Page 93 of Just Enough

Benjamin

I’ll tell herabout Dad’s offer tonight,I told myself on the drive to work when I had failed to tell her the night before.

It shouldn’t be hard to bring it up, but it was. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of moving and starting anew with Emily somewhere else. I liked the idea of being my own boss and branching away from Dad. Of course, we were still in the same business, but he must know I had the potential to handle things on my own since he offered it to me. That felt…relieving. It meant I must be doing something right. There was no way my dad would offer one of his precious dealerships to me if he thought I couldn’t handle it.

I’d only been working with him a few months, but cars and dealerships had been a part of my life for as long as I could remember.

Ireallywanted to go the more I thought about it. Which was what decided it for me that I’d ask her tonight for sure. If she said no, then I’d be okay with that. I’d stay here, no problem. Emily was the center of my universe. She’d always come before anything else.

Even so, that night came and when she whispered, “Is there something you want to talk about?”

I still couldn’t ask her. I’d had Emily a part of my life forever, we dealt with everything together. I took care of her, and she always came to me. She was my confidant more than once. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d ask her to leave this town with me. Only it was easier that time around because I had been in the safety of our friendship. I had been asking her as a friend and because I liked her next to me rather than the idea of being away from her.

Now… When I asked her, I would be asking as a man. I would be asking her to leave and let me take every part of her with me. Her heart, her body, her smarts, and her beauty. All of it.

And I’d make sure she never wanted to take them back from me.

Only the idea of her turning me down again crushed me. I thought that maybe letting the opportunity slip through my fingers was better than making Emily question us when we had just gotten together. Maybe she’d think I was rushing into us. I hated the idea of her second-guessing what we had only just now started.

So, I kept quiet and loved her instead.

Chapter 35

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Emily

Faith: Are you coming to your dad’s?

That was the text message I received from Faith Friday morning, and it spooked me.How did she know I was coming to wash clothes today?That woman was a psychic. I had planned to write some once I was there, but it seemed we’d be entertaining a guest instead. My series was doing amazing. Within two weeks, I had scored the amount I was making at Crash’s in two weeks in tips. I couldn’t trust it to stay that way though, so I’d watch and wait. I started sponsoring ads for the series now that I could afford it on Facebook and Amazon.

Not to mention, my amazing boyfriend was still distracted, until he turned his distraction to my body—now that, I didn’t mind, but I still wanted to know what was bothering him. If it was something at the dealership, he could talk to me. We’d always talked to each other, so this was weird, and I hated it.

Maybe I imagined it. Now that we were together, perhaps I was looking too deeply into everything? But then again, this was Benjamin, and I’d like to think I knew him just like he knew the moment I walked into a room if I was upset about something.

I sent a quick reply to Faith to let her know I was going to Dad’s. I loaded up our dirty laundry in the truck and left. Benjamin had already left an hour ago. His dad was out-of-town dealing with another one of their dealerships, so Benjamin was running this one.

I thought that might have been what was bothering him, but he had told me he had actually preferred that his dad was gone. He genuinely seemed excited as he said it, so I believed him. I had gotten excited off his excitement. Benjamin was always that boy in school that was smart without trying or ever studying. He naturally did things with ease, so I didn’t doubt for a second that within a few months working there, he knew everything there was to it—inside and out.

It was a sight to see when I pulled into Dad’s driveway and Faith and him were standing there huffing and puffing at each other. She was pointing at her feet and lifted one up and I saw that her beige heel was coated in mud. It had been rainy the last few days, so Dad’s yard looked a little horrible.

Dad scratched his forehead like he was irritated with her but didn’t know what to say. They both turned to look at me for a second as I hopped out of the truck and opened the backseat door to grab our clothes.

“It’s not gonna hurt you to spend some money on making you a walkway,” she told him, inspecting her dirty heels. “Look at this. You can’t even get to your porch without ruining your shoes—look at my heels.”

Dad crossed his arms. “I see that Faith,” he informed her. “I didn’t tell you to walk in my yard though, did I?”

She huffed, snapping her head completely to the side, exposing her slender neck. “I was coming to see Emily.”

“She wasn’t here,” he responded.

She pointed toward me. “She was on her way.”

I bit back a smile as I carried the dirty laundry through Dad’s yard. I cringed as my tennis shoes sunk into the grass. “She’s right, Dad. My shoes are soaked!”

She smiled as if to saysee. “Shouldn’t you help her with that?” she asked him.

Dad moved to help me, but I wouldn’t let him. “I got it. Your back, remember?”

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