Can't Stop the Feeling

by Maria Geraci

  “Wow!”

  Ben seemed friendly but impersonal. “Hello, Jenna.” He bent down to kiss his mother on the cheek. “Ready to go, Mom?”

  “We’re goin’ to see a fish show,” Rachel said, then frowned. “No, not fish, because dolphins aren’t fish, right, Grandma?”

  “That’s right, honey,” said Pat.

  “Sounds like fun,” Jenna said, trying to ignore how clumsy the whole situation felt. She and Ben had already said their goodbyes, but she should have expected that she’d run into him before they left for Miami.

  The door to The Bistro opened once again. Aunt Viola and a group of seniors came power walking into the café.

  “I better go say hello to my aunt.” Jenna stood to greet Viola, but before she could do that, Viola spotted her first, and arms pumping, speed walked her way over to the table.

  “Jenna! I was just leading my Saturday morning yoga group in a sunrise power walk. Gorgeous weather we’re having, isn’t it?” She glanced curiously at Pat, then smiled at Ben. “Good morning, Ben the lawyer. Interesting meeting last night, wasn’t it?” She sought out the hickey on Jenna’s neck and smiled.

  Yeah, thanks for telling mom about that! But Jenna could never be cross with Viola. Besides, the hickey was now public knowledge. She’d just have to own it and move on.

  Ben introduced his mother and Rachel to her aunt. Rachel smiled shyly.

  “Aren’t you the cutest thing?” Viola gushed. “Nice to meet you, Pat. You’re not from here, are you?” she asked Ben’s mom.

  “I live in Hopalinka. But I’ll be moving to Miami soon.”

  “Too bad.” Viola turned and gave Jenna a bright smile. “We’re still on for the game tonight, right? We’re ordering pizza from Tiny’s and watching the big FSU-Miami showdown,” she explained to Ben. Before Jenna could even nod, Viola snapped her fingers. “Say! Why don’t you all join us?”

  Rachel piped up first. “Pizza? Really?”

  “Absolutely. I insist that you all come. The more the merrier!”

  “I wish I could,” Pat said, “but I just promised my old boss I’d work a few hours tonight. But, Ben, you and Rachel should go. It sounds like a lot of fun.”

  “Yes, Uncle Ben, please!” Rachel pleaded. “Can we go?”

  Ben caught Jenna’s gaze. They were trapped. And they both knew it.

  “Sure,” he said. “Thank you. We’d love to come.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Viola Pantini lived on Seville Street, just a few blocks from Ben’s rented beach house. No need to take the car out for such a short trip, so they were walking. Or rather, he was walking. Rachel alternated between skipping and crawling along like a snail. Every once in a while, she’d spot something like a leaf or a bug that held her fascination, then she’d pick up the pace again.

  “Can I be Annie for Halloween?” she asked.

  “Sure, you can be anything you want.”

  She nodded happily. “I need a red wig.”

  “Okay.” He’d put Gavin on that ASAP.

  “Maybe you can be the Daddy Warbucks.”

  “All right.”

  “But you’d need to shave the hairs off your head.”

  “Maybe.” Or maybe not.

  “And we need to get a dog. A big one.”

  “We’ll see.” That would be a no. At least not until they were out of his condo and into a house with a yard. But after that, it was a definite possibility. Growing up he’d always wanted a dog. But dogs needed food and medical care and lots of attention. All of which had been in short supply at the Harrison household.

  Rachel smiled like she knew something he didn’t, which scared him a little. He wouldn’t put it past her to talk him into a dog sooner rather than later.

  If someone had told him six months ago that this was what his life would look like, he would have told them they’d been inhaling too many paint fumes. Normally, his Saturdays in Miami were just as busy as his weekdays. He’d be up by six, hit the gym for an hour, shower, then go into the office and work till seven. If there was a woman in his life, he’d pick her up for dinner, then afterward they’d go back to his place for the night. Sundays, the pace was a little mellower, with his day starting at eight instead.

