Instant Family

by Donna Gartshore

  What kind of person was she? She had just barely finished reassuring Rae that she had nothing to worry about as far as she and Ben were concerned, and the next thing she knew, Ben was kissing her and she was letting him. Not only letting him but enjoying it.

  To make matters worse, her anger at herself was forced to compete with the memories of the kiss. She could still see Ben looking at her like she was actually someone worth looking at, and she could smell his masculine pine-and-wind scent.

  “Rae!” she called. She could hear the strain in her own voice and she paused to calm herself before calling again.

  “Rae, it’s dark out now. I think you and Al better come back.”

  Rae and Al slowly made their way back, and Frankie was grateful for the darkness that hid the flush on her cheeks and the emotions in her eyes.

  “Dark,” Al observed, and then he began to fuss for his bedtime snack.

  Ben glanced over and, from his increased head nodding and gestures, Frankie could see that he was anxious to wrap up the call.

  “That was Danny’s grandmother,” he said again, when he returned to them. “Danny’s parents are supposed to come out here tomorrow and they will deal with the authorities. She just thought we should know.”

  Frankie avoided looking at him. “Okay,” she mumbled, busying her fingers with the tangles in Rae’s hair.

  She could feel Ben watching her as she continued to smooth Rae’s hair.

  Al’s demands threatened to escalate and Frankie used the opportunity to excuse her and Rae.

  “Thank you for sharing your supper,” she said rather formally. “I think I’d better get this young miss home.”

  “Thank you again for bringing the salad,” Ben replied in a tone Frankie couldn’t quite decipher.

  He led Al into the cabin, assuring him that he could have toast with peanut butter and bananas.

  In their cabin, Frankie adjusted the water for Rae in the temperamental shower, and then she made herself a cup of peppermint tea and tried to focus on a nursing brochure she had picked up at the library. But that only reminded her of Ben’s encouraging words.

  Had she become so pathetic that she was ready to fling herself into the arms of the first man to be kind to her? Frankie didn’t want to believe that about herself. She wanted to be strong and not need anyone, but she didn’t know what to think anymore.

  The next morning, after a fitful sleep, Frankie woke up and was relieved to note that the first person on her mind wasn’t Ben, but Danny.

  A strong conviction that she couldn’t just ignore his situation nagged at her. It was true that she had no real reason to get involved, but her mother’s heart couldn’t help hoping that Danny would get a chance to redeem himself and enjoy life the way a boy his age should be able to.

  Is that right? She wondered if she was praying. Am I supposed to get involved?

  She thought that the best-case scenario would be for Danny to be assigned to community service. A picture of him folding towels with Al flashed into her mind and an idea began to take root. Besides being genuinely concerned about Danny, she acknowledged that it was good to have something else to think about and shove her other clamoring emotions into the background.

  Rae gobbled down her breakfast with a faraway look that meant she was already making sketches in her mind.

  “Slow down,” Frankie cautioned her. “You don’t want to choke.”

  “I’m full,” Rae announced immediately, and shoved her plate away.

  “Okay then, missy, but you won’t get to eat again for at least a couple of hours.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Rae mumbled, gathering her art supplies.

  Frankie sighed and smiled at the same time, knowing it was true. The creation of art would keep her daughter as full as she wanted to be, as it fed a different kind of hunger.

  “Okay, same deal as always,” Frankie said. “I’ll be at the library at noon when you come out.”

  “What are you going to do today?” Rae asked, slowing down for the first time since she’d gotten out of bed and putting her full focus on her mom. “Will we find out what’s going to happen to Danny?”

  “Danny’s parents will be here some time today, and they’ll have to talk to the authorities and come up with the best way to deal with things.”

  Rae contemplated as she inhaled her lower lip in and out.

  “Will Danny have to go to jail?” she asked.

  “They don’t put boys Danny’s age in jail,” Frankie explained. “The worst-case scenario is that he’ll be put in a juvenile-detention facility, but even that would be extreme. I think most likely he’ll get community service.”

  Rae nodded her head slowly. “That way he gets to do some good and maybe feel better about himself, right, Mom?”

  Frankie hugged her. “You’re one smart and awesome kid.”

  “Mom, you’re squishing my sketches! Stop!”

  After leaving Rae at the library, Frankie made her way back to the cabins.

  When she spotted Ben, he was down on his hands and knees attempting to tie his dad’s shoes. Al wouldn’t keep his feet still, and he wore the poke-tongued look that made Frankie wonder, if only fleetingly, whether he knew when he was giving someone a bad time.

  “Oh, hi.” Ben sounded breathless as he angled his head up to see her. From the look on his face, Frankie knew that he was as anxious as she was—if not more so—to clear the air.

  Contrarily, her mood shifted and she thought he didn’t have to look so anxious to reassure her that the kiss had meant nothing. Men! Frankie thought with exasperation. One of these days she would remember the lesson that you couldn’t trust them.

  Then she observed the deep weariness beaded across Ben’s face, and she knew that he couldn’t help having other things on his mind.

  “Are you and Al getting ready to go somewhere?” she asked.

