9. Sophie
Chapter nine
Sophie
I looked at Ben and saw agreement in his eyes. It was just not possible to keep anything from my parents now.
“Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Wright, it’s me,” he said. “Can we sit down somewhere and talk? I’m afraid we’ve got something to tell you.”
My parents looked at me immediately, and I wondered for one horrible moment if they thought the topic of conversation was going to be a relationship between me and Ben. Maybe they even thought, from our serious faces, that we were going to tell them I was pregnant, so I hurried to tell them about the stalker. A mentally deranged stalker had to be better news than a pregnant daughter, I figured.
We were sitting around their kitchen table, and when we had told them everything—Ben’s stalker sightings and my experience in the woods and the threatening email, Ben said that he had an idea—if it met with their approval.
“I think Sophie might be safer somewhere else for a while, and if her bedroom light stays off long enough and the police drive by often enough, the stalker will hopefully stop lurking around your house. I’ve told her that she’s welcome to one of my guest bedrooms for as long as she wants to stay.”
Dad looked at me and said, “That’s a decision for you to make, Sophie, but I will find a way to protect you if you want to stay with us. You could move to Jake’s old room, and as long as you keep the curtains closed, no one would ever know it’s you in there.”
“Thanks, Dad, but I’m afraid I would feel like a prisoner in the house—as if I couldn’t leave in case he was watching, as if the curtains had to be closed on every window in the house, so I couldn't be seen going from the living room to the kitchen. I think I’m going to have to take Ben up on his offer. The advantage of Ben’s house is that it’s a distance out of town—unlike the houses of family here. Remember, this guy saw me at Grumpy’s, so he seems to have the town covered.”
Dad sighed, and mom reached across the table to hold my hand.
“My darling daughter, you do whatever you think best. We’ve known Ben for years, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he will do everything possible to keep you safe.”
I went upstairs to throw some things in a suitcase, and Ben stayed in the kitchen, talking to my parents. The fact that he has been Jake’s best friend since high school and was in and out of our house for years has made Ben’s plan so acceptable.
Madi had been out with Theo and returned to the house while I was still packing. She came running upstairs in shock, having found Ben with mom and dad and been told all about the stalker.
“Oh my God, Soph! You’re actually moving in with Ben! I mean, it sounds like a good idea, given the stalker and all, but…you’re moving in with Ben!”
“Madi, I’m so sorry to rain all this shit down on the family when all the attention should be on you. I hope Ben told you to come over anytime at all for any reason. We can work on wedding stuff there or anything else you want to do. I just don’t think I’m going to be going into town much for a while.”
“Yeah, Ben gave me the run of his house. Hey, Soph, is there any chance the two of you might hook up? He’s a really good-looking guy, and—”
“No!” I interrupted her, not wanting to hear the end of that sentence.
Ben had shown me into one of his guest rooms, and now we were downstairs in the family room, trying to relax. It was really late by now, but we’d been through so much in the last few hours that neither of us was ready to sleep apparently.
“Sophie,” he said, “I know we’ve still got some things to talk about, but would you consider going out to dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“Are you asking me out on a date?”
“Yeah, I guess I am. I know I’ve given you reason not to want a relationship with me, but maybe we could just put a pin in that and do something for the fun of it. What do you think?”
“Uh…okay. It would be nice to do something really different and forget everything that’s been going on for a few hours. It wouldn’t be a good idea to go to a restaurant in town, though. What did you have in mind?”
“I do have a place in mind, and it’s not in town. That’s all I’m going to tell you until tomorrow evening.”
“Okay, I think it’s time for me to go to bed, then. I hope you don’t mind if I sleep in tomorrow morning.”
“No, get as much sleep as you can. I won’t be able to—that’s the price of parenthood, but I’m used to it. I do think we should go to the police tomorrow with the latest stalker episode, but we can do that whenever you’re up for it.”
