Holly’s lips twitched. “I can’t believe those fools challenged him to a shoot-off. His damned ego is big enough without him kicking the collective asses of all the males in my family.”
“It’s not over yet,” Diana said.
“What’s for dinner, Grams?” Katie asked from the doorway. “We’re all starving.”
“Yeah,” Harvey said, “dying.”
Her mother stood. “I doubt you’ll die anytime soon. I was waiting for the men to get here.”
“What do you think is happening?” Hillary asked.
“I think Ben is winning,” Katie said.
“I don’t,” said Hillary. “I bet my dad shoots better than anyone.”
“But Ben’s a SEAL,” Katie replied.
Hillary put her hands on her cocked hip. “So? Dad’s a cop, and Pops’s a cop.”
“Enough,” Patricia said. “How about we make each of you a plate and you can eat in the playroom and watch TV?”
That won universal approval from the four kids.
“Think we need to call Blind Harry’s and see what’s happening?” Holly asked.
“Not on a bet,” Bethany replied. “I’m not starting my married life checking up on Lawrence.”
Holly winced. “It’s not really checking up on them, right, Diana?”
Her sister-in-law responded with a shrug. “Honestly, I’ve been married to your brother so long that I don’t give his comings and goings much of a thought. Do you have any idea how many dried-out dinners we ate before I gave up trying to wait on him? In my humble opinion, we should eat without them while the food fresh.”
Her mother chuckled. “That’s a good idea. What do you say? Wait or eat?”
“Eat,” Diana said.
Bethany nodded. “Agreed.”
Three pairs of eyes looked at Holly, who threw up her hands. “I’m starving.”
Before they could put their plan into action, a loud commotion came from the living room.
“Oh, dear. I think they’re drunk,” her mother said.
The women hurried into the living room and came to an immediate stop at the vision in front of them.
Ben wore his usual cargo shorts and SEAL T-shirt, which stretched tightly across his expansive chest and wide shoulders. The sleeve bands were snug over bulging biceps. The only difference in his usual attire was the large, gold Burger King crown on his head. Well, the goofy smile was different, too. She’d seen him happy before, but tonight was different. The look in his eyes was one of pure joy.
Beside him, Patrick sported a similar grin, but no crown. Nope, he was draped with a runner-up sash.
Holly glanced at her mother, Diana, and Bethany. All of them had their hands over their mouths, grins peeking out from behind the fingers.
“Um, I’m not sure what to say,” Holly began. “Congratulations?”
Ben picked her and swung her around as she squealed.
“Our boy Ben here kicked ass,” Robert said, draping his arm over Ben’s broad shoulders.
“And you’re happy because…?”
Before her dad could answer, the four kids came running from the back to investigate all the noise.
“Dad!” Hillary said. “You’re wearing a beauty pageant ribbon.”
Patrick looked down like he was surprised and then grinned. “Nope, honey. This is a second-place sash. I almost won the crown.” He went to snap his fingers and nothing happened.
“Yay, Dad,” Hank said, and ran over to Patrick, who swung him into the air and then into his arms.
“Why don’t you kids go finish your dinner while the adults eat,” her mother said, shaking her head.
“Aww. We always miss all the fun,” Hillary said and kicked the carpet.
“Back,” Holly said sternly and pointed.
The four children left, but not happily.
Patricia gave the three other women a pointed look. “Ladies, do you want to give me a hand, and we’ll get the food on the table? I think the guys need something more in their bellies than beer.”
Holly followed her mother into the kitchen, but behind her, the guys were telling and retelling each other about the shooting match as though they hadn’t been there.
“Think they’ll remember this in the morning?” Bethany asked as she loaded hot rolls into a basket.
“I know Robert will be a bear in the morning,” Patricia said.
“So will Patrick,” Diana said.
“Well, don’t look at me,” Holly said. “I have no idea what Ben is like in the morning,” she lied.
