Page 44 of Check the Halls
And I almost missed it.
“Paperbag Princess, nice,” Ben whispers, peeking his head around me to glance inside the room. “Quick—favorite Robert Munsch book?”
I don’t need to consider it. “This one, obviously.”
“Obviously.” He nods approvingly. “Headstrong girl outsmarts the dragon, saves the prince, only to kick his sorry ass to the curb.”
“Exactly. What’s yours?” I ask, tilting my head toward him. His cheeks are a bit flushed and his hair more tousled than usual thanks to his game of floor hockey. Otherwise, he’s his regular, gorgeous, relaxed self.
“Thomas’ Snowsuit.” He answers without hesitation.
I smirk. “Is it because the teacher and the principal end up in their underwear?”
“Obviously.”
My shoulders shake with silent laughter. His grin is easy, familiar, and for a moment, the weight lifts from my shoulders. He makes me forget where I am.
“When Annika finishes the story, we’ll take a few more pictures, then we’re done. Sound good?”
“I may stick around a bit longer.”
“Oh?” I glance at him, curious.
He shrugs, casual but not quite indifferent. “One of the nurses mentioned there are a couple of Otters fans in the cancer treatment center getting chemotherapy. I’ll hang out until they get back.”
A warmth settles in my chest. “That’s really great of you.”
His shoulders rise and fall in that dismissive way ofhis, like he can’t wave away the praise fast enough. “It’s nothing.”
I shift in front of him, blocking his exit, forcing him to actuallylookat me. “You keep saying things are nothing when they’re not.” My voice is quiet but firm. “It’s not nothing to those kids. Or to their parents. Or the nurses and doctors who take care of them. To them, it’s everything. And you helped me do something I never thought I’d be able to do. That’s not nothing, Ben. It’s a lot.”
He swallows, something unspoken flickering across his face. I wait for him to deflect, to brush it off with a joke or shift the conversation in another direction.
But he doesn’t.
His gaze holds mine, steady and unguarded. After a long moment he nods. “Thank you.”
I’m so busy staring into his bottomless eyes, I almost don’t notice when the nurse approaches us. She’s a few years younger than us, with loose blonde curls falling past her shoulders.
I look at her expectantly, thinking she needs something, but she ignores me.
“Hi, Ben.” Her voice is light and breathy.
“Hey…” Ben regards the woman like he’s trying to place her.
“I’m Brie. We met two years ago in Toronto. We.....hung out"
I see the moment Ben recognizes her because the colour drains from his face. His eyes fill with panic as they bounce between me and the beautiful woman in teal green scrubs.
“Right.” His smile is strained. “Of course. Brie. So…you live here now?”
“Yes. For almost a year.” She takes a step closer to him, still ignoring me completely. “My phone number is still the same, if you want to get together sometime.”
Bile rises in my throat as feelings of shame and jealousy churn inside of me. I scold myself, as I have no right to feel this way. Ben and I have been broken up for nearly a decade. I knew he was with other women. But knowing something and being confronted with it face-to-face are two very different things.
The room breaks into applause as Annika finishes her story. I start clapping, too, grateful for the distraction. I head straight for Annika, leaving Ben and his acquaintance to catch up. Or whatever. None of my business.
Annika slips away to find a restroom just as Ben manages to extricate himself from his unplanned reunion. He joins me, looking pale and agitated.
