by Natalie Dean
“Chastity dear, is that you?”
“Of course, who else would it be?” she answered, kicking off her shoes as she went inside.
“I don’t know. Hopefully not that horrible bank man.”
Chastity chuckled slightly at that. “I don’t think he’ll be bothering us. Ben made sure of that.”
“Ben? Is that a friend you made in town?”
Chastity was no longer surprised by instances like these. “Yeah, he is.”
“Ah, well I’m so glad you’re trying to fit in again. I’ve made some grilled cheese and potato soup, if you’re hungry.”
“That I am! Thank you, Mom.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s nice to take care of my little girl again. I’m starvin’.”
“I bet you are. You get up at seven a.m. Lunch at three is a bit late for you.”
“But it was worth the wait to sit and have lunch with my daughter. Now you sit down—I have your plate all ready.”
Chastity did so, and soon her mother joined her with steaming food for both of them. They sat across from each other, and conversation flowed easily. This was what she loved about being with her mother. The memories that she would cherish for years to come. This was why she did this. Why she stayed.
She knew she was making the right decision, even if it was a hard one.
18
Chastity
Chastity awoke in a cold sweat, her nightmares trying to keep a hold on her as she rocketed into the real world. It seemed that her mother’s penchant for unpleasant dreams was leaking into her own mind, because her stomach was still flipping from whatever nastiness had been going on in her head—even if it was already fleeing from her memories.
She didn’t have time to linger on that, however, because she had a lot to do. It was time for more of the tests for her mom, and like the knight in shining armor he was, Ben was going to be arriving on his silver steed to take them to the city.
So much for not calling him.
She hoped that he didn’t feel like she was using him; he was just one of the only people she knew in town who had the means to take them to the city and wouldn’t suffer from giving up so many hours of his day sitting around.
Ugh. She hated being reliant on people, but she was incredibly grateful. Her mother would be a lot worse off if it weren’t for the Miller family. She definitely owed them a debt. Not that they would ever think of it that way. They were just that kind of people.
She went through her morning, getting herself and her mother ready. Mom was being especially curmudgeonly that morning, refusing to do a lot of simple tasks, but at least Chastity managed to get her dressed by the time she got Ben’s text. Leading her mother downstairs, she helped her to the door.
Immediately upon seeing Ben, her mother’s face brightened.
“Oh, it’s you again,” she said with one of the brightest smiles that she had worn in days.
“Yes, it’s me, your humble chauffeur.” Ben gave a dramatic sort of bow that reminded her of some of the plays they did together. “Are you ready to ride to the city?”
“I do think I am,” she answered, letting go of Chastity and taking his strong arm. “It’s not every day that a woman gets such a handsome escort.”
“Handsome? Well, I don’t know about that.” He laughed and the sound put Chastity at ease. She really was lucky to have him in her life, even if the last time they had parted had been abrupt.
Chastity closed the door and headed toward the back seat when Ben turned to her. “Hey, why don’t you stay here? I know you have a lot of work to do, and you could use a morning to yourself.”
She stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh, no but thank you. Mother—”
“Don’t use me as an excuse,” Mrs. Parker said, leaning out of the door as Ben helped her up. “I’m fine with this young man taking me. You’re cranky enough lately that you could use a good nap.”
“What? I’m not cranky.”
“Ya see that right there?” her mother continued, laying her southern drawl on thicker than usual. “You’re tired.”
But it was Ben’s kind hand on her shoulder that gave her pause. “Trust me, Chastity. I can take care of this. You go do whatever you need to do. Take time for yourself. Please?”
How could she say no to that? Besides, four whole hours of doing surveys and searching for other ways to make a couple bucks would be fantastic. That’s about as much as she’d done in the entire last week.
“…I guess I could.”
“That’s my girl,” her mother said with a mischievous smile. If Chastity didn’t know better, she would think that the woman was angling to flirt with Ben. Hopefully, she didn’t mistake him for Charles and was just having fun in a potentially stressful situation.
“I’ll see you later. I promise I will call if anything happens.”
“Are you sure we should do this? You’re not her power of attorney.”
“I’ll have them call you if they need to. But I think your mother’s in a good state today.”
“What are the two of you talking about over there?” her mother called, leaning out of the door again.
“Just saying goodbye,” Ben said before turning to me and winking. “You be good now, Chastity.”
“When am I not?” Chastity shot back.
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Fair point.”
They got into the car and drove off, leaving Chastity watching after them. She stood there for a few moments, worried if she had made the wrong decision, before kicking herself out of that. She had been given the gift of several hours to get some work done, and by golly if she wasn’t going to use that to the fullest.
It was a mad dash to get all of her stuff then power walk over to the library. She was tempted to run, but she knew that she would get sweaty and overheated then lose precious minutes lowering her heart rate. Even though she loved running to relax herself late at night, she didn’t like doing any sort of intense physical activity when she was expected to be in public shortly after.
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 ha
ve 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 opened 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.”