8. Ben
CHAPTER EIGHT
ben
DOMESTIC GOD
I stand on Katy’s porch holding a paper bag full of muffins.
Okay, Ben. Deep breath. Ring the damn doorbell. You are just delivering muffins.
Not confessing your undying love. Not reopening anything. This is a normal, nice thing to do for someone you care about.
So why do my palms feel sweaty?
I ring the doorbell before I can overthink it any harder.
I hear footsteps, and the door opens.
Katy blinks at me like I’ve short-circuited her brain, and then her dark blue eyes narrow. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I’m suddenly very aware of my arms. And my face. And the fact that I am still holding the muffins instead of handing them to her like a functioning adult.
I lift the bag. “Uh, I brought you muffins.”
She looks down at them. Then back at me. “You brought me muffins.” A pause. “Are you trying to bribe a pregnant woman, Ben?”
“What? No. I made them.” The words come out in a rush. “Well, more like assisted. Ella supervised. Intensely. These are”—I clear my throat—“chocolate chip but the healthy version. That’s what she told me. She said you can eat them.”
Something in Katy’s expression softens.
“Oh.” She blinks. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know.” I shrug. “But you’ve been… you know. And I wanted… you know.” I gesture vaguely. “So. Muffins.”
She laughs quietly, the tension easing out of her shoulders. She reaches for the bag, her fingers brushing mine for half a second.
It shouldn’t feel like anything. But it does.
Before either of us can say anything else, a voice booms from behind her.
“Katherine Elizabeth, are you seriously making Benjamin stand on the porch? Where are your manners?”
Grandma Patty appears over her shoulder, with a big knowing smirk.
“Oh, Ben!” she says. “Well don’t just stand there, sweetheart. Come in.”
“Seriously, Grandma,” Katy groans, mortified. “You can’t just…”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous.” Her grandma waves her off. “He brought food. Obviously, he’s coming inside.”
She reaches past Katy, takes the bag from her hands, and peers inside. “Chocolate chip?” she asks.
“Katy’s favorite,” I say automatically.
She hums approvingly. “Nicely done. Now, to thank you properly, I want you here on Friday night for family dinner, Benjamin.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
Katy winces. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I laugh despite myself. “I love Grandma Patty.”
“Everyone does,” her grandma adds cheekily, already walking toward the kitchen.
Katy steps aside, cheeks pink. “You can come in. If you want.”
I want.
I try to play it cool. “Yeah. Okay.”
The kitchen smells like fresh coffee. Katy’s grandma sets the muffins on the counter and immediately starts fussing with plates. “Sit,” she tells me.
“Yes, ma’am,” I say without thinking.
Katy shoots me a look. “Traitor.”
Her grandma beams. “Leave him alone, Katherine. He’s being very nice to you. The least you could do is offer him some coffee.”
I smile, because apparently her grandma is my new wing woman.
Katy rolls her eyes and gets a cup for me. Then she takes a muffin, breaks it in half, and takes a bite. Her shoulders relax like she’s been holding tension there.
“They’re good,” she says.
Relief hits me harder than it should. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She smiles at me. “Thank you.”
Her grandma claps her hands once. “Alright. I’m going to give you two a minute. Katy, seriously, be grateful. Men don’t just show up with baked goods anymore.”
“Grandma,” Katy chastises, horrified.
But she’s already gone.
Silence settles in. Not awkward. Just… quiet.
“I should probably go,” I say. Staying feels dangerous in a way I don’t want to examine.
Katy nods, even though she looks a little disappointed. Or maybe I’m projecting. I do that now.
“Thanks again,” she says. “For the muffins. And… everything.”
“Anytime,” I say. And I mean it. “Also, um… I booked a prenatal yoga class tomorrow. Ten a.m. I’ll come pick you up.”
Her eyes widen.
“What?”
“You heard me, Katy Cat. I’ll see you then.” I wink.
“You can’t just assume I’m free, you know?”
“Are you?”
She crosses her arms. “That’s not the point.”
“Great, then it’s settled. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She rolls her eyes at me, but she’s smiling. I take the win and leave before I can say something stupid.
As I step back onto the porch, I realize that showing up for her feels easier than staying away.
KATY
Rebecca decided I looked tragically pale and demanded I come over to Ella’s house to read by the pool, as if a tan might fix my life.
