Seeking Carolina (Bitterly Suite Book 1)
Page 25
“No you don’t.” She tapped it away from the baby’s mouth, but not out of her hand. Valentine studied the blue stone, her baby brow furrowed with thoughts Benny couldn’t begin to guess at. Would she dream in blue that night? Holding the baby closer, Benny closed her eyes and allowed her own tremulous joy rumble through her.
A boy. She was positive. Already, she loved him so much.
“Here you go,” Johanna came at her, the bagged pie-pies outstretched and already spreading buttery patches in the paper sack. “Tell him he got the last two.”
“I’ll trade you.” She offered Valentine, who reached for her mother with a little squeal. Benny grabbed the sac. “Crap. I didn’t bring any money.”
“I’m not charging you for leftovers, Ben.”
“They’re not leftovers until tomorrow.”
“They’re leftovers the minute lunch is over. Seriously, don’t be weird.”
“Thanks, Jo.”
Johanna waved away her thanks. “Now if I can get these laggers out of here, I can go home. I should have gotten Dan to do it before he left. He’s good at clearing a room.”
Benny laughed along with Johanna, even if it made her woozy. Funny-man, Dan Greene. Always joking, lightening even the darkest moments. Dependable. Loyal. Kind. Everyone’s favorite plow-man in winter, landscaper the rest of the year even if he liked to pretend he was an ornery old bachelor and dedicated grouse. It was part of his charm, and Benny had always liked that about him—until she more than liked him for it, which was unacceptable.
“How are you doing, Benny?” Johanna asked
Startled, Benny bit her lip. “I’m okay. Just—you know. Same old, same old. I—I hear Nina is coming back to the States for the holidays.”
“You heard right. And she’s bringing back a surprise.”
“Nina? A surprise? That doesn’t sound like her.”
“I know, right?” Johanna laughed. “But she’s not talking. I’m dying of curiosity.”
While those stragglers finished up and left, while Johanna tidied up the front and her stepson did the same in back, Benny listened to her talk and talk and talk. About Nina and the Curiosity Shop that would finally open in New York City. About the honeymoon Johanna and Charlie finally took, meeting her sister and brother-in-law in Bora Bora, sailing those South Seas islands that never stopped being exotic. As long as Johanna kept talking, Benny did not have to. Any wondering about Daniel Greene was safely off topic, even if the conjured image of him so tenderly holding Valentine would not quit. Then there was the way he looked at her the moment she first walked in…
She rode her scooter home in the dark, the only light coming from the stars overhead.
Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have this wish I wish tonight.
Benedetta revved the tinny engine, pretended the tears instantly drying on her cheeks came from forgetting her goggles in her rush to be out of the house. They had nothing to do with Dan, or the gentle way he held Valentine, or how her heart had stuttered that moment before she forced it to still.