More

by Heidi Marshall

  “Sure, why not?” she responded. “If he’s anything like Darren, then we’re in for twice the bad puns, aren’t we?”

  “Ha! I didn’t even think of that,” said Amy. “I love Darren, but I don’t think the world can handle more than one of him.”

  “Forget the world! I don’t think I can handle more than one Darren on a three hour car ride,” said Kate with a chuckle. “Okay, I better get packed. See you soon, yeah?”

  “Yep! Adios.”

  “Bye Ames.”

  ~~~~~

  At 11:20, Kate finally heard the rumble of the Bailey’s SUV. “Late as usual,” she mumbled as she slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and headed towards the car. She waved at Amy in the front passenger seat (who had her feet up on the dash and was painting her toenails bright pink) as she headed to the back to deposit her bag. Before she made it back to the rear of the car, the back door opened and a man jumped out. His muscular arms reached out and took the bag from her.

  “Hi. I’m Ben. You must be Kate,” said the man as he stowed her bag in the back among the other luggage. He flashed her a big smile - the kind of smile you just knew he’d been giving since he was young which allowed him to get away with murder - and stuck out his hand.

  “Y-yes, I’m Kate. Very nice to meet you, Ben,” she said, shaking his outstretched hand. It was big and warm, and his handshake felt confident and immediately made her comfortable around him. He was tall and handsome, with short light brown hair and brown eyes, and Kate suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach.

  They piled back in the car – Rick in the driver’s seat with his wife by his side, Darren and Ben in the very back, and Brooke in the middle seat with room for Kate beside her.

  “Hi, Kate!” they all said in unison.

  Kate took her seat and they set off for their weekend away. All of the friends were joking and laughing, and Ben seemed to fit in so naturally. It wasn’t more than 20 miles into the drive that Ben started to tease Kate as if they were old friends. Before long she had turned around completely in her seat to be able to face Ben so she could talk to him without straining her neck. And besides, he was so nice to look at…

  “Okay lady, hand over your iPod. Immediately. We’re either about to become best friends or bitter enemies,” said Ben.

  “You can’t possibly have a problem with my taste in music. It’s impeccable. Trust me.” She handed him the iPod and watched while he scrolled through her music collection.

  “Okay…hmm, interesting…Bon Jovi…Sinatra…ooh, you like country music too…Travis Cottrell, he’s one of my favorite worship leaders…movie soundtracks, excellent…Kate Henry, I’ve gotta admit. You were right. You have impeccable taste in music.” He lifted his hand to give her a high five.

  “Told you so.”

  “Wait a minute, what is this? The soundtrack to the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie? Seriously!?”

  Grabbing her iPod back, Kate said, “I’m sorry, but the singing chipmunk voices just crack me up!”

  “Okay, I guess I’ll let that one slide. We can still be friends. But there’s got to be something wrong with you. Drama or comedy?”

  “Um, comedy, of course!”

  “Hot or cold?”

  “Cold.”

  “Early riser or late sleeper?”

  “Early riser.”

  “Baseball or football?”

  “Baseball.”

  “Ooh, so close. I’m sorry, but that was the wrong answer. Thank you so much for playing. Please enjoy these lovely parting gifts.”

  “Knock it off!” she said, giving him a playful whack in the arm. They talked about their jobs and their families, their favorite movies and actors, their favorite places to travel, and then landed on confessing their most embarrassing moments.

  “Okay, this is so bad. It was my first day of high school and I got all dressed up in this cute little short jean skirt, and white top, and white sandals. I walked to the bus stop, which was this big dirt hill on the side of the road. The boy who lived next door was a junior and was one of the stars of the football team, and he was standing at the bus stop when I got there. I smiled at him and he smiled back, and I stood there feeling adorable and imagined how great my life was going to be once he fell in love with me - which would happen by the end of the week, of course - and we would walk off of the bus holding hands. Except…”

  “Oh no. What happened?” asked Ben, bracing himself for what was about to come.

  “When the bus came I was closest to the door, so I took a step down the hill. I completely lost my footing and ate it. Hard. It was bad. I slid on my behind all the way down the hill and had to spend the entire first day of high school covered in dirt.”

  “No!” cried Ben. “You didn’t! That’s horrible!”

  “Don’t I know it.”

  “Too bad you never got to date that football star.”

  “Who said I didn’t? He took me to prom that spring.”

  Ben laughed heartily. “You are something. Has anyone ever told you that?”

  “Regularly,” she replied. “Okay, your turn.”

  “Fine. Mine’s pretty bad too, unfortunately. Back when I was in college, I was a part of this traveling singing group.”

  “Wait, you sing?” Kate interrupted. “Let’s hear something. Come on.”

  “Do you want to hear the story or not?”

  “Fine,” she grumbled. “But I expect you to serenade all of us before the weekend is over.”

  Ignoring her request, Ben continued. “We traveled all over the country in the summer, singing at schools and churches. Mostly churches. Whenever we sang at a church, we would stay with families from the church in their homes. It was actually really great – I got to meet so many different people. I loved it.”

