(See the first chapter for disclaimer, notes, spoiler, etc.)
Chapter Ten: "The Soft Moonlight"
Evy
"Do you think your mom is mad it's been more than a week since she invited me to dinner?" Benjy's arm was around her shoulders as they walked along the shoreline, the cool water lapping around their feet.
She shook her head and glanced up with a smile. He sounded truly concerned. She leaned into him and wrapped her arm around his waist. "No. She understood when I told her you couldn't come until tonight because you were going back to Monterey for a few days to visit your mom."
He sighed. "Ok, good. I don't want to get on her bad side."
"Actually," she said, letting her voice drop dramatically, "I hate to break it to you, but you kind of already are." She felt him freeze and she looked up, grinning. "Cait once told me that my parents were ridiculously tough on anyone she and Sean dated. And, Dad hated the guys I dated in high school. Mom might've hated them too, but she was nicer to them then he was." His brown eyes crinkled as he glanced over, like he was amused. "What?" she asked with a laugh. "My parents are…intense." She faltered and, in a soft voice, corrected herself as she said, "Were intense."
He hugged her close, pressing a kiss to her head. "I believe it. Remember, I told you your father scared the hell out of me."
She looked up, blinking as a seagull called out and flew overhead. "Everyone thought that," she murmured. "Everyone knew him as this tough-as-nails criminal defense attorney, but he wasn't like that…he was just my dad."
Benjy nodded and leaned in, kissing her gently. "Of course, he was just your dad," he whispered against her lips. Her arms went around his neck as she nodded, his fingers brushing against her jaw. "I bet once I got to know him, I would've seen that too."
With a smile, she pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed him again. His hands held onto her hips as her fingers danced through his hair. "Thanks," she sighed, his forehead touching hers. "I hope you feel that way about my mom too," she said teasingly.
He smiled nervously and glanced up the beach where her house stood imposingly. "Thanks for at least telling me what kind of flowers to bring her," he murmured.
She glanced down at her smart watch and unwound her arms from his neck. "Come on. Let's go back to the house. She and Casey have got to be done with their meeting by now."
As they began the walk across the warm sand back to the house, Benjy reached for her left hand and squeezed it. "So, it's really me against the entire Richards family tonight?" he marveled.
"No. It's just you, me, and Mom tonight. I think Casey is taking the kids to the street festival downtown," she said, concluding with a half-truth that sounded just believable enough. Casey was taking Harrison and Nicola to the festival. Tonight had to be just Mom. Mom needed to like him. Casey's eye rolls, sighs, and annoying silence had made his feelings about Benjy more than clear. Like he was Dad or something and got some kind of say over who she dated. That's why Mom had to like Benjy. If she did, Casey had no excuse to be such a brat.
He nodded. "Maybe we can head down to it after dinner? Meet up with them?"
She shrugged nonchalantly and reached for the latch on the gate. "Maybe." She glanced over her shoulder and forced a smile, rightly anticipating the confusion on his face. "Mom won't go to the street festival – she wouldn't even if Dad was alive – and I don't want her to be here alone."
He nodded, his expression clearing. "So, no to dinner and the street festival. Yes to dinner and a rousing game of Scrabble," he declared and she rolled her eyes at his attempt at humor.
"You dork," she giggled, slipping back beneath his arm as they stood on the patio. She leaned against his chest as he hugged her close as they watched the horizon. She knew tonight would go well. Mom had always been supportive of her relationships with the other boys she dated. Not that Benjy was like them. Benjy was…special. Different. Extraordinary. She closed her eyes, feeling beyond happier in this moment than she had in months.
She knew tonight would go well.
She knew Mom would like Benjy.
She knew she'd eventually get Casey to cool off about Benjy.
She knew it was right to change her enrollment in the summer semester.
She knew she just couldn't go back to New York City just yet.
Casey
"It's weird that Ben wants to delay the shareholders meeting, isn't it?" Olivia's expression suggested she was deep in thought and he leaned forward, touching her hand. "The delay isn't usual," he said softly when she glanced up.
"No. No, it's not." She sighed and he watched as she leaned back, gazing up at the ceiling of her office. "I can't quite figure out what he's playing at," she murmured.
He frowned, still new to the inner-workings of the Liberty Corporation. But, for once he didn't feel so alone in his confusion. "Maybe-," he thought aloud and he felt her eyes flicker to his, "maybe I should speak with Shauna."
"The project manager for the property development?"
"I went to high school with her." He chuckled to himself and explained, "We had the worst first date in the history of first dates, but luckily, we stayed friends after." A half-smile came to Olivia's face as he concluded, "I think she took pity on me. We had nothing in common and, after all, she almost killed me."
Her eyebrow arched. "She did what?"
"She ordered dessert while I went to the restroom. I tasted the strawberry folded into the chocolate mousse the moment I swallowed. I almost went into anaphylactic shock and had to be rushed to the hospital."
Olivia grimaced and shook her head as she pushed herself up from behind her desk. "Speaking of dessert, I think I'm officially late for dinner."
Now it was his turn to grimace as he stood too. That meant it was time for him and the kids to get to the town center for the street festival. "Olivia, are you sure this is a good idea? Benjy is…"
She folded her arms against her chest and frowned. "Of course I'm not sure," she sighed as their eyes met. "But, it's just dinner. Evy is going back to school in two weeks. Then, she won't be seeing Benjy every single day." His only reply was a frown and a deep sigh. "You look very much like Gregory in this moment," she said softly and he felt the flinch go through his body. "He would've been as furious with Evy as you are."
