Presley was waiting for Lucy outside the automated doors of the ICU. The minute Lucy walked through, Presley grabbed her arm and pulled her along the corridor. “Okay, spill. What else did you tell him?”
“Who?” Lucy asked, acting like she didn’t know who Presley was talking about, but Presley knew better. Lucy had the worst poker face known to mankind.
“Don’t play games. Tell me,” Presley demanded.
Lucy sighed deeply. “Fine. I’m sorry. But he caught me off guard,” she said in an exaggerated whiny voice.
Presley held her tongue and waited patiently while the two of them walked to their cars. She knew the silence would bug Lucy, and it did. “He just wanted to know when your lunch break was and if you brought your lunch or not,” she rushed out after a few minutes of silence.
“And somehow out of
that
question, he figured out exactly how I eat my burgers?”
“Well, no,” Lucy hedged, looking anywhere but Presley’s face. “But you know how I am. I got nervous and I just started blabbing about things.”
Presley stopped walking, forcing Lucy to stop also. Then she crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t mad, not really, but rather annoyed, and more so… humiliated. The last thing any woman wanted was the guy she was interested in to know personal details about her without her knowledge. “What else did you say, Lucy?”
“Not much. I’m not sure,” she wailed, guilt splattered across her face. “He was just standing there smiling at me the whole time and I kept losing my train of thought.”
“Lucy,” Presley warned, narrowing her eyes. Lucy was so easy to crack. Presley didn’t even have to try hard. Sometimes it was actually funny to see how fast a certain look would get Lucy to spill everything.
“I might have said your age.”
“Not the end of the world. What else?”
“And that you like country music.”
“Again, not the end of the world. Anything else?”
Lucy started to squirm and Presley felt the dread sink in. “What Lucy?” She could only imagine the things Lucy might have spewed out in that moment of weakness.
“I said you were single,” Lucy said helpfully.
“What else? There has to be more by the look on your face.”
Lucy turned and started to walk toward her car again but didn’t get far before Presley caught up. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember everything I said.” Lucy started to squirm under Presley’s stare and finally caved. “I might have said you’ve been single for a long time. And that maybe”—she paused and looked across the parking garage—“that you haven’t dated in over six months.”
“Ugh, geez, Lucy. You aren’t supposed to say those things. What’s wrong with you?” Presley asked with a pained expression of humiliation.
“I’m sorry, Pres, really. I couldn’t help it. The words just tumbled out. You know how I get. And he is soooo cute,” Lucy said in another high-pitched whine.
“OK. As long as that’s all you said. And yes, I know how you are. Which is why the next time you see Ben you’re going to turn around and walk in the other direction. I don’t even care if he’s not approaching you. You get away from him as fast as you can. Do you understand me?” She gave Lucy her most intimidating stare, fighting back a grin.
“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?” Lucy complained, pouting.
“Not unless you want me to tell Mark what you really think of his new hair removal routine.”
“You wouldn’t,” Lucy accused, wide eyed. “That was private. I told you that in confidence.”
“Yeah, well, so were some of the things you told Ben. So, do we have a deal?”
Lucy huffed out. “You don’t play fair.”
“Nope. Maybe next time you will think twice before you provide information to the other team,” she said, giving a hoot of triumph. “Now go home and crawl into bed with your new, freshly waxed boyfriend. Give Mark a little cuddle.”
Lucy gave a shudder and Presley laughed.
***
Ben was sitting in the living room cleaning his guns. They hadn’t been discharged this week, but he was meticulous about them. He planned on going to the shooting range tomorrow and wanted everything in tip-top condition. He enjoyed the range, enjoyed honing his skill, or really in his case, keeping him focused. There wasn’t much call for his gun to be fired at the hospital.
Thinking back to earlier today, he had to laugh at how much information he’d gotten out of Lucy. And he wasn’t even trying. Poor Presley. She better watch what she says to Lucy, because that girl had a fast trigger when it came to her mouth.
Ben had only approached Lucy to ask when Presley’s break was and if she normally brought her lunch or not. Next thing he knew Lucy was blurting out all sorts of information.
First, when Presley’s break was, then that she usually bought lunch, and for some reason, she started talking about how Presley’s boyfriend always made her hamburgers wrong. The word “boyfriend” made him pause and ask, “She has a boyfriend?”
“No. Sorry, it’s her ex. Presley hasn’t had a boyfriend in years. Honestly, I’m not sure she’s even been on a date in six months. Could be more.”
