by Natalie Dean
She arrived in good time and sat at her now usual spot. It seemed people rarely used this part of the small library, so it gave her plenty of privacy to concentrate. She booted up her computer and started in on the highest paying surveys, whacking them out as quickly and efficiently as she could.
But after an hour’s work, she figured it was time for a break from filling out surveys to look into other money-making schemes. During her search, she found a website that did lists for clickbait articles and another site for audio transcription. She loved the idea and signed up for the former before applying to the second. Apparently, that one would take about two weeks for them to get back to her.
It took a bit of internet surfing to figure out the list-making, but she managed, and about twenty minutes later, she was starting on her first list. She figured she would stick with what she knew and picked ten places to go in NYC on a budget.
It was more involved than doing a survey, that was for sure, but it paid ten dollars as a base line and then five dollars more per milestone that the article reached in number of hits. If she was lucky, maybe she’d end up with about thirty dollars on one list alone. The higher tiers went up to several hundreds of dollars, but she doubted that she would get that high on her first crack.
Once she was completely sure her list was ready to submit, she did so, then went right back to her surveys.
It wasn’t very exciting stuff, but at least she was being productive, and that helped fuel her. She kept on going until her eyes crossed, and then she hunted around for another article idea. Top Ten Reasons to Visit Montana? Maybe. That was certainly something she was knowledgeable about. But the best part was for this whole article thing, she didn’t have to be online to work on it, only to submit. So, she could spend time at home writing things up, then come to the library to upload them and sneak in a few surveys.
Things really were coming together, and she recognized that they wouldn’t have if it weren’t for Ben agreeing to take her mother to the city alone. She didn’t know how she would ever repay him, but she—
As if he was psychic, her phone buzzed. No one really messaged her besides Ben, her mother, and the doctor, so she picked it up instantly. Ben had texted that they were almost home and were stopping for gas, as well as asking if she wanted a soda.
Naturally, Chastity replied that she did. She generally didn’t drink soft drinks, as they were an extra cost and made her repeatedly go to the bathroom, but she knew several of the gas stations around the town carried old-fashioned cream soda in glass bottles. She’d have to be insane to pass that up.
Once she was sure that her list had been submitted and her texted response to Ben had gone through, she packed up her things and headed home. She ended up taking a couple of extra minutes, as the librarian stopped her to talk about the job she had applied for. It turned out one of their book shelvers was pregnant and having a hard time of it, so there could possibly be an opening in a couple of weeks. They would let her know.
It took her about twenty minutes to get home, and when she got there, she saw Ben’s truck already pulled up in front.
Despite herself, this time she really did run, bolting up the steps and almost throwing open the door. There, she was surprised not to see the strapping man, but instead, she saw Mrs. Miller sitting at the table with her mother, sipping at willow bark tea and reading the Bible together.
“Oh, Chastity. Hello. It’s good to see you,” Mrs. Miller said, and Chastity could immediately place her as the kind voice on the phone who had gotten this ball rolling all those weeks ago. What would have happened if she hadn’t made that call? Probably nothing good.
“It’s good to see you as well, Mrs. Miller. You look as lovely as ever.”
“Oh, you flatterer,” she said, covering her face slightly and waving the compliment away. “But thank you nonetheless.”
“Why don’t I get compliments like that?” her mom asked teasingly, pretending to pout.
“Well Mom, that’s because I’m a reflection of you, and what better compliment could you be paid?”
“Oh, cheeky now. That you get from your father.” Although she was smiling, the expression faltered slightly. Thankfully, Mrs. Miller noticed and reached over to pat her mother’s hand comfortingly. The two older women interlaced their fingers, and Chastity felt tears prickle in her eyes as they looked at each other in a knowing way.
After all these weeks, she had never thought that maybe her mother would benefit from hanging out with someone her age. That was definitely lack of foresight on her side of things, and she resolved to set up play dates for her mother. It seemed so obvious now, but oh well, she couldn’t exactly go into the past and fix it.
Chastity sidled up to Ben, feeling far more relaxed about her future than she had in weeks. “Thank you,” she said in a hushed voice, not wanting to interrupt their mothers as they settled back into the Bible.
“I didn’t do anything. This was all my mother’s idea.” Ben handed her a bottle of cream soda.
“Thank you. Was it?” Chastity asked. “All of it?” She took a sip from the bottle and moaned as the delicious cream soda touched her taste buds.
He shrugged and chuckled at her reaction to the soda. “I may have asked her if she wanted to come to the doctor’s office with us, but the rest was all her doing.”
“That sounds like it. This is a Miller family affair if I ever saw one.”
“You make us sound like roving philanthropists.”
“Well, your whole fortune is built on top of treating your animals better than almost all other farms this side of the St. Louis Arch.” Chastity took another sip from the bottle and licked her lips.
“Not our whole fortune, but I get your meaning.”