  “There’s a care facility in town that can take Dad for a couple of hours,” Ben explained. “I don’t like to make a habit of it, but there are some days I really need to focus on other things. The trick is convincing Dad that it’s a good idea to go.” With a quick maneuver of his hands, while Al was distracted by their conversation, he double knotted both sets of shoelaces and stood up.

  His own hair hadn’t been combed, Frankie noticed, and his face had whisker stubble.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, even as she thought it wasn’t an entirely unattractive look on him.

  Ben nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. I didn’t sleep very well last night, but that’s becoming par for the course. It’s not just because of Dad this time, though. I keep thinking about Danny and what’s going to happen and the impact on the whole community.”

  “I know,” Frankie said. “I mean, I know I don’t have the history with this place that you do, but I can’t get Danny out of my mind, either. He’s so young.”

  Ben raked his fingers through his hair and said, “As if I need more to worry about right now.” He looked off into the distance. “I wonder sometimes if this whole summer was a bad idea. You know how they say God never gives you more than you can handle? Well, sometimes I wonder if He gives me a lot more credit than He should.”

  “Don’t think that way,” Frankie urged. “It was a wonderful idea to bring your dad here where you shared so many memories. No one could have anticipated the vandalism, and at least now we have an answer to that. Everything will work out, I’m sure of it. I can go with you to drop your dad off, if you like.”

  Ben studied her for a moment. A light of affection seemed to glow softly in his eyes. “That would be nice,” he said.

  Together they urged Al into the car. Ben stopped to buy his dad a vanilla ice-cream cone in the hopes that the treat would put him into an agreeable mood.

  About half an hour later, they had dropped Al off at the care center and it had not been a pr
etty picture. Still, Ben seemed to breathe a little easier once they were on their way again.

  After Al was dropped off, Frankie got into the front seat.

  “Well, here we are again,” Ben said as he started the car. He slid his gaze over her way and something in it told Frankie that he hadn’t forgotten last night—he hadn’t forgotten at all.

  * * *

  The challenges that his father posed and his concerns about the consequences for Danny and the town of the vandalism were not enough of a deterrent to keep Ben from thinking about the fact that he and Frankie had kissed.

  He still couldn’t decide if he was disappointed or relieved that his phone had rung when it did.

  And now Frankie sat beside him, with her window down so that her hair, the color of autumn leaves in sunlight, was lifted gently by the breeze and blown about. She was close enough that he could smell her warm vanilla scent. He was grateful for her presence and realized how easily he could grow to count on it—to like having her there beside him.

  Please, Lord, I can’t want that. I don’t have enough to give. Help me keep my focus where it needs to be.

  “I think I need to stop by Irma’s,” Ben said, breaking the silence. “I think she’s a weak person but not a bad one, and she probably feels she’s dealing with this on her own. And if Danny’s parents have arrived, I want to meet them and talk about a few things.” He chuckled without much mirth. “I kept telling the Lord that I had enough on my plate, but He wouldn’t let me sleep until I agreed to do it.”

  Frankie gave one firm nod. “I’ll go with you.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I know I don’t have to, but I’m doing it.”

  Irma’s cottage was the type that had always made Ben feel on edge, like he had to be careful to slip his shoes off at the door and not touch anything with sandy fingers.

  As they walked up the long, winding driveway, they could see someone looking out.

  “They must have heard the car,” Ben remarked.

  Then the door flew open and Irma hurried toward them, wringing her hands.

  “Thank goodness you’re here!” she gasped. “All they’ve done since they arrived is fight!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I don’t know what prompted you to come, but I’m glad you did,” Irma said as she ushered them into a large foyer painted in cool shades of light blue and mint green. “Their behavior isn’t helping poor Daniel and when he’s not arguing with her, he’s on the phone with his lawyer.”

  “By ‘he’ I assume you mean Danny’s father?” Ben asked.

  Irma’s face clearly showed her disdain as she replied, “Yes, the man that my daughter used to call her husband.”

  They were ushered into a formal-looking sitting room, and Ben thought of his childhoods at the lake and the way he’d been able to dash in and out of the cabin with his swim trunks on, trailing sand and water with him.

  He was very sure that Danny wouldn’t be allowed to do any such thing here.

  Ben introduced himself and Frankie to Danny’s parents, explaining that he had a neighborly concern.

  “Colin Latimer,” the man said tersely, only shaking Ben’s extended hand for a split second. “And my wife—soon to be ex—Marie.”

  Colin wore a conspicuously expensive suit and had eyes that didn’t land anywhere for long.

  Danny’s mother, Marie, was extremely thin, exquisitely dressed and obviously knew the right hairstyle and makeup to wear. But, Ben thought, she couldn’t hold a candle to Frankie, who was dressed in a simple red sundress and had pulled her hair back into a loose bun. Once again his growing fondness and admiration of Frankie surged through him.

  But he had to focus on the reason for their visit.

  Ben spotted Danny slouched in a low-slung chair near the entryway to a very large kitchen.

  “Is it okay if we all sit down for a moment?” he asked.

  Irma jumped slightly, as if startled out of her own thoughts. “Please,” she said, gesturing to the chairs.