She’s been watching me for the last ten minutes with that calm, mildly smug expression I’ve noticed she gets like she’s already three steps ahead of everyone else. “So,” she starts casually, stirring her lemonade, “I heard Ben brought muffins.”
Ella perks up immediately. “Homemade healthy muffins. He asked me to help.”
“He called them Ella-approved,” I add.
Ella grins. “They were. Seriously, it was adorable. He’s trying to be the world’s most helpful human. How cute is that?”
I snort. “He’s just being… Ben.”
Rebecca hums. “Mm.”
Ella sits up, elbows on her knees. “Yeah, that’s Ben. But he’s always had a soft spot for you. He even backed out of the St. Tropez trip. Said he wanted to be here for you.” She squints. “He’s going to be helpful forever, Katy. His golden retriever mode has been fully activated.”
“He did? He canceled a trip? To St. Tropez?” Oh God. I didn’t even know they had a trip planned. I definitely didn’t know he gave one up for me. I don’t know what to do with that information.
“Mm-hmm.” Rebecca looks at me with that knowing smirk again.
“Well,” I say, too fast.
Both of them look at me.
“Well what?” Ella asks.
I open my mouth. Close it. Sigh. “Well… he’s actually in the running.”
Silence.
Rebecca leans back in her lounger, completely unshocked. “I knew it.”
“You did?”
“Katy,” she says gently, “you look at him like you forgot how blinking works. And he looks at you like he’s terrified of failing a test he didn’t study for.”
Ella’s mouth drops open. “WAIT, WHAT?”
“Biologically,” I add quickly. “He could be. So… he might be.”
Ella freezes.
Then her eyes go wide.
“Oh my God.”
Rebecca closes her eyes. “Here we go.”
“Oh my GOD,” Ella squeals, jumping up. “THIS MEANS…”
“No,” I warn.
“THIS MEANS THIS BABY COULD BE MY DOUBLE NEPHEW.”
I stare at her. “Your…”
“Double. Nephew. Or niece.” She grabs my arm. “I’m going to be a double aunt.” She throws her hands in the air. “Do you understand how iconic that is?”
“Ella,” Rebecca says flatly, “sit down before you injure yourself.”
“I will not,” Ella declares.
And then I start laughing. Like, real laughing. The kind that sneaks up on you and knocks the air out of your lungs. My stomach hurts, my eyes sting, and for the first time in days, the tightness in my chest actually eases. I forgot how this felt.
Ella beams. “See? Joy. I bring joy.”
“Okay, okay,” I wipe at my eyes but I’m still laughing. “But this does not mean you get to be worse than you already are.”
She blinks. “Worse?”
“Yes,” I say. “You are already at maximum.”
Rebecca snorts into her glass.
“Look, I appreciate your love and how much you care. But I cannot take it anymore,” I tell her. “You absolutely cannot escalate.”
Ella presses a hand to her chest. “Wow. You get pregnant, and suddenly you’re very sassy.”
“Yes,” Rebecca agrees. “We call that growth.”
Ella sighs dramatically and flops back into her lounger. “Fine. I will attempt to be normal.”
I give her a look.
“For you,” she adds. “No promises about anyone else.”
I laugh again, softer this time. “Thank you.”
Rebecca sets her glass down and leans forward, her tone shifting. “Okay. Jokes aside… what exactly happened? Why are there other candidates if you finally got with the guy you wanted? Was he disappointing?”
Ella whips her head towards Rebecca so fast I’m worried she might’ve broken her neck. “Bex! Please don’t start. He’s my cousin!”
“He wasn’t disappointing in that way. But he kind of disappeared on me. He never called me. Or even texted me after our night together. So I spiraled. Hence the other contenders.”
I say it like a joke, but shame still crawls up my throat.
Ella nods like this makes 100% sense, and I love her for it.
Rebecca reaches over and squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry, Katy. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Of course you didn’t. And he might be acting all cute now, but I get why you wouldn’t trust him after that.” Ella adds.
“Thank you for being on my side, even when he is your cousin,” I say to her.
“Of course,” she declares. “But just so we’re clear,” she says, already smiling again, “this is also my baby now.”
I groan. “See? Already worse.”
Rebecca grins. “Yeah. But at least you’ll never have to do this alone.”