_____
Benjamin
I was out of time.
Dad was back home. Today we were celebrating his forty-fourth birthday. I’d been dodging the answer every time he asked me through text. I didn’t ask Emily. I let the opportunity slip through my fingers, and although I liked the idea of leaving, I loved the idea of Emily more.
We were great. No, we were beyond that. Every day spent with her, and every night with her sleeping by my side felt like a dream. I never thought I’d get the girl, my best friend, but somehow, she let me inside her every night, and I walked with my head in the clouds every single day because of it.
So, even though I was a little disappointed in myself for not at least asking her, I didn’t regret my decision to just let it go. I was positive I would get another opportunity in a few years after Emily and I had been together for a while, and I didn’t feel like I might piss my pants with the fear of her not loving me enough to leave her dad and hometown.
I’m serious. I’d pick up and go anywhere with you.
I grabbed my chest at the memory of her saying that. She had been talking about vacations, picking up and doing something spontaneous within a night, but her words had spoken right at my insecurities and for a split second, I thought I should ask her.
Of course, I didn’t.
Cut me some slack. I was the one that pined after her since we were kids and faithfully stayed in the safe place she designated just for me. I wasn’t going to lose her for anything. She topped everything else. Everything. No way was I going to screw it up with asking her if she’d pack up and move away with me when we were still new in this relationship.
But the possessive part of me couldn’t see the big deal. We’d known each other, and I was her go-to person since forever.
“When are Emily and her parents getting here?” Mom yelled from over next to the grill. She was the one doing the cooking while Dad stood close by talking to one of his buddies. I took a look at everyone here. Was it just me or were there a lot of divorced and widowed ladies at this party? That was…odd. Dad wasn’t friends with all these women.
“They should be on their way,” I yelled across the yard. I sat on one of the foldout chairs Mom had put out.
She nodded. “Still haven’t asked her?”
I shrugged. “I’m not going. I just want to enjoy her instead of burdening her with the idea of moving.”
For the first time, my mom had nothing to say.
_______
Emily
“Do we have to be here?” Mom grumbled next to me as we walked up the front steps to Faith and Ben’s house.
I sighed, swallowing the nerves in my throat. “Yeah, we do. She invited us.”
“People don’t normally go to these sorts of things anyway,” she said.
“I’m nervous too, okay? But I love her son with the weight of my soul, and I need this woman to know us and eventually like us.” I stared at her, then Sarah next to her, then Dad on my other side. “I think we’re likable-ish.”
Dad grunted, and I shot him a glare. He turned away and eyed Mom in her dress. “Dad,” I hissed. “Can you not?” With the knowing smirk he gave me and that cheesy grin, I knew he knew what I was talking about.
“You’re looking good, Deb,” he just had to go and say.
Sarah eyed him cautiously.
“You too, Nolan,” Mom replied, casting a small smile at Sarah.
Ugh. So awkward.
Dad was still checking his ex-wife out when he started doing the same to Sarah. “You look nice as well, Sarah.” She grunted and twisted her skirt around in reply. Should I just go ahead and tell them all to go home? “So… You all for the ladies or do you like men too?”
“Dad!” I screeched. I was flaming red in the face with anger and mortification because I had a feeling he was on a roll today and had no plans on stopping.
“Only women,” she replied briskly.
“Shame,” he muttered with a smile. “I wouldn’t mind a three-way.”
OH, MY GOD.
I stopped in front of the door, debating not even knocking and taking Dad home. I loved him, but he still took me by surprise when he acted this way sometimes.
Three-way? I would have laughed at the way he said it if it hadn’t been my dad that said it. Did I think he was just talking about a phone call? No, he was not, so why did he have to go and word it like that.
I snorted. I quickly covered my mouth because I was very much laughing when I said I wouldn’t. I looked over at Mom and Sarah rather apologetically, but Mom was holding back her own laughter.
She grinned over at Dad. “There he is,” she whispered softly. “I’ve missed you this way, ya know?” I saw real sincerity in Mom’s expression. “Maybe not a three-way, but you should date. Hell, with your beer belly gone, you could probably pick up a young one.”
