by Elena Aitken
“Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about with Ben.” Christy squeezed her shoulder and rose to standing again before Drew could ask her exactly what she meant by that.
Chapter Eight
It had been a little over a week since Ben and Drew had discussed what Ben was now calling the Bro List, and it was finally time to get started on crossing off the items. Drew had agreed to let him pick Austin up early that Sunday morning, and he had the perfect idea for kicking things off.
He glanced in the rearview mirror at his nephew strapped into the booster seat Ben now kept in his Jeep.
Despite the early hour, Austin was wide-eyed and excited to go on the surprise adventure. “Where are we going, Uncle Ben? Mom wouldn’t tell me anything except that it was you. I think she wanted to go, but I told her guys only. Right?”
Ben grinned. “Well, I don’t know if it’s necessarily guys only, buddy. If she wanted to come along, I think that would have been just fine, too.” What Ben didn’t say was that he would have enjoyed having Drew along with them, because he always enjoyed having Drew around. Ben heard Austin sigh in the backseat, so he quickly added, “But I think having a guys’ day is pretty fun, too. Don’t you?”
Austin perked up right away and nodded. “Are we having breakfast? I like breakfast and Mom said I didn’t have time this morning. Can we have pancakes? Daisy’s has the best pancakes. Is that where we’re going?”
Ben laughed again. The kid’s energy was off the charts. “I’ll tell you what, buddy. Let’s get through the first thing I have planned and then there’ll be plenty of time for pancakes. Deal?”
“Deal!”
Austin continued to pepper with him questions about what they were doing until Ben finally, mercifully, pulled up to their destination. He unbuckled and grabbed his supplies from the back before opening the door for Austin, who was already unbuckled and ready to go. He jumped down from the Jeep to the curb and looked up at Ben expectantly. “Where are we?” He turned around to look and immediately looked back at Ben, disappointment all over his face. “What are we doing here? The old folks’ home?”
“I promise it will all make sense in a minute.” Ben was prepared for his nephew’s reaction, but he was confident his attitude would change quickly. “But first, come with me. I want to tell you a quick story, okay?”
Austin nodded and took Ben’s hand. They walked a short distance to a little gazebo that was situated behind the nursing home and he knelt in front of Austin. “When your dad and I were kids, there was one summer when he was in charge of me.”
“Like a parent?”
Ben laughed. “Not really. More like a babysitter. Our mom and dad had to work all summer, so your dad was in charge.”
“He was good at being in charge,” Austin said matter-of-factly. It was such a small statement, but it made Ben’s heart hurt.
“He was,” Ben agreed. “Even when we were kids.” He smiled at the memory of his brother bossing him around. “Anyway, the other day, your mom found a list of some of the cool things we did that summer and I think your dad would really like it if I showed you those things since he’s not here to show you himself. Do you think that’s a good idea?”
Austin nodded, but turned to look back at the building. “But why are we here? It’s not cool.”
Ben couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe not. But what we’re about to do will be cool. Are you ready?”
He nodded again, this time jumping a little on one foot.
“Okay. So one of the things your dad and I did once was write messages on the sidewalk of the school so that when all the other kids arrived, they’d be able to read really positive things and start their day off happy. Do you like it when someone says something nice to you?”
“Yeah. Of course.” Austin looked confused. “But we’re not at school.”
“That’s right, because I thought maybe we could leave messages for some people who really need them. These grandmas and grandpas sometimes don’t feel the best, and they might not have people to tell them nice things every day, so what do you say we write some nice things so that when they come outside this morning to enjoy the beautiful day, they’ll have something a little extra to smile about? Do you like that idea?”
Just as Ben knew he would, Austin jumped up and down and immediately started brainstorming things to write. For the next ten minutes, Ben crawled around on his hands and knees while Austin jumped around him and came up with things for him to write.
“Have a great day!”
“You’re pretty.”
“Today is beautiful.”
“The sun is warm.”
Ben scribbled as fast as he could, but Austin only seemed to be warming up. Cognizant that he was running out of time before the residents of the nursing home started to make their way out for morning coffee, he tried his best to keep up, but he was going to have to cut Austin off. “Okay, one more, buddy. We’re running out of time.”
“Can I help?”
The voice sent a shot of warmth through him, and still on his hands and knees, Ben turned around to see Drew watching them.
“Mom!”
“I’m sorry.” She caught Austin in a hug. “I wasn’t sure if I should come, but—”
“No.” Ben sat up and dusted his hands off on his jeans. “I’m glad you’re here. I need the help. This son of yours has a million nice things to say. Grab some chalk. I figure we have about five minutes, tops.”
Without missing a beat, Drew grabbed a piece of chalk and dropped to her knees on the sidewalk across from him. Austin bounced between them, shouting out ideas until finally, Ben called it, and dragged them all out of there just as he heard the back door opening.
“Are we going to go back and tell them we did it?” Austin shoved a piece of fluffy pancake in his mouth. “Because I—”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, please,” Drew admonished him. But she couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t stopped talking since they’d left the nursing home and sat down in a booth at Daisy’s Diner.