  “Get to the good part,” said Kate.

  “I’m getting there! My goodness, you’re difficult. So one night, I was staying with my friend Greg in a particularly nice home in Phoenix. You should have seen this house – full of marble and expensive artwork and furniture that you wouldn’t dare to sit on. They showed us to one of the guest rooms and made sure we had towels for the morning, and then…then, they showed us the bathroom.”

  “This can’t be good if it involves a bathroom. Although it can’t be as bad as Darren’s bathroom story.”

  “Which we will not be sharing, thank you very much,” said Darren, clasping his hand over Kate’s mouth. She struggled and laughed, but ultimately respected his wishes.

  “Well, I don’t know Darren’s story, but this is pretty bad,” said Ben. “So they proceeded to tell us that the housing community where they lived was committed to conserving water and that all the homeowners had installed low-flow toilets in their bathrooms. ‘So don’t worry if the toilet clogs, it happens all the time,’ they said. They even handed me a plunger that had a bow tied around the handle. ‘Here’s the guest plunger. Don’t be afraid to use it.’”

  “Who ties a bow on a plunger?”

  “These people do. Okay, so imagine this. It’s the middle of the night and I had to go to the bathroom. I got up, did my business, and flushed. And…nothing happened. I flushed again. The toilet bowl started filling up with water. I panicked and tried to use the plunger, but all I succeeded in doing was spilling a bunch of toilet water on the floor.”

  “Ewwwwww!” cried Kate, wrinkling her nose.

  “I couldn’t get anything to work! I kept plunging and flushing and ended up completely soaking the floor. I had no other choice but to go and wake up my hosts and ask them to help me. They were very gracious, but I knew they weren’t happy about being woken up in the middle of the night to deal with my toilet trauma. I’m pretty sure I completely ruined their rugs and towels.”

  “I…I have no words.”

  The three-hour car ride seemed to fly by, and before they knew it they had reached the beach house. Kate had been to the beach house many times with the Baileys, and had fond memories of the summer she spent there with Ric
k, Amy, and Brooke back in college. She loved the escape from reality that it provided. She breathed in deep and felt the clean ocean air flooding her lungs, immediately bringing a sense of calm over her.

  The friends all grabbed their stuff and walked into the house. Kate wanted to head to the grocery store before she got too settled, because she knew that once she stretched out on a lounge chair on the front patio that looked out over the ocean, errands would be the last thing she wanted to do.

  “I’m going to the store!” she yelled to no one in particular.

  “I’ll come with you!” replied Brooke from the bedroom down the hall that Kate and Brooke were sharing. “I could use the walk after being in the car for so long.”

  The girls set off on the short half-mile walk to the small grocery store up the road. Not even 25 feet away from the house, Brooke grabbed Kate’s arm and said, “Okay. Spill it.”

  “Spill what? What are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Oh don’t play dumb with me. I was in that car with you, remember? I saw how quickly you and Ben hit it off. The two of you completely ignored everyone else in the car because you were so engrossed in your conversation. What’s going on? Do you think he likes you?”

  “Whoa whoa whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Brooke. I literally just met the guy a few hours ago. And yes, he’s very nice and we seem to get along quite well, but that’s it.”

  “You don’t fool me for one second, Katherine Violet Henry,” said Brooke with a grin.

  Kate rolled her eyes and stared straight ahead. “Look. We both know that I’m not looking for a man right now. I’m perfectly content with my life, and quite frankly I don’t think I can handle another heartbreak since Ian. So yes, Ben and I had a great conversation on the car ride, but so what? It’s not like he’s going to ask me out or anything. I mean sure, there were several times when he reached up and touched my arm…and sometimes his hand lingered for more than a few seconds…but he’s probably just friendly, right? It doesn’t mean anything. I’ll probably never talk to him again after this weekend.”

  Brooke nodded slowly, unconvinced. They walked in silence for a minute or two, and then Brooke stopped abruptly and grabbed Kate by the shoulders. “I think you’re scared.” When Kate opened her mouth to form a rebuttal, Brooke cut her off by putting up her hand. “Just hear me out. I know how hard it’s been for you to deal with the whole Ian thing. He hurt you, and you’re afraid to get close to another man because you don’t want it to happen again. Now I know you and Ben just met, and you’re right, it could be nothing. But don’t close yourself off to the idea that it might possibly be something. Just because Ian couldn’t love you the way you deserve to be loved doesn’t mean that you won’t find another man who can.”

  They continued to walk, Kate deep in thought. He can’t possibly like me, she thought. He’s just a charming guy who makes friends quickly. It’s nothing special.

  But then why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

