Chapter 13
Maven
“Up and at ’em.” Ben’s voice roused me from my sleep right before he flipped the lights on in his bedroom.
“What time is it?” I groaned, fairly certain it was still dark outside, though it was hard to be confident with the disorienting lights shining overhead.
“Almost six-thirty.”
Ha. I rolled over. There was no way I was getting up right now.
Ben came to the side of his bed and yanked the comforter off of me.
With the blast of chilly air, I shot upward, taking hold of the corner and pulling it back toward me. “What if I’d been sleeping in my underwear?”
Ben didn’t relent, holding tight to the comforter. “It’s not like I haven’t seen that before.”
Ugh! “What are you even doing?”
Finn poked his head into the room, his tail wagging wildly at our game of tug-of-war.
“I have to leave, and you have lost the privilege of being left here alone.”
I stilled, wondering which of my little surprises he’d discovered. Or maybe he was mad I’d commandeered his bed, essentially calling his bluff that he’d happily share it with me and forcing him to sleep on the couch. “Why exactly?”
He just stared at me. “Let’s go.”
I stared right back. “No.”
His brows lifted. “I’ll carry you out of here like that if you’d prefer.”
I narrowed my eyes, deciding whether he was being serious. He was. “At least tell me where we’re going so I know how to dress,” I said, releasing the blanket and quickly adjusting my shorts and tank top.
With one seemingly involuntary sweep of my body, he abruptly turned to leave the room. “Wear jeans and a sweatshirt,” he called, making his way down the stairs.
I sat there for a solid minute, deciding how annoyed to be, before convincing myself this was actually a huge victory. Ben was cracking. It was time to push him a little harder.
With that in mind, I took my sweet time getting ready, finally coming out of the bathroom nearly forty-five minutes later.
Ben waited for me at the table, his leg bouncing up and down restlessly. Ben rarely got impatient, so that was a good sign.
The overwhelming smell of bacon wafted in the air from Ben’s breakfast, making my stomach growl. “Am I going to be able to grab breakfast somewhere?” I asked. “Or should I just make something here before we—”
Without speaking, he gestured to a paper plate sitting in front of him with what looked to be some kind of breakfast burrito on it, wrapped in foil.
“That’s for me?”
“It’s probably cold now.”
My conscience pricked me slightly. But maybe that was exactly the reason Ben had made me breakfast. He knew I’d feel bad and, consequently, ease up on him. It wasn’t happening. Not until he changed his mind.
When I attempted to grab it, Ben pulled the burrito out of reach and stood. “You can have it in the truck. We’ve got to go or I’m going to be late.”
With no other reason to delay, Finn and I followed him into the chilly morning air.
When he opened the truck door, Finn jumped in, then I slid through to the middle seat.
Just to make sure the passenger seatbelt hadn’t magically fixed itself in the night, I gave it a tug.
Still stuck. “You really need to get that fixed.”
He climbed in and handed me the plate. To my delight, the bottom of it was still warm.
While Ben started the truck, I eagerly unwrapped the burrito, putting it to my lips, but then paused.
Was this retaliation for dinner last night?
Nothing had smelled burned this morning. Had he done something else to it?
I lowered the burrito and glanced over at him.
He grinned, like he had been waiting for me to realize the irony of the situation. “It’s just a breakfast burrito.”
“How much hot sauce did you add?”
“To yours? None.” His smirk was far from reassuring.
I studied the tortilla. It didn’t look like there were any spots saturated with hot sauce.
Plus, it smelled too amazing not to risk it.
Cautiously, I took a small bite. I nearly moaned with pleasure at the taste of eggs, melted cheese, potatoes, bacon, and sauteed peppers.
On the second bite, I didn’t hold back, shoving as much in as I could fit in my mouth.
I could feel Ben watching me out of the corner of his eyes. “Good?”
My mouth brimmed with half-chewed burrito. “Sooo good.”
He wore a self-satisfied smile, and though I didn’t want to stroke his overly large ego, I had to give it to him. Plus, he’d know I was lying if I’d said otherwise. Especially with the record speed with which I polished off every last bit, besides one piece of bacon I reluctantly gave to Finn.
We left the town limits, winding through the tree-covered roads in the early morning light.
A thin fog clung to the ground, and with the way the fall foliage encompassed the road, it was like a tunnel made of changing leaves stretched on indefinitely above us.
It was breathtaking. It also reminded me of all the times Ben and I had driven these roads in the fall.
Me sitting right next to him, just like I was at the moment. Except so much had changed.
At the reminder, I scooted a touch closer to Finn. Not that it did much good. Ben was close enough that I could smell him, and he smelled…
My smile came out in full force. With the overwhelming aroma of bacon in the trailer and the burrito once we’d gotten in the truck, I hadn’t noticed his scent. “You smell so good, Ben. What is it?” I leaned in, sniffing him. “Apple blossoms?”
He gripped the steering wheel with both hands, pulling in a slow, seemingly intentional breath. “First switching out my hand soap, and now my shampoo and body wash? Do you have no limits?”
“I might, but I haven’t found them yet.”
“Which is exactly why you’ve lost the privilege of being in the fifth wheel while I’m gone. Between that, reorganizing my stuff, and…”
“And what?” He couldn’t have figured out about the women’s clothing catalogs I’d requested in his name yet. Maybe he’d noticed that none of his pens and pencils worked because I’d covered the tips with clear nail polish?
