Coming Back

by Tabitha J Arment

  Both of them had been expecting to work every day until they managed to close this case, so neither of them knew what to do with themselves with a weekend off. Ben had a standing Saturday night dinner set up with his mother, but that was it.

  When they made it home Veronica went to Ben’s kitchen and started digging through his drawers and cupboards. He leaned on the doorframe and watched her with a bemused expression for a few minutes. “What are you doing?”

  Veronica continued rummaging through his kitchen without answering him.

  Ben cautiously made his way farther into the room, still unsure of exactly what she was doing. “Please don’t tell me you want to cook. I wouldn’t like to spend the entire weekend with food poisoning.”

  Veronica slammed the drawer that she had been inspecting and spun around to glare at him. She grabbed the towel hanging off the oven handle, balled it up, and threw it at Ben’s face.

  “No, I’m not cooking. I’m looking for your stash of take out menus, since I know that you do not cook every night. And I’ll have you know that I am a far better cook than anybody gives me credit for.”

  Ben snorted, but did not respond. Instead, he walked out into the living room and pulled a stack of menus out of a drawer in his coffee table.

  Veronica shook her head and stepped forward to take them from him. She started sifting through them and silently thanked God that she lived in a large city where basically every type of food could be delivered. She pulled a menu out of the stack and handed it to him. “What do you think of this one?”

  Ben looked down at the Mexican food menu and nodded, “Works for me...as long as you’re the one that calls.”

  Veronica looked at him quizzically.

  “I love the food, but it’s always loud and I can’t understand a word they say.”

  Veronica snatched the menu out of his and and muttered while she was dialing, “Jackass.”

  He snickered and then stood back as Veronica deftly ordered all of his favorite foods.

  Forty minutes later, there were boxes of food spread across the coffee table.

  They were picking at them with their forks while watching a baseball game. The Diamondbacks and the Cardinals were playing each other which led to a fun night because Ben was rooting for the Cardinals, but Veronica had always been a D-backs fan. They spent three hours yelling at the screen like the people playing could hear them.

  When the game finally ended with the Diamondbacks as the winners, Veronica took it upon herself to do a victory lap around the living room.

  Ben was a good sport and laughed while she danced, but he quickly changed the channel to a rerun of Bones to distract her.

  Unlike most people they worked with, who avoided watching cop shows, they had always loved them in spite of their inaccuracies.

  “Oh, Oh! It’s the one with that guy from Firefly! I love this one!” Veronica clapped happily and then dove onto the couch next to him.

  While the episode was going, Veronica decided that she needed to have something dessert-like so she once again went rooting around in Ben’s kitchen. She found the makings for brownies and quickly threw them together. When they finished baking she placed the entire tray on a wooden cutting board and then put it on the coffee table along with a gallon of vanilla ice cream and a couple of spoons.

  Ben looked at his coffee table in amusement. “What do you have against plates and bowls?”

  Veronica shrugged, “Less dishes.”

  Ben thought about that and nodded. He suddenly understood why there had not been any dishes stacked up by Veronica’s sink when they had stayed there.

  They spent a few more hours munching on brownies and ice cream while they channel surfed. Eventually, Ben shut the TV down and started packing up the leftover food.

  “We should get some sleep. Ma’s coming over tomorrow night and we need to clean.”

  Veronica gave him a confused look as she picked up boxes of food to carry to the kitchen. “The place looks fine. Why do we need to clean?”

  Ben scoffed and joined her in the kitchen with the tray of brownies and carton of ice cream.

  “You’ve clearly never met my mother. I love her, but that woman’s house is spotless. She would never say anything, but she would be silently judging the entire time she was here.”

  “Huh. So um...is she gonna have a problem with the whole me staying here thing? I can find somewhere else to be when she comes over. Or I can pull a Harry Potter and stay in my room, making no noise, and pretending I don’t exist.”

  Ben had finished putting all of the food away, so he turned around and advanced on her. When he reached her, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a chaste kiss. “I don’t want you to go away...but we might want to keep the PDA down to a minimum. I don’t want to deal with my mother asking what my intentions are. Not only is it kind of embarrassing, but neither one of us knows what the answer to that question is.”

  Veronica wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. “Do you think this will ever not be complicated?”

  Ben placed a kiss on the top of her head and tightened his arms around her. “I have no idea. I say we ignore everyone else. They’ll get used to it eventually.”

  After a moment, they separated and went upstairs to get some rest after a long and difficult week.

  DAY 9

  The next day, Veronica and Ben busied themselves with cleaning every surface and organizing every object in Ben’s house. Normally Veronica would have complained about the work because she was not a fan of cleaning, but today she was glad for the distraction. It felt wrong to her to be taking a day off right now, but she knew that showing up at the station would only end badly for her. By two o'clock the house was practically sparkling and they were out of things to do.

  Veronica took a look around the living room and could not help but think that it looked like a page ripped out of a catalogue. “Are you telling me that you do this every Saturday?”

