Elli (A Second Chance Novel Book 1) Page 11

  Elli shook her head. “She’s been incontinent since we began our trip, so it must have been…” She didn’t finish her thought. “Where do I buy the right food?”

  “I’ve got some in the pantry at the training gym.” He went to the cabinet and got some alcohol to clean the thermometer. He handed it to Elli with a box of protective covers. “You can handle taking her temp?”

  “Sure,” she said too easily. Ben wasn’t convinced. “Every four hours.”

  He cleaned the stainless examining table with disinfectant and led her to the main kennel training building across the street. On the way over, the pseudo truce they had because of their mutual concern for Donna ended. The single-minded woman saw to that.

  “Do you think we can have a meeting tonight to discuss our situation?” she asked, in a tone filled with a confidence Ben knew she had because of the cozy little scene in the clinic.

  “I already know everything I need to know about our situation, Miss Crocifissa.” He pulled the gym door open and walked in first. She rushed in behind him to keep the door from hitting her on her backside.

  “Actually, you don’t.” He stopped and gave her a hard look. She had the nerve to stare right back at him, sliding her big eyes over his mouth again. Damn.

  “Considering you can’t do anything without me agreeing to it, I can’t see how that is possible. Unless we’re talking about the way you molested me with your hot little body and sexy mouth, earlier.” He turned and walked into the food storage room at the end of the hall.

  She followed him. “I didn’t molest you,” she said, her voice not as confident as it was just minutes before. “I…I…I’m sorry for kissing you the way I did. I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep.” Ben glared at her. “Okay, I have no excuse for my behavior. It was totally inappropriate and unprofessional.”

  “Depends on your profession.” He let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding and filled a box with a few plastic bags of dry dog food. The sooner he was away from her the better. More importantly, the sooner she left Sugar Mill and was out of his life, the sooner things would be back to normal. “It’s best to feed all of your dogs this food. You add water to it. Follow the instructions on the bag.” He handed her the box, and after a few awkward seconds of her repositioning it in her arms, she put Donna inside it.

  “After dinner would be a good time for us to meet,” she said, pasting a smile on her deceivingly sweet face. “We can meet in the dining room. I’ll see you then.” She turned and walked away, and Ben’s eyes fell to her well-shaped ass.

  Before she reached the door, it swung open and three super-fit New Orleans Police officers, wearing tight black T-shirts and uniform pants, came inside. They stopped in front of Elli, huge grins on their faces as they spoke to her. “Ma’am.”

  “Hello, beautiful.”

  “Hi, honey.”

  She looked at Ben, then smiled a flirty smile at New Orleans’s finest. “Welcome to Sugar Mill Plantation,” she said. “My name is Elli Morenelli.” She extended her hand while balancing the box with Donna and the dog food with the other. She shook their hands.

  “Pleasure to meet you,” the tallest and most muscular of the three said. “Please tell me we’ll be working with you while we’re here.”

  She laughed that womanly kind of laugh that always grabbed a man by his balls. “Oh, no, I don’t work here. I’m just part owner of the kennel and plantation.” She looked Ben directly in the eyes. “See you after dinner tonight, Mr. Bienvenu.”

  * * * *

  Elli heard Ben and Joey talking downstairs and decided she wouldn’t push her luck by joining them in the kitchen. She didn’t want to anger Ben before their meeting by hanging out with his sweet little boy. She needed to have him in the best possible mood when she told him that a movie crew was coming to shoot a few scenes on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not interfering in what she figured was routine father-son time would allow Ben to feel that his life hadn’t been turned completely upside down. Which she knew it was. Elli remembered how much she loved the quiet talks she had with her father over dinner. She missed the times when she would seek his advice, tell him about her day, or just sit near him in silence and absorb his love. She imagined it was the same for Ben and Joey. At least, it seemed that way when she managed to spy on them a few times. Ben’s entire body looked fluid and relaxed when he was with his son. There was a peace in his voice, his eyes, and his smile. Elli envied that honest, unconditional love they shared.

  She looked at the dogs sleeping on the bed next to her and smiled. “Do you love me unconditionally?” Only Jenny responded with a single wag of her tail. Elli supposed her newfound relationship with these crazy creatures was kind of like that. They seemed to accept her as-is, she supposed, until she didn’t feed them.

