Chapter 49
“I guess your trip was good then.” Ireland grinned at Benjamin as she passed through the kitchen, where he was inspecting the day’s meat and vegetable delivery before the rest of the kitchen staff arrived. “You’re always cheerful, but the humming is over the top, even for you.”
“Was I humming?” Benjamin couldn’t banish the smile from his face.
Ireland laughed. “Loudly.”
He chuckled. “I’ll try to keep that under control. But, yes, it was an amazing trip.” He had already updated his family on the good news from Summer’s and Max’s cardiac screenings. “I think going to Hope Springs was just what we needed.”
“I’m glad.” Ireland stopped and watched him examine a bushel of carrots. “I like Summer.”
His grin grew. “Me too.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I kind of got that from the fact that you married her.” She patted his shoulder and continued on the way to her office.
“See,” Benjamin muttered to himself, “she knew I liked Summer.” He was still baffled by the fact that Summer hadn’t believed it. But hopefully the surprise he’d spent the morning finalizing would be one more way to show her.
He continued working, handing out instructions as his staff filtered in.
“Someone is chipper today,” Chloe said when she arrived. “Good trip?”
He felt like jumping up and down and shouting about how amazing it had been. But he simply nodded and said, “The best. I owe you for covering here.”
“Trust me. You’ll be paying me back.” She cackled and rubbed her hands together, sending him what he imagined was supposed to pass for an evil grin, though she was about as evil as a puppy.
The next few hours passed in a blur as Benjamin fell back into the familiar rhythm of the kitchen. His grill master had called in sick, so Benjamin was manning the grills tonight—one of his favorite jobs. His phone buzzed in his pocket a few times, and he planned to check it during a lull in the cooking, but the lull never came.
“Chef.” A hostess stepped gingerly into the kitchen, careful to dodge a server on his way out. “Your wife is on the phone.”
Benjamin grinned at the phrase. He would never get tired of hearing those words, your wife. But he couldn’t walk away from the grill right now. “Can you take a message?”
“Um. She said it’s an emergency.” The hostess looked distressed.
“What kind of emergency?” He was already crossing the room, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chloe take up his spot at the grill.
“She didn’t say.” The hostess led him into the dining area and gestured to the phone next to her podium.
Benjamin picked it up, stretching the cord so he could duck behind the low wall that stood behind the podium.
“Summer? What’s wrong? Are you okay? Is Max hurt?” When he paused for a breath, he could hear sirens in the background.
“It’s my mom.” Summer’s voice sounded strange, but Benjamin let out a breath and leaned heavily against the wall.
“What happened?”
“She . . . We . . . We had a fight earlier. About toilet paper. And alcohol. And I stormed out. But I came back with Max just now because— Well, I don’t even know why— She couldn’t catch her breath and she was confused and didn’t seem to know where she was. She kept saying I should call TJ, and . . .” Summer broke off on a little gasp.
“Where are you now?”
“The ambulance just pulled away,” she said. “Max is with me, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Hang tight. I’ll be there in ten minutes, and we’ll go to the hospital, okay? I’m calling Mia to watch Max.”
He handed the phone to the hostess, then strode into the kitchen and straight to the grill. He couldn’t believe he was going to ask another favor of his sous chef.
“Go,” Chloe said before he could ask. “I’ve got this.”
“I didn’t even tell you what happened,” Benjamin protested weakly.
Chloe shrugged. “It’s your family. Besides, I’ll just add this to the pile of things you owe me for.”
“Deal. Thank you.” Benjamin shed his apron and made a quick dash to the parking lot.
But when he got outside, he froze. His Gremlin was nowhere in sight.
And then he laughed at himself. Of course it wasn’t.
Not when he’d sold it this morning.
He pulled the keys for his new car out of his pocket and hit the key fob, heading for the sensible hatchback with the flashing headlights. He jumped into it and pulled out of the parking lot, calling Mia and then saying a prayer for Mrs. Ellis—and for Summer and Max, who had already lost so much.
When he reached his mother-in-law’s house, he left the car running and jogged to the door, opening it without knocking.
Inside, Max and Summer were both perched on the edge of the couch. Summer jumped up with a start when she saw him, and he strode straight to her and pulled her into his arms. “It’s going to be okay.”
She nodded against his shoulder. “She was really awful today,” she whispered. “The things she said. But I shouldn’t have left like that.”
“It’s not your fault,” Benjamin said firmly. “Come on. We’ll drop Max off at home on the way. Mia is going to meet us there.”
He scooped Max into his arms and led Summer to the door.
“Should we take my car?” she asked as they passed it.
“That’s okay. We’ll come back for it later.”
“But you don’t have a—” They stopped at the passenger door of the still-running car, and she blinked at it as if coming out of a fog. “What’s this? Where’s your car?”
“You’re looking at it.”
Summer turned to him, her mouth curved in confusion.
“Surprise.” He patted the vehicle. “This wasn’t exactly how I planned to tell you, but I sold the Gremlin.”
She stared at him. “You can’t do that.”
He chuckled. “I already did.” He opened her door. “Come on, I’ll tell you my plan in the car.”
She got in slowly, as if afraid the car might swallow her whole.
Benjamin buckled Max into the car seat he’d picked up this morning, then got into the driver’s seat.
Summer sat stiffly next to him, and he reached for her hand. “It will be okay,” he reassured her again as he pulled out of the driveway.
She nodded. “Why did you sell the Gremlin?” She sounded almost angry, and Benjamin glanced at her in surprise.
“It wasn’t exactly a family car,” he said easily. “We couldn’t even put Max’s car seat in the back.”
“My car was fine for that.”
“Sure.” Benjamin turned down the next street. “But now we have two cars for that. And I got a really great offer on the Gremlin. It was enough to buy this car, and I thought we could use the extra—” He took a breath, his excitement building to share the good news. “Toward getting your dance studio up and running.”
Summer inhaled sharply, and Benjamin looked over, expecting to see her wide, beautiful smile. Instead, she wore a sharp frown. “No,” she said flatly.
“No, what?” Benjamin tried to keep the hurt out of his voice at her less-than-enthusiastic reaction.
“No, I’m not going to use the money for a dance studio.”
“You don’t want to open a dance studio?” Had he let his own imagination run away with him after she’d said she missed teaching dance? Maybe he should have talked to her about it more. But he had just been so excited about helping make her dream come true.
“Maybe someday.” She was staring out her window. “But not with your money.”
“Summer.” He didn’t try to hide his exasperation. “We’re married. It’s our money.”
“I didn’t ask you to give up your car for me.” She shot the words at him, hot and angry, and he turned to her in bewilderment.
“I know you didn’t. I wanted to.”
“Well, I didn’t want you to.” She crossed her arms in front of her as he pulled into the driveway. “You’re only going to regret it.”
“Of course I won’t.” He wanted to add more, but Mia was already there, and he got out to let her and Max inside.
Then he climbed back into the car and drove Summer to the hospital. He tried to bring up the Gremlin once, but she shut him down, and he decided it was a conversation for another day.
She was clearly upset about things with her mom. But when all of this was past, he would make her see that he wanted to do this for her.