“No way,” Ben said. “The number-one rule of sidewalk vandalism is that we don’t talk about sidewalk vandalism.”
Drew snorted.
“Like a secret?”
“Exactly like a secret,” Ben told Austin, with a wink in her direction. “It’s a good deed, and we don’t need anyone else to know we did it to feel good about it,” Ben said. “And it does feel good, doesn’t it?”
Austin nodded. “It does. Do you think they’ll be happy, Mom?”
“I do, buddy.” She ruffled his hair and sat back in the seat to sip her coffee. Drew hadn’t been sure that she should barge in on their activity, and she hadn’t really planned it. Curiosity was making her crazy, so she’d gone for a run, something she hadn’t done in years, fitness not really being her thing, and when she’d turned the corner by Riverside Park, she’d seen Ben’s Jeep parked at the end of the street by the Whispering Pines nursing home and she couldn’t resist taking a peek. “I am sorry that I crashed your party,” she said again to Ben. “I didn’t really plan it.”
“I see that.” He raised an eyebrow at her running wear. “But I’m glad you did. I really needed your help back there with this guy. I guess I didn’t take into consideration that he’s not a super strong writer yet.”
“Hey,” Austin protested. “I’m learning.”
“You are,” Drew assured him. “And Uncle Ben is right—you did have a lot of ideas out there today. That’s awesome. I’m so proud of you.”
“How do you feel about what we did today, buddy?”
Austin bounced in his seat and grinned so wide that Drew couldn’t help but laugh. “I felt…” He stared at his mother. “What?”
She shook her head. “It’s not—”
“Why are you laughing?”
A tear sprang to her eye, but she didn’t bother to wipe it away. “I’m laughing because you’re just so amazing.”
Austin’s face screwed up in con
fusion. He looked to his uncle for help, but Ben only shrugged.
“Don’t bother trying to understand women,” he said as way of explanation. “But you are pretty amazing, Austin.”
Austin seemed to be satisfied with the answer and went back to shoveling pancakes into his mouth. It didn’t take him long to finish eating and when he was done, Drew could see the early morning start to take its toll. He sagged back into the booth and his eyes started to flutter closed. She let him tuck his feet up and put his head on her lap as he fell quickly into sleep the way only a child could do in a public place.
“He’s exhausted.” She stroked his hair absently while she lifted her coffee mug with the other. “Maybe it was the excitement of the morning. Do you think he understands what he did for the seniors? Really?”
Ben shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I was thinking of taking him by later to see if any of the residents were mentioning it. And since he enjoyed it so much, maybe we could do some sidewalk vandalism at the school later, or even in front of the hospital.”
“That would be really sweet. And he really did seem to enjoy it. Thank you again, Ben. I can’t wait to see what’s next.” Drew hadn’t intended on inviting herself along to the next adventure, or really any of them at all, but now that she’d been there for the first one, more than anything she wanted to participate in the completion of the Bro List. And it didn’t have anything to do with how easy it was to be with Ben or how when she spent time with him, her life felt almost normal. And it definitely didn’t have anything to do with the strange way she’d felt when she saw Ben talking to Calla last week.
Nope. Not at all.
Wanting to tag along on the adventures was all about Austin. It had nothing to do with her.
And she’d keep telling herself that until she believed it, too.
“What’s next?” Ben raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean you’re going to crash that party, too?”
She blushed a little. “I am,” she said. “That’s okay, right?”
He chuckled. “Of course.” He reached his hand across the table and put it over hers.
His touch was unexpected. The heat from his skin sent a spark shooting through her.
“Drew, I need you to know…”
Her breath caught in her throat and she had no idea why. “What?”
He took a breath and for a moment, Drew was terrified about what he might say. “That the next thing I have planned involves sleeping outside. With bugs.” Ben burst into laughter and pulled his hand away right as Drew threw a sugar packet at him. He ducked it neatly and laughed. “I’m serious, Drew. I know you’ve never been very into the whole camping thing and…well…”
“It’s fine.” She swallowed hard, and picked up another sugar packet to fiddle with so she wouldn’t have to look at him. It was the strangest thing, and there was no way she could explain it because she had no idea what had just happened. But for the life of her, she’d been sure Ben was going to…what? It didn’t matter. “I’ll go camping,” she announced before she could say anything else. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because when we were kids, you straight up told me that there was nothing less appealing than sleeping outside in the cold with the bugs and random animals.” He laughed and she wanted to throw something much heavier than a sugar packet at him. “In fact,” he continued, “I’m pretty sure that’s a direct quote. Am I wrong?”
“Yes.”
“I am?”
She crossed her arms. “Yes. You’re wrong. Because I’m not that same person anymore.”
“You’re not?” He was teasing her, and clearly getting a great deal of joy from it. “Because you seem to be—”
“Look.” She put her coffee mug down with more force than she’d meant to and instantly regretted it. “I am the same person, but at the same time, I’m not. A lot has changed.” Her voice dipped and she cleared her throat quickly. “And okay, I’m still not a big outdoorsy person but I can handle it.”
