When I’m With You by Sandi Lynn
Chapter 10
Ben
I couldn’t believe that I saw Paisley at the beach, and I couldn’t believe that she surfed. The rest of my run consisted of her being on my mind. Not just because she was a beautiful woman and she looked amazing in a wet suit, but because she had also lost a spouse at such a young age. I invited my parents over for Halloween. Amy and I always stayed home and passed out candy and my parents always came over. My mom said that she would like me to come over this year, but I insisted they still come to my house. I didn’t want to change just because Amy wasn’t here anymore. I actually just wanted to be alone and sit on my porch and watch the kids dressed in their cute and scary costumes pass by, but if I were to tell my mom that, she would just argue with me about it.
The doorbell rang and when I answered it, my mom and dad were standing there, holding up plastic bags with smiles on their faces.
“I brought all the ingredients to make my famous chili,” my mom said as she walked in.
“Hello, son.”
“Hi, Dad.” I leaned over and gave my mom a kiss. “Hi, Mom.”
“I brought some extra bags of candy in case you didn’t buy enough,” my mom said.
“I have enough candy, Mom. But thank you.”
She made her way into the kitchen and my dad asked if he could take a look at the table I was working on.
“This is really nice, son. What are you going to do with it once it’s finished?”
“Thanks. There’s a lady from San Francisco who’s buying it.”
“How many chairs? Six?”
“Yep. I have four of them done already. I told her that I’d be done with the set in about a month and that I’d give her a call and set up delivery.”
He stood there, nodding his head. “Beautiful. If you need someone to go with you, give me a call.”
I patted him on the back. “Thanks, Dad.”
We walked back into the house, and when I walked into my bedroom, I found my mom staring at my closet.
“What are you doing, Mom?”
She turned around and looked at me with sadness in her eyes. “It’s been almost a year, Ben. You need to do something with Amy’s things.”
I could feel a tear rise in my eye. “I will, Mom. When I’m ready.”
“I’ll help you. Just call me and I’ll be right over.”
“Thanks for the offer. But when I clean out her things, I want to do it alone.”
“This should’ve been done a long time ago. Why prolong your agony, Ben?”
“Come on. Isn’t the chili ready yet?” I asked as I put my arm around her and led her out of my room.
After we ate dinner, I stepped onto the porch, sat down, and passed out candy to the kids. It was a good thing my mom brought those extra bags because it seemed like there were way more kids than last year. It was already nine o’clock and there didn’t seem to be any more kids on the street. Just as I was getting up to go inside, Finn’s car pulled up and he and Olivia got out.
“Hey, bro.” I smiled as he walked up to me and we hugged.
“I said yes!” Olivia exclaimed as she held up her hand.
“That’s great. Congratulations.” I smiled as I hugged her tight.
“Are Mom and Dad inside?”
“Yep. They’re going to be thrilled.”
I opened the door and let them go in first. My parents had no idea that Finn was going to propose to Olivia tonight. I could hear my mom scream from the kitchen, and when I walked in, they were all hugging.
“Ben, did you hear? Your brother is getting married.”
“I did, Mom. I already congratulated both of them.” I smiled.
We sat around the living room for the next couple of hours and talked. My mom and Olivia started talking about wedding stuff while we men discussed sports.
* * *
My shift at the fire station went by pretty fast. I’m sure it was because of all the fires that broke out over the last three days. It was time to go home, but first, I had to stop by the lumber yard to pick up some more wood. The table I’d been working on was finished and the only thing I had left to do was to build two more chairs. When I finally got home, I loaded the wood into the garage and then took a hot shower. Tomorrow was Juan’s birthday and the gang asked me to go to the bar with them to celebrate. Since tomorrow was Friday, I had my usual dinner plans and then maybe I would go back to that support group. I’d been thinking about Paisley all week and I had hoped that she’d be there. I turned off the shower and climbed into bed. A wave of loneliness crept up inside me as I stared at the empty side of the bed and then closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.
