Page 42 of Mistletoe Dreams
That was a hard question. He had told Hannah that Mason was just going to have to accept it, and he'd meant that, but he really wanted Mason to want it.
"I'd really like for you to like her and want her too. If not, I guess we'll have to cross that bridge, because your gram recently told methat life is shorter than what we think it is." He huffed out a breath. "That means you only have a small amount of time to do all the good that you can do, and you shouldn't waste any of your time doing bad things."
"Like keeping my dad away from someone that he could fall in love with and spend the rest of his life being happy with?" Mason asked, one brow raised.
Maybe his son was a little more mature than what he gave him credit for.
"If it's in the power of your hand to do good, you should do it,'" Ben said with a little grin. He was pretty sure Mason was just messing with him now.
"I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have in the family. We could talk about medical stuff all day long, all night long, and all weekend long. She could be here right now, and we could dissect a frog or something."
"I think frogs are hibernating right now," Ben said, picking the mallet up and putting another billet of wood on the stump where he was splitting it. "Plus, I'm a policeman, not a doctor, and there's a reason for that. Blood makes me dizzy."
"I'll have to make sure I tell Dr. Reynolds that. That could be a pretty good thing to have hanging over your head if, say, I get in a bad fight or something."
"I can control it. Don't think I can't." Ben swung the mallet down, and the wood split nicely in two. He loved doing manual labor like this. And he loved it even more doing it with his son. And even more than that was doing it with his son and having his son enjoy it as well. Who would've thought that working at the medical center would've turned his kid around so completely?
He knew it was the Lord working, but it was also Hannah allowing Him to work through her. He smiled at the thought.
Chapter Twenty
Stephanie left early Monday morning, and while Hannah had enjoyed her visit, she wasn't sad to see her go.
Stephanie had given her a hard time about not being more ambitious, but otherwise, they'd had a nice visit. The problem was, Hannah missed Ben. It hadn’t been long since she had seen him, and she couldn't wait until he came to pick up Mason so she could at least get a glimpse of him.
She couldn't remember ever being this head over heels for someone, and she laughed a little at herself for being such a schoolgirl. She was in her mid-thirties. She shouldn't be so silly.
But as she flipped the sign over on the door and turned the lights out in the waiting room, she couldn't keep from glancing out the window up and down the street, checking to see if he was on his way.
Usually, he was there five or ten minutes before they closed so Mason didn't end up waiting on him.
"Dad's not here yet?" Mason said, sticking his head out of the number two exam room where he was wiping everything down with a disinfectant wipe.
"No, not yet," she said. Before the words were out of her mouth, headlights splashed across the window.
"Never mind. There he is," she said, smiling as his truck pulled into the lot.
Trying to think of an excuse to see him more, she wracked her brain as to whether or not there was anything she needed to talk to him about regarding the festival. Everything had pretty much been hammered out, and they were ready for it to start next week.
She almost missed the giggling that came from the exam room where Cassie had now joined Mason.
Ben had almost made it to the door, but she turned, suspicious.
"What's going on with you two?" she asked, trying to look into the exam room to see if something had happened.
"Hey there, I've missed you," Ben said as he walked in.
"I missed you too. It's only been a day, which is crazy."
"I almost stopped in last night after we were done at the river, but you had company, and I didn't want to intrude."
"You would've been welcome," she said, stepping over and wondering if it would be too much to greet him with a hug. She had done that the last time when he'd followed her home, but it just seemed a little bit more public here, and she wasn't sure what the protocols were or even where their relationship was.
Although she'd been spending a good bit of time thinking about their kiss.
"You guys are under the mistletoe!" Mason jumped out of the room, his hand pointing toward the ceiling.
There was mistletoe? Her eyes met Ben's before they both looked at the ceiling. Sure enough, taped to the ceiling was a little sprig of plastic mistletoe.