The guestroom bed was super comfortable, but I wasn’t actually tired yet. I just needed to get away from Ben and process the whole date thing. When I discovered his failure to be open and honest with me, it made it look almost as though he really just wanted sex and had no intention of letting me into his life. Yes, we had had hours of great conversation, but he’s way too smooth to think that a guy can get sex without chatting a girl up. But now he wanted to go on a date? Could he possibly be interested in me as a potential partner? Why did he have to be so confusing, and why did I have to be so attracted to him? I decided to stop stewing about Ben Culver and go to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up a little after 9 a.m., dressed, and went downstairs to look for Ben. It felt so…odd, being in his house when I still didn’t know what to think of him.
I found him and Caleb in the study. Ben was working at his desk, and Caleb was curled up in a chair with a book. They both looked up as I walked in, and Ben introduced me to his son.
“Caleb, this is Sophie.”
Caleb smiled and said, “Hi.”
“Hi, Caleb, what are you reading?”
“I’m reading a book about The Bad Guys.”
“The Bad Guys? What kind of bad things do they do?”
“They’re animals that everyone thinks are bad. Like there’s Mr. Shark and Mr. Snake and they try to do good things, but they make really funny mistakes when they try to be nice.”
“That sounds like a fun book to read.”
Ben broke into the conversation, “Have you had breakfast, Sophie?”
“No, I don’t need much, but a cup of coffee would be great.”
“Let me introduce you to the kitchen,” he said with a smile, and he stood up from his desk, walked over to me and, making a show of giving me his arm like a gentleman would have done a hundred years ago, off we went.
“Caleb has a playdate with a friend in town, and I thought maybe we could go to the police after I drop him off. What do you think?” Ben asked while I was eating breakfast.
“Good idea. I’d like to get it over with. Why don’t I just ride along with you two, since you’re headed into town?”
“Perfect. Can you be ready in an hour?”
I scoffed at him. “I can be ready in fifteen minutes, but I’ll use the extra time to get my laptop set up.” I headed back upstairs a minute later with Ben’s Wi-Fi info.
The three of us played I Spy on the way into town. Caleb told us it was a baby game but then joined in anyway after a minute or two. Ben pulled up in front of a house in town and walked to the front door with his son. I saw his knock on the door answered by a smiling mother whose son pushed past her to pull Caleb into the house. The adults exchanged a few words, and Ben returned to the car.
Our next stop was the police station. We had arranged a meeting with Detective Roberts, so Ben was able to relate both of his stalker sightings directly to the officer in charge of the case. It didn’t take long, and we were soon on our way back to Ben’s.
On the way, I tried to find out something about his plans for our date that night, but he was too cagey for me. All I could get out of him was that we should shower when we got back home, since the restaurant was a distance away. But when I asked him what I should wear, he told me I could wear any old thing.
Things only got more confusing when he drove us to the airport a little later, and we boarded a private jet waiting on the tarmac. I mean, there I was, wearing “any old thing,” so where could we possibly be going—to McDonalds in Poughkeepsie?
I was understandably stunned when I saw that we were landing at JFK International, so, yeah, you could definitely say that the restaurant was a distance away. Then, he gave the cabbie an address on 5th Avenue that would have to be, judging by my memory, up around Bergdorf Goodman’s. On the way to wherever, I almost hit him, trying to get some information out of him, but he was pretty relaxed for a guy getting threatened the way he was.
Bergdorf’s was the destination, as it turned out. Inside, we were met by a personal shopper, and I was informed that I would be choosing a dinner dress and accessories. I turned to look at Ben, as if to say, “Are you fucking kidding me?” All I got in return was a grin.
I had so much fun trying on dresses and ended up choosing a gorgeous sparkly silver sheath with spaghetti straps that he very clearly approved of. Shoes to match and an appropriate bag and jewelry plus a designer tote for the clothes I had been wearing, and we were on our way to Nobu Downtown.
It was the best date night of my life so far. Dinner was great. Super expensive—especially given how small the portions were, but we ordered a lot of dishes, and the food was really good.
I had found out, as soon as I saw that we had flown to New York City, that Caleb was actually spending the night with his friend, so I relaxed and didn’t worry about getting back to town to pick him up. I had such a good time with Ben, talking and laughing, trying different dishes, drinking, that I almost forgot about the feelings of distrust that had made me quite willing to walk away and never see him again. Almost.