Chapter 6
Benson
“So, I talked to my advisor, and I am totally declaring my Italian major next week.” Drew landed on her father’s couch with a plop to rival a bowling ball’s.
How is she so tiny but so heavy? Granted, Benson hadn’t been able to pick her up since she was fifteen, but that was beside the point.
“He thinks I should do the study abroad program next spring, but there are only a few weeks left before the application date cuts off… what do you think?”
He tossed his phone onto the end table and got more comfortable in the corner of his couch.
It was late morning on Sunday, and while he knew his daughter would drag him out of the house later that afternoon, he had hoped to chill out until after lunch.
Guess we’re doing this during her Spring Break.
Drew wasn’t spending her whole break at her dad’s, since she was going on a trip with her friends on Monday, but until then? Daddy’s girl time.
“I think it sounds like something you want to do.”
“Dad.” She poked him in the arm, her dark blond hair that was almost brown slipping out of its sloppy bun. Drew backed up to fix it while she spoke. “Come on. Would you have a problem with me studying abroad for a semester?”
“Not particularly, although I would miss your weekend visits.”
“I promise it’s not that expensive. And I’d be staying in campus apartments right on the property in a really safe area of the city. We’re all assigned a local buddy who is in the English Studies department and—”
He cut her off. “You don’t need to sell it to me. But, yes, I appreciate any information about your safety in Italy.”
“So, I can apply?”
“Nothing wrong with applying. We’ll come back to this when you’re accepted.”
“Eee!” Drew flung her arms around her father’s shoulders and nuzzled his cheek with her nose. “I love you, Daddy. You’re so the best.”
“Have you asked your mother yet?”
Her grip lightened. “Mm, no. You’re the first one I’ve told. I’ll tell her when I get back from New Orleans.”
I’m more worried about you in New Orleans than on an Italian campus. “She’s going to be more reticent than me.”
“I know.” Drew’s elbows sagged against his arm. Her pout was a throwback to when she was ten and asking for a Disney World birthday party. “She’ll be convinced that I’ll get pregnant. By consent or not!”
Don’t put that in my head. Benson knew better than to grimace at his daughter candidly talking about this, though. He’d rather she be open with him about whatever was on her mind than potentially keep dangerous information to herself.
“Because your mother got pregnant in school and doesn’t want that happening to you.”
“She got pregnant by you! With me!”
“Boy, nothing gets past you, college girl.”
Drew bounded off the couch to get something from the fridge.
Benson leaned his head back on his couch and stared at his ceiling through glazed-over eyes.
In college and going to study abroad. Drew would be twenty-one a year from now.
Old enough to drink. Certainly old enough to date and decide whatever fate was in her hands.
The only thing that hurt his heart about her going to Italy was knowing he couldn’t experience it with her.
The older I get, the more I understand what Sydney and mine’s parents must have felt.
They had been aghast that Sydney was not only pregnant right when exiting grad school, but wasn’t planning on doing something about it. I thought her dad would kill me.
He thanked God he didn’t have to worry about that with Eden. Double the birth control, double the fun.
Granted, he never worried about that with Liam, either. Despite whatever weird books his daughter picked up from the bookstore, said when he treated her to mini shopping sprees. Through the ass… babies delivered through the ass… can you believe it…
Now his eyes were glazed over for a different reason. He almost didn’t hear someone ringing his bell.
“I’ll get it!” Drew announced from the kitchen before Benson had the chance to go through who had access to his door. He hoped it wasn’t Liam. Since they had their tentative little truce while both dating Eden, he hadn’t…
Shit.
“Dad!” Drew’s voice echoed in the small foyer. “It’s a lady!”
Eden. She was the last person added to his list, and he had given her the instructions to drop by whenever she wanted.
Benson hauled himself off his couch and turned around. Sure enough, that was Eden standing in the doorway.
“Uh, hi.” She waved at him, looking as young as Drew with her fresh, youthful makeup, while holding her phone as if she had never detached from it. That was when he saw a notification from her pop up on his phone screen. “Am I interrupting?”
Benson attempted to stay casual as he approached. Drew respectfully stepped out of the way when her father was behind her, but her curiosity was piqued. As if someone had just offered her that Disney World birthday party of her ten-year-old dreams.
“Not at all.” Benson was careful not to drop any nicknames in front of his daughter. Can’t be caught slipping, as she would say. The name “angel” was on the tip of his tongue. “What’s up?”
Eden cocked her head so she could see over his shoulder. Despite not turning around, Benson felt the electric energy between Eden and Drew’s eye contact. Hmm. He would have to address this.
“Eden, this is my daughter, Drew.” Benson stepped out of the way so both young women could be duly addressed. “She’s staying with me this weekend.”
“Oh… oh!” Eden blushed as she extended her hand to shake Drew’s. “I had no idea your daughter was over. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Eden.”