To Lucy’s credit, she seemed to realize her faux pas and blushed, but the damage had been done. It had been hard for him to bite his tongue over that comment, but he did. Mostly, because he was positive Presley wouldn’t have approved of having that information shared.
Ben was known for his interrogation skills, in fact he excelled at them. He had the uncanny ability for his facial expression to never relay what he was thinking or feeling. Therefore, he was always throwing people off, and unwittingly, they ended up giving him the information he was looking for, plus much more.
In this case, though, he felt bad. He didn’t want to know all the things that Lucy told him about Presley. Because Presley was right. He would rather ask face-to-face. But the one thing he learned that explained a lot was that she had been on her own for the last eleven years, since she was eighteen.
He didn’t know why, and didn’t ask, nor would he have. He was absolutely positive that was information Presley would prefer he didn’t have.
So for now he would store it away. He finished assembling his weapons, locked his work-issued gun away in the lockbox, brought it to his room, and placed his ankle pistol and holster next to the lockbox on his nightstand. Then he put the key to the lockbox under his pillow, next to his Colt.
On Sunday afternoon, Presley walked through the automated doors and made her way to the nurses’ station for her shift. She didn’t mind working second shift, not really. She’d always been a night owl anyway. But she hated never having two days off in a row.
She supposed she should be happy she was off on Saturdays, but that just made it harder for her to go to work on Sunday afternoon. Not that she did much last night. Saturdays were also Lucy’s day off, and she normally spent hers with Mark.
“Presley, there’s a package for you.”
She turned to the nurse who had spoken and saw the bright red gift bag being held out to her. Happily, she took the bag. “Thanks. I love it when parents give me gifts.” And she did. Not that she ever expected gifts from her patients or their parents, but it always felt good. It made her feel appreciated, something she never felt much of in her life.
She had long since given up expecting praise from anyone. Never having gotten it from home, she learned at an early age to do things for herself and do them right. Not because she wanted someone to tell her she did a good job, but because she was only answerable to herself.
Walking a few feet to a chair, she sat down and ripped the tape holding the bag together. Peeking inside, she saw a good-sized bag of assorted chocolate truffles—expensive gourmet chocolate truffles. It was her lucky day. Suddenly her Sunday shift had improved drastically.
Reaching inside, she pulled out the little envelope, dying to know who left it for her. Her jaw dropped, forcing her to look around guiltily, making sure no one saw her reaction.
Once she realized no one was paying attention to her, she schooled her features and silently read,
I didn’t know your favorite, so I figured I would cover my bases. To balance the scales: I felt at home in the water. B
Slowly closing the card, she placed it in her purse on the floor, then hid the chocolates in there as best as she could. No way was she sharing those. She couldn’t believe he remembered that he hadn’t answered her question as to why he went into the service. Not that his answer really made sense to her. But she didn’t think Ben did anything simply, and the fact that he shared that with her made her heart beat just a little bit faster.
***
Any pity that Ben felt for Presley at having been on her own since she was eighteen quickly flew out the window after just twenty minutes at his parents’ house on a Sunday afternoon for dinner.
His mother tried to get everyone together at least twice a month, if possible. Since he didn’t cook very well, he showed up pretty much every Sunday whether his siblings did or not. But today everyone was there, or on their way.
He was relaxing on the couch with a beer in his hand, watching his older twin brothers rib and jab at each other. “Do you two ever stop?” he asked with a good-natured snarl.
Alec, the older twin by just two minutes answered simply, “No.”
Phil, the quieter of the two, mumbled, “Try working with him all day,” as he dodged the hand that shot out to flick at the buttons on his shirt pocket.
Ben chuckled. There was no heat to Phil’s statement. Matter of fact, there was a lightness to Phil that the family hadn’t seen in years. He would like to think it had to do with Phil finally cutting the dead weight—by the name of Linda—from around his neck a few months ago.
No one really knew what happened, or why, and frankly no one really cared. Ben knew it was harsh to think like that. Phil had been with Linda for over five years, but personally, Ben didn’t care for her.
As for his two brothers working together all day, he had been to their office, and it definitely got crazy there from time to time. Though, Alec was on site more often than not since he ran the construction side, leaving Phil in the office since he was an architect.
But that didn’t mean they didn’t still get on each other’s nerves. In the end, they always came together. Always worked it out and always got the job done, and done right. Must be the twin bond thing.