  His life had changed drastically since Jake’s passing. And not, he admitted, for the worse either. There was something to be said for holding a little girl’s hand as they strolled down the sidewalk on a cool fall Saturday on their way to a football party.

  Viola’s house was a renovated ranch-style Mediterranean with a neat front yard and lots of flowers in terra cotta pots. A stone pathway led up to the front door.

  “Can I ring the bell?” Rachel asked breathlessly. What was it about doorbells that little kids loved so much?

  “Go for it.”

  So she did. Not once, not twice, but three times in quick succession.

  “Go Canes!” Jenna cried as she flung back the front door fully decked out in her U of M gear—orange and green Hurricanes T-shirt, green leggings and orange sneakers. A fighting ibis, the Miami mascot, was tattooed on her left cheek and her long hair was braided with brightly colored ribbons. She looked both goofy and completely enchanting at the same time.

  “You look like a clown!” Rachel slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oops. I’m not supposed to say stuff like that.”

  “You look very…collegiate,” Ben said trying to keep a straight face.

  She critiqued Ben’s plain white T-shirt and jeans with a critically playful eye. “Slacker.” Then she wagged her brows up and down at Rachel. “Would you like to look like a clown?” She ushered them into the living room and pulled out a set of temporary tattoos. “We have an ibis and some nasty spears that those FSU fans are wearing. Which do you pick?”

  Rachel pointed to Jenna’s cheek.

  “Good choice.” She pulled a giggling Rachel into another room and within a few minutes, they had matching tattoos.

  Viola and her boyfriend, Gus Pappas, came out to greet him. “Ben! I’m so glad you and your niece could make it,” Viola said warmly.

  Rachel beamed. “I have a duck on my cheek!”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Thanks again for having us.” Ben handed Viola a gift bag containing the bottle of wine he’d bought this afternoon at the liquor store next to the Piggly Wiggly. He didn’t know much about wine, so he asked the clerk to pick out their best bottle of red and package it up.

  “Oh!” Viola said. “This looks really nice. Thank you, Ben!”

  Gus read the label on the bottle. “Yeah. That’s real nice of you, Harrison,” he said gruffly.

  Viola poked Gus in the ribs. “Now, before we begin I want to lay down my house rules. I absolutely forbid any discussion of politics in my home. That includes land deals, wills and anything else that was brought up at the town hall meeting last night.”

  “Good thing that doesn’t include college sports.” A tall man in his late thirties with dark hair wearing a garnet and gold FSU shirt came in from the backyard patio. He was helping a toddler walk by guiding her with both his hands. A woman, a few years younger with auburn hair and twinkling brown eyes, followed him. She, too, was all decked out in FSU garb.

  “Have you met Kitty and Steve Pappas yet?” Viola asked. “And this is their darling daughter, Amanda. Steve is Gus’s nephew and Kitty is his wife. We’re lucky enough to have them as our next-door neighbors.”

  Rachel ran over to the toddler and began making faces, causing the other little girl to laugh uncontrollably.

  “Nice to finally meet you, Kitty,” Ben said.

  Kitty shook Ben’s hand with a firm grip. “Nice to finally meet you!” She turned to her husband. “Ben is renting the house on Tortoise Way, which makes him a client of mine.”

  “Among other things,” Steve said cryptically. He handed off the little girl to his wife and shook Ben’s hand. “Steve Pappas. And you’re the guy representing Nora and Vince Palermo.”

  “That’s me.”<
br />
  Despite the fact that Pappas was in the construction business, it was obvious from his tone that he wasn’t a fan of Ben’s clients and their plans to turn half of Whispering Bay’s shoreline into commercial and residential real estate. Not much Ben could do about that though.

  “The game starts in ten minutes,” Viola said. “Who’s ready for pizza?”

  “Me!” Rachel said.

  Kitty smiled. “She’s not shy, is she?” She took charge of both little girls, steering them toward the kitchen.

  The game was a raucous affair with most of the house cheering on FSU. He and Jenna were the lone Hurricane fans. Every once in a while, they’d high-five one another when their team made a first down, and when FSU threw an interception that resulted in a Miami touchdown, Jenna ran around the room giving everyone, including the grumpy FSU fans, a hug.