  Ben flopped down on the couch and grinned, “Nope, but I don’t usually have an extra person who has drinking nights with her girlfriends in my living room. Not to mention the dog shedding everywhere.”

  Veronica dropped down onto the couch next to him. “Hey, you forget that I know all of your friends. Just because poker night was at Jack’s house this week doesn’t mean I don’t know it’s usually here. Plus, Charlotte sheds at least as much as Ace does.”

  Ben shrugged, “Fine, I admit it. I clean every Saturday, but usually not this thoroughly.”

  Veronica gawked at him, “So you used me for my cleaning. I don’t believe it.”

  Ben had a satisfied smile on his face, “Pretty much. Now, what are we going to do with ourselves until I have to start making dinner?”

  They spent a few more minutes relaxing on the couch before they decided to go for a run to get rid of some of the pent up energy that they had in their systems.

  “If we’re gonna work out, we need to stop by my place first. All of my running stuff is there, and I’m out of clean clothes anyways.”

  Ben leaned back into the couch for one more second before pushing himself off of it. “Okay, we’ll drive over to your place so you can change, then we can go run around that park you thought I didn’t know you would always hit before the cemetery. Yes, I even knew you were going there when all you could do was limp around it with your cane. We should get back here with enough time to clean up and start cooking before Ma gets here.”

  He held his hand out and when she took it, he pulled her up and off the couch.

  After waiting for Ben to change and finding her keys, Veronica headed out the front door to her SUV. Once they had both piled in, she started driving back to her apartment. The car was silent until Veronica spoke the question on both their minds.

  “Do you think we’re going to find anything there?”

  Ben would normally have shrugged at this, but he was feeling so tense that it was physically painful for him to move his shoulders.
“I hope not.”

  They both held their breath as they stood outside of her apartment, staring at the door.

  “We have to open it eventually.”

  For a moment, Ben thought she had not heard him because her expression did not change at all.

  Finally, she spoke. “I know. I was taking a moment to remember and appreciate the days when I knew that my apartment was going to be exactly as it was when I left it last.”

  With that, she stuck her key in the lock and turned it. After hearing the click of the tumbler she took a deep breath and pushed the door open. She let out her breath as she looked around the room and did not see anything ominous.

  “One room down.”

  She and Ben quickly worked their way through the whole apartment and sighed with relief when they found everything exactly where it was meant to be. Veronica quickly packed some more clothes into her overnight bag and then changed to go running. As she stepped back out into the living room Ben stopped and took in her tiny black shorts and tight blue shirt.

  A slow smile spread across his face. “We need to run more often.”

  “Stop that.”

  Ben opened the front door, “Fine, fine. Let’s get going.”

  They ran over to the park near Veronica’s apartment and started doing laps around it. For a few minutes, it felt strange to be running with someone other than Ace but she got used to it quickly. It was nice having someone to pace herself with.

  After a couple laps they started to feel competitive and began to push their strides. By the time they were on their last lap, both of them were moving much faster than either of them would have been if they had been running alone.

  As they were approaching the one and only water fountain in the park they both lengthened their strides as far as they could go and raced over to it. When Ben reached it first, Veronica bent over double and started gasping for air.

  Between gasps she rasped, “No fair...You used your old...cross country...training.”

  Ben straightened up after getting a drink and fixed her with a skeptical stare. “Oh, please. I haven't been on a cross country team in over two decades. That was pure talent. Admit it...I’m faster than you.”

  Veronica slumped over the drinking fountain and started gulping in water. When she finished, she turned around and smiled sassily. “Never!”

  Ben smiled and stepped closer to her. Thinking he was going in for a kiss, Veronica raised herself up on her toes. Leaning to the side, Ben grabbed the car keys off the bracelet on her wrist and started sprinting back towards the parking lot.

  He yelled over his shoulder, “First one to the car gets the first shower.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” and she took off after him.

  Ben made it to the SUV first and jumped inside then locked the doors before she could get to it. She stood at the passenger side door and started hammering on the window.

  “Admit it and I’ll unlock it for you.”

  Veronica stood stubbornly outside for a moment before she tipped her head back and growled, “Fine.” Slowly, so that Ben could hear every word through the window, “I admit you run faster than me.”

  Ben smirked and unlocked the door.

  When they made it back to Ben’s house he headed upstairs to the bathroom while she moved to the kitchen. Taking a look at what was on hand, Veronica started pulling ingredients for pesto chicken out and spreading them across the counter. She also pulled some rice out of the pantry and poured it into the rice maker with chicken broth and some herbs to add flavor. She was about get started mixing the pesto when Ben arrived in the kitchen freshly washed and in clean clothes.

  “Step away from the food.”

  Veronica looked up from her work and glared at him, “I can cook some things.”

  Ben walked over and crowded her away from the counter. “I’d rather not test that theory on my mother. Now, shoo.”

  Veronica huffed, “Did you seriously ‘shoo’ me? What in the world would make you think that was a good idea?”

