, and happy.

I clicked on my computer, bringing up my schedule, talking into the phone, “Looks like…” I paused, doing a scan. “I could drive up Friday night after I get back from Atlanta, just under three weeks from today. And I can stay…” I clicked, scanned, and told him, “at least until the next Thursday. I have a meeting in the office on Friday, but I can ask if they can conference call me in. That’ll give us a whole week.” When I finished, my voice had pitched higher with excitement.