Chapter 4 #3
“If you want, but you can also just train in the kitchen for a while, then figure out where you want to go from there.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
I rub my chest as I show Benji into the truck. I give him a thorough tour so that he’s acquainted with every inch of the space. If he’s going to train to be a chef at the future Clay Farms restaurant, then he needs to learn how picky I can be in the kitchen.
“So, this week is the spring movie, which means the high school kids will be doing their popcorn and candy booth,” I say while showing Benji how to make a brie-and-blueberry grilled cheese, also known as Harper’s Sandwich.
“But sometimes I’ll do a limited run of a sandwich since it’s a ticketed event now, and we can make some good money with just two sandwich options. ”
“Harper’s Sandwich, right?” Benji asks without any leading from me.
I grin over at him in the heat of the truck. “Yeah, it’s always made him smile. Love seeing that kid smile. Wanna make something new and call it Benji’s Special?”
Benji’s smile is crooked and warm, but his eyes go soft at the question. “Can I call it Angel’s Special?”
“You do you,” I tell him and step back to plate my sandwich.
I eat it slowly as I watch Benji move around the kitchen to create his own version of a grilled cheese.
He chooses thick-sliced sourdough and yellow cheddar, then fries some bacon and adds some sun-dried tomatoes.
Doesn’t sound too good to me, but once it’s bubbling on the counter, it smells great.
The pleasure on Benji’s face once it’s done is unrivaled. He cuts it in half, plates each of us a half, then hands me the plate with a shy, slightly worried smile.
I take a hearty bite, thinking over the burst of flavors on my tongue. It’s delicious, but I think I can improve it. “Grab that large jar in the corner, the tomato-and-red-pepper jam. Yeah, that.”
Benji returns with the jam, and I grab a knife, putting some on each of our plates. “Dunk yours in there, I think this will give it the extra bite.”
Benji’s eyebrows furrow but he takes a bite, and his grin is triple the size it was earlier. “Nolan will love this.”
“I thought this was Angel’s Special?” I ask, teasing.
Benji’s cheeks turn three different shades of red. “Yeah, that’s Nolan. So we can put it on the menu?”
“Sure, this and Harper’s Special. We’ll run to the restaurant store on Friday to make sure we have enough of everything. Now let’s sit down and go over policy and pay, and Beau will want you in the office to sign some forms. Unless you did that already?”
“No, I came right to the truck.”
“Very eager.”
“Bored,” Benji counters with a chuckle. “Nolan and I will kill each other if we’re in each other’s pockets twenty-four seven now that he’s not on tour.”
“How’s he doing?”
I know about Nolan through Beau, but Nolan seems to keep a lot of things close to his chest. I’ve met all these men who now call Clay Springs home, but it’s more like a friend-of-a-friend type thing.
I should probably put more of an effort into getting to know them better, but it’s hard being a single father.
Plus, Lee isn’t exactly the social type, and I usually just go wherever he wants to go when we have time.
Although, he hasn’t really been wanting to hang out much lately.
Benji’s eyes soften when talking about Nolan. His love for the other man is so obvious, his smile crooked, his body at ease because he’s a man clearly in love. “He’s doing a lot better. That’s the magic of medicine and therapy.”
“And a good support system,” I point out while cleaning up the truck.
Benji takes the rag from me when I offer it and starts to wipe everything down.
“I know. My mother was depressed most of her life. I know how it goes. But this morning Nolan woke up and played a song on the guitar with a smile on his face, then he ate one of the muffins I baked him with a good heaping of butter on it. So I’ll take that as a huge win. ”
“Big and small wins matter equally.”
“How’s Lee?”
I freeze with my hand on the fridge. “Huh?”
Benji looks confused. “His dad?”
“What about his dad?”
“Oh, this isn’t a safe space for me any longer. I think it’s time to leave.”
I hold my arm up to block his path out of the truck. He doesn’t look afraid, but he looks like he just stepped in dog shit and wants to flee as fast as he can. “What about his dad?”
“I ran my mouth… Sometimes I do that. I just assumed because you guys are…”
“Are what?”
Benji looks so uncomfortable that I take pity on him and lower my arm a fraction. He takes a few deep breaths, then looks at me like he’s expecting a punch. “Aren’t you guys together?”
“Together?”
“Yeah, together.”
“No… he’s my best friend.”
“Ignore every word that’s come out of my mouth for the past five minutes.”
Benji ducks under my arm and flees out of the front door, toward the office, before I can form another word. He looks over his shoulder and waves, like that absolves him from dropping two atomic bombs on me.
What about Lee’s dad?
And what about us being together?