Page 55 of Second Chance Wedding
Cole let his mind go back in time to the frustrations of those years. They’d seemed like such big deals at the time, but now he saw them for the drops in the bucket they were. “They didn’t stop us from dating, but they certainly didn’t encourage it. Ana’s parents tried hard to keep her occupied and too busy to see me. As to the rest, we weren’t allowed. The rules were enrolled upperclassman only, so I couldn’t take your mom my junior or senior years. And by the time your mom was a junior and senior, I had graduated, so then I wasn’t allowed to go.”
“Did she go? Take someone else or go with friends?”
“No.”
“Bet the Taylors loved that,” Ben said, the words followed by a derisive snort. “My grandma seems to like that kind of stuff. I follow her online, and she’s always commenting on pictures of people’s kids when they’re all dressed up or getting awards. All the country club stuff.”
Ben’s statement held all kinds of pain in the flat way he said it, making it apparent he compared himself to those other kids. And felt his grandmother’s lack of attention.
Cole considered Ben’s words for himself, realizing it was another strike against him that Ana hadn’t done those things that apparently garnered Maureen Taylor’s approval because of dating him at the time. No doubt the Taylors wished their only daughter would have chosen differently. “A good parent wants the best for their children. They…probably felt she missed out on things because of me.”
“You’re definitely not the country-club type like my grandpa and the sperm donor,” Ben said dryly. “Not that that mattered since he bailed anyway.”
Cole froze in the seat and tried to act casual, but since Ben brought it up… “I’m not that type, no.”
Ben stared down at his feet propped up on the rungs of the stool, but he lifted his shoulders and shrugged.
“Mom won’t talk about my dad. Like, ever. She gets all weirded out and changes the subject. But I’ve heard her and Quinley talk when they think I’m not listening, and I’ve heard some of my mom and my grandparents’ fights. My mom’s said stuff like that about him. That it didn’t matter what they thought of him or if he was from a rich family when he was a douche anyway.”
Cole knew they treaded some touchy ground, but maybe talking about it would do Ben some good? Not to mention potentially answering some of his own questions about that time.
Ben stared at his feet like he’d never seen them before.
“I know his name,” Ben said suddenly. “I…found it a while back.”
Found it? “Are you saying your mom never told you his name?” That was hard to believe. Ana wasn’t the type for games. So why the disconnect? “What do you mean you found it?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ben said evasively. “Mom’s always said it didn’t matter who he was because he wasn’t around. I mean, it’s always just been us, so I get it. I don’t think I even asked about my dad until I started school and realized kids had them, you know?”
“What happened when you asked her about him? What did she say?” Cole knew he should drop the subject of Ben’s father, but too many questions pounded through his head. He wanted answers. The more Ben said, the more answers Cole needed to make sense of it all.
“That we were our own family and crap like that. But when I got older and asked specific questions, she finally told me that he’d bailed when she told him she was pregnant.”
Cole watched as Ben glanced toward the computer screen and the image from outside where the group of four remained. Two of them kissed and groped like they were in a porno.
When Cole glanced back at Ben, the boy’s eyes were suddenly red rimmed, and his nostrils flared with every breath.
“What’s going on, man? Who are they to you?” Cole lifted a finger to point at the screen.
“Ex-friends,” Ben said in a low voice. “I can’t believe I was so stupid. They don’t even care that I got into trouble and have to work to pay you back.”
Cole gave Ben a second or two to swallow down the fury-born tears before he pressed the second heavy topic in the last few minutes. “Let me guess. That’s the girl you wanted to impress with the limo?”
A tight nod confirmed Cole’s suspicions.
“Cam said she’d never ridden in a limo and would…do anything to ride in one.”
Ahh, the promise of “anything.” To a teenage boy, those were seductive, magical words. “Looks like she’s pretty into that guy she’s sucking face with.”
A rough sound left Ben’s chest.
“Yeah, my ex-best friend. Mason’s the one who dared me to take one of the limos outside the hotel because she’d be a sure thing. Only when I didn’t show up, Mason went after her even though he knew I liked her.”
Cole wiped a hand over his mouth and chin, empathy filling him. “That’s a hard lesson to learn, Ben. I’m sorry that happened to you. I think you know they weren’t really friends, though, right? Friends don’t put you in those kinds of situations. Or stab you in the back.”
The PDA on the screen got worse when Mason reached down and grabbed Cam by the behind, hefting her up and turning her so that her back was pressed against the building, allowing him to grind his hips into her.
Howoldwere these kids?
