Page 52 of Just Enough

What was that thing my chest was doing? Why the heart palpations? Why was I smiling? Why was my body doing all these involuntary things?

Shit.

Benjamin used to be all comfort and warmth—safe. Now he felt more like combustion and fire, setting something aflame that had never been lit in me before.

Something was wrong. My Benjamin was supposed to be safe. Why wasn’t he anymore?

Chapter 16

_______

Emily

I should haveknown things were going too well. My old-timer had to putt-putt-boomduring my move. Dad was behind me in his truck with my bed, so he pulled to the side of the road when it happened.

I stepped out, suddenly petrified of my Malibu, wondering if she was going to burn until there was nothing left. There was an awful lot of smoke coming from underneath the hood. Dad stepped out and called Benjamin’s dad to tow it to his garage. I was already sweating about it. I couldn’t afford to fix it if it was something huge.

Dad told me not to worry though, and I climbed into his truck—another junker that we had found him after he had destroyed his—and we headed to my apartment. Once we were there, my good mood was gone. I had a place to live, but now my car was giving up on me. I watched Dad glance around the empty living room and he frowned. “Are you sure you want to move?”

I sighed. “Yes, I do.”

I didn’t want to live at the house. I craved independence.

“You don’t even have any furniture,” he told me.

“I know. I’ll get some little by little.”

“I don’t like you living alone.”

“Women live alone all the time, Dad. I’ll be okay. Besides, I’ll only be alone for a few weeks.”

“Why is that?”

“Benjamin’s going to be my roommate.”

He looked surprised but not unhappy about it. In fact, he seemed more than okay with it. “You should have told me. I’ve been worrying for nothing.”

“I wonder how long it will take to find out about my car?”

He gave me a pitying smile. “That car’s as good as gone, Emily, we might as well start looking for another one.”

I couldn’t look for a car. I had rent and enough bills to pay already. I couldn’t afford a car payment or my insurance being higher. Dad must have seen my distress because he added, “I’ll drive you back and forth until we find out about your car.”

I hated to bug him, especially since I was moving here. “But I’ll be here. That will give you a hard time.”

He shook his head. “Just gives me something to do.”

I sighed. My big moving day had been ruined.

______

I hung up the phone and sighed.

“So, it can’t be fixed?” Katie asked, sitting on the couch she had given me with her baby, Jeffy, bouncing on her knee. He was a little butterball, and I lost my frown as I bent over and held my arms out to demonstrate to him that I was coming for him. He lost his pacifier when he started smiling at me, which turned me to mush.

“Said I was better off junking it,” I said, taking him from her arms.

She smiled as I did so. “I’m sorry. What are you gonna do?”

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