Dad ran his hand over his stomach and demonstrated his charm for Mom. “You could always come to me when you want to cheat, after all, you did on me.” His words were good-natured, but I still felt the chill of them.
“We’re engaged,” Mom said, holding up her hand to display for Dad. “Despite what you might think, I loved you… You just didn’t love us or yourself at the time.”
Dad covered his mouth with his hand and looked ahead instead of at any of us. “I loved us, Deb. I was just inside myself and it took one bad decision to sober me. I was an alcoholic. I don’t blame you for leaving.” He left his words there in the air between them. “But… I wasn’t kidding about the other part if you’re ever looking for a man again.”
“All right,” I interrupted him from going any further. “I’m knocking right now and once I knock, we appear to be somewhat normal, okay?”
“Can we just leave your Mom and her fiancée out here?” Dad surprised me by saying. I tilted my head to the side and peered up at him. “What? Faith doesn’t know Deb left me for a woman, does she?” he grumbled. “Like complaining about my yard wasn’t enough. We’re about to ammo her up.”
I couldn’t help but smirk. “A lesbian mother and her girlfriend, and a recovering alcoholic.” Mom snorted as I spoke. “We got this in the bag. Ain’t none of Benjamin’s girlfriends before me made such an impression as what we’re about to do.” My smile faltered. “This is a disaster.”
The front door opened. Faith was the one to greet us. She wore the friendliest smile until her eyes took us in. Now it didn’t go away—she just looked a little confused. “You remember my mom, right?” I asked her. “This is her fiancée, Sarah, and you already know Dad.”
“Fiancée?” She recovered quickly, maybe realizing she was showing too much surprise. “Come on, all of you. I need to get back to the grill before Benny burns our food.”
“Do you need help with anything?” I asked her.
“You can cut up the tomatoes and bring out the food and drinks in the fridge if you’d like.”
I nodded eagerly, pleased that she was being normal. “Yeah. I don’t mind at all.”
“We can help,” Mom offered.
“Where’s Ben?” Dad asked her.
“Outside,” Faith replied before leaning in as Dad walked by her. “Does, uh, Ben know your ex-wife is…?”
Dad looked down at her. “Oh yeah. He knows that I ran my wife into the arms of a woman with my drunkenness.”
He managed to pull another shocked expression from Faith before walking off. Mom laughed rather normally for her own dirty laundry to be brought to light. “You’re getting in on all our family drama,” Mom chirped like it was no big deal.
I felt a slight twitch in my eye. “Every family has it,” Faith said good-naturedly. She caught me smiling at her and returned it. Yeah, we had developed our relationship even further this past week with all the planning we had been doing. It was beautiful which made me feel silly that I worried about this. I could have told her sooner, but maybe she already knew. Then again, she had been too caught off-guard when she had seen Sarah, so Benjamin most likely never brought it up.
At the thought of him, my stomach blazed with heat and anticipation tingled my skin for someone that wasn’t even around me.
I was in the kitchen grabbing things to take outside when he found me. “There you are,” he murmured with affection as he moved up behind me and kissed my neck. I tilted my head to give him better access. “You like that, do ya?” He constantly asked me what I liked when I truly had no clue about the things I liked until he came along and showed my body what it had been missing.
“All right. Don’t forget we’re in the kitchen.” Mom laughed at Sarah’s declaration.
“Sorry, Sarah,” Benjamin said while squeezing me into his chest. I grabbed the tomato in front of me and started cutting it. “I can’t help myself.”
No kidding. My body buzzed with awareness. We used our bodies so much that I had a soreness between my legs that didn’t care if I needed a break when Benjamin was giving it orgasm after orgasm. Until it was over, and I had to walk around all day with the reminder of how thorough Benjamin loved me.
I was beginning to wonder if he could ever be sated for longer than an hour at a time… I hoped the answer to that would be never.
Once I finished cutting up the tomato, I tilted my head and gave him a kiss. I handed him the paper plate. “Will you carry the tomatoes and things out while I put the drinks in the cooler outside?”
