30. Wardrobe
The time followingBen and Gia’s impromptu lunch date passed quickly. The long days but short years of motherhood kept her busy with the children—feeding them, meeting their needs, getting them ready for school, serving as a chauffeur to transport them here and there, forcing them to do their homework, and arguing with them over screen time and proper use of the internet. When she was with her kids, they were her priority. Even when they weren’t with her, most of her activities centered around making money to meet the growing expense of their activities, food intake, and so on.
In addition, there was a garden to tend to, crops to harvest, and food to prep. Then, there were work responsibilities. Gia was grateful that she was self-employed and could work on her own terms—as long as she met her client’s deadlines. It wasn’t a particularly lucrative career, nor her “dream job,” but she liked that her various freelance projects allowed her to learn a great deal on various topics, and the flexibility she needed to care for her children.
Gia chatted with Ben by text here and there, but it was predominantly casual and surface-level. Nothing deep or overwhelmingly flirty. If her history with Ben had taught her anything, it was to keep her guard up. Her emotional walls were high and constructed of impenetrable material, and she had every intention of keeping it that way! Even her ex-husband could not break down her barriers, which she admitted may have been part of the cause of their eventual demise as a married couple. She couldn’t open up to him, and so, however right or wrong it may have been, he sought emotional connections elsewhere—first in the text messages and later in the arms of a co-worker!
What Gia found the most interesting was how easily she healed from the betrayal. Of course, her life was flipped upside down for a while, and her heart ached for what once was. But after the emotional upheaval following the initial blow of discovering his extramarital affair, she talked to a therapist for a while, then simply got on with her life. If she was being honest, Ben had hurt her heart significantly more than her husband cheating on her, a realization that terrified Gia, given the nature of her and Ben’s short, unlabeled relationship. She knew he held a certain inexplicable power over her heart, and the idea that she was inviting him back into her life—even if it worked out to be just as a father figure to Aiden—was frightening.
She shook off reminders of that fear whenever they tried to creep into her mind simply by following her daily routine. However, by Tuesday night, the evening before their morning date, Gia frantically pulled clothes from her closet again as she tried to find the perfect date outfit. Casual enough for a stroll through the botanical garden, but she wanted to exude the confidence of a grown woman—not a scared girl—who had her life together.
“No,” she said aloud, tossing a long, gray knit sweater to the floor. “Too grandma-ish.” She placed her fingers against her temples and rotated them in frustration to ease the slight tension headache she felt developing. “Nope, too ugly.” She rolled her eyes at the high-necked top she’d pulled out next. “This isn’t working. I give up!” Gia slammed her closet door shut, leaving a mess of clothes on the floor.
She sat on her bed and began typing furiously into her phone, texting Carla.
G: I need to come over. No clothes.
C: YES! Makeover!
G: No. Just clothes.
C: Come over. The door is open.
G: Be right there.
Gia grabbed a pair of flip-flops and threw them on her feet as she walked out the door toward Carla’s. She climbed the deck stairs two at a time and entered from the patio.
“Carla?” she called as she walked into the house.
“Upstairs! Come up!”
Once upstairs, Gia glanced at Carla’s bed, piled high with different outfit pairings, awaiting Gia’s review. “Wow. You work fast!”
“You know this is my jam! Try this first,” Carla said, holding up a low-cut, slinky black top.
“Nope. No way. I’m going to the botanical garden, not the nightclub!”
“Ooh! You just revealed a secret! I didn’t know where you were going because you didn’t tell me when I asked the other day. Ugh, fine, then you pick one!” Carla rolled her eyes at her friend, gesturing to the bed.
“No… No… Nope. Carla, all of these look like I belong in a strip club!” Gia tossed a short, sequined dress aside. “This isn’t what I’m going for.” She walked over to the closet and pushed hanger after hanger aside, examining its contents.
“Ooh!” Gia blurted out. “This… just might work!” Gia held up the bottom of a soft, floral-patterned wrap dress, her eyes widening. “I’ve never seen you wear this!”
“It’s not really my style. I actually forgot I even owned that. If you want it, you can have it. Here—leggings!”
Gia pulled the dress off the hanger and lifted it over her head before donning the leggings and peering into the mirror on the back of the closet door. The dress hugged Gia’s curves perfectly, with a neckline cut just low enough to add a touch of sex appeal without looking like she was trying too hard.
“Perfect!” she exclaimed.
“Well, it wouldn’t have been my first choice—but then again, not everyone can have my extraordinarily fabulous sense of style,” Carla said with a shrug. “It looks amazing on you, anyway.” Carla gave her friend’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. “It’s very you. Are you excited?”