“Enough of your fortune. Besides, when did you get so particular about the semantics?”
“Who do you think I learned it from?” He gave her an accusatory look, and she just batted her eyelashes at him.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Of course, you don’t.”
They sank into a comfortable sort of silence as their mothers continued to read to each other, and soon a whole hour had passed. At that time, Mrs. Miller looked up from the Bible and affixed them with a smile. “I think it’s about time that I should head home. The chickens need tending to and goodness knows your father is probably out with the firewood much longer than he should be again.”
“Oh Annie, I hope I didn’t keep you too long,” Chastity’s mom said, concern written across her face.
“Not at all. You kept me the perfect amount of time. We should do this again, perhaps next week if we have the chance?”
“Oh yes, I would like that very much.”
“Perfect.” Mrs. Miller looked to Ben. “And are you ready to go?”
He looked to Chastity and seemed to be unsure whether to hug or kiss her or shake her hand. She smirked a bit before solving it for him, standing on her tip toes to press a chaste kiss to his cheek.
“Thank you, for everything.”
He smiled, his face flushing slightly, and he winked one of those sparkling green eyes at her, flecks of gold within catching the fluorescent light overhead.
“It was nothing. Really.”
“It was to me,” Chastity said.
She walked with him to the door, almost wanting to slip her hand into his large, calloused one, but that didn’t seem right at the moment. She watched them go, not closing the door until they had driven down the road and out of sight.
“That was lovely,” her mother said, humming happily to herself.
“I’m happy you had a nice visit. Are you thirsty? My soda was so sweet I need some water.”
“I could use a cup of water too.”
Chastity crossed to the fridge, grabbing two of their chilled glasses from the freezer. It was a habit that her mother had gotten her into when she was younger, and now she lived for a glass of refrigerated water in a chilled cup.
But when she open
ed the fridge door, she could only stand there in shock.
“Oh.”
She didn’t have any other words for what she saw. In front of her, their entire fridge was filled to the absolute brim with a variety of food.
Most of it was cooked and neatly tucked into expensive Tupperware. She could make out ribs, roasted chicken, tenderloins, sausage, bacon, and each of them had labels of the date they were made and how long they could be kept. Of course, right in the center of it was a giant container of mashed potatoes. It seemed after all these years, Mrs. Miller still knew her well.
But that was just the cooked food. There were also plenty of raw vegetables and fruits, as well as breadstuffs and deli meat.
“What is this?”
“What is what?”
“We have an entire fridge full of food. Surely, you noticed.”
“Oh, that. Annie wanted to give us a bit of a gift. She is such a lovely soul, isn’t she?”
Chastity’s heart throbbed in her chest. After so long being on her own, it was entirely strange to realize that she still had people watching out for her.
Even after their breakup, even after their suddenly interrupted kiss, even after her radio silence, Ben was still trying to help in what little ways he could.
She really didn’t deserve him.
Life was going to suck when she went back to the city.
But for now, with her mother’s condition making her stay longer and for an unknown length of time, would it really be so bad to enjoy the few good things that were happening to her?
She hoped not.
19
Ben
Ben smiled to himself as he pulled up to the main house, helping his mother out of his truck. The morning really had gone splendidly, and it was hard to believe that it wasn’t even three in the afternoon yet.
He guessed that Chastity was right; he still was a bit of a romantic. When she had called, needing a ride for her mother to go into the city, he had started to put together a plan to make her smile. Even through the phone, it was easy to hear how stressed she was and how bad she felt asking him for another favor when she hadn’t spoken to him since their rather heated kiss on their date.
But he understood that too. Judging by the visit from that awful bank man, it was clear that there were a lot of pieces she was picking up for her mother after her father’s death. And although Ben would like to help her with those too, he understood that she didn’t want to involve him.
He was, after all, still her ex.
Even if kissing her had felt like the world turning upside down and the sun coming out after a decade of darkness.
To his surprise, his phone rang on the way to his bachelor add-on to the main house. It was far too early for any of his brothers to be calling unless it was an emergency, so he quickly answered without even looking at the number.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Ben.”
Chastity. One of the last people he expected, but she was a welcome surprise. She sounded much less stressed than the last time she had called, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit cocky that his plan had worked.
“Hey, Chastity. Did you need something?”
“No. I’m calling to thank you, again. I saw what you did in the kitchen.”
“Huh? I assure you I have absolutely no idea of what you mean.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you don’t. Then I suppose it’s going to be very strange when I ask you over for dinner sometime later in the week? Maybe I can cook you something nice with all the food you’ve given us—as a thank you.”
Ben smiled to himself. “I don’t know what food you’re talking about, but I would be lying if I said that didn’t sound like a good time.”
“Good. I’ll see you Thursday then, at seven? That’s not too late for you, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
“All right then. You have a good night now.”
“I will, you too.”