Thoughts of that only brought up memories of Trent. Memories he would rather keep locked away for the day. Locked away altogether, if truth be known. But he couldn’t do that. Instead he had to face them. And he was trying. A little each day, but not today. Today was for family.
His attention turned to the doorway for the entrance of his sister, Kaitlin, followed by Ryan. Almost immediately Phil and Alec stopped going at each other and went after Ryan. “Here comes pretty boy,” Alec said, chuckling.
Kaitlin, true to form, rolled her eyes and walked past her older brothers and sat next to Ben on the couch. “How is my favorite brother?”
Ben tugged a lock of her hair playfully. He and Kaitlin had always been close, despite their four-year age difference. Where Phil and Alec had each other, he and Kaitlin did, too. He wouldn't have had it any other way.
He put his arm around her, pulling her close. “He is doing just fine.” He kissed her forehead and then frowned at Ryan for good measure. He could gang up on Ryan, too. United front. That’s what Ben and his brothers had always had.
Ryan ignored Ben’s frown, walked over and sat on the other side of Kaitlin. He pulled her close and kissed her on the lips, just to spite him, Ben knew. Ben was okay with it. Deep down, Ryan was a great guy, though he didn’t like to admit it often.
When their mother walked into the room, all the joking and goofing off stopped immediately. It always had. She didn’t even have to say a word.
“Dinner’s ready. Let’s go eat,” Isabel said, looking around the room. “That means you, too, William. Try to move off the recliner if you can,” she said, poking fun at Ben’s father. Everyone knew William Harper preferred to stay in his favorite recliner all day when not working. However, like everyone else in the room, he started moving the minute Isabel told him to.
“We have an announcement to make,” Kaitlin said once everyone was seated at the table.
The dread dropped into Ben’s stomach like a brick. It better not be what he thought it was. Thankfully Alec blurted it out first, saving Ben from getting a dirty look. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”
When Kaitlin’s eyes softened, Ben really started to sweat. He expected her to deny it. Thankfully she did. “No, not yet. We have a wedding date,” she said instead.
“That’s wonderful,” Isabel said, reaching over and clasping Kaitlin’s hand. Ben still wasn’t sure it was so wonderful, but he smiled anyway. He was happy for Kaitlin. He really was. But he would prefer to not think about her getting married. Letting go of his baby sister wasn’t easy.
“When is it?” William asked. “How soon do I need to break out my checkbook?” He winked, causing everyone to laugh, including Ryan.
“January seventeenth,” Kaitlin said cheerfully. “This January, less than three months away.” She turned sharply to Ben this time. “No, I’m not pregnant. Nobody ask me again.” Then her face softened. “But I want to be, and I don’t want to wait. So this was the first open date the facility had and we put a deposit down yesterday. Actually, we lucked out. They had a cancellation just this week. Otherwise we would have had to wait until next fall. So it was three months, or over a year.”
Ben sat there quietly listening to his parents’ excited questions and tried not to focus on the details. He would do what he needed to, which with any luck meant showing up, drinking and eating. He heard them say they wanted a small wedding, which suited him just fine. On such short notice he didn’t expect it to be a big affair anyway.
The grandfather clock struck the hour in the other room. He looked down at his watch and realized Presley had started her shift. He wondered what she thought of his surprise.
It had been three days since their lunch. He knew her schedule now, Wednesday and Saturday off. He had kept his distance on Friday, not wanting to seem overly eager, and since they were both off on Saturday that made it easy to stay away. But he knew leaving something there today would throw her off balance. She wouldn’t have expected it on what was one of
his
days off. He wanted to keep her on her toes.
Still, he felt bad that he knew as much about her as he did. Not that he’d tried, but a sense of honor pushed him to balance the scales, so he gave her some information. More than he had ever said to anyone else before, and that worried him.
No one had ever asked why he went into the service. His family just seemed to always know he would. He lived and breathed the water and had always had a keen sense of justice. He loved his county and had a fascination with the military. He never made a secret out of it. It was who he was.
But when she asked him that question, he wasn’t sure how to answer. And still to this moment, he wasn’t sure what possessed him to write down the one thing he’d never said to another soul before.
It was true, that was why he went into the Navy rather than another branch of service. He felt at home in the water. Connected to it. Unfortunately, that was also why he left the Navy. It wasn’t his home anymore.