Ben leaned back in his seat and grinned.
“I can,” she insisted.
“Of course you can.”
“I mean, how hard can it be to—wait. What?” She stared at him.
“Of course you can handle it,” he said again. “I mean, it’s camping, Drew. It’s not like I’m asking you to climb Mount Everest.” He winked. “Seriously, I’d love to have you come along, and I promise to make it easy on you.”
It was much later that day when Drew reflected back on what Ben had said. Easy on her?
No.
It wasn’t going to be easy.
For reasons she couldn’t seem to explain, not even to herself—maybe especially not to herself—camping with Ben was not going to be easy. And the scariest part about it was that she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with creepy crawly bugs or wild animals.
Chapter Nine
“Look over here, Austin.”
“And smile.”
“Looks great.”
The photographer and his assistant called out a variety of orders, and like a little professional, Austin posed and smiled at the camera as Drew and Amber looked on.
“He’s doing amazing.” Amber turned to see the love in Drew’s eyes as she watched her son, who rode on the back of Peanut. “Such a natural.”
“It’s because of you,” Drew said. “Well, you and Logan and the horses, of course.”
“That’s not even true.”
“It is.” Her friend turned on her. “Don’t be so modest. Everything you and Logan have done here is amazing and you need to realize it.”
Amber laughed at her friend’s insistence, but the laughter dried up when she saw that her friend might cry. “Drew.” She put her hand on Drew’s shoulder and turned her away from the photo shoot for a moment. “What’s going on? You look…I don’t know. Talk to me.”
Drew wiped at her eyes. “I hate crying. I feel like I’ve done enough of it to last a lifetime.”
“But not lately.” It was true. In those early months after Eric had died and Amber had moved in with her and Austin, there had understandably been lots of tears. But they’d slowed in recent months. In fact, with every day that went by, Drew seemed to be a little bit stronger than the day before. “Why the tears today?”
Drew squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “I’ve just had some feelings lately, I think. I mean…I actually don’t know what I mean.” She smiled, but Amber wasn’t fooled. “Really, I’m fine. I must just be tired today.”
“You know I don’t believe that.” Amber narrowed her eyes. “Drew, just tell—”
“Amber, can I get your opinion on this for a minute?”
The photographer called over to her, pulling her away from Drew. She glanced over to see the photographer standing with Charlene, the account manager she’d hired to work on their advertising campaign with them. Charlene waved her over as soon as she made eye contact. Amber looked back to Drew, who was nodding and forcing what she could tell was a fake smile.
“Go,” Drew said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She pulled her friend into a quick hug. “I’ll be right back.”
A moment later, Charlene was firing questions at her and pointing to different places around the yard that she wanted to move the shoot to.
“The light will be better over here,” she said. “And since the building isn’t finished yet, we can’t take any shots over there. In fact, I don’t think we should even use it in the background. Not yet.”
“I agree,” Amber said, jumping into advertising mode at once. She’d shifted easily from her corporate lawyer job into her role with Taking the Reins. Although she didn’t have an official title because she and Logan were a partnership, Logan handled the operations side of things while Amber mostly oversaw the business details. A task that she was definitely up for, and her perfectionism instincts kicked into overdrive while she and Charlene made some quick decisions for the rest of the shoot.
Fortunately, it didn’t take very long
to get the rest of the shots and when they were complete, Logan took Austin for a trail ride as payment for his role in the entire campaign, leaving Drew and Amber alone for a few minutes.
“He’s going to talk about this for days,” Drew said when they were sitting down in Amber’s cabin. “Thank you so much for letting him be a part of it.”
“Are you kidding?” Amber handed her a mug of tea. “He did us a huge favor. He’s the perfect little boy model. Thank you for letting us pay him in trail rides. The budget is still pretty tight.”
“He loves it.” Drew smiled over her mug. “And I totally get what you mean about the budget.”
“What do you mean?” Amber lifted her own mug and inhaled the spicy chai. “I thought you were in good shape financially?”
After Eric had died, as a favor to Drew, Amber had gone through all their paperwork and helped her friend sort out her financial situation and work through all the details of her husband’s death. “The life insurance policy put you in a good spot, from what I can remember.”
Drew nodded absentmindedly. “It did, but…I don’t feel right living off money I got because my husband died, you know?”
Amber didn’t know. Obviously and thankfully, she’d never had to worry about being in that situation, but throughout her career as a lawyer, she’d seen more than her fair share of people who had no qualms at all about living off money they’d earned in a lot less legitimate ways than that. And that’s what life insurance was for, after all. She told Drew so.
“I know,” Drew said. “But I think I’d really like to get out on my own and do something for myself, too. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to not have to really worry very much. But I also don’t want to sit around and blow through everything, forcing us into a situation that I never should have been in. Does that make sense?”
Amber nodded. “Perfect sense. I think that’s really smart, actually. So what are you thinking of doing?”