  Her joy was infectious, and Ben couldn’t help but be thoroughly charmed by her. If she felt awkward by his presence here tonight, she didn’t show it. She was funny and kind and Rachel couldn’t get enough of her.

  Unfortunately, neither could he.

  * * *

  Jenna had been a nervous wreck ever since Viola had decided to play Cupid and invite Ben to tonight’s get together, but so far, the evening hadn’t proven to be the disaster she’d feared. At halftime the score was tied at fourteen, and both little girls were fast asleep on the living room couch. Aunt Viola invited the adults out to the patio for some fresh air.

  They sat in Adirondack chairs arranged in a circle facing a stone hearth. The temperature had stayed cool enough to justify building a fire.

  “Don’t you love this nippy weather?” Viola said, wrapping a shawl around her shoulders.

  “Enjoy it while it lasts,” Gus said. “I hear Monday’s high is going to be back in the nineties.”

  They all moaned. Then immediately laughed. Floridians were always bragging about their nearly year-long summer-like weather, but no one appreciated an occasional cold front more than they did.

  “Cigar?” Gus asked the group, lighting up a Cordoba.

  Steve raised his bottle in the air. “Thank you, my man. But I’ll stick to my beer. Kitty will kill me if I go home tonight reeking of cigar smoke.”

  Kitty gave her husband a thumbs-up. “You got that right.”

  “How about you, Harrison?” Gus handed Ben a cigar.

  “Since I don’t have a beautiful wife waiting for me at home, then yeah. Thanks.” He lit up the cigar then sat back in his chair and took a long puff.

  Jenna shivered and leaned in closer to the fire. She could have sworn that Ben had glanced her way just now. Or maybe it had been a trick of the firelight.

  Since I don’t have a beautiful wife waiting for me at home.

  It was like someone had poured salt into a wound she didn’t know existed.

  He said it to be polite. A compliment to Kitty. She got that. But it conjured all sorts of pictures in her head. Specifically, it conjured up images of him and Tiffany McAdams (thanks, Marsha!).

  The thing was, Pat Harrison was spot-on. When the time was right, Ben would get married, and judging by the way he was with Rachel, he’d have children of his own.

  Jenna hated her already. This beautiful future wife of his that he’d forego smoking a cigar for, so as not to offend her sensibilities…

  “Okay, I’ll ask one more time. Need a refill?” Kitty stood over her with a bottle of wine.

  “Oh, no, sorry,” Jenna said, shaking herself back to reality. “I’m good. Thanks.”

  “How about you, Ben?” Gus asked. “Beer? Wine? Or I can offer you a decent glass of whiskey?”

  “Just another water, thanks.”

  It occurred to Jenna that Ben had drunk nothing but water tonight. And that night at The Harbor House, while she’d been drinking wine, he’d ordered club sodas. “You don’t drink,” she blurted. “Alcohol, I mean.”

  “You’re right. I don’t drink alcohol,” he said.

  Embarrassed silence flooded the little patio while everyone looked everywhere but at Ben. There were only a few reasons people abstained from alcohol. Ben wasn’t religious. Maybe he simply didn’t like the taste. Or maybe he was into healthy living, except, then why the cigar? Or maybe…

  What was wrong with her? Would she never learn to keep her big mouth shut?

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  “You haven’t.” He took another puff of his cigar, not offering up any explanations. Not that he needed to, but it would have eased some of the tension she’d created with her insensitive remark.

  “So,” Steve said, “it looks like the rec center is right on schedule.”

  “I hear the city is planning a big opening day celebration,” Kitty added brightly. “With costumes and everything.”

  This new change of subject was exactly what she wanted to talk to Steve Pappas about. “How involved are you with that project?”

  “Other than looking over the expense accounts, not much. Tom Donalan is the man in charge.”

  “Any problems?”

  “No, and please don’t tell me there’s another ghost haunting the building,” he joked.

  “Nothing that sinister. I was curious. So you look over all the financials yourself? Have you ever found anything out of the norm?”