"I'm not-" he began, seeing the way her eyes narrowed as if she dared him to continue denying it. But, she was right. He was furious with his younger sister. She had no idea what she was getting into with Benjy. She refused to even discuss it the few times he tried to talk with her about it. "What would you have told him?"
With a slight smile, she replied, "The same thing I told him when he was furious Caitlin was dating AJ Deschanel's son." He nodded, suddenly remembering. Cait dated Cole for awhile, around the same time that Meg first moved to Sunset Beach. "Young love burns itself out."
He sighed. "Olivia, but if you only knew half of what I knew about Benjy…the trouble he's caused over the years."
She smirked and shook her head. "I don't. That's why Evy invited me to dinner tonight and not you."
He rolled his eyes and followed her out of her office. The house was quiet, though the sheer curtains billowed in the open doorway to the patio. He cleared his throat and looked up the stairwell. "Harrison! Nicola! Let's go!" He heard Olivia call his name and he glanced over, seeing her standing in the patio doorway. He crossed the room and stood behind her, seeing what she was looking at.
Evy and Benjy were sitting at the patio table, playing a card game with Harrison and Nicola. Evy and Benjy's arms were linked, even though they sat side-by-side with their own hands of cards. His younger sister looked up and burst out laughing at something Harrison said. Benjy glanced over, smiling and laughing with her. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Burns itself out," he heard Olivia say softly. She glanced over, a rueful expression on her face.
He sighed again and nodded. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, his younger sister would be back in New York City at the end of the month.
Away from Benjy.
Olivia
My eyes flickered between Evy, on my right, and Benjy, on my left. The two of them kept glancing at each other, matching grins on their faces. I leaned back in the chair, fed up with the pretense of eating. Spread out on the dining room table between us was a menagerie of take-out cartons. On a cursory glance, it appeared as if Evy ordered almost the entire menu from Sitara, her favorite Indian restaurant. Gregory's empty chair mocked me from the opposite end of the long table, cradled in the soft moonlight falling in through the windows. He detested Indian food with the passion of a thousand suns.
"Mom, do you want some more of the tandoori shrimp?"
I shook my head and glanced over, watching as Evy frowned and cocked her head. I knew what she was thinking. She was thinking the tandoori shrimp was one of my favorite dishes. Her eyes darkened. Now, she's wondering why I'm not eating. "Have you visited India, Mrs. Richards?" Benjy's quiet question interrupted Evy's frown.
I cleared my throat. "No. Have you?"
He nodded and leaned forward, an earnest expression on his face. "My mother, Tío Antonio, and I went to a small village outside Mumbai three summers ago. Mom taught art to the children. Tío Antonio ministered to the people, heard their confessions."
"Wow!" Evy marveled as I asked, "And, what did you do while they were working?"
He grinned bashfully and explained, "Trying – and often failing – to wrangle the really little children into hour upon hour of story time." Evy gasped and turned to me, beaming, as he continued, "They didn't understand English – most of them spoke Marathi – but they still gazed awestruck at me as I read book after book after book."
Well. La-di-da. Small children liked him. That meant nothing. Sociopaths were supposed to be charming, after all. "So," Evy laughed, a dazzling expression on her face, "if being a lawyer doesn't work out, is being a kindergarten teacher your back-up plan?"
He chuckled, glancing from Evy to me. "I guess so."
I forced a smile and watched them carefully. Evy was happy, her brown eyes sparkling as she turned from Benjy to me. Certainly, she was the happiest I had seen her since Gregory died. Surely, Benjy wasn't the sole cause of that though. (Of course he is, the small voice in my mind whispered. She looks the way you did when you first started dating Gregory.) I flinched and my right hand anxiously rubbed my thigh. Benjy might have been nothing like Gregory but, blessedly, Evy was nothing like me. When they were 18, all my children had been far more level-headed and responsible than I ever had been at that age. Thank God they inherited all of Gregory's sense. I cleared my throat. "Where do you plan on going to law school, Benjy?"
"Well," he began, "Mom would be happy if I stayed in California." He chuckled to himself and I noticed the way his eyes crinkled, almost infectiously. Almost. "I think she and Ross, my stepfather, got used to me being two hours away when I was at Berkeley. So, she's rooting for Stanford."
Stanford. I thought the words before Evy said them. "That's were Dad went to law school!" Evy said, casting a long glance at me. I looked up slowly and flash her a comforting smile.
"That's not surprising," Benjy said softly as my daughter reached out, taking my hand. "It's a fantastic school. And, insanely hard to get into. They don't take just anyone."
Evy squeezed my hand as I half-nodded, saying nothing. Gregory had never been just anyone. His brilliance got him away from his abusive father. His brilliance brought him to California. His brilliance attracted me to him. (Amongst other things, the small voice teased.) "That's where your mother wants you to go," I said softly. "Where do you want to go?"
He smiled. "Harvard," he replied with a bashful smile. "It's where Barack Obama went."
As Evy offered a swooning reply, I simply sat back in my chair. Harvard. Harvard was in Boston. Boston was several hours away from New York City. Far enough away that Evy wouldn't be seeing Benjy on a daily – or even weekly – basis once she went back to school in two weeks.
That was enough.
For now.
