I miss Grady.
But I miss Ben too.
And Ben’s absence is something I refuse to accept.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Mom! I have a science project!” Abby called from the mudroom where she knelt digging through her backpack after school.
I had already set Blake up with his massive amount of homework at the island and Lucy had flashcards to work on. She hadn’t stopped talking since we walked in the door, not-so-patiently waiting for me to finish with Blake.
When did fourth grade math get so hard? And why wasn’t I smart enough for these story problems?
“What kind of science project, Abigail?” I had already decided that if her project took any more time than ten minutes, I was going to have to sell her on EBay.
Maybe I could use the money I made to pay a math tutor to help Blake finish elementary school.
Her bouncing red head popped into the kitchen and she held up an instruction sheet dated a week ago. I mentally went to the Craigslist browser. I could probably find an immediate buyer.
“I have to do a thing. On a vertebrate.”
“What is a thing?”
“What is a vertabit?” Jace echoed.
“I diaphragm.”
“Gram,” I corrected quickly. “You have to make a diorama.”
“Whatevs.” She read over the sheet of paper. “And I have to write a report.”
I took the instructions from her. “And color a picture. What is wrong with your school? This is too much work! You all have too much work! I’ve decided, starting tomorrow, we’re going to homeschool.”
Blake snickered, “Wouldn’t you have to do all of the work then?”
“Since you’re so smart, maybe you could teach it.” He tapped his pencil on his psychotic math homework. I let out a squeak of frustration. “Okay, we’re going to need to divide and conquer. Abby, your vertebrate is a monkey. Don’t argue with me. Lucy, go get Mr. Puddles.”
This instruction caused an uprising from the savages. “Abby, I don’t care if you want to take Mr. Puddles or not! That’s the only model I can think of to use. Lucy, you have to share with your sister! She will bring him back! Jace, get off the table!”
I wanted to curl up into the fetal position on the floor, but that wouldn’t help solve any of these problems. I settled the kids down by working myself up and shouting at them-always an effective tool. They went off to their corners of the house to retrieve a shoebox, a skinny, bendy monkey figurine that Lucy had nicknamed Mr. Puddles after she dropped him in one, and I went to the computer to do a Google search on printable monkey pictures.
“Blake, I’ll be right back! Just do what you can!”
“I figured it out!” he shouted back.
It seemed to take forever for the monkey pictures to print. My computer was slow and then my printer wouldn’t connect wirelessly. By the time I had something for Abby to use, my kids could probably all curse with the best of them.
With the pictures printed and held victoriously in my hands, I walked out of the den and dropped them all over the entryway floor.
Ben stood in the doorway, looking slightly panicked and more than a little bit confused.
“What are you doing here?” I felt utterly breathless as I took him in. If possible he looked more gorgeous than ever. And up close his handsome face made my heart flutter and my stomach fizz. I had been watching him at a distance for two months now. I would watch him check the mail or mow his yard. I would look to see if his car was around on the weekends or if he had a date.
Of course, I never knew if he had a date or not. But I liked to speculate. Sometimes I would make Emma come over just so we could speculate together.
He had let his five o’clock shadow become a gruff beard that suited him. He had thick-framed glasses on that I had never seen before and his clothes were more rumpled than I could remember them ever being.
All in all, he looked like a mess.
Not that my limp ponytail and sweatpants were any better.
It was just shocking to see him so… disheveled.
“I got a text.” He held up his phone so I could see the screen. “You said it was an emergency.”
“I didn’t text you.”
His eyebrow quirked. “Liz, I was in a meeting. I raced over here. I was rude to a client.”
“Ben, I’m so sorry. I… It wasn’t me.”
“It was me,” the small voice came from the kitchen doorway. Blake looked ashen. “I didn’t know you were busy. I’m sorry.”
Ben looked from me to Blake and then back again. “Why did you text me, Blake? What did you need?”
“I need help with my homework and mom is busy. She’s really busy and she keeps cussing. I just wanted to make it easy for her.”
Ben’s gaze swung back to mine, “You keep cussing?”
I felt betrayed by my oldest child. “PG-13 words! Nothing worse than that.”
Ben and Blake both gave me disbelieving looks.
“Did I ruin your job?” Blake asked with a slight tremble in his voice.
Ben’s expression broke and a grin finally made an appearance on his face. “No, no you didn’t ruin it. I was only rude to my client because he was a jerk to me. I’ll make it up to him tomorrow. He’ll get over it. If you need help with your homework, I can help you. Then we’ll both help make dinner so your mom stops cussing.”
“I wasn’t really cussing!”
“That’s awesome! Thanks, Ben!”
Blake disappeared into the kitchen while I swooped down to gather the scattered pictures. “You don’t have to stay, Ben. I have this handled.”
“I’m sure that you do, Liz, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay.”
I steeled my nerves and met his hopeful gaze. “You would?”
“I’ve missed these kids,” he admitted on a long sigh. “A lot. I’ve thought about coming over here at least a hundred times to see them, but I didn’t want to make things worse.”
“Oh.”