Page 78 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

"Oh, we are both very busy," she said, her tone slightly aggrieved. "I keep telling him to not spend so much time outdoors on the weekends. We should be focusing on starting a family, you know?"

I did not know. By experience, it never helped to rush head-first into having kids, especially if you had your own issues to resolve.

That just perpetuated an existing line of generational trauma. And I could tell—even though Ben never said the words himself—that it wasn't all roses and buttercream in his marriage.

"Where is he?" I asked, shifting in my seat. "I was hoping I could have a quick word with him before I get to work."

Ollie had pelted through the door before me, launched himself at Abigail and been heartily rewarded with a hug and kiss, and disappeared into their nursery. Yup, they had a fully functional one. Forward planning.

"Right here," Ben remarked as he trundled into the room, still in his pajamas. His hair was ruffled, and he looked like he needed ten shots of caffeine or a week in bed.

I wasn't sure which he'd prefer more.

"Tell him he should be serious about planning a family, will you?" Abigail hissed at me like I was expected to understand and empathize wholeheartedly with this maddening urge to fulfill oneself via a child.

I smiled brightly at her as she straightened up, kissed Ben on the cheek, and disappeared into the bedroom.

"So, Abigail thinks you should be having a kid?" I offered.

"Well, Abigail can think a lot of things, and so can I," he grumbled. He was in a fine mood.

I sighed. "Are you guys doing okay?"

He shrugged and poured a copious amount of coffee into a ridiculously large mug. It looked more like a breakfast bowl.

He chugged the whole thing down, poured a refill, and then sat down in front of me and stretched like a distressed cat.

"We're fine. You know how it is in marriage, Selene. Can't be sunshine all the time."

I nodded affirmatively. "Of course it can't—so long as you guys are talking about the clouds too. You could tell her the time isn't right?"

He snorted into his cup and then choked on the next gulp of coffee.

I waited until he was done making sounds like a monkey in the wild. "Are you crazy? Tell Abigail I'm not ready for a kid yet? She'd never understand."

How is this not a problem?

He must have read the expression in my eyes because he exhaled and took another gulp. "Sometimes, you gotta do what you can to keep things going. So, what's up with you? Anything to do with Dave?"

Of course, he knew. The whole of Boston probably knew by now.

"Yeah," I remarked drily. "He's back in town and trying to get to Ollie."

"And is that so bad?"

I opened and closed my mouth, repeated this same action about ten times, and then proceeded to tell him just what I felt with an angry, incoherent sputter.

Ben merely responded by waving his now empty mammoth cup at me. "Now, don't go losing your temper. I didn't mean it like that. But Selene, you guys were married. Maybe you two should sit down and resolve your issues between yourselves? Why d'you need to keep fighting?"

"Marriage is not the be-all and end-all of my life," I snapped back. "What the hell is wrong with you, Ben? You knew how he was and how he treated the two of us."

He knew everything except the parts about Dave physically abusing me. That, I could never muster enough strength to talk about. Even to Ben, and on days like this one,especiallyto him.

"Maybe he's changed?" Ben rubbed his face wearily. "Maybe he wants another shot, and this is his way of asking you? I know you don't see marriage the way we do—"

"What way is that?" I snarled back. "The only way? Ben, do you really think marriage is the same as getting imprisoned for life?"

He shook his head stoically. "I never said that. But it is a commitment."

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