“Good girl,” her mother said and patted her head. “Your lying is getting better.”
The guys were seated at the table, their conversation loud and often punctuated with laughter and a dig here or there. Ben was right there in the middle of everything, tossing out insults with the brothers as though they’d been friends forever.
“Think one of you can tell a coherent story of what happened?” Diana asked.
“Our boy can shoot the lights out,” Lawrence said.
Holly frowned. “I got that, but why are you so happy that he outshot you? I’d think you’d be looking for a rematch.”
“Well, probably,” Danny said, “if a bunch of the San Diego guys hadn’t shown up to shoot and Ben beat them, too.”
“The best was that Mark Mason. You remember him, don’t you, hon?” Robert said to his wife.
“Mason?” Her mother’s eyes rolled up as she searched her brain. “Young guy? Dark hair? Huge ego?”
“That’s him. He won the San Diego PD range competition this past spring.”
“And he thought his shit didn’t stink,” Patrick said.
“Patrick,” his wife said. “Language.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m sure we all know what you mean,” Patricia said to her oldest son.
“Well, he came swaggering into Blind Harry’s and decided to take on our Ben,” Robert said. “Ben, bless his heart, threw a couple of matches, and Mark got way too confident. Next thing I know, money is changing hands and bets are being made.”
“You hustled the guy?” Holly asked Ben.
Ben looked sheepish and shrugged. “It was Patrick’s idea.”
“Patrick!” Diana said.
“What? I had to win my money back, right?”
Holly looked at her mother who was biting her lip to keep from laughing.
“Well, if you five aren’t the best role models for our kids,” Diana said.
“You’ll change your tune when you find out what we won.” Patrick gave his wife a smug look.
“You won something?” Bethany said to Lawrence. “What?”
“Thanks a lot, Patrick,” Lawrence grumbled. “I was saving that money for my rainy-day fund.”
Bethany snorted.
Diana held out her hand to Patrick.
Patricia arched at brow at Robert.
“Well, fess up,” Holly said. “How much did you take the poor guy for?”
“Not the poor guy,” Robert said. “Almost every cop there.” He pulled a wad of twenties from his front pocket. “I made four-hundred.”
“Five for me,” Patrick said, pulling a bundle of cash from his pocket.
“Four for me,” Lawrence said. “It’s going toward our honeymoon,” he told Bethany.
“Good decision,” she replied and kissed him.
“Six for me,” Danny said. “I’m no fool.”
Holly looked at Ben.
He burst out laughing. “Twelve hundred.”
“Ben,” Holly exclaimed. “You’ll never be able to drive the streets of San Diego again without being stopped.”
“Wait,” her mom said. “How did half of the department end up down there?”
“Not just SDPD, but some of Coronado’s finest, too,” Robert said.
“I might have mentioned it at work,” Danny confessed.
“Yeah, me too,” Lawrence said.
“And, me,” Patrick said. “Look
, the three of us got to talking after dinner last Sunday and realized that Squid Boy might outshoot us.”
“And,” Lawrence said, picking up the story. “Our bets were on record—thanks very much, mom—so we figured we shouldn’t be the only ones with money on the table.”
“Speaking of money on the table, where are my winnings?” her mother asked. “I believe I had twenty on our boy Ben.”
Robert pulled five twenties from his shirt pocket and passed them down to his wife. “Would’ve been more if you’d had the foresight to bet double or nothing.”
Patricia tucked the money into her pocket. “No, this is fine.”
“I understand the betting, but where did you get the drinks?” Diana asked. “I know Blind Harry’s shooting galley doesn’t serve beer.”
“The guys from the precinct dragged us over to the Blue Line.”
The Blue Line was a bar owned by a group of San Diego cops and was a known cop hangout.
“Sorry for being late for dinner, Patricia,” Ben said. “But everyone kept buying us rounds.”
“It’s fine, Ben,” Patricia assured him.