  There was silence. Only this time instead of everyone avoiding her, now they were all staring. What? Had she said something wrong again?

  “Maybe I should check on the girls,” Kitty said.

  “Good idea,” said Viola. “I’ll join you.” On her way back inside the house, she threw Jenna a look that made her think, yes, she’d definitely said something wrong.

  “Oh!” Jenna said, finally getting it. “I’m not accusing your company of any kind of wrongdoing. No, I would never do that. It’s Doug Wentworth I’m after.”

  “Wentworth?” Steve looked confused. “What does he have to do with my company?”

  Ben lay down his cigar and looked at her like he was interested in her answer.

  “Nothing specifically.” She hesitated, but she was among friends here and it wasn’t as if she was making a formal accusation. Not yet anyway. “I shouldn’t say anything but I’m pretty sure he’s embezzled money from the city and according to my investigation he was spending an awful lot of time looking over the accounts from the rec center, so naturally, that piqued my interest.”

  “Your investigation?” Steve said. “I’m confused.”

  “It’s not anything official, but a friend of mine is doing a forensic audit as we speak. She’s giving me a call sometime this next week. We’ll see what she comes up with, but I’ve already given Zeke Grant a heads up.”

  Steve was on the edge of his seat. “And you think that Wentworth might have used the rec center in a scheme to defraud the city?”

  Jenna nodded.

  “By padding the expense reports on the materials,” Steve finished logically. He shook his head. “If that little shit did anything to make my company look bad—”

  “The second half of the game is starting!” Kitty yelled from inside the house.

  Gus put out his cigar. “This game is too tight to miss a minute of.” He stood from his seat and caught Jenna’s eye. “I never liked Wentworth, but be careful what you say about him around Larry. He and Bruce Bailey were the ones who pushed to hire Wentworth in the first place. That’s why he’s been so hard on you. He doesn’t like to admit he made a mistake, and since you’re the one who took Wentworth’s place, you’re a constant reminder that he messed up.”

  “Thanks, Gus. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  She and Ben were the last to get up to go back inside, leaving them alone on the patio. He blocked her from going through the door. “Are you crazy?” he demanded. “You can’t go around accusing people of embezzlement. Especially when you don’t have any proof.”

  “I didn’t actually accuse him. I said I thought he might have embezzled money from the city. And
who says I don’t have proof?”

  “So do you?”

  “Not yet, but I will once my friend finishes her audit.”

  “Until you have some concrete evidence, it’s called slander, Jenna.”

  “Doug Wentworth is sitting in jail. How’s he going to hear me? Unless you plan to tell him.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Then there’s no problem, is there? I’d love to see the look on his face when he finds out there’s a forensics audit going on right now. Of course, I’ve never seen his face… I should go confront him.” Why hadn’t she thought of that before? It made so much sense. She was pretty good at reading people. If Wentworth embezzled money from the city, he wouldn’t be able to hide it from her. She would be able to see it in his eyes, which were probably shifty.

  “Confront him? Where do you— You’re going to visit Wentworth. In jail? You think he’s just going to admit to you that he’s an embezzler?”

  “Why not? He seems to be in a confessing mood.”

  “Promise me you’ll forget all about this cockamamie scheme of yours.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because Wentworth could be a sociopath for all we know!”

  The vehemence in Ben’s voice startled her. “Lower your voice. The man is behind bars. What could he possibly do to me?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.”

  He sounded worried about her. Like he cared. Like he cared a lot.

  Only maybe his protests weren’t quite so altruistic.

  “If I can prove that Doug Wentworth is an embezzler, then there’s a chance that his confession about Earl is nothing more than a lie, and that would ruin your clients’ case.”

  He got up close to her. His voice was quiet, but it still felt like he was yelling. “You think I don’t want you to see Wentworth because I’m afraid his confession is going to fall apart? Is that what you really think of me? I’m not a dick, Jenna.”

  “I never said you were.”

  “But you still haven’t forgiven me for what happened thirteen years ago.”

  “Don’t be silly. I already told you. I’m way over that.”