  ~~~~~

  Dinner that night was a casual affair – Kate’s famous chicken salad on croissants, a Caesar salad, and huge slices of fresh watermelon for dessert. After the dinner dishes were done, Amy darted out to the car to grab an armful of games that she had brought from home.

  “Okay gang, we’ve got dominos, we’ve got Trivial Pursuit, we’ve got Monopoly, we’ve got Catch Phrase…”

  “Catch Phrase,” said Ben and Kate in unison. They looked at each other and laughed.

  “Stop it, Miss Henry. You’re starting to creep me out.”

  “I’m sorry! I can’t control it.”

  “You know what else you’re not going to be able to control?” piped in Darren. “The feeling of loss and devastation that will well up inside you when the boys beat the girls at Catch Phrase.”

  “We’ll just see about that, Double D.”

  “Wait wait wait, Double D?” said Ben. “How is it that I’ve known Darren for 25 years and I’ve never come up with that gem of a nickname?”

  “Kate Henry, if you wake up dead tomorrow, it’s because I killed you in your sleep,” said Darren.

  The group played for more than an hour, yelling out answers and rejoicing whenever their team scored a point. It was a close game, but in the end the girls’ team claimed ultimate victory.

  “We clearly let you win,” said Ben.

  “Clearly!” repeated Darren and Rick.

  “FALSE,” said Kate as she high-fived Amy and Brooke. “You are no match for the superior intellect of the female sex.”

  After arguing for several minutes about the fairness of the game and who really possessed superior intellect, they decided to call it a night. Kate fell into a deep sleep in her bed next to an open window and was awakened early when she heard her phone buzzing on the nightstand. It was a text message from a number she did not know.

  Good morning? she read, puzzled. Who would send me a good morning text at 7:30 am on a Saturday?

  As if her phone had heard her question, it buzzed again and another message from the same number popped up. It’s Ben. Got your number from Darren’s phone. He’s out for a run and everyone is still asleep.

  A big grin stretched over Kate’s face as she quickly punched out a reply. So your brother left you all alone and now you don’t know what to do with yourself, is that it?

  Bzzzz. Pretty much. I just made a big pot of coffee. Want to come keep me company?