“Nervous,” Gia admitted. “And I don’t even know why.”
“I mean, it’s kind of a big deal… recently single, going out with your son’s father. There are so many what-ifs… or could-be’s there.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” Gia said sarcastically. “Really helps calm me down.”
“Sorry. You know I’m not one for subtlety,” Carla said with a chuckle.
“You can say that again!” Gia began removing the borrowed clothes, folding them carefully to avoid causing any wrinkles that would frustrate her the following day. “Do you think he’s nervous, too?”
“I have no doubt about it.”
Ben
“My clothes suck! They all suck! They’re all only good for trekking through the rainforest or attending a business meeting with resort executives—there are no date clothes!” Ben spoke to himself as he tore his wardrobe apart in search of something appropriate for his date the next day. He wondered if Gia was nervous, too. He couldn’t imagine her struggling with an outfit. She could wear a garbage bag and still look breathtaking, as far as he was concerned.
“That’s it,” Ben grumbled. “This isn’t working!” He threw the pants he held onto the bed, already strewn with other items, and grabbed his keys off the nightstand. “I’m going shopping.” When he reached his car, he hopped in and pushed the button on the ignition. Noticing the beautiful day, he put the top of the convertible down before reversing out of his parking space. Ben wasn’t one for buying flashy things or showing off. He liked to remain under the radar and keep things simple. In fact, the car had been his one and only ‘frivolous’ purchase after he returned home to an overflowing bank account—and he didn’t regret it. Going for a drive, top-down, sun shining, became his primary source of therapy. His way of coping when life became overwhelming.
As he reached the end of the block, he turned the steering wheel right and eased the car onto the main road. “Where to go, where to go?” Ben questioned aloud. “Main Street. Plenty of options there.” He headed toward Main Street, planning to stop into his shop for a coffee before he hit the block with several men’s clothing stores in a row. By the time he reached Cold Brew, he felt much calmer. The drive had worked wonders on his nerves and cleared his mind.
“Hey there, Morgan,” Ben said to the barista behind the counter. “Just a large Brazilian brew coffee, please.” The barista gave him her biggest smile. By all accounts, Ben was an excellent boss. He had quickly earned the respect of the shop’s staff—partly by keeping all the previous café workers on and giving them each a substantial raise.
“Coming right up! Set up as usual?” she asked, walking over to the extensive coffee brewing system arranged against the back wall.
“Yep, and I’ll take that to go,” Ben added, moving to the other end of the counter to await his beverage. Within minutes, he held a hot cup of strong coffee fixed just as he liked it. The bold flavor reminded him of rainforest mornings, waking up early to start the day with a few moments of peace. Sipping the coffee felt like a brief journey into another life—one he had been prepared to give up if it meant he could have a relationship with Gia and get to know his son.
Ben’s successes in the rainforest translated well to his work back in the states. His research and on-site experience with rainforest ecosystems and sustainable coffee farming and development enabled him to master a system that paired tourism with carefully coordinated environmental research and ecological preservation of the rainforest. After opening his first resort—a two-hut compound with a staff consisting of one cook, a housekeeper, and several scientists hosting a few guests per week, interest—and investors—began to pour in. After Amazonas magazine published an article on the eco-resort, Ben’s expertise was in high demand, with tourism executives reaching out daily, hoping to ride the coattails of his highly successful tourism endeavor.
Ben’s role shifted unexpectedly from eco-resort manager to world traveler and consultant extraordinaire—and his experience came with a hefty price tag that large resorts were all too happy to pay as environmental concerns and interest in the growing eco-tourism field expanded. By the time things slowed down in the industry, Ben had stockpiled millions without realizing it. He was merely following his dream to travel, see the world, make a difference, and escape the poor decisions that led to him losing Gia and Aiden and all that could have been.
His love for strong, bold coffee was further fueled during his travels, allowing him to network and establish connections necessary to acquire fair-trade coffee from his eco-tourism resorts worldwide, generating income for them and yielding high-quality products for the café. The café was his global support endeavor. It tied him to an essential part of his past and provided an ever-present reminder of where he’d been and what he’d learned along the way.
“Thanks a lot!” Ben told the staff member, placing a twenty-dollar bill into the tip jar. Ben hadn’t used his fortune to buy anything crazy—except his vehicle, the café, and the restaurant, but they were already turning a profit—so he liked to use his money to thank those around him for their efforts. After all, it was the service industry, and money was an excellent motivator to ensure his staff continued to provide outstanding service!
Ben gave a quick wave and made his way out of the café and toward the clothing stores on foot. Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw a tall woman with long, black hair slink into one of the nearby shops. Jen? No. Couldn’t be.