Page 32 of Coming Home

“Hey, Will, it’s Shelby. Can I speak with Ben?”

“Um, yeah. You can probably hear it’s not the best time, but I’ll try,” he laughed. He muffled the phone with his hand. “Ben, Shelby’s on the phone.”

“Did she just hear all that?” Troy demanded.

“Probably. I think the whole Pack heard you two,” Will said.

“Hello?” Ben said, taking the phone from Will.

“Hey,” I said, awkwardly feeling like I was eavesdropping.

“I don’t know how much of that you caught, but I’m sorry. Troy’s quite protective of you, you know.”

“He’s a great kid, Ben. I’ll talk to him tomorrow. I’ve heard mating males struggle enough without Troy being territorial, too.”

“I’ll handle it,” he said.

“Whatever,” I said, not wanting to fight about it and having already made my mind up to pull Troy aside and talk tomorrow. “I’m calling because you didn’t give me your cell number, and Mom wanted me to tell you that Thanksgiving has been moved to Peyton’s house.”

“Okay, address?”

I spouted it off. “I can pick you up on my way if you want to head over early. That’s up to you.”

“That won’t be too weird?” he asked.

“Oh, I have no doubt things are going to get weird. Peyton hates you by the way. That alone—weird.”

“Why does Peyton hate me?” he asked.

“Because you hurt me, dummy,” I said. “She’s my big sister and was here for much of the fallout. Plus, she’s the only one I confide in, though she’ll probably get mad at me when she finds out I talked to Maddie about you first.”

He laughed. “I dropped you off like twenty minutes ago and you’re already talking it out with your sister?”

I smiled. “She was up with the baby, so yeah. I needed it. In some ways she and I aren’t so different after all.”

“You sound okay, so I’m glad you talked to her.”

“I’m fine, Ben.”

“I’m not,” he confessed. “I’d feel a whole lot better if you weren’t out of my sight. You could just come over and stay here for the night,” he offered.

“You know that wouldn’t be appropriate with your brothers there,” I said with a laugh.

“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Go ahead and pick us up, it’ll give me more time with you,” he surprised me by saying, especially since I already warned him that Peyton wouldn’t be happy to see him.

“I did offer that, but I’m expected there by eight, and something tells me that Will and Troy will not be happy to wake up that early on their holiday break.”

I could hear his smile reaching his voice when he replied. “They’ll get over it. Besides, Mom is leaving early in the morning, so we’ll be up.”

“Fine. I’ll see you in the morning,” I said.

“Sweet dreams, sport,” he replied.

I wanted to tell him I loved him, but I hesitated then just hung up the phone.

When I headed to bed there were a million things running through my head, so I reached into my nightstand and pulled out my stationery. I started writing a new letter to Ben, even though I had said I wouldn’t do that ever again. This time it was different, though. When I finished and sealed it, I went to my closet, dumped out a new pair of shoes I had recently bought and put the new letter in the box. It felt like a fresh start.

As I climbed back into bed, I fell fast asleep with a big smile on my face.

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