She paused like she was going to hang up, but then her voice came back uncertainly. “Uh, Ben?”
“Yes?”
“Sweet dreams.”
It was a throwback to what she used to tell him before they bid each other goodnight, and he found himself smiling into his phone. “Sweet dreams to you too.”
He hung up, staring at his phone, wondering if he was as in love now as he was back then.
This was probably a bad idea, but there was no stopping it now.
BEN’S HEART was pounding almost painfully behind his ribs as he approached Chastity’s door. For some reason, he was even more nervous now than he had been on their first date together after a decade. Maybe it was because it was on her terms, and he couldn’t meticulously orchestrate everything like he had on their last date.
Or maybe it was because he was realizing how intense his feelings were rapidly becoming. He really needed to put the brakes on—after all, she had told him that she fully intended on leaving their town—but he found himself enjoying the freefall. It was certainly going to be a painful lesson to learn the second time around, and yet there he was, knocking on her door with a bottle of expensive wine in his free hand.
Chastity answered the door, and it took quite a bit of resolve for his jaw not to entirely drop. She was wearing one of those form-fitting dresses that had become popular of late, bodycons, or something, and it was a beautiful turquoise against her golden skin. Her makeup was fancier than it had been on their first date, and her hair was meticulously curled.
“You look gorgeous,” he said, knowing he should smile or make some sort of expression with his face but completely unable to from the shock of how unimaginably breathtaking she was.
“Thank you. You look pretty nice yourself.”
He looked down at his pair of non-torn jeans, a clean button-up, and brown boots. Hardly. He should have dressed himself even more for her, but he wasn’t sure if there really was a level between casual and a suit for men. He had never really been into fashion or designer stuff like his younger brother was. What was the term? Metro-something?
“Come in,” Chastity said, stepping to the side. He saw that the table had already been set and in the center of it was a hearty roast, and he was pretty sure he could smell something sweet lingering in the air.
“Is that huckleberry pie?” he asked, striding over to the table and setting the bottle of wine down.
“Indeed, it is. I remember that was your favorite, wasn’t it?”
He smiled back at her, pleased as punch. He did indeed love huckleberry pie, but didn’t indulge in it often because his brother, Bart had been quite allergic to the berries and it wasn’t worth the risk.
“Yes, and it still is.” He almost sat down before remembering his manners, and so he circled around the table to pull her chair out for her. Chastity just laughed, her cheeks blushing slightly.
“I’m not quite ready for that yet. I was heating up some of your mother’s mashed potatoes, and I’m finishing up the corn.”
“Oh, well, I can keep you company in the kitchen while you finish.”
Her smile was soft and welcoming as she looked up at him. He wanted to bend down and kiss her right then and there, but he resisted. He had a feeling that if their lips touched the dinner would be entirely forgotten, and he didn’t want all her considerate effort to go to waste.
Besides, if he remembered correctly, Chastity was almost as good of a cook as her mother, having taken over for her family during the summers when school was out. She said that it helped her relax, but he was pretty sure that her type-A personality wanted to see the reward of a smile on people’s face after they ate what she had made.
“That sounds nice.”
They headed over to the small kitchen where she finished putting the finishing touches on everything, until finally the two sides were placed into her mother’s antique serving bowls and taken over to the table.
They sat on opposite sides, but the table was small enough that they didn’t feel like they were worlds apar
t. He decided to take charge, picking up the carving knife and fork to serve them both a generous portion of roast. He was sure it was more than they were probably going to have in a single meal, but he was willing to bet that with the previously empty fridge, Chastity didn’t have nearly enough protein in her diet.
Then there were the sides. He put generous portions of that on his plate too. He knew that many men and women were concerned with watching their middles, but he worked plenty of calories off on the ranch, and he thought that Chastity looked perfect the way she was.
He never really understood society’s current obsession with forcing women to be as thin as they could possibly be. He liked it when there was a softness to the feminine form, when his rough, veiny hands could sink into a curve and feel just how different and beautiful it was from his own body.
Such thoughts instantly made his body react though, and he shoved them away. Now was not the time.
Ben reached across the table and held Chastity’s hands while he said grace.
When they had said Amen, Chastity looked up into Ben’s eyes. “I want you to know that I really appreciate everything you’ve done for us. Especially considering…”
“Our history,” he finished for her.
“Yeah, that.”
“You don’t have to thank me for everything. It’s what good friends do for each other.”
“Is that what we are?” she asked, looking across the table at him through her thick lashes. “Friends?”
He nodded, but then words were coming out of his mouth that he hadn’t really intended to say. “I mean, you’re the only friend that I want to kiss, but yes, I would consider us friends.”
She blushed at that and took a bite of the food. He followed suit, and it gave them more time to think about what they were going to say. “I do like kissing you, still.”
Oh.
That was interesting.
“I’m glad to hear it.”