Page 74 of Second Chance Wedding
What do you want for Christmas, Ben? Have you given it any thought?” Cole asked Saturday evening as he balanced himself on a ladder propped against the side of Ana’s house.
Cole glanced across the expanse to where Ben held the last of the lights in preparation for Cole to attach.
Gage had come into the rental building around one o’clock as Cole requested, and he’d brought Ben home to work. During his visits, he’d noticed a few things around Ana’s small home that needed TLC. He and Ben had spent the last four hours or so on repairs, and since none of the issues were problematic, they’d knocked them out in quick order.
“Not really,” Ben said in response to the question.
Cole attached another light and hoped Ana’s love of Christmas lights still held true even after all these years.
When they’d dated, he couldn’t count the hours he’d spent driving her around the island and Wilmington to see the displays, though a part of him now realized Ana’s requests could have been her sweet awareness that dates cost money, and he didn’t have a lot of it at the time.
She’d never complained that he hadn’t taken her to the nice restaurants in the area or even that they didn’t go out every weekend like their friends so often did. Their dates had focused on spending time together, either on the beach or at his house, which now that he thought about it, reenforced Ana’s statements about how hard a time she’d had accepting his choice of careers.
Why hadn’t he understood that back then? At the time, the military had seemed like the perfect answer to his desire to provide both a career, steady income and housing for the girl he wanted to marry. “What about your mom? Has she mentioned anything she might like?”
Ben smirked.
“You’ve got it bad, man.”
Cole grinned, willing to take the teasing because it was true. “You wait. When you find a woman worth the effort, you’ll see how it is.”
The words had no sooner left his mouth when Cole remembered Ben’s interest in a girl who’d so recently chosen his best friend instead. “Sorry, Ben. I wasn’t thinking when I said that.”
“It’s okay. They’ve already broken up.”
“That was fast,” Cole said with a grunt as he moved along the house with the light clips.
“Yeah, she dumped him for another guy in our class. He’s rich, and she’s posting about how he’s taking her on his family’s ski trip.”
“Hate to say it, Ben, but it sounds like you dodged a bullet. Know what I mean?” Cole glanced down to see Ben nod.
“Yeah. I know. I see it now.”
“Glad to hear it.” Cole descended the ladder, and Ben helped him move it over to do the last few feet. “Your turn again. Climb up and finish, would you?”
Cole had noticed the way Ben perked up each time Cole showed him how to perform one of the repairs. Ben seemed starved for male attention, and Cole made a mental note to ask his brothers to spend a little extra time with the boy when they could. “Have you ever gone skiing? Or your mom? Think that’s something you’d both like to do?”
“I guess, though getting her away from her store isn’t easy. I’m surprised she left this weekend. If it wasn’t for it being Quinley, I don’t think she would’ve.”
“They’re that close, huh?”
Ben fit the next set of lights into the clips just like Cole had shown him.
“Quinley was Mom’s roommate in college, and after Mom dropped out the next summer because of me, they got an apartment together off campus so Quinley could help.”
“Your grandparents wouldn’t help?” The boy’s silence drew Cole’s attention, and he noticed Ben’s face twitching as he struggled to control his emotions. “Geez, I didn’t mean to throw you another grenade, Ben.”
“It’s okay. It just proves how much they suck. They wanted her to give me away at first.”
Cole sucked in a breath, hoping Ben would keep talking and fill in all the missing details Ana had glossed over or purposefully neglected to share. When Ben didn’t continue, Cole said, “Your mom told you that?”
The sun had started to go down, but there was plenty of light left to see Ben’s pale face coloring up like the red sky forming in the distance.
“Not exactly. Just one of the things I’ve…heard.”
“I’m sorry. No one needs to hear that. I hope it gives you some comfort that your mom kept you and raised you, right?”
“Yeah. Especially since the sperm donor told her to abort me.”
