Page 80 of Just a Plot Twist
Benson nods. “I’m lucky.” His phone vibrates, so he grabs it off the table. He groans and then shows me the screen. It’s a text from Mrs. Lambert, his landlady, saying that she’s extending her trip and asking if he can take care of Cinnamon for a few extra days.
“Dax and Indie will be excited about that,” I say.
He shrugs. “I mean, I have to say yes, right? What other alternative is there?”
“You can say whatever you want to her. But deep down, you’re secretly excited you get the dog for a few more days.”
He snorts. “I used to have peace and quiet on weeknights. Now I’m suddenly a vet to a dowager princess, applying various medicated creams and doing a song and a dance to get her to eat her pills.”
“Show me your song and dance.”
His lip curls before taking a drink. “No way.”
I scrub Cinnamon’s face. “How can you not love her, huh? She’s just asking to be loved, that’s it.” I make kissy faces and smooching sounds at her. “Don’t listen to that grump, okay, Cinnamon? You keep up your healthy self-esteem, you hear?”
He smirks at my cooing and then nods in her direction. “The Queen of Sheba’s self-esteem is fine.” Then, “How’s the trailways project coming along?”
“Things are slow. We need money. And it’s all on me now that Inez is officially gone.”
“You’re going to do great.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybes about it, Claire. Nobody cares like you do. The project is going to succeed.”
My stomach twists in doubt. “Thanks for believing in me. I hope the mayor agrees. What about the stuff with Peter Schiller?”
“My father is solidifying things with HR and legal. If they give the go-ahead, he’ll fire him any day now.”
“That sucks for your father. This has been rough for him.”
“He wasn’t expecting to have to deal with this at this point in his career. He assumed he had things in place for a smooth transition to full retirement. Now? He might come back and play a bigger role, instead of stepping back like he wants to.”
“And that wouldn’t be a good thing, I take it?”
“He’s changed a lot over the years, from what I hear, but a lot of that has to do with learning how to delegate. I’m worried that will go away if he has to jump back in at full capacity.”
“But it’s not like he’d become an old sour grump again. He’s changed for real.”
He shrugs. “I hope so.”
“How are things between the two of you? It’s probably strange having two dads, sort of?”
“And three mothers, in a way. My birth mother, Ellen, my adoptive mother, Leila, who is my real mom in all the ways that count, and now Celine. She’s been so sweet. And Thomas and I struggled at first, but then I stopped trying to put him in a fatherly role. We’re more like colleagues and friends. Things aren’t so weird between us now.”
“That’s great, Benson. I love that you have that.”
“I tried not to expect something big between us. I’m trying to deal with the plot twists as they come, instead of worrying that life is different than what I thought it would be.”
“The only given in life is the certainty of plot twists.”
He chuckles. “Yes.” He reaches over and takes my hand in his, playing with the lines on my palm, drawing lazy circles across my skin. Cinnamonnudges my leg with her enormous, flat nose. I reluctantly release my hand from Benson’s and start petting her.
“Hey, you know what? I like you, Claire. And the kids like you.”
I meet his gaze, and the swoons register inside my chest—a bursting, breaking open sort of feeling.
“And Cinnamon really likes you,” he says. “More you than me.”