  She text back her reply (which was yes, of course) and gingerly got out of bed as to not disturb a sleeping Brooke. She slipped into jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, brushed her teeth, and put her hair up in a ponytail. She was about to head out the door when she turned around, rummaged around in her bag, and pulled out a small bottle of perfume. Just in case, she thought. She spritzed it once into the air and walked through the hanging mist to get just the right amount, then headed out the room and down the hall to the kitchen.

  Chapter 14

  Ben was standing in the kitchen with two travel mugs of coffee in his hands. His hair was disheveled and he wore jeans, a wrinkled t-shirt, and that same charming grin she had seen the day before.

  “Hey, you,” said Ben. “Want to go for a walk on the beach?”

  Kate nodded and accepted the mug of coffee that he handed to her. They stepped out onto the patio and set out for a barefoot morning walk along the shore. The mood was light and fun. They talked about TV shows and sports teams, their favorite restaurants and stores, and argued over what makes up the perfect Sunday brunch meal. (“You’ve gotta have Eggs Benedict!” “No no no, Kate, it’s all about pancakes and bacon. End of story.”) They walked and they talked, Ben giving her a playful nudge every now and then, Kate responding with a lighthearted punch on the arm. He wasn’t afraid to tease her, and she wasn’t afraid to put him in his place. She could tell he was the kind of guy who was used to getting what he wanted, and probably rarely met a woman who could hold her own with him.

  “I’ll race you to that lifeguard stand,” said Ben, pointing straight ahead down the beach.

  “You’re on, mister.”

  “Okay, on your mark, get set – hey! Not fair!” Kate had started running before Ben had the chance to say “go.” She ran as fast as she could, laughing as she heard Ben running behind her, still yelling about the questionable start of the race. His long legs quickly caught up to her and he reached out with both hands to grab her by the waist.

  “Cheater!” he yelled, as they both tumbled to the ground.

  “You’re a cheater!” She wriggled around in the sand to in an attempt to release herself from his strong grip, but he refused to let go. “No!” he cried, “tickling is the punishment for cheaters!”

  “Ben, cut it out!” Kate squealed through her laughter. “Ben! Stop!”

  Suddenly, Ben’s grip loosened and he reached up to tuck a piece of Kate’s hair behind her ear that had fallen out of her ponytail in the struggle. The two lay there in the sand, face to face, their gaze held by some unknowab
le force. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then sighed and closed it again.

  “What is it?” asked Kate, who felt as though she could barely breathe.

  “It’s just…you. I wasn’t expecting to meet someone like you this weekend,” he replied.

  Kate blushed and began running her fingers through the sand in some random pattern.

  “I think you’re incredible,” said Ben.

  She looked up at him and stared into his eyes for several seconds, eyes so full of sincerity, before responding. “You do?”

  “I do. I’ve never met anyone like you before. You’re so funny and witty and just plain amazing.”

  “I…I think you’re pretty amazing, too.”

  He hopped up from his perch in the sand and offered her a hand. He pulled her up from the ground and straight into his arms in an embrace. She fit so perfectly against his broad frame. They held each other in silence, neither one needing to speak. Just to be together was enough. Minutes passed, though no one was keeping track. He broke the silence by whispering, “You’re beautiful.”

  Kate looked up at him and smiled. He grabbed her hand, and they began to walk back towards the house. Ben looked over at her and a wicked grin spread across his face.

  “What?” asked Kate.

  “Well, you are beautiful, but what’s going on with your hair?” said Ben, holding back a chuckle.

  Kate’s hand flew up to her head, and she immediately felt that the ocean breezes and the tumble in the sand had taken their toll on her wild and sometimes unruly mane of hair. Sheepishly, she looked back at Ben only to find him laughing. She gave him a playful shove and they continued on their way, teasing and laughing the whole way back.

  ~~~~~

  Amy and Brooke were in the kitchen making breakfast when Ben and Kate returned. “Oh good, there you are,” said Amy to Kate. “Help me make these waffles, will you?”

  Brooke gave Amy a subtle nudge and nodded in the direction of Kate and Ben, who were still holding hands. Amy’s eyes widened, and the girls looked at each other and grinned. Ben and Kate were oblivious, because they were still poking fun at each other.