8. Ben
Chapter eight
Ben
I found myself hurrying from my car into the house next to Sophie’s every time I had to go there, and even though I was hoping to avoid her, I was equally hoping to run into her. I tried to remind myself that this was undignified behavior for a grown man, but it didn’t seem to make any difference.
Then, when I did run into her, it was not a pleasant conversation—in the beginning, at least. But I’m so glad that we had it.
I hadn’t been able to get over to the house during the day, so I drove over there late in the evening to check on the progress of the work being done. I was more than satisfied with the evolving condition of the house.
The upstairs bedroom that had needed the most work looked so much better. The previous owners had boarded up a big rectangular hole in the wall leading to some attic space that was too small to be of any real use. Joe’s crew had had to remove that big piece of plywood and wall up the hole, plastering and painting the new section of wall to look as though the hole had never existed.
The floors throughout the house had been refinished and gleamed with a walnut shine. The walls had been painted a soft gray with white baseboards and white chair rail molding.
There was still some work to be done. A few windows needed to be replaced, and both the front and back yards needed some landscaping. But I could see that the house would soon be ready for its next occupants—whoever they might be.
I was just locking the front door behind me when Sophie’s car pulled into their driveway, and she got out. There was no way I was going to be so immature as to act like I didn’t see her.
“Hey,” I called out as she got out of her car.
She froze in place for a second as though she didn’t recognize my voice or didn’t want to speak to me. Then she turned toward me, and as I was walking in her direction to speak to her over the low fence dividing the properties, she asked me the question I most dreaded.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you have a child?”
“Oh God, Sophie, there’s no quick, easy answer to that. Could we please go somewhere and talk about it? How about a beer at Grumpy’s?”
“I can’t be seen with you in public—not if I’m going to play it safe, anyway.”
“What the fuck! What do you mean you can’t be seen with me in public?”
“Well, I can see that we need to have a conversation somewhere, and I’m not about to spring you on my family right now, if ever. Can we drive somewhere—your house, maybe or just park and talk? If you really want to talk, that is.”
“Absolutely, of course,” I stuttered, and Sophie stunned me by walking out to the sidewalk and scanning the street in both directions before getting into my car.
“Sophie, what was that all about? What the…what is going on?”
“I need to show you something, so the explanation will have to wait until you’re not driving. In the meantime, why don’t you tell me about your son? What’s his name?”
As I drove home, I told her all about Caleb and how I resolved to be the best parent in the world when his mother died. I explained that I had had a government job at the time that I had quit because it required a lot of travel. I had gone into real estate as something that would give me a flexible schedule and more time at home with him. I told her about my housekeeper, about how Anna lived in my house to be there with Caleb if I did need to go out for a while.
I left nothing out. Well, except for one little detail about that government job, but I don’t share that with anyone. I hadn’t told Joe that I worked for the CIA—just that I had done some work for the government that resulted in me being more suspicious than most people.
When we got into the house, I asked Sophie if she wanted a drink, and she asked for a club soda. I gave her a minute to get settled into a comfortable chair with her soda, and then it practically burst out of me.
“Okay, Sophie, I’ll explain why I didn’t tell you about Caleb, but first I need you to tell me why you’re scanning the street and why you can’t be seen with me in public.”
“I’m going to start from the beginning. Okay, you know how you told me about the person in the hoodie that seemed to be stalking our house? Well, I wasn’t too concerned. I mean there could have been some innocent explanation for that. Then I broke my promise to stay out of the woods alone, and something scary happened there.”
I forced myself to appear calm as she told me about being followed in the woods, but when she then showed me the email she had received, I couldn’t contain the fear any longer.
“Jesus, Sophie! Did you go to the police with this?” Even as I asked, I knew what their response would be.
“I tried to phone you after I got the email, and then I drove over here to see if you happened to be home. I was hoping that you would go to the police with me to describe the hoodie stalker, because now that person looks a lot more suspicious than they did before I saw this email. That’s how I happened to see you and Caleb playing soccer in the back,” she finished softly.
I saw in an instant how I had failed her again, and I buried my face in my hands. First, I had lied by omission about having a child, and then I hadn’t gone to the police with her. Even if I had, there wasn’t enough for them to act on, but they might have begun a file, at least, if I had been there to describe the person I saw.
“I am so sorry, Sophie.”
She didn’t respond to that at all, and I was afraid that I had ended any possible chance that we could ever be together. But however that was, I was going to do every single thing possible for her safety until the threat was neutralized.
“Listen,” I began, “I’ll explain why I didn’t tell you about Caleb if you still want to know, but I’d first like to discuss some things we should do for your safety. Is that okay with you?” Getting a nod from her, I continued.
“Well then, I think you should move in here for a while, and that we should go to your parents together to explain the reason for that. Your family is welcome here to do wedding stuff or just hang out—whenever they’d like to be with you. What do you think about that?”
“I don’t know, Ben. It seems a little extreme to me. I think I’ll sleep at home tonight and give it some more thought. I really didn’t want to have to worry my parents, and I really don’t want to take any attention away from Madi.”
I didn’t like it very much, but what was I going to do—kidnap the girl and keep her here by force? If I hadn’t lost her already, that would certainly kill any possible chance of a relationship. So I agreed.
“Okay, we’ll do things your way for now. Do you want to stay and talk some more? I’m up for whatever you want to do.”
“I’m tired, Ben. It’s been a long day, and I’d like to go home now, if you don’t mind taking me.”
“Of course, no problem. But I’m going to take you home in a vehicle that the stalker wouldn’t recognize.”
I took her into the garage with me and got her up into the passenger seat of my pickup truck. Then, using the garage door opener, I raised the door, backed out into the driveway, and lowered the door before backing out into the street and turning around to head toward Sophie’s house.
It was a quiet ride, but I wanted to give her some space and let her decide if she wanted to talk or not. She didn’t.
I slowed down as I turned into Sophie’s street. I wanted to do a little bit of surveillance before I dropped her off, so I cruised past her house going about fifteen miles an hour.
She turned to me in astonishment, “Why didn’t you stop at the house?”
“Sophie, I think I saw someone on the same side of the house as your bedroom. Can I get to your backyard through the property directly behind you?”
“Yes, we had some friends in that house when we were little, and all of our parents agreed to put a gate in the fence so that we could go from one house to the other without going into a street. Do you want to go that way to get into my backyard?”
“Yes, will you wait in the truck?”
“No, but I’ll come with you as far as the fence and show you where the gate is.”
I agreed, because if I went in that way, any intruder around Sophie’s house would naturally run in the opposite direction when they saw me coming. That should guarantee Sophie’s safety back at the rear fence line.
We snuck through the neighbor’s yard since all their lights were out, through the old gate, and into Sophie’s backyard. I grabbed her arm and hissed, “Stay put,” and continued alone to the side of the house.
There was someone there. They’d apparently just given up—probably because there was no light in Sophie’s room, and they were walking away from me toward the street in front of the house.
I began running after them, but they heard me immediately and took off running. They had just enough of a lead, and I was out of shape just enough that they were able to jump into a car down the street and speed off.
Sophie had apparently figured out what was happening since she was right behind me when I gave up and stopped running.
“What’s going on out here? Sophie? Who is that with you? Ben, is that you?”