Chapter 5 - Benny #2
“I’m not arranging. I’m nudging. Gently.
” He leaned forward. “Grandpa, Mom shouldn’t be alone!
There’s a perfectly nice former NFL player across the street and he’s not married and she’s not married and they each have a kid and it always works out in the dumb movies!
All we’re trying to do is…you know. Get me a dad and Olivia a mom. ”
Red stared at him, all the edges in his face softening. And, oh, no. Were those tears in his eyes? Had Benny made him cry? He hated—
“Excuse me? What did you just say, Benedict?”
Benny whipped around and stared at his mother, who stood in the doorway, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised, her cheeks pink from the cold—and, he suspected, from fury.
“Hi, Mom,” he said weakly. “You’re home early.”
She stepped closer. “Actually, I’m right on time.”
Had she heard?
Benny looked at Red for help, but the man was already folding his crossword and mumbling, “I need to go find something in the garage.”
“What is it?” Benny asked, jumping on his escape. “I can find anything in that garage. What are you looking for, Grandpa?”
He threw Benny a look that was equal parts love and a warm familiar feeling that Benny couldn’t name, but he certainly loved.
“My ice skates, son.”
“Yes!” Benny leaped in the air, giving a fist pump of victory.
“You know, I used to be pretty good back in my day,” Red said. “’Course, Eisenhower was president, but still.”
As he walked out, Benny followed, but he barely made it past Mom when she snagged his sleeve.
“Not so fast, buddy.”
In the kitchen, Mom sat Benny at the table and faced him directly, which was never good.
She stared him down, her eyes steady. “All right, young man. Explain.”
He swallowed. “You want the short version or the long version?”
“I want the truth version.”
He huffed out a breath and dropped all his schemes, ideas, and angles. They’d never work on Mom.
He told her the whole story about how Mrs. Locke came into the bakery, Olivia’s whole Parent Trap thing, and the deal that they’d make one gingerbread house in exchange for Grumpy Santa on ice.
By the time he finished, her face didn’t have any of the usual color under her freckles. She was pale, and her eyes looked sad and scared, and Benny wanted to go in a hole and cry for making the person he loved most in the whole world feel anything like Mom looked.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, tears springing behind his eyes. “I’ll fix it.”
“You might make it worse,” she murmured.
“I’m sorry,” he said again.
“Oh, Benny,” she said. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“For what?”
“For…making you want a father.”
He made a face. “I have a father, Mom.”
“I heard what you said, honey. You want a dad, and Olivia wants a mom.”
He shrugged. “I just got in a little deep and was trying to get Grandpa to go along with it. And he is, so…will you?”
“Will I be manipulated into working with Marshall Hampton?”
“Manipulated?”
“It means…” She smiled. “Never mind. You know what it means and how to do it. But, no, Benny, I won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s dishonest and…calculating. I’m sad that you or Olivia thought otherwise.”
“But, Mom, don’t you like him? Isn’t that how grownups, you know, get married?”
She laughed like he’d said something funny and sweet and sad, but wasn’t it true?
“He’s nice,” he pressed, sensing she was starting to get it. “He even gives Sir Isaac Newton free dog treats sometimes.”
“That’s because he’s marketing his store. Healthy dog treats, even.”
“Exactly! You’re both business people. You have synergy!”
Gracie pinched her forehead. “Honey, adult relationships aren’t that simple.”
“I understand complicated things, Mom. I build robots for fun.”
“This is different.”
“How? If you and Olivia’s dad worked together on something fun, you might remember how good it feels to, you know, not be all alone.”
“Sweetheart, I know you mean well. But people’s hearts aren’t projects you can organize.”
“I know that,” he said quietly. “But sometimes they just need a push.”
She looked down, and for a long moment, she didn’t say anything. Then she sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
“I have to tell Eleanor Locke that the arrangement is off, and I need to tell Marshall that you and Olivia cooked this up. It’s not fair to anyone.”
“Wait—Mom, no. Don’t do that. Olivia will be mad at me.”
“Then she’ll be mad at you,” she said firmly, checking her watch and pushing up. “But I have to tell him this was…arranged.”
“What if he still wants to do the gingerbread house with you?”
“Well, then…I don’t know.” She picked up her purse from the counter. “I was going to have lunch with Nicole in town. I’ll go a little early and stop by Craving Clean.”
“Want me to come with you? I’ll own up to my part in the…subterfuge.”
She laughed. “Where do you learn words like that at eleven?”
“Olivia,” he said honestly. “She’s like a vocab queen.”
Mom gave him a sad, soft look. “She’s a good girl, but this was just a little too far.”
He nodded, still feeling awful. “I’ll go find Red in the garage and tell him not to get the skates.”
The kitchen door opened and Red walked in, old brown ice skates dangling from his hand. “Just call me Dick Button.”
Mom gave a dry laugh. “You’re nuts, you know that? I’m running back into town. Try to stay out of trouble, you two.”
She blew a kiss and passed Red to go back outside.
Red frowned, turning to watch her leave and then looking back at Benny. “She hear?”
He nodded.
“You grounded?”
“Worse. She’s going to undo all my work by telling Mr. Hampton.”
Red put the skates on the bench in the mudroom and headed back to the recliner like nothing at all was wrong.
“I messed up so bad,” Benny said, following him.
“Oh, I don’t know, Benny-bean. You tried, I guess.”
Benny eyed him. “You’re not mad at me?”
“Let’s just say I see the merit in the idea. And I gotta hand it to you and that little girlfriend of yours—you want something, you try to make it happen.”
Benny smiled weakly. “So you’ll still be Santa?”
“Maybe.”
Which Benny knew meant yes. “Do you think this might work?”
He shrugged. “You got them talking, so that’s not a bad thing. Now she’s off to see him. Who knows? You put something in motion.”
Newt came over looking for love, which he got from Benny. Red gave him part of a biscotti. And then they finished the crossword puzzle together, which made it a pretty darn perfect Saturday.