Page 54 of Second Chance Wedding
The boy’s cryptic words were filled with pain, and Cole leaned back in the chair once again. “Hey, I know you’d rather be out there with them, but there is nothing wrong with working a job and earning money or, in your case, repaying a debt. It’s a good thing. Honorable.”
Yeah, that went over about as well as expected, Cole mused silently when he caught the flash of anger crossing Ben’s expression. “Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you’ve made plans for Thanksgiving?”
Ben’s gaze remained locked on the group outside, but as Cole watched, the boy’s shoulders tensed up even more.
“I guess. I can’t believe she’s making us go.”
Cole didn’t have to ask who the “she” was. “Go where?” Cole asked, his curiosity peaking almost as much as whatever it was about the group outside that held Ben’s.
“The Taylors. My grandma guilted my mom into coming to dinner. I mean, they hate us. I’d rather stay home or even come here and work.”
“Or even, huh?” Cole asked, a huff of a laugh emerging despite the topic. Cole knew Ana hadn’t always agreed with her parents, but hate was a strong word. “Since you don’t want to go out there to work while your friends are next door, take a break and tell me why you don’t want to go to your grandparents’ house.”
“Why do you care?” Ben asked in a suspicious tone.
Cole tilted the chair back even more and propped his feet on the lower drawer of the desk. “Because I do.”
Ben obviously didn’t like Cole’s response, but after a last look out the glass-paneled entry door, he meandered over and plunked down on the second stool across from Cole.
“I don’t want to go because they don’t like me—or my mom. And we don’t like them.”
“Still doesn’t give me any idea of why, Ben. Why don’t you like them?”
Ben lifted his bony shoulders and shrugged.
“We just don’t. They were never around. Even when I was younger, they never babysat me or anything. It was always Quinley. And whenever we go— It’s just always bad.”
“I admit I don’t know much about handling grandparents. Mine had already passed away before my parents died. Thankfully I had an aunt that dropped everything and moved in with us so the state didn’t split us up.”
Ben looked up, surprise etched on his features.
“What happened? How’d they die?”
Obviously Ana hadn’t shared anything about his past or how they’d met that fateful summer.
Cole told Ben about the car accident that had left him and his seven brothers and baby sister orphaned. “Alec took over along with Aunt Rose. Brooks and I were old enough to pitch in. Dawson, too. He was your age at the time. Anyway, we did whatever it took. Mowed lawns, washed windows. Anything. Just so we didn’t get split up.”
“Guess that means you never got into trouble like me then, huh?”
Cole grimaced. “I can’t say we never got into trouble. I think we all acted out at some point. It was rough losing them. Really rough.”
“Did you know my mom back then?”
Cole nodded. “I met her a month to the day after the accident. I was walking along the boardwalk, and there she was. And as sappy as it sounds, she looked like a freaking ray of sunshine.”
Ben laughed as Cole had hoped he would. “What do you mean?”
Cole inhaled and shook his head, smiling at the memory despite the twinge in his heart from Ana’s earlier words. “I was sad, so I’d taken a walk to try and distract myself. I wound up on the boardwalk, and there she was, staring up at the Ferris wheel and smiling from ear to ear, begging her friends to get on it with her. They didn’t want to. So I volunteered.”
“That’s how you met?”
“Yup. Even back then, the high school was big enough that I didn’t know her. She was a freshman, and I was a junior. But after that…” Cole felt Ben’s stare boring into him, and he shrugged. “I guess the rest is history.”
“So you dated? You met the Taylors?”
“A few times. The judge stopped in here one day to take a look at us and size us up, but he didn’t have much to say. I think it was obvious they didn’t approve though. Your mom was their only child, so…I guess I get it.”
“But you dated? What about proms and stuff? Did you go together?”
