Page 52 of Standing Still

Days have passed, and Ben hasn’t tried to call me again. After the message, he left as I was driving away. He must hate me. And maybe I deserve it. I do feel stupid.

“If you’re thinking about Bennett Daniels, I’m going to let your fans know one of your favourite songs isMmmbopby Hanson.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I snap my head to him, a look of horror on my face.

“Wouldn’t I?” he raises a brow. “Today isn’t about him. One Mystic drama at a time, please.”

“Fine.” I get up and go to the window, looking down at Manhattan spread out below me.

I love my apartment in Chelsea. If it weren’t for Adrian, I wouldn’t have been able to afford this place at the time we moved in. Our combined incomes had bought it, but he’d let me stay when we divorced. I paid him for his half, but it was nowhere near market value. He was more than happy to let me stay and I loved it too much to be concerned about it being our marital home.

Over the years, I’d collected abstract art pieces. The ash blonde parquet flooring and modern glass fireplaces are accentuated with coffee and aubergine colored couches and decorative accents. It’s my little slice of heaven and I love it.

All I can think as I stare out at the view is for six months of the year, I’ll be away from this place.

Because I trusted Bennett Daniels.

The buzzer startles me and I turn to look at Kevin, my heart racing.

“Relax, Elle,” he tells me, getting up and heading across the hallway to the intercom. I hear mumbling voices, and Kevin comes back in. “I’ll go make some coffee. You’ll be okay letting them in?”

“I think I can manage.”

“Can you though, cos you look like you’re about to vomit?”

“Go make coffee.” I point to thekitchen.

I wring my hands as I wait for them to arrive. After leaving Ben on Sunday, I’d gone back to the hotel to think things through. I still had a niggling feeling about Claudia, that she knew more than she was letting on when it came to Darren. I needed to speak to her alone. So I went back to the diner and waited for her. I felt like a stalker, but she was so skittish I didn’t want to scare her off.

It had shocked her to see me waiting for her, but there was also resignation on her face, and a bit of relief. And what she said that evening, as we walked the streets of Mystic, ending up at the Mystic Aquarium of all places, was her truth and it had both shattered my heart and brought it back together again.

My first instinct had been to run to Ben, to tell him what I’d discovered, but I needed time to wrap my head around it. One thing was for sure, it convinced me to sign those papers. I’d already decided because Ben had done the unthinkable.

He’d made me see Mystic as more than my bad memories. He’d ignited something in my soul that I’d pushed so far down. It was barely distinguishable. And my feelings for him were growing too.

But speaking with Claudia pushed me to call Larry first thing Monday, to go into the office and agree to everything in my father’s will. And it was there I learnt the other secret my dad was keeping.

He knew. All this time, he’d known. It was only after I’d agreed to follow his wishes that Larry could tell me. But I’d figured it out on my own. Knowing my dad had kept this from me, too, crushed me. Larry told me Ben didn’t know, and I believed him because Ben had shown no signs of recognition when he saw Claudia. It was why I avoided going to see Ben straight away. I needed to be alone with my thoughts. But after a while I knew. I needed him. I wanted him to be the one I told.

I’d gone to find him, spotting his truck outside Craig’s bar, but then I walked into the Twisted Barrel and heard him talking about seducing me to win. I’d been transported back all those years when he told me we would never be anything more than highschool sweethearts, that we were never destined to be together and the best thing I could do for both of us was leave Mystic.

I’d felt so betrayed and so destroyed that I’d left without giving him the benefit of the doubt, of hearing his denials as the truth and not lies.

The doorbell chimes, breaking me out of my musings about Ben, and I hurry over to answer the door. Claudia stands there, looking just as anxious as ever, but I smile, to put her at ease, then my eyes move to the boy beside her and my breath catches, my heart clutches, and I can’t help but stare at him. At the familiar eyes, the firm jaw line, and the unruly curly hair. It is like looking into the face of my brother.

“Frankie,” I breathe out.

He looks at his mother, but then he squares his shoulders and reaches out a hand. He is so tall, and he seems so strong, mature and a little intense. I know where he got that from. I take his hand, shaking it as tears fill my eyes. I fought to push them back.

“Please come on in, sorry for the reaction. You just, you look so much like him.”

“Yeah, it’s all good.”

Hearing his voice sends my heart rate into overdrive. Claudia touches my forearm and I look down at her hand. I could have been so angry with her for keeping Frankie from us, for never telling us we had a valuable piece of my brother out there, but I wasn’t mad. I was happy. Knowing Darren lived on through his son actually brought me some peace.

Claudia asked that I give her some time to speak to Frankie about me. He’d been kept in the dark just as much as I had. I wasn’t sure how he took it, hearing he had family in the small town his mom moved him too when he was fourteen. It took a week for Claudia to contact me and let me know they were coming to New York. Ostensibly to get a feel for the college he was due to attend in the fall, but also to meet his family. Me.

Kevin comes back into the room, and I introduce him. Everyone greets each other. I offer drinks, then we all get comfortable.

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