Page 50 of Cups of You

Amber frowned. “We’re not chummy.”

“So, you giggle over texts from other people?”

“Yes,” she replied defensively. “I might giggle at a text from Tasha or Willie. There’s nothing different about how I treat Benjamin’s texts.”

“Mmhmm.”

Amber didn’t appreciate Jackie’s tone but ignored it and went back to her phone when another text came through. This time, Benjamin was holding up the cup and inside was a new design that looked like a bear and yet didn’t. Amber chuckled at his sheepish expression.

“Oh no, look at this one. He tried so hard.” She showed Jackie the phone. Her aunt frowned.

“What is that?”

“I think he was going for a bear, but it definitely came out looking like a strange Muppet creature.” Amber looked back down at the phone her cheeks aching from her wide grin. “We’ll give him an ‘E’ for effort on that one.”

“Who was taking the picture?”

Amber typed out a response back not catching onto the words. “What do you mean?”

“Well, he was holding the cup, so who was taking the picture of him?”

Amber paused. “I don’t know. Olivia, I guess.” She lowered the phone and glanced at Jackie from the corner of her eye. She wasn’t sure what her aunt was getting at.

“Olivia is in school right now silly girl.” Jackie leaned forward picking up the remote. She clicked on the tv before speaking again. “I wonder if Lindsey is making her move. Mrs. Clemons did mention how she’s been hanging out at the café more often.”

Now Amber did frown. This was the second time Jackie had brought up this woman named Lindsey and Amber was starting to feel some type of way about it. She had never heard Benjamin mention anyone named Lindsey, but she and Benjamin also didn’t talk about everything, so he could know someone named Lindsey for all Amber knew.

“Who is that again?” Amber tried to keep her voice neutral and not seem too interested. She didn’t want her aunt to get any ideas and make Amber’s interest out to be anything other than idle curiosity.

“You remember Mrs. Clemons, from down the road?”

“I think so, yeah,” she replied. She didn’t know who the hell her aunt was talking about, but she wanted her to keep talking about the Lindsey girl. Amber didn’t give a crap about Mrs. Clemons.

“Well, her daughter Lindsey did like you, ran off to the city after high school. She got married and everything, but I guess the marriage didn’t work out, so she and her son moved back home.” Jackie flipped through the stations and Amber stared straight ahead at the television.

“Okay. So, what does that have to do with Benjamin?”

“I didn’t say her move had anything to do with Bennie, I just said she had been asking about him.”

“Why?”

“Probably because they both are single parents. I can imagine it gets lonely for them.”

Amber nodded slowly. She could see that from a purely logical standpoint. There weren’t a ton of single parents that she knew of in Millensville so it probably would feel good to connect with others and find support. Still, Amber couldn’t deny that something inside of her didn’t vibe with the idea of this Lindsey person and her interest in Benjamin.

Why is that any of your business?

Why was it indeed?

Truthfully, it wasn’t any of Amber’s business. She and Benjamin were just friends. Who he did or didn’t want to date was none of her concern. Or, it shouldn’t have been. Benjamin was a grown man who deserved to find a good person who would see how goofy he was and how he was nice and kind at the same time for no other reason than that was just who he was.

“You alright baby?”

Jackie’s question pulled Amber out of her own head and she nodded quickly.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking.” She looked over at the clock and noted it was close to lunch time.

Amber stood up and pocketed her phone. “I’m going to go ahead and heat up some leftovers for lunch.”

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