  Ben continued working on the pesto. “Go take your shower.”

  After a moment of staring angrily at Ben, Veronica spun and flounced out of the room. She made sure to be extra loud as she stomped up the stairs and over to the bathroom. She was so busy fuming while she was showering that she did not hear Ben enter the room for a moment and then abruptly leave again. Nor did she hear the doorbell ring, or Ben scramble around as he answered it in surprise. She did however notice when she got out of the bathroom that her overnight bag, with all of her clothes in it, was no longer sitting on Ben’s bed where she had left it. Her annoyance with Ben quickly returning, she wrapped herself in a towel and started down the stairs.

  “Seriously! What are we in high school? You had to steal my...Oh!”

  Veronica clutched the towel tighter around her when she saw a small woman with silver hair and an amused smirk sitting on Ben’s couch. Ben was sitting in the chair across from her with a guilty look on his face and her overnight bag at his feet.

  “Veronica, this is my mother. She came a bit earlier than I was expecting. Ma, this is my friend Veronica. She’s been staying with me for a couple days.”

  Still highly embarrassed, Veronica nodded and smiled at her. “It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Becker. Ben, would you mind…”

  She stared pointedly at her bag and he nodded.

  “Sure thing.”

  He picked it up by the handle and tossed in over his head towards the stairs. Veronica squeaked and held onto her towel as she reached out with the other hand to snag her bag out of the air.

  “Thanks.”

  She then turned tail and dashed back up the stairs into the relative safety of Ben’s room.

  Once she got the door closed she leaned against it and sighed. “I cannot believe that happened.”

  After taking a few moments to get over the horror of what had occurred, she tossed her bag back onto the bed and started rummaging through it.

  “Okay, I just showed off way more skin than I ever wanted to, so I think it’s time to go for something a bit more conservative.”

  She pulled on a pair of black slacks with a sapphire blue, button down shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. Once she was dressed, she moved back into the bathroom to blow dry her hair and apply her makeup. On any normal day, she would let her hair dry naturally and forgo the makeup, but she wanted to avoid going downstairs for a few extra minutes. Not to mention the fact that Ben’s mother was impeccably groomed and had seen her wearing nothing but a towel. Her first impression may not have been great, but she wanted to do everything she could to erase that image from Mrs. Becker’s mind. She stopped at the door and took a few breaths to calm her nerves before she opened it and headed back down the stairs.

  She heard the oven timer going off and Ben walking over to the kitchen. Knowing this meant she was going to have to be alone with his mother, Veronica slowed her steps to make the encounter as short as possible.

  When Veronica finally made it into the living room, Mrs. Becker stood up to greet her. “Hello again. It’s nice to see you fully clothed. I’m sorry for my son’s juvenile sense of humor. You can blame his father for that.”

  Veronica grasped the hand extended to her and shook it. “It’s fine, really. Ben’s always taken great pleasure in messing with me.”

  Mrs. Becker smiled graciously. There was an uncomfortable silence between them until Ben reentered the room announcing that the food was ready.

  Oh, thank God!

  As she walked by Ben to get to the dining room she glared at him and muttered under her breath, “You will pay.”

  Ben nodded and followed after her to the table where he had already set up three steaming plates of pesto chicken with rice.

  Mrs. Becker took her seat on one side of the table while Ben and Veronica sat on the other. Nobody knew what to say so they all sat there in silence while they ate.

  After about five minutes Mrs. Becker started speaking. “So.
..what are you working on lately?”

  Veronica coughed as she began choking on the water she had been drinking when Mrs. Becker spoke. She glanced over at Ben to see how he would handle the question.

  He did not want to worry his mother by telling her what was going on, so he decided to try to avoid the question. “Ma, you know I can’t talk about an open investigation.”

  Mrs. Becker glanced suspiciously between a guilty looking Veronica and Ben, who was desperately trying not to meet her eye. She knew that there was more to the story than an open investigation, but she also knew that she would not be getting any information out of her son that he did not want to give. She used to be able to get anything out of him, but as he grew older he became less susceptible to her interrogation techniques. She liked to think he was such a good detective because he had learned from her.

  Reluctantly, she decided to give up on this question for now, but she would be getting back to it once she got her son alone. For now, she was content to make her son’s friend squirm some more.

  She turned her eyes on the woman sitting next to her son, “So, Veronica, are you sleeping with my son, or is there something wrong with your place?”

  Veronica once again choked on her drink, and Ben shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

  “Mother…”

  Mrs. Becker held her hand up to stop her son. “It’s a perfectly reasonable question. I remember her from a few photos of you and Nick, so I know she’s not from out of town.”

  Veronica had regained control of her lungs and placed her hand on Ben’s arm when he opened his mouth to speak again.

  “You’re right. I’m not from out of town. Nick was my fiance before… Anyways, I’ve been having some trouble with my apartment lately and Ben offered me a place to stay until it gets sorted out.”