  They all took seats. Irma and Marie mimicked each other’s sighs and pressed their fingers to their temples.

  “So why are you here?” Colin asked.

  “To offer support as summer neighbors,” Ben said. “To say I hope things work out well for Danny and that you all get through this. What time is court?”

  “One o’clock,” Colin said.

  “I’ll pray for you then,” Ben offered.

  Colin made a slight noise that made plain his opinion of prayer. “Well, thank you for your concern,” he said in a tone that belied his words. “I’m sure we’ll figure out the best way to deal with Danny, one way or another.”

  Frankie’s eyes signaled to Ben exactly what she thought of the man’s attitude. “Colin,” Marie protested feebly. “I’m sure these nice people mean well.”

  “Oh, be quiet, Marie,” Colin said with great exasperation.

  “Really, Colin,” Irma shrilled. “Have some respect. You don’t hear Ben speaking that way to his wife.”

  Ben opened his mouth to explain that Frankie wasn’t his wife, but Frankie caught his eye and shook her head as if to say there was no point complicating matters more than they already were.

  If he was ever lucky enough to have a wife like Frankie, he thought, he would never in a million years talk to her that way.

  “We certainly don’t mean to overstep any boundaries,” Ben said, keeping his tone mild with some effort. “If there’s anything we can do to make this situation easier...”

  Despite the circumstances and unpleasant atmosphere, something chimed in his mind about how nice it felt to say we.

  “We’ll be sure to let you know,” Colin said. His phone beeped, and he pulled it out of his pocket and studied it, frowning. “I guess that’s it, then?” he said, stabbing at the keyboard.

  Ben stood up and Frankie followed suit.

  “Will you let me know how it goes?” Ben directed his question to Irma, who nodded and then stood up to walk them to the door.”

  “I’d appreciate the prayers,” she said quietly, as she showed them out. “Thank you for thinking of us.”

  “I really appreciated having you with me, Frankie,” Ben said, as they drove over to pick up his father.

  “You’re welcome,” Frankie said. She took a deep, calming breath. She wasn’t sure what had rattled her more: the tension in the atmosphere at Irma’s cottage or yet another assumption that she and Ben were in a relationship.

  Yet her mind didn’t push the thought away as urgently as it would have before. Ben was a good, solid man and he cared about others. Even though he already had considerable responsibilities to deal with, he had taken the time to offer assistance and she admired him for that.

  Maybe, she mused, it was time to stop assuming that there were no decent men in the world just because of the actions of men like Trevor—and Danny’s father.

  “Could Danny’s parents make it any more obvious that they’re wrapped up in their own problems?” Ben said grimly. “I truly do pray that things go well for the poor kid.”

  “Me, too,” Frankie said very softly.

  Ben glanced her way, his eyebrows raised in a question. Then he smiled warmly.

  “Remember how good Danny was with your dad?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I don’t have it all thought out yet, but what if there was some way that Danny could pay his dues to the community by helping you with Al?”

  “Like the youth-senior partnership program you told me about where you work?”

  “Something like that, yes.”

  Ben nodded slowly. “I think it has potential,” he said. “We’ll have to hear from Irma what the judge has to say. I was also thinking that I could put him to work with a hammer and some paint.” His mouth twitche
d and he added, “Paint used in the right way, of course.”

  Frankie couldn’t help her snort of laughter, which caused Ben to laugh, too.

  After a moment she sobered again and said, “I want you to know that I think it was very good of you to do what you did today.”

  “Not that it did much good,” Ben said. “Colin made me feel a bit like I was a bug that had got into his salad and he was wondering the quickest way to get rid of me.”

  “Well...still, you tried to do something and that was more than many people would have done. It was certainly more than... It was way more than my ex would have done.”

  Ben’s gaze slid over her way and Frankie could see curiosity softened by caring in his eyes.

  She watched her hands on her lap, clenching and unclenching.

  “He left me,” she said, not looking up. “He said I hadn’t met his expectations.” She swallowed and cleared her throat. “In any way whatsoever.”

  Ben didn’t say anything, but he reached out and took her hand, enveloping it in his large, warm one.

  “I didn’t know your ex-husband,” he said finally. “But I can tell you one thing about him. He was wrong—completely and utterly wrong. You’re a remarkable woman, Frankie, and I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

  Frankie took another deep breath. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for saying that.”

  She’d try her best to believe it, she thought.

  But she had told Ben something that she hadn’t said out loud to another person, not in the words that captured the harsh depths of the betrayal. She had said the words out loud and they hadn’t destroyed her, or made him think less of her.

  She realized suddenly how much it meant to her that Ben Cedar not think less of her.

  “Are you good for time?” Ben asked, as they headed toward the nursing home. “Or should I drop you off at the library before I get Dad?”

  Frankie checked the time on the dashboard. “I’m good,” she said, and Ben cast a smile of appreciation her way, warming her from head to toe. She felt that everything was going to turn out okay.

  That feeling was almost instantly shattered when they stepped inside the nursing home. The coordinator swept down on Ben and said, in an almost accusing tone, “Thank goodness you’re back on time. Your father was extremely difficult.”