“I’ll get the drinks,” he said. “You take the small stuff.”
“I already have the drinks,” Mom said, walking outside. “Come outside with us, Benjamin. We don’t know anyone. You gotta help us break the ice.”
He laughed. “You’re gonna be fine, guys. Mom acts vicious, but she’s a giant teddy to those that she loves.”
“Yeah, well, we aren’t on the love list,” Mom grunted.
“Not yet, but you birthed someone that’s making her way on that list.” I looked back to see him pointing his finger down at my head.
I smiled. “Give it time. She’s gonna love me more than you.” I stated boldly, enjoying the idea of his mom’s affection. I had grown to like Faith, and I couldn’t wait to become closer to her. He was right. She could be cold-hearted, but she was also very loyal and loving to those she cared about.
I wanted to be on that list one day.
Mom and Sarah gave him a smile before carrying the sodas and water outside. He squeezed my butt the moment they left the kitchen. “Do you have any idea how great your ass looks in that tight flowery dress?” he asked me.
“It is a bit snug,” I mumbled with a grin. “Your mom said it looked great on me though.”
“You look like I’d rather be alone with you than at this party with a bunch of single ladies,” he said, turning me around to face him. I wrapped my arms around him. “Don’t get freaked out, but I think maybe my mom is up to something, and it involves hooking your dad up with one of these widows or divorcées.”
He placed his arm around my shoulders as I grabbed two plates while he still held the one with tomatoes. We started walking toward the back door. “Leave her be.”
“You sound like you’re aware of what she’s up to,” he stated, looking down at me as we stepped out on the patio.
I shrugged my shoulders and slid his arm off my shoulders as I placed the plates on the table Faith had outside. I did know what his mom was up to. She told me she’d set Dad up without him knowing. As I looked around her backyard at all these women at her husband’s birthday party—which was supposed to be a family get-together of a few friends and family—she might have gone overboard a bit.
One of the women had already made her way over toward Dad and Ben talking and was smiling and eyeing Dad like he was a fresh piece of meat. I smiled and looked the other way… Hmm, Faith was bound to rub off on me so I might as well start now.
Sorry, Dad, this was for your own good…and mine as well.
I had been sneaky with Faith the last few days, and Benjamin had no idea what I was about to hit him with.
That hot August day spent celebrating Ben’s forty-fourth birthday quickly turned to evening as my mom and Sarah sat around with Faith and a few other ladies and actually got to know each other. I wished Ben a happy birthday but otherwise Benjamin and I kept to ourselves still too wrapped up in each other to really enjoy anything else, not that I minded.
Dad naturally talked to women at ease, and I saw in person how charming he could be. I searched for Mom, wanting to ask if this was what Dad was like before he turned to drinking, but when I caught her smiling at him, I kind of figured it out on my own. He was always going to be a bit damaged, but now I had a feeling he was truly okay. Someone would love him despite all his flaws just like I did. It was never too late to start over. My relationship with him was proof of that.
I understood why Mom left him, truly I did. Sarah was a good person, but I kind of felt sorry for my mom that day. She had wanted the man that was here with us today, but now life turned the tables and gave them something different. She was happy. I took in the way she leaned into Sarah’s shoulder and how Sarah picked up her left hand and kissed the ring on Mom’s finger. Faith watched too with a soft smile as she found her Ben and brought a kiss to his cheek, the most affectionate I had ever seen the two of them, but I had never seen them interact a lot so maybe they still had fire after all these years… Then there was my dad who I sniggered at as one of the women winked and slipped something in his front pocket. I thought something similar had happened earlier with a different woman. Our eyes met, and a knowing grin was shared between us before he slipped in next to Ben and Faith, obviously ruffling her feathers with the way she was visibly huffing at him from this distance.
My dysfunctional family was going to be okay, and I kind of loved us a lot more that day. From the outside looking in, maybe we looked pretty damn cool.
“Ready to go home?” Benjamin whispered into my ear as I sat on his lap.
I was so ready. Only our night was going to be a long one.
We said our goodbyes, and I shared a grin with Faith as I left with her son.