“Hi. I’m Drew.” As if that had not been established…
They both looked at Benson. He wanted to go back into his room and shut the door.
But, no… he had to deal with this.
“Eden is my girlfriend.” There. Band-Aid off. “We’ve recently gotten more serious, so I guess it’s about time for you two to meet.”
“Hi,” Eden said again.
“I see.” Drew remained polite as she smiled at Eden. “I knew Dad was seeing someone, but I didn’t know she was… well, never mind.”
Basically your age? Benson had to nip this in the bud. “What’s up?” he asked again.
“Oh! Nothing. I was just in the area to get my nails done and thought I’d drop by to see if you were available for lunch… just a surprise. I should have texted you first.”
“We have plans to go out,” Benson said, referring to his daughter. “I’ll call you later.”
He hoped that got the message across without being rude. He even threw in a wink.
“Right! So sorry again. Lovely to meet you.” Eden waved at Drew before hauling ass down the hallway. Honestly, Benson was slightly offended that she hurried away so quickly.
He closed the door and turned toward his daughter, whose arms were crossed and whose eyes couldn’t be more scolding.
“I don’t want to hear it,” he said, latching the lock and heading back to the living room.
“Hear what?”
“I already know what you’re thinking.”
“What, that she’s like… twenty?”
“I’ll have you know she’s well out of college, peach.”
Drew followed her father, who rounded back into the kitchen to grab some diet soda from his fridge. It beat just sitting like a lame duck in his living room for his daughter to pick at. “What? Like a year?”
“Stop.”
“How old is she, Daddy?”
Sighing, he screwed the cap back on the two-liter and slapped both hands on the counter. “Twenty-five.”
“Twenty… oh, my God, does Mom know?”
“It is none of your mother’s business who I date at this point. You’re grown up.”
“Does Liam know?”
“What does… yes, actually, he does know. What point is that even supposed to be, anyway?”
“Even he’s too old for her. I don’t want to hear that you’re grooming a girl, Dad.”
“Watch your mouth. Don’t even be flippant about that sort of thing.” He knew his daughter’s generation could be a bit prudish, but Jesus. “We met a couple of months ago. There’s no way in hell she’s not old enough to say she can’t date me.”
“I’m sure she’s nice.” Drew leaned against the counter, that judgmental look as insidious as her mother’s when Benson confessed a few things. “You really don’t strike me as the type of man to date someone so young. I thought you had more sense than that.”
“More sense? What does that mean?
“No twenty-something dates an old guy like you for any reason beyond money, Dad.”
“Old guy! Who are you to say either thing? You’ve been in your twenties for like three months!”
“Pfft. Whatever. I know a gold-digger when I see one. Did you see her nails?”
“What about her nails?” Benson took a swig of his soda before pointing to his own daughter’s nails. “You also have fancy nails.”
“Um, yeah, mine are classy. They say I will go to college and study abroad in Italy, going to museums and learning about art. Hers say… well, she has stripper nails, Daddy.”
He stood in front of his daughter, staring her down until Drew awkwardly looked away and considered her own nails.
“So, let me get this straight.” He didn’t even mean to sound so thuggish toward his daughter, but the annoyance – and offense on Eden’s behalf – was strong enough that he couldn’t help it.
“You didn’t have a problem with me being with Liam a few years ago, but an adult woman well out of college is a five-alarm fire. ”
“Those are two totally different things. Liam was…”
“A man.”
“Yeah? What’s wrong with that? Half my campus is queer, Dad.”
“He was also ten years younger than me.”
“But like… thirty, right?”
“That’s the magic number, huh?”
“Half your age plus seven, Dad! That’s the rule!”
“Who made up that rule?”
“I dunno! Someone smart!”
“So, not you?”
“Dad!”
“I’m sorry. That was rude. But so are you.”
They reached an impasse, wherein Benson glared at his daughter, and she scrunched her nose at him.
“It might not even turn into anything long-term,” Benson finally said. “But I need you to treat her with respect. Including in private, when it’s just you and me.”
Eventually, Drew slammed her arms to her sides with a dramatic scoff. “Whatever.”
“No, whatever. I need to know that this isn’t going to be a problem.”
“It won’t be a problem! God!”
“Good.”
“Just don’t expect me to call someone only five years older than me my stepmom!”
Benson pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re jumping way ahead of me there. And on that note…” He had another thought. “Don’t tell your mother. This is my private business that has nothing to do with you two right now.”
“It has a lot to do with me! I’m your daughter!”
“Yes, but she’s my ex-wife. Your mother gets no say in who I date now, as I mentioned before. I just know that you two can be a packaged deal when it comes to gossip.”
“Well, yeah. I tell her everything. It’s just sometimes I tell you things first.”
“So, I’m asking you not to tell her until I’ve had the chance. And I only will if things get more serious with Eden. Until then, zip it.”
“I’m telling all my friends.”
“So it can get back to your mother? What did I just say, Drew?”
She shrugged.