Chapter 14
Aspen, Colorado
The Thursday before Thanksgiving, Ella had still not heard anything from her parents.
Months earlier, Ben had planned a ski trip to Colorado to visit a few of his college buddies in Aspen before heading to his parents’ house in Arkansas.
Ben promised that if an invite from Ella’s parents came, they would immediately change their plans and fly to Napa.
Assured that if her parents relented and she could be with them, Ella agreed to accompany Ben to Colorado, although she had no intention of skiing.
She was still relatively hopeful that her parents would have a change of heart at the last minute and that they would all be together over Thanksgiving.
Ella worried that Ben would still try to go to Arkansas.
However, he assured her several times that he only wanted to be where she was.
If that was Napa, then so be it. Giving him a kiss of appreciation, Ella asked herself again how she had gotten so lucky to find him.
When Ben had first told Ella about the trip to Aspen, she had to tamp down those pesky insecurities that crept up when she was placed in a new situation she knew nothing about, a much-more-common feeling now in this new world she found herself living.
At the end of the day, Ella told herself she would just be meeting more of Ben’s friends.
So far, she had really liked the ones she had met.
Still, she was a little unsure and offered to stay at his apartment in Malibu alone while he went without her.
Ben gave her a look that told her that was never going to happen.
Once he showed her pictures of the luxurious condo the agent had booked, her interest perked up.
They agreed to keep the news about the baby to themselves in Aspen. Ella was relieved because she was not ready to share that with all his friends, who she suspected would think that was the only reason Ben was with her.
Ella wasn’t stupid. A part of her knew all too well that if she weren’t pregnant, she would not be engaged or living in Malibu.
She certainly would not be going with Ben to Aspen.
If things had been different, she was not sure what their relationship would even look like.
For certain, it would be vastly different than it currently was.
When Ella asked Ben what he had told his friends about her, he smiled and said he was bringing his girlfriend.
As wigged out as Ella was about meeting more of Ben’s friends, she was ever more stressed at the thought of meeting his parents.
The horror of how awful her parents acted was still very raw.
She prayed his parents would take it better than hers.
But she did not hold out much hope. After all, the truth was Ben was bringing home a waitress he had known for all of about five minutes.
His parents would probably think she got knocked up to trap him.
All those thoughts swirled through Ella’s head as they flew first class to Aspen.
The only upside was that Mia and Davy were going to be there, so Ella would know at least one other female. That gave her some comfort.
Once Ben and Ella arrived at the resort, she was awed by its beauty.
The pictures did not do it justice. Looking around at the luxurious condo and the majestic scenery surrounding it, Ella marveled at how different her life was now: taking skiing holidays, flying first class, staying in a high-end condominium.
She felt like such a poser, and she was pretty sure everyone else would see it too.
Sensing that something was off with Ella, Ben, who was fast becoming very astute at reading her moods, wrapped her in his arms. “I bet you could use a nap before we meet up with the gang for dinner.”
Relaxing into him, Ella nodded. “Oh, a nap sounds good.” For a person who went almost twenty years on almost no sleep, Ella was becoming a huge fan of naps. She was always tired. According to the pamphlets her doctor had given her, that was a common side effect of growing a human.
Around 6:00 that night, Ben woke Ella. They had seven o’clock dinner reservations.
She quickly showered and dressed in skinny jeans, a cute top, and low booties.
When Ella left Napa, she did not bring any heavy clothes with her.
Ben had loaned her one of his puffer jackets for the cooler temperatures, which she threw on as she followed him out of the condo.
It was two sizes too big, but it was better than nothing.
Ben and Ella were the first to arrive at Ajax Tavern, where the group had arranged to meet.
While they waited for the others, they ordered the truffle fries, which were just being delivered when Ben’s friends entered the restaurant, making so much noise that everyone turned to look at them.
Ben stood and motioned the group over. As they approached the table, he gave Davy, Mia, and Jack hugs along with all of the others.
With little fanfare, Ben introduced Ella as his girlfriend.
His friends all introduced themselves and made an effort to make Ella feel welcome.
Of course, Davy, Mia, and Jack all remembered Ella from Napa and commented on how great it was to see her again.
In addition to them, Ben introduced her to Jarrod and his girlfriend, Fran, and Billy and his wife, Dalaney.
The others also said how nice it was to meet Ella, but she could see the questions racing through their minds.
Two of the girls gave Ella strange looks.
She knew what they were wondering: They were trying to figure out how she had bagged the one guy who had managed to not get serious with any girl over the past five years they had known him.
Little did they know, that was a question Ella asked herself on a daily basis.
Jack was the only singleton of the group. He had not brought a plus one but was up to his old tricks. Before they had even ordered, he had gotten the waitress’s number. Her name was Heidi, and everyone teased Jac about his nonstop flirting with her, but he took it in stride.
Per their normal, for most of the evening, the guys dominated the conversation.
Listening and trying to absorb as much as she could, Ella was very quiet.
Repeatedly, Ben asked if she was okay. Every time, Ella smiled and nodded yes.
Throughout the dinner, the guys kept a steady stream of sports talk.
