Page 35 of Standing Still

Jared frowns, but before he can get into lecturing me about Daniel’s men never giving up, I drop a punch into his gut and walk away, leaving him wheezing.

“Bennett Kyle Daniels.” Mom has eyes in the back of her head, I swear. “Stop hitting your brother.”

“YeahBennett,” Jared mocks.

“Fuck you,” I whisper under my breath, because mom will kick my ass if she hears me cussing.

I glance over and see Elle watching me again. She has a smile on her face. She was around my family a lot growing up and always had enjoyed the dynamic between my brothers and me. At least until she lost Darren, then things changed. It just made her sad.

A little while later, when the sun starts to dip, Lewis and Natalie leave with their three kids. Denny disappeared inside a couple of hours earlier, saying he needed to sleep. Dad is inside too, watching the game with my other brother, Zach and his teenage son, Patrick.

Elle was with my mom, but I noticed her going to take a call when her cell rang about ten minutes ago. I look over at her again. She’s sitting on the Jack and Jill bench mom has for her and dad out here, two seats joined by a small table. Jedi is at her feet, and she is absently stroking his head.

Again, the dog is getting much more attention than me. I wonder who she is on the phone to, given it’s been a while. I keep one eye on her and one on my mom as she tells me about our grandmother, who is currently on a European trip with her two sisters. She sends mom postcards from every stop.

“You’re staring,” mom says, putting the postcards into a pile on the table and straightening all the edges so they’re in a perfect pile.

“No, I’m not.” I look back at her and sip from my beer bottle.

“Ben, I am not blind. Do you know what you’re doing?”

“I’m not doing anything,” I argue.

Mom gives me that knowing mom look, like she doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. “Is it really a good idea?”

“Not talking about this with you.”

“I just don’t want to see you hurt again,” she says mildly.

“Still not talking.” I give her a look. She gives me one right back. Dad always says we’re like two peas in a pod. “Mom, just let me handle this my way, okay?”

“If your way involves either one of you being hurt, you can see how I don’t want to just sit back and let it happen."

"One of us is going to get hurt no matter what," I tell her with a rueful smile. When she frowns in confusion, I explain. “The whole thing with George’s. It is always going to end badly, for one of us.”

“I understand that. I just want to know how far you’re willing to go to save it.”

“You been taking to Jared?” I narrow my eyes at her.

“I know my boys. Please, Ben. Just be careful. With her too, she’s suffered a lot.”

“I always am,” I tell her. That’s me. Mr Careful. She leaves me to it then and I sit silently and finish my beer, deliberately keeping my back to Elle. I’m clearly not ascarefulas I think, if everyone seems to know I’m staring.

“Hey.”

I glance up as the woman herself touches my shoulder. She moves around and sits where my mom was. Jedi is right behind her. I give him a deadpan look. He whines a little and wisely plops himself by my feet this time. Elle laughs down at him.

“He misses his dad,” she tells me.

“Nah, he just knows who feeds him, and he’s probably hungry.” Elle rolls her eyes, making me laugh. “Important call?” I ask.

“Oh, that. No, it was just my researcher. I sent him some ideas through yesterday and he wanted to talk about a few things. I didn’t mean to go off and talk shop, but when I have these thoughts in my head, I need to get them out.”

“What kind of thoughts?”

“Characters and… Scenarios.”

“Oh yeah,” I arch a brow. “Recently inspired?”

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