Page 69 of Second Chance Wedding
“See, Mom? I’ll be fine. And this way Quinley won’t be mad at you.”
She stared at Ben, glanced at Cole and then back at Ben, not liking that they’d ganged up against her even though she knew Ben was right. It worked as a solution but— Her son would be staying with Cole, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Ben, can you give me and Cole some time to discuss this?”
Ben looked like he wanted to argue, but she caught a subtle shake of Cole’s head, and surprisingly Ben paid attention. Again.
“I’ll go pick out some games for later.”
Once Ben left the kitchen and his bedroom door shut, Ana turned on her stool. “What are you doing?”
“I’m pitching in to help a friend.”
“Is that all?”
“So suspicious,” he said, lowering his voice and his gaze.
She fought the urge to flick her tongue over her suddenly dry lips when she noted him staring in that direction. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Ben is already talking about joining the military because of the time he’s spent with you.”
Cole’s entire body tensed.
“He hasn’t said anything to me.”
“Well, he announced it at the table yesterday in front of my parents which is partly why it became a shouting match.”
“I haven’t talked to him about enlisting, Ana.”
“Maybe not but you have said enough about it ‘making you a man’ and how you’re so well trained that Ben’s interested in it instead of college.”
“Okay. Noted. I’ll talk to him over the weekend.”
She glared at him. “That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say? It’s a viable option if he decides to join—once he’s older and knows more about it.”
His gaze narrowed on her, and she felt as though he tried to see into her brain.
“Unless you’re more like your parents than I thought.”
“What’sthatsupposed to mean?”
“Is the military not good enough for you? Was that part of why you broke things off back then?”
“You can’t be serious,” she said softly.
“It’s a simple question.”
“Well, wonder no more,” she said tightly. “I gave you my reasons for ending things. I wasn’t ready, and you planned to be career military which meant you needed a certain kind of wife, and I wasn’t it. We would’ve wound up divorced. Cole, my concern for Ben is that he’s lost and isolated, and I can tell he’s searching for his…tribe. For friends and security. I don’t want him to set his mind on something because he…romanticizes or glorifies it.”
“Okay. I get that,” Cole said, confirming his words with a nod. “I’ll talk to him.”
Her phone began buzzing again right as a text message came through from Quinley.
PICK UP OR ELSE!!!
Cole shifted and tapped the screen to answer the call, sneaking in a kiss atop her head in the process.
It was such a sweet, surprising and unexpected move after he’d questioned the past that she found herself staring at him, back in a daze ofwhat’s happening?
“Finally! Are you ready forNeeeew Yorrrk,” Quinley sang, drawing out the words with perfect pitch.
