Page 6 of Cups of You

The two of them were so obviously in love and it made him hopeful that maybe he would find that again one day for himself.

“Hey Sam. You’re practically glowing at this point.” Benjamin gave her a hug being careful not to put pressure on the bump between them. He glanced down before grinning. “How’s my little nephew treating you?”

Samantha puffed out her cheeks and put a hand on her stomach. “This kid is going to be a soccer player for sure the way he kicks at my bladder.”

Olivia asked to feel the baby and put a hand on Samantha’s stomach when she nodded. “That is so weirdly cool. He is totally doing the macarena.”

Benjamin unlocked the front door and glanced over at her. “What do you know about the macarena?”

Olivia stuck her tongue out at him. “I know more than you think old man.”

Randy laughed and clapped her on the shoulder as they walked into the house. Dinners with Randy and Samantha were a regular occurrence though there was no set schedule. Benjamin would often get home from the café, exhausted and not feeling like cooking dinner, only to find the house smelling of food and Randy and Samantha helping Olivia with homework.

“Why were you waiting on the porch in the cold?” He asked. “You guys have a key.”

“It would be rude to just walk in with no one here,” Samantha said kindly. She moved towards the kitchen. “I’m going to reheat this casserole in the oven. Should take twenty minutes or so and then we can eat.”

“Awesome. I’m going to go shower and I’ll be back down.”

Benjamin nodded at Olivia. “Bring your dirty clothes down when you come back as well.”

“You got it, daddy-o.”

He shook his head as she disappeared around the corner and he followed Randy and Samantha into the kitchen. “That girl gets weirder and weirder every day.”

Randy chuckled his brown eyes twinkling with clear amusement. “Kids man. You’ll have to let us know what we’re in for so we can be prepared ahead of time.” He opened the fridge and grabbed a couple beers handing one to Benjamin. “So how are things?”

Benjamin took the beer with a nod of thanks and opened it. “Good. The café is doing really well and I’m thinking of trying out a new muffin recipe.”

“Uh huh. And how is your social life?”

“What do you mean?” He leaned his head back enjoying the crisp bite of the chilled liquid as slid along his tongue.

“He means have you gotten laid?”

Benjamin choked on his beer coughing until he could breathe again. “Jesus, Sam. Warn a guy.”

She put her hands on her hips. “What? How do you think I got this bun in my oven?”

He winced not wanting to think about it. “Immaculate conception?”

“That woman is far from holy my friend,” Randy threw out with a loud bark of laughter. “But seriously man. It’s been almost, what, two years now? It’s time to get back out there.”

Benjamin’s lips turned down. “I haven’t been avoiding getting out there. It’s just that the café takes up a lot of time and I try to make sure Liv doesn’t feel neglected.”

Samantha walked forward and placed a hand on his arm. “We get it, and you have done an amazing job raising Olivia on your own. But even she thinks you should find someone and she’s not wrong.”

Benjamin ran a hand through his hair not really wanting to go down this road, but a thought came to him. “Well, there was one—”

“Who,” Randy interrupted perking up. Benjamin looked to the ceiling but chuckled.

“A new person came in today and she was maybe…kind of attractive.”Lies. She was beautiful and caught me completely off guard.

“Oh, a new person?” Samantha asked tilting her head as her gray eyes got a faraway look in them. “I don’t remember a new person moving into town.”

“Well, she might not be new,” he elaborated. “Her name is Amber. Ms. Jay is her aunt.”

Randy clapped. “Oh, you mean Amber Jones.”

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