Chapter 28
Market Day
The sky was wide and almost clear. Where it embraced the land on the horizon ahead, there were none of the familiar skyscrapers to crowd the skyline.
The chauffeur who picked them up at the airport drove them past factories, warehouses, car dealerships and the wide empty spaces between them. Victoria thought she saw a McDonald’s, and her stomach rumbled. She’d barely eaten anything on the plane, except for some tomato soup. It was all she could manage to eat in her state of nervousness and panic.
“Have you been here before?” Sebastian said.
She turned away from the window to look at him. “My first time,” she said. “I haven’t traveled much.” Sebastian had changed into a white oxford shirt and blue jeans, and she tried very hard not to stare at the skin of his throat showing under his open collar.
Breathe, Slade. Just stop staring at his neck. And his face.
“Hey.” He moved closer to look at her. “Are you feeling better?”
Benson was sitting between them, but she could smell the scent of the cologne on Sebastian’s skin, faintly.
This is not helping.
“Yes, thank you. I’m just a little, uh...”
“Hungry?” He grinned.
“You ... could say that.”
“When we get to the market, I promise to buy you the best grilled-cheese sandwich you’ve ever had.”
The market turned out to be a series of stalls selling paintings, clothing, handmade jewelry and a lot of other interesting artwork. The entire street was vibrant with casual cafés, bohemian-inspired shops with unusual names, and restaurants of various cultural flavors. Bright, colorful murals decorated the walls of buildings, and hand-made crafts decked window sills of stores.
“Wow,” Victoria said, stepping out of the SUV. “Does your mom live around here?” she asked Benson.
“She’s over there,” Benson said, tugging her hand. “C’mon.”
“Ben!”
The dark-haired young woman who couldn’t be more than a few years older than Victoria stepped out from behind a stall to gather the boy in her arms.
“Hey, Mom,” Benson said, hugging her. “Missed me?”
“I did,” she said. “How did the recital go, sweetie?”
“It was okay.” He smiled bashfully.
“Will you play your piece for me later?”
Benson nodded. “I brought Tony with me.”
“Awesome.” She looked at Victoria and smiled. “Hi.”
“Hello, Ms. Walker,” Victoria said. She was surprised when Benson’s mother hugged her.
“Call me Corinne,” she said. “Victoria, right? Benson’s told me so much about you.”
“Yes. So nice to meet you.”
Corinne was in a loose black tee shirt, a full-length print skirt, and sandals. Her dark hair was pulled up in a relaxed bun. “Thank you for coming. I’ve been dying to meet you.” She turned to Sebastian. “Hey, gorgeous,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
“Corinne, you look great,” Sebastian said, hugging her tightly.
“You too, hon. Will you guys stay for dinner?”
“What do you think?” he said, looking at Victoria.
“Yes,” she replied, surprised. The man who had used his boss card to drag her to Barneys and that Italian restaurant was actually asking her if she wanted to accept Corinne’s invitation to dinner. “Thanks,” she said to Corinne. “That’s very kind of you.”
“Great. Excuse me a sec,” Corinne said. “Hi!” she greeted a woman who was looking at her paintings on display. “Are you looking for something for you or a friend?”
“I’m going to get us some sandwiches,” Sebastian said. “There could be a line at the food trailer, so just wait here with Corinne, okay?”
“Okay,” Victoria said. “You’re not going to ask me what I want?”
“I think I know what you want.”
“Really,” she said, grinning.
He winked. “I’ll take Benson with me.” He turned to see Benson standing in front of the stall, talking to Corinne’s customer.
“You should get that one,” the boy said, pointing up at an abstract watercolor of what looked like a burning forest overlooking a lake.
“That one, huh?” said the woman, smiling. She looked like she was in her mid-forties, and had an air of confidence about her. She was dressed in khaki slacks, a white tee-shirt, and high-heeled sandals.
He nodded. “It’s pretty, like you.”
She laughed. “I think I’ll take it then,” she said to Corinne. “I think it will look good in my new office. I just got a VP position at Dell. Your son?”
“Yes, he is,” Corinne said. “Shall I wrap it up for you? I can have it delivered, if you prefer.”
After the customer had left with her new painting, Corinne put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “Sebastian Chase, what have you been teaching my son?” she demanded.
“I, uhm ...” he started to say, looking between Corinne and Benson. Finally, he put his hand on Benson’s shoulder. “We’re getting us some sandwiches. You want your usual, Cor?”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Did I say something wrong?” Benson said.
His mother laughed. “Nothing, sweetie. Go with your uncle. Just get a little snack, okay? Dinner is in a couple of hours.”
“Your paintings are really good,” Victoria said, after Sebastian and Benson left. She bent down to examine a watercolor. “Is this a local river?”
“It’s the San Marcos River.” Corinne looked at the painting lovingly. “The water there is like crystal.”
“Sebastian did say you liked to paint nature. Have you ever painted Benson?”
“A few sketches. I tried when he was about two, but he wouldn’t sit down long enough.” She laughed.
“Could I see them sometime?”
“Yes, of course. I have a few sketches of Sebastian too, if you’re interested.”
“I wish I could paint,” Victoria said, trying to change the subject.
