12. Ben
Ben
T he week after Mrs. O’Malley’s morning visit Colleen and I were grabbing a coffee and muffins at Cedar Creek Coffee. It was crowded, like it typically was on a Saturday morning, but we lucked out and a small table opened up just as we walked in.
Colleen grabbed it while I went to place our order. I was waiting for our coffee at the counter when I heard someone call my name with a high pitched squeal.
“Ben! There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
To my surprise, I turned to see Lisa, my ex-fiancée, rushing towards me. She pulled me into a big hug, and I swear the heads of every customer in the place swiveled in our direction, including Colleen’s.
“Hey Lisa, what are you doing here?” I asked in surprise as I extricated myself from her hug.
I hadn’t heard from her in months. She looked good, as always, her outfit meticulous, and not a hair out of place. She herself looked out of place in Cedar Creek though. The residents here didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about fashion.
“I came to surprise you,” she said.
Something about her demeanor made me feel uncomfortable, but I couldn’t say why. Lisa wasn’t a surprise visit person. Even when we were dating she never just turned up like this. Something was going on.
“Oh, well, I’m here with someone, but you’re welcome to join us.”
Lisa ordered a drip coffee – the woman was religiously anti-carb – and then I gathered mine and Colleen’s order and led Lisa to our table. Colleen stood up as we approached, giving me a curious look. Lisa in turn gave her a look of distaste. It was the look she gave people when she deemed them too unimportant to worry about.
“Colleen, this is Lisa. She surprised me with a visit. Do you mind if she joins us?”
I could tell by the slight widening of Colleen’s eyes that she realized that Lisa was my ex-fiancée.
“Lisa this is my, uh friend, Colleen.”
One auburn eyebrow arched at that introduction, and I wanted to kick myself. I didn’t know why I’d introduced Colleen like that. Maybe I didn’t want to hurt Lisa’s feelings or maybe I just liked keeping our relationship private. Either way, I could tell that my introduction hurt Colleen’s feelings, even though she tried to hide it.
Lisa looked between us, no doubt trying to figure out the undercurrent. Then she shrugged and sat down in the chair across from Colleen. Grabbing a chair from another table, I sat between them at the side of the table.
“What brings you to Cedar Creek, Lisa?” Colleen asked with what I knew was forced politeness. I’d gotten to know all her moods over the past couple of months.
Lisa placed her hand on my arm. “Oh, I missed my Benji,” she cooed.
Colleen gave her a look that would have frozen a lesser woman on the spot.
“By the way, I just love your shirt, Colleen. I wish I was brave enough to wear something like that.”
Her words were nice, but her look was one of obvious distaste as she looked at Colleen’s form-fitting knit top. I wasn’t sure what game Lisa was playing, but I didn’t like it. I’d seen this side of her before. She turned super catty when she thought another woman was a threat to her.
“What is it that you do, Lisa?” Colleen asked in a similarly fake tone. “Ben really never talks about you.”
Lisa’s eyes narrowed. “I’m a lawyer at Shackleford, Reeve, and Thomas in Portland. We practice corporate law. I’m very successful. In fact, I’m on track to become the first female partner there.”
The hand on my arm slid up to my shoulder. I scooted away, earning me a sour look from my ex-fiancée. Around us, the coffee shop was totally silent, everyone focused on what was happening at our table. Fingers flew across cell phone screens, no doubt providing a play by play for Cedar Creek residents who weren’t here right now.
“I’m hoping I can convince Benji to give our relationship another chance,” she told Colleen in a confiding tone. “Portland just isn’t the same without him.”
I hated being called Benji, something Lisa was well aware of.
A red flush rose up my girlfriend’s cheeks, telling me that she was getting irritated at Lisa’s antics. Colleen always complained about her fair skin making it hard to hide her emotions.
I knew I should do something to diffuse this situation, but I wasn’t sure what. I didn’t want to be rude to either of them, and I was keenly aware of our audience. As the town doctor, I also had a reputation to uphold.
Colleen and Lisa stared at each other with unmasked animosity. I was pretty sure they were having one of those silent conversations that women sometimes had, and it wasn’t a friendly exchange on either side.
“You know what?” Colleen stood up suddenly. “I just remembered, I need to take care of something for a client. I’m going to go to work and let you two catch up.”
She grabbed her coffee and the paper bag with her untouched muffin, doing her best not to look at me.
“Nice to meet you, Lisa.”
Her tone conveyed the opposite.
“Colleen, wait.”
I reached out and grabbed her wrist, but she pulled it away, giving me a look that warned me not to mess with her right now.
“I’ve got to go. See you around, Ben.”
Oof, that wasn’t good.
After Colleen stalked out of the coffee shop, I turned to Lisa. “What was that all about?”
She shrugged. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make your friend run off.”
Her tone conveyed that she didn’t really care much, despite her words.
“She’s actually my girlfriend,” I said.
“Her?” Lisa laughed. “She’s not really your type. She so… thick.”
My blood boiled at her calling Colleen fat. My girlfriend was curvy and lush and perfect just the way she was.
“She’s exactly my type,” I said firmly. “Now why don’t you tell me what this little show is really all about?”
As I looked at my ex-girlfriend, I couldn’t believe that I’d almost married her. Was she always this shallow? This judgmental? She was looking around Cedar Creek Coffee like it was a hovel and the dismissive way she’d treated Colleen really got under my skin.
“The partners found out that I’m not engaged anymore,” she said, her tone turning serious. “They think I’m not partnership material…” she made air quotes, “if I can’t hold onto my fiancé. I want us to give it another try.”
“I’m sorry that happened Lisa, it’s misogynistic and unfair, but I’m not going to marry you so you can become a partner at a law firm,” I said, keeping my voice kind but firm.
“Can you at least pretend to be my fiancé again? Just until the partnership vote? I need you to show up at some social events and pretend to be a doting fiancé again, then we can stage a break-up after I get promoted.”
“I’m not going to lie,” I told her. “Besides, I can’t hang out in Portland going to your social events. I have a medical practice here in Cedar Creek now. And a life.”
“And a girlfriend,” she said bitterly.
“And a girlfriend,” I repeated, making my tone gentle. “You and I both know we never would have worked. We’d been dating so long we just gave into inertia. Sooner or later we would have woken up and realized that we’d made a big mistake. I’m just glad we realized it before the wedding.”
Lisa sat back in her chair with a deep sigh. “Yeah, you’re right Benji. I’m just… I’m a desperate woman. I don’t know what I’m going to do. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry if I made trouble for you with your new girlfriend”
She paused as she connected the dots. “Wait, is this the same Colleen who was your high school girlfriend?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
Lisa laughed. “Oh my God, this is like something out of a Hallmark movie. Guy comes back to a small town and falls for his high school girlfriend. Next you two can open a Christmas tree farm or something.”
She stood up, nabbing both her coffee and the bag with my muffin. She clearly was depressed if she was going to eat carbs.
“Well, I’m going to be heading back to Portland so I can figure out another plan,” she said. “Be sure to invite me to the wedding. I promise I’ll behave.”
And in a wave of expensive perfume, she was gone.