“I’ll bet it would look good on you, but you don’t have to wear it for us if you don’t want to.” His tone implied that he hadn’t meant to push her.
“I’m just not interested in going there. Not anymore.” There were too many memories tied to that dress. She’d done enough mulling over the past in the last twenty-four hours. “I have something else planned that will make you even happier.”
“Okay.” Quinten picked several pairs of jeans up off the floor and began putting them back on their hangers, making himself useful but staying close by. She smiled at him as she put the clothing in her suitcase. “Thank you for helping me.”
“You’re welcome, baby. I’m sorry this happened. I think I hear Ben.”
A minute later, Ben poked his head in the doorway. “Hey, sugar. Your car is on its way to the dealership. I couldn’t get it started, so I called a tow truck driver. Everything under control here?”
Camilla kept packing as she replied, “About as much as can be expected.”
Hank walked up behind Ben and knocked on the doorframe. “We’re done here, Camilla. Sorry you have to deal with all of this.”
Ben thanked him and shook his hand. “We’ll help her get it straightened up.” Ben followed Hank out of the hallway as they kept speaking in quiet tones. It was only eight thirty and already she felt drained.
“Sleepy?”
Camilla sat down on a spot Quinten had cleared and looked up at him. “Why would somebody do this? I’ve wracked my brain. I don’t have any enemies or people in my life who would hold a grudge.”
“Hank will check on that guy you dated and see if anything pans out there.”
“There’s something really odd about all this that I can’t put my finger on.” Looking around, she finally rose from the bed. “It’s not getting put in order with me just sitting around, I guess.”
Once she had her suitcase packed, she went about putting the room back in order while Ben and Quinten did the same in the living room and kitchen. Midway through the morning, Ben ran to the hardware store for new locks that couldn’t be so easily jimmied to replace the old ones and then set about changing them out.
At lunchtime, Ben came into the bathroom and handed her the cell phone she’d left plugged into her charger the day before. One brow was arched as he said, “I found this under a pile on one of the counters.”
“Oh, thank you.” Fat lot of good this little thing did me last night. She felt like she was in trouble with every man in the neighboring vicinity for choosing to walk in the rain.
A long, soft sigh issued from Ben. “This is not at all how I envisioned our day off going.”
Camilla went into his arms and gave him a hug. “I think it started off pretty good, though.”
Just then her stomach yowled, and Ben groaned. “I’m such an asshole. I didn’t even feed you breakfast.”
“I wasn’t hungry at all earlier. I’m starving now, though.”
“Let’s go get some food in you and we’ll figure out what to do from there.”
There wasn’t much that could be done about the sofa and love seats, which were ruined, but the rest of the house was mostly put to rights by the time her stomach had really started growling.
Ben stood at the front door and said, “Hank talked to me about you staying with us for a few days, just in case, which makes sense, with that leak.” He pointed to the recently emptied bucket that was still catching the occasional drip from the ceiling. “More rain is in the forecast tonight.”
Camilla frowned. “I ought to be here to empty it, if it gets full.” Just then, Ben got that look on his face. Like he was about to go all dominant on her again. “All right, all right, okay. Shit. I’m going to lose my membership in the Liberated Women of the New Millennium Club.”
Quinten chuckled as he walked up and put down a second bucket beside the first so that the spout of the first bucket extended over the second bucket to catch the overflow. “If those big buckets overflow, that means you’ll be able to look out the window and see Noah and his ark float by, baby. Besides, this is a rental. There’s already damage which needs to be fixed. You’ve done what needs doing, so let’s blow this joint. I’m starving.”
On the way to Rudy’s, where they’d decided to have a late Sunday lunch, Camilla checked her e-mail on her phone.
“Uh, Ben?”
“Yeah, sugar?”
“I sent the money for the replacement on my tires to your PayPal account. Why did you reverse it? The money is back in my account now.”