“Sebastian said you’re a writer. I think that’s pretty cool.”
“He did?” She thought back on what Sebastian said about her lack of ambition. She was surprised he even bothered to mention her writing aspirations to Corinne. “Well, I’m trying at least.”
“Promise me you’ll sign a copy of your first book for me, okay?”
“Sure.” She smiled. “Benson’s a really sweet kid. I think Sebastian’s a good influence on him. You’re not really mad at him are you?”
“No. Just keeping him on his toes.” Corinne looked at her thoughtfully. “Is my idiot brother-in-law still playing around?”
Victoria felt her face redden. “I, uh ... It’s really none of my business,” she said.
Corinne sighed. “You know, he wasn’t always like that. Did he tell you he was engaged once?”
Victoria felt the air leave her lungs. “It didn’t come up, no.”
“Two years ago. Her name was Alaina Maddock. Their families go way back. She was one of those annoyingly perfect girls. Rich, beautiful, elegant. And she was a doctor. Sebastian loved her to distraction.” Corinne looked Victoria in the eye. “I’m only bringing this up because he doesn’t exactly bring all Benson’s tutors to visit me, you know?”
“Yeah,” Victoria said. Corinne wasn’t stupid, she knew something was going on. “But we’re not really dating.”
Corinne nodded. “Yes, well. That Maddock girl really did a number on him. I don’t think he’s ever trusted any woman since.”
“It’s hard to believe any woman could ... break his heart like that.”
“It seems that way, doesn’t it? But Sebastian has a weakness.”
It was the unmistakable sadness and regret in the young mother’s eyes that made Victoria realize what it was.
“Benson,” she whispered. She felt a white-hot anger slowly crawl up her spine at the thought of anyone hurting the boy.
“I had Ben when I was nineteen.,” Corinne said. “Eric and I didn’t plan it, and I was young and scared. I’m also bipolar. I’d been suffering long bouts of depression since I was twelve, and I didn’t think I was capable of taking care of another human being. He begged me to keep the baby and marry him, and for a while I thought we could make it somehow. The marriage didn’t go well. A few months into our separation, he died in that accident. Ben was five.”
“I’m so sorry,” Victoria said.
“I couldn’t take care of my son. Not by myself. I know a lot of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder or depression have raised kids really well, I just ... couldn’t do it. I was afraid I might hurt my baby boy. When Sebastian offered to adopt him, I said yes. When Alaina came into the picture, she never let Sebastian know she didn’t want Ben. Instead, she pretended to be my friend. Then made me feel guilty about giving up my son. She was so... manipulative. I didn’t even realize what she was doing until it was almost too late.”
“She wanted you to get Benson back from Sebastian?”
Corinne nodded. “He loves Ben so much. But he promised me he would return parental rights to me if I ever changed my mind. It would have destroyed him, but I know he’d do it. Alaina knew this. She counted on it. I was a mess, even with my medication and therapy. The guilt threw me down a horrible well of depression. But Sebastian found out what Alaina was trying to do.”
“And they broke up.” Victoria’s chest felt tight, thinking about what Corinne went through. And Sebastian. She almost wished he was just a shallow playboy after all, if it meant that he hadn’t suffered such heartbreak.
“Yes. She never apologized for what she’d done. He was so angry. And hurt. It was painful for me to see him like that, but he made sure I never blamed myself for what happened. And we both made sure Ben didn’t find out.
“He still loves her, I think. Some days I wonder if he’s just waiting for her to come back to him and tell him she was sorry. Most of the time, though, I think he just doesn’t want any woman to get close enough to hurt him or me or Ben again.”
***
Victoria’s grilled cheese sandwich was drizzled with a sticky caramel-like sauce. She licked a few drops of it from her fingertip. “It’s sweet,” she said, frowning.
“It’s dulce de leche,” Sebastian said. “Try it. It’s good, I promise.” He grinned and took a bite of his own sandwich.
She took a bite, and chewed thoughtfully. Her eyes grew wide.
“See?” he said.
She nodded, smiling. After she swallowed her first bite, she said, “The emcee of the program earlier said Benson’s piece was from Berenice. What is that?”
They were sitting on stools beside Corinne’s stall. Benson was having his sandwich behind the table, where Corinne was busy talking to customers.
“It’s an Italian opera,” he said. “About Berenice, a queen of Egypt. She fell in love with a man who betrayed her.”
“Did she ... get over it?”
“She ordered his beheading, and planned her suicide.”
“What.”
Sebastian chuckled. “Don’t worry. It ends well. She falls in love with someone else more worthy.”
“I think I like ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ better.”
“Definitely fewer beheadings in that one.”
“Right? Even the pirates were kind of pussies. I mean, they don’t seem to have done a lot of pirating. How they managed to stay in business for so many years is a mystery.”
Narrowing his eyes, he looked at her suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
Victoria took another bite of her sandwich, and took her time chewing it. “Nothing. Why?” She looked at him quizzically.
Since he and Benson had gotten back with their sandwiches, Victoria’s mood seemed to have changed. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but she seemed a lot more ... friendly toward him for some reason.
“Never mind. Don’t get too attached to that sandwich,” he said. “I’m making us dinner.”