“Mark had become an obnoxious braggard over his win,” Lawrence. “More than a few folks were glad to see him get taken down a notch.”
“Amen,” Patrick said.
Through the entire exchange with her family, Holly kept an eye on Ben, trying to gauge his reaction. He still wore that grin. The happiness on his face radiated. His laugh was hearty and loud, which fit right in with the other males in her family.
Good lord. Her brothers and dad liked him, and apparently, he liked them.
The ground beneath her fell away. They would not be happy when she sent him on his way after the wedding.
Oh well. It was only June. The wedding wasn’t until September, so she had plenty of time before she had to face that reality.
As she lifted her glass of water to take a sip, she noticed that Diana and Bethany had also set aside their wine in favor of water. Looked like the ladies were driving tonight. Speaking of which….
“How did you get here?” Holly asked. “Surely you didn’t drive.”
“Cop cars,” Ben said in a stage whisper. “Never been in back seat of one. Don’t want to do that again, so stay away from my truck, Danny.” He laughed, and Danny snorted.
Holly folded her arms over her chest. “Two cop cars pulling up in front of the house dropping off drunk Longs. I’m sure Mrs. Mercer’s eyes were popping out behind her curtain.”
The Long brothers started laughing.
“Get this,” Danny said. “Ben threw her a kiss.”
Holly groaned. “You didn’t. What did she do?”
“Those curtains snapped shut,” Lawrence said with a snort.
“I’m not the one who threatened to moon her,” Ben protested.
“Please tell me none of you mooned the poor lady,” her mother said.
“I wouldn’t let them,” her father assured her. “I have to live in this neighborhood.”
“The grapevine will be hot with gossip this week,” Holly said.
“Speaking of the grapevine and news,” Bethany said. She reached behind her and picked up a small stack of papers on the sideboard. “Here’s the list of all the wedding party activities for the summer.”
She handed each person a copy, including Lawrence and Ben. “I expect all of you to be at the couple events. Diana and Holly, I’ve noted our monthly bachelorette parties so you can get them on your calendars.”
“Um, I’ll put this on my calendar, but you realize I could be called on a mission at any time,” Ben said.
“Yeah, me, too,” Danny said. “Missions.” He snapped his fingers. “Might have to miss a party.”
“You will be at these parties Danny Long,” Bethany said, giving her a glare. “Ben is the only one who gets a pass for a mission. Got it?”
“Got it,” Danny said.
After dinner, Patricia plied the guys with coffee and fresh strawberry pie. As they sat around in the living room, Holly became uncomfortable because Ben and her sitting with her family eating pie and drinking coffee felt too comfortable, almost like they’d done this for years.
She knew one thing for sure. Her family was definitely buying the fake relationship thing. Now, she only had to keep reminding herself.
As the night wound down, and her family began collecting kids and keys to leave, she pulled Ben off to the side.
“Where did you leave your truck?”
“Blind Harry’s. Think you could drop me off to pick it up?”
“Um, no. I can give you a ride to your house. You can get it tomorrow, just like the rest of my family’s maniacs.”
He laughed.
“Did you have fun?” she asked. “Did they drive you too crazy?”
“Oh, babe,” he said, draping his arm over her shoulders. “You are so lucky and don’t even know it.”
Frowning, she asked, “What do you mean? Lucky? My brothers tortured me my entire life.”
He grinned. “Lucky.” His face grew serious. “Trust me. People don’t always realize how great things are unless they’ve seen the other side.”
“Ben,” her mother said. “I hope Holly is driving you home.”
“I am, Mom,” Holly replied. “Where’s Dad? I wanted to tell him goodnight.”
“I sent him to rustle up the kids from the den.” At the sound of chattering voices, Patricia smiled. “And here he is now.”
Holly watched as her daughter dragged her feet as she walked toward her, “Let’s go, Katie. I have to work tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Katie turned to Hillary. “Call me tomorrow. Maybe we can hang out or something.”
Hillary nodded.