“You sewed the flies closed on my boxer briefs.”
I barely held in my laughter. “You don’t seem impressed. I’ll have you know it was exceptionally tricky lining up the fabric just right so that the stitching wouldn’t be a dead giveaway.”
“I’ll have to let my mom know how good you are with a needle. She might put you to work on the quilt she’s making Jaxon and Landrie for their wedding.”
At the mention of the wedding, my smile dimmed slightly. “I can’t believe Jaxon’s getting married.”
“I know. It’s less than two weeks away now.”
My chest tightened at the reminder. The Walkers had been a second family to me, even before Ben finally reciprocated my long-held feelings for him and we started dating.
I had grown up with them. Jaxon was six when we’d first met.
So when my mom called me to say Jaxon and Landrie were getting married, I cried for two days straight.
Hearing news like that through the grapevine seemed to solidify my position as an outsider.
Which, all things considered, made sense.
But it still hurt in a physical, gut-wrenching way. “I’m so happy for them.”
“Me too.”
I set my gaze out the windshield again and ran a hand down Finn’s back. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?”
“The sawmill up in Lancaster.”
“You’re doing work on a Saturday morning?”
“It’s not work. Not really. As the culminating event of the fall festival next week, the community is doing a barn raising. I need to make sure all the wood has been cut correctly and is ready to go.”
“A barn raising? Like in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?”
Ben’s brow creased, like he had no idea what I was talking about.
My mouth parted in offense. “We watched it together. It’s the one where the oldest of seven brothers gets married without telling his new bride she’s going to have all those brothers—”
“I guess I vaguely remember. But, if I’m being honest”—Ben’s gaze flicked to me, then dropped to my body so briefly I almost missed it—“I’m guessing my mind was elsewhere that night.”
My cheeks grew hot at his insinuation, which had probably been his intention. “Well, I know what our next weekly activity is going to be. And, lucky for you, I won’t be such a distraction this time.”
“Man, I’m so lucky,” he deadpanned.
Dominic was waiting near his truck when we pulled in front of the old sawmill, and in the light of day, I nearly did a double take to make certain it was him.
He’d always been a handsome kid, but Dominic 2.
0 was hard to wrap my mind around. This was Dom.
The boy that I used to beat at foot races and had once eaten an entire unpeeled banana when I’d dared him to.
Ben stepped out of the truck. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”
Dominic walked toward us. “Not at all. I just got here.”
As I slid across the seat, my gaze caught on Ben’s phone still on the dash.
I couldn’t resist the opportunity and quickly slipped it into my sweatshirt pocket right before Ben lifted a hand toward me.
I froze, thinking he’d caught me mid thievery, but realized he was just mindlessly offering to assist me out of the truck.
Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I took hold of his hand and stepped down. “Thanks.”
Dominic gave a nod in my direction. “I didn’t realize you were tagging along today, Maven.”
“I’ve lost the privilege of being left in Ben’s trailer on my own because of a few harmless pranks.”
Dominic’s gaze shifted between us expectantly, but Ben shook his head.
I smiled, far more willing to share than Ben apparently was. “If you notice a delightful smell, it’s Ben.”
Dom was doing his best to resist smiling, but when he couldn’t, he dropped his gaze, allowing his hat to block his amusement from view.
“We’d better go in,” Ben said, retrieving a clipboard full of papers from the compartment on his door before looking back into the cab like he’d forgotten something.
Shoot. He must have realized he didn’t have his phone because he climbed back into his truck and reached across to the glove box.
The moment he opened it, almost a dozen individually packaged tampons came tumbling out.
He picked one up, looking slightly confused before his gaze shifted to me.
I shrugged. “In case of an emergency.”
He glanced around the floor of his truck, now littered with feminine hygiene products. “Twelve emergencies?”
Dom’s muted laughter behind me nearly did me in.
Ben grabbed a pen from the glove box, then quickly gathered the tampons and shoved them back inside.
Apparently, he hadn’t remembered his phone.
The three of us, along with Finn, started across the parking lot.
“What about Finn?” I asked, thinking how I could get myself a few minutes alone with Ben’s phone. “Is he allowed inside?”
Ben shook his head. “He knows to wait by the door.”
I squatted down, petting Finn and concealing my boxy sweatshirt pocket from view. “I’ll stay outside with him.”
Ben eyed me suspiciously.
“What mischief could I possibly get up to? We’re literally in the middle of nowhere.”
Dom glanced between us, then headed inside, clearly disinclined to get in the middle of our negotiations.
“Don’t make me regret this.” Ben pointed at me before also disappearing through the door.
Oh, he was very much going to regret it.
To make sure Ben didn’t glimpse what I was up to, I led Finn to the side of the building and took a seat with my back against the wall.
“Let’s see if we can figure out Ben’s password,” I said, pulling the phone out of my pocket.
Typing in the code he’d had when we were married, I was hardly surprised when it opened.
Ben had never been inclined to change if he didn’t have to.
Maybe after today, he’d learn his lesson. Sometimes change was necessary. Especially when it involved your soon-to-be-ex-wife knowing the password on your phone.