It surprised Ella that she was able to understand most of what they were saying.
She had learned a lot about football. She considered jumping into the conversation when one of the guys made a dig about Arkansas football from the game the previous week.
She started to correct a stat that the guy had incorrectly thrown out as a criticism, but she thought better of it.
She wanted Ben’s friends to like her, and pointing out one of their mistakes was probably not the best way to do that.
She needn’t have worried. Ben was on it and quickly told his friend that he was wrong and why.
Shortly after that, while everyone was finishing up their dinner, Ben excused himself under the guise of going to the bathroom.
Instead, he went to the bar and ordered champagne and several desserts.
After dinner, Heidi brought it all along with glasses for everyone to the table. When it arrived, the group was shocked.
Mia was the first to react, “Wow! This looks fabulous, but we did not order any of this.”
Giving Ben a wink, Heidi replied, “Ask loverboy here. He has a big announcement.”
“Loverboy? At this table, I am the only one known as that,” quipped Jack.
“Settle down, stud. Your time will come, but this is the man of the moment,” replied Heidi, as she pointed to Ben.
At Heidi’s words, everyone turned and looked at him.
Standing up and shrugging, Ben said, “Ella and I have something to share with y’all.
” For a moment, Ella froze. He had promised not to tell them about the baby.
She was almost paralyzed with fear. Taking one of the champagne flutes that Heidi had filled, Ben raised it and said, “Ella has agreed to make an honest man of me. We are getting married!”
Whatever his friends had been expecting, that was not it.
After all, Ben had only introduced her as his girlfriend a few hours before.
Now, they were getting married? There was a long pregnant pause.
No one said a word. Finally, Davy recovered enough to say, “Congratulations! Mia and I are so happy for you. That is great news. Welcome to the old ball-and- chain club!”
After that, all Ben’s friends repeated similar sentiments. Ella took a glass of the bubbly liquid but only pretended to take a sip. She hoped no one noticed, but given the looks Fran was giving her, she was not so sure.
As they left the restaurant, the group made plans to meet for breakfast in the morning.
After that, some planned to spend the day on the slopes if the snowfall predicted for that night fell.
Mia and Fran both planned to go shopping and asked Ella if she would like to join them.
Ella was not sure if she actually wanted to go, but she could not think of any good way to get out of it, so she agreed.
The next morning, a fresh mound of white snow covered everything.
Everyone was in high spirits thinking about hitting the slopes.
That was all the guys could talk about at breakfast. Ella was more focused on how relieved she was at not feeling nauseated.
She ordered the French toast plate and was amazed at how wonderful it tasted.
When it came time for the skiers to leave, Ben offered to stay back with Ella and spend the day with her.
Ella knew how much Ben had been looking forward to skiing with his buddies.
She appreciated his thinking of her, but she hated to keep him from doing something he really wanted to do.
She told him not to worry. She would tag along with Fran and Mia on their shopping trip.
Ella could see in Ben’s eyes how happy her response had made him.
He gave her a quick kiss and told her to buy herself something, spending whatever she wanted.
Ella nodded. They both knew she still struggled with frivolous spending.
As Ben left to go with his buddies, he turned back one last time. Giving Ella an uncertain look, he said to call him if she changed her mind. He promised to come back immediately. Ella knew she would not do that. Instead, she told him to go and have a great time. She would be fine.
Ella’s optimistic outlook lasted right up until the first store that Mia and Fran took her to.
Knowing she could use a coat because all she had was the one Ben had loaned her, Ella decided to look for one—until she got a look at the prices.
She nearly fell over. She could not believe her eyes.
A simple T-shirt cost more than $500, and the jacket that she liked was close to $2,000.
She had never spent that much on her entire wardrobe.
She considered asking Mia and Fran if they had ever heard of Target but decided not to after she saw Fran quickly scoop up what had to be at least $5,000 worth of items in less than an hour.
Both Mia and Fran spent money like it was air.
By the end of the day, Ella had resorted to finding a chair and reading on her phone while the other two shopped boutique after boutique.
She just could not bring herself to even look at, much less try on, clothes that cost that much.
It might be how they lived, but it was not who she was.
The only thing she purchased was a pair of gloves from a clearance bin.
She made sure to check out while the others were in the dressing room.
The gloves cost much more than she would have normally spent, but her hands were freezing.
Later that afternoon, Ella was resting on the coach at the condo when Ben returned.
Asking what she brought, Ella showed him her gloves and then proceeded to tell him about the day.
He laughed at her disbelief at the high cost of shopping in Aspen, saying that was what people did there.
Her only response to that was to say she thought it was ridiculous and wasteful.
It made no difference to Ben if Ella bought designer clothes or not. He thought she looked better than all the other girls he knew put together. He told her as much as he rained kisses down her neck. Ben’s words quieted something raw inside of Ella and gave her another reason to love him.
Later that night, after they were back from yet another long dinner with guys talking about sports and girls talking about all the things they had bought, Ella fell asleep, promising herself she would not spend another day shopping at high-end stores pretending she belonged there when she knew perfectly well she did not.