“We have to drive Ben home,” Holly told Katie as the three of the walked to her car.
“Because he had too much to drink,” Katie said, as though she were telling some big secret.
“Yeah, I did,” Ben said. “And you don’t want to ever do this. And if you do, you never drive.”
Katie rolled her eyes at him. “Please. Everyone knows that.” Her voice contained the usual distain reserved for advice from adults.
Katie climbed in the back while Ben took the passenger seat and Holly drove.
“Can I ask you a question?” Katie said to Ben.
“Sure. Shoot.” He elbowed Holly. “Get it? Shoot?”
Holly shook her head and snorted.
“Why does everyone call you Benjamin except Mom?”
“Hmm. Good question.” He looked over at Holly. “Why do you call me Ben?”
Holly pictured those young, nubile girls on the beach calling him Ben and giggling.
“I never thought about it,” Holly said. “It just seemed to fit you. Do you want to be called Benjamin? I can do that.”
“No, no,” he said. “I like that you call me Ben.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I do.”
For a minute, she forgot she had a daughter in the backseat. She reached over and brushed the back of his neck.
“Eww. Stop that, Mom.”
“Oh, sorry. I thought I saw a bug on his collar.”
Ben looked at her and grinned.
“So, what should I call you?” Katie asked. “Ben? Benjamin?”
“What do you want to call me?” Ben responded.
“I don’t know,” Katie said. “Ben?”
He shrugged. “Perfect. Only the Maxwell women get to call me Ben.”
In the rear-view mirror, she saw her daughter smile, probably due to being called a woman. Man, her baby was growing up so fast.
For a couple of minutes, they traveled in quiet.
“Well,” Ben said. “It’s too quiet in here. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Like what?” Katie asked.
“Hmm. Surfing.” He shifted to look over the seat into the back. “You a pretty good surfer?”
Katie shook her head with a frown. “I don’t know how.”
&
nbsp; “What?” he said in an exaggerated voice. “You can’t surf?” He looked at Holly. “What are you teaching this girl? Every child who grows up on the California coast knows how to surf. I think it’s a law or something.”
Katie laughed. “I don’t think it’s a law.”
“I’m pretty sure,” Ben said confidently. “Your mom is derelict in her mothering duties. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.”
Her daughter giggled.
“You surf,” he said, gesturing at Holly. “Why haven’t you enlightened your daughter to the wonder of surfing?”
“You know how to surf?” Katie asked. “Really?”
“Really.”
“How come I’ve never seen you do it?” Katie said,
Holly shrugged and thought about her board gathering dust in the attic. “It’s been a while.”
Katie leaned forward. “Do you even have a board?”
“Of course,”
“Where is it?”
“The attic.”
“Can I see it?”
Apparently, Holly had gained a couple of cool points in her daughter’s eyes. “Sure.”
“I want to learn,” Katie said, her voice wistful.
“The next time your mom and I are both off work, why don’t the three of us go to North Shore and catch some waves.”
“You’d teach me how?” Katie’s voice was filled with excitement.
“I’m sure between your mom and me, we can probably get you up.”
Holly chuckled. “I don’t know, Ben. It’s been years since I caught a wave.”
“It’s like walking,” Ben said. “You’ll do it without thinking.”
“Please, Mom.”
“We’ll see.”
“That means probably not,” Katie explained to Ben.
“It does not,” Holly protested. “It means we’ll see when the time comes.” But her belly nagged her. Was her daughter correct?
She turned into Ben’s drive.
“Home sweet home,” Ben said. “Thanks for the ride.” He looked in the back. “Catch ya, later, Katie.”
He squeezed Holly’s hand and slipped from the car.
Once he was inside, Holly pulled away and headed home. Her daughter was quiet on the ride and she would have given a hundred bucks to know what was going on in Katie’s mind.
“What do you think of Ben?” Holly asked.
“He’s okay.”
Okay then. Back to silence.
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