Page 35 of Second Chance Wedding
“It was my idea,” Ben said. “Well, mostly.”
“Mostly?” Cole asked, giving the boy a look that dared him to tell the truth.
Benjamin inhaled and grimaced.
“I…told her about my mom’s fancy party and how there were limos. Cam—the girl—said it would be nice to ride in one, and my best friend texted the group and dared me to take it for her. I had to do it then.”
The stuck vehicle appeared on the horizon as a blur of dark metal, and as they made it to the firmer sand, Brooks shifted gears and picked up speed.
“I get it, Ben,” Cole said softly, “but here’s the deal. The friend that dared you to do it wouldn’t be the one sitting in jail right now. Next time your so-called friend throws out a dare, shoot it right back at him that you’ll sit this one out but you’re happy to watch him take the fall.”
“He’d just say I’m lame,” Ben said.
“Yeah, well, back to that earlier conversation we had,” Brooks said, giving Ben a hard glance. “Better you be lame than you and your friends bedead.”
Ben was quiet for several long seconds as they rolled along the shoreline.
“Did you guys ever do anything like that when you were my age?”
Cole met his brother’s gaze over the boy’s head, and they exchanged a wary glance.
“Ah, man, looks like they’ve dug themselves in good,” Brooks said, shifting Ben’s attention to the vehicle bogged down in the sand. “Gonna need the boom for that one.”
Cole glanced out the passenger window to hide his grin at Brooks’s dad ability to deflect and redirect. He had to give his brother credit. Brooks could be a total pain in the butt, but his kids had taught him some skills.
ChapterNine
Ana sighed as she shoved her feet into her fuzzy slippers and left her bathroom carrying her now-empty Carolina Cove wine tumbler. She sold the tumblers at Coastal Couture and loved the palm trees etched into the pretty colors.
Cole had texted to say Ben would be late getting home due to trouble getting someone unstuck out on the south end, adding he would drop Ben safely home as soon as possible.
She’d worked at the boutique and packaged her online orders to ship come Monday and made her way home to take a much-needed soak in her tub.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d used it for anything other than a quick shower, but after the conversation with Cole on the beach and a day spent working after weeks of nonstop stress, sheneededthe warmth and the silky, soapy time spent with a candle and wine and neck-deep, lavender-scented water.
She padded her way down the short hallway, stopping in her tracks when she saw Cole sitting at her kitchen island.
He’d apparently heard her exit her bedroom and waited for her to appear because she saw the instant his gaze shifted from her face and damp, pinned-up hair to the luxuriously soft robe she wore over her sleep set.
She was fully covered, more so than she’d been wearing her gala gown, but given the way his jaw tightened and his gaze darkened, she felt…exposed.
But maybe that was because she’d also scrubbed her face, and she didn’t have on what she’d long ago termed her battle paint. Some days a girl just needed that extra armor when faced with ex-first loves. “I…didn’t realize anyone was here.”
“Ben went to shower. Brooks had him doing most of the dirty work on the run, and he’s now a very tired boy.”
She moved to stand on the other side of the island, needing a barrier between them. “Thanks for bringing him home.”
“No problem. You have a nice place,” he said. “Though I was a little surprised when we pulled up.”
“Surprised why?” she asked even though she could easily guess. Her house was a simple cottage-style two bedroom that squeaked by a thousand square feet by the width of a board and a few nails. Compared to where she’d grown up, the entire house would fit in her mother’s kitchen. Maybe her dining room.
“Guess I expected you’d have some big house on the island or in Wrightsville close to your parents.”
“You guessed wrong. Would you…like something to drink? I don’t have much on hand. Some water and sodas, maybe some sports drinks if Ben hasn’t gone through them already.”
“A water would be appreciated. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
She’d offered due to the rules of southern hospitality, but apparently he planned on staying.