  Elli walked into the en suite bathroom, carrying the sandwich she had made from the small stash of food she had in an ice chest in her room. She turned on the water in the dull, claw-foot tub and added the organic lavender bath foam and salts she had brought with her from California. She would take a long, hot, relaxing bath and review what she wanted to say and how she intended to say it to Ben at tonight’s meeting. That is, if he showed up. Elli stripped off her clothes and tossed them in a rumpled heap in the corner. She placed one bath towel on the floor and another on the edge of the pink porcelain sink before climbing into the tub.

  “Ahh.” She closed her eyes as she sank deeper into the almost too hot water. The frothy foam hissed as it floated around her. “Relax and find your center,” she murmured, before filling her lungs with the clean, floral-scented air produced by the massaging bubbles. This was good, she thought. Therapeutic. This allowed her time to focus on her plan and make the adjustments needed to reach her goal. Yes, staying focused on the goal was everything. Get the money needed to save the foundation so the services they offered would continue to help save lives. Well, actually, achieving the goal was everything.

  Elli sighed. It sounded simple, but reaching it was much more complicated than anticipated. She had expected Ben to be difficult to persuade, but she hadn’t counted on facing so many distractions. The families the foundation helped deserved better from her. They needed the financial, educational, and spiritual support in their journey for early detection. That kind of support saved lives by leading them to proactive medical surveillance for their families.

  Elli lifted a handful of bubbles and blew them into the air. There was no doubt that if there had been an organization like Gene I.D. Foundation to guide her mother or even Elli prior to their diagnosis with cancer, they would have been fighting the clandestine enemy before it wounded them with its deadly force. Her mother didn’t know the full power of the enemy she was battling. Elli met it head-on. She prayed the foundation would be an effective early-warning system for others.

  “Okay, Elli, you can do this.” She closed her eyes and took a moment to center herself. “God, I wish there was another funding source other than the sale of the plantation.” She would gladly turn over all of her personal money today if she had something to give. Still, no matter how much the foundation needed the money, she didn’t regret using most of her personal savings to pay her medical bills and live an unencumbered life. It was what she had to do. From the moment she realized she wasn’t immortal, she decided to live as if the next hour or day would be her last. She spent the huge pile of money she had earned being one of the best in her field, without regard for tomorrow. She supposed it was foolish for her to blast through her savings, even with giving some of it to charitable causes, because in just three years, the money was gone and she wasn’t. As crazy as it was, she knew she would have done it all over again if she were given a do-over.

  It was her journey, and Abby’s, too. Yes, she remembered as if it was yesterday how it took them both a few years to come to terms with life after breast cancer, but they had. They knew they would live another day and had to pay their good fortune forward. That’s when
they got serious about starting the foundation. Abby was broke, but Elli was able to use most of the savings she had left as start-up money. She was happy her successful career allowed her to do that. She downsized her life and had enough to survive on a modest portion of her annual Newfies royalties while the rest of that money was dedicated to a trust she established in the early months after her diagnosis and before Gene I.D. She came to Louisiana knowing that selling the plantation was her only option financially. No matter how much she wished for crisp, thousand-dollar bills to rain from a bright blue rainbow-edged sky into the foundation’s expanding bank account, it wasn’t going to happen. “The bottom line is that I have to convince Ben Bienvenu to sell the plantation, when he is determined to keep the status quo.”

  Elli lathered the washcloth with fragrant lavender soap as she thought of ways to convince Ben it made sense and was good for both him and his son to sell the plantation. Selling it to a movie company to use as a studio didn’t mean he wouldn’t be allowed access to the property. He wouldn’t own it, but he could come on the land and share stories with Joey about their ancestors. It would still be part of his world. She could make sure the sale’s contract included a stipulation allowing him access to the Sugar Mill property when he wanted. Elli smiled. That was reasonable.

  Tonight, at their meeting, she’d suggest he let this film crew on the property as a sort of trial. They’d pay him a ridiculous amount of money for little use of the house and property. He’d see that they were respectful and professional stewards of Sugar Mill Plantation. Elli’s heart raced with a hopeful excitement. She’d have to take baby steps in a hurry with Ben. She’d have to stay focused, a bit of a problem since meeting the stubborn man. Why was that? It wasn’t like her to lose sight of her goal. Maybe it was because she hadn’t planned for all the possible scenarios and hadn’t reacted well to the unexpected. That, too, wasn’t like her. She had a reputation for being like a block of concrete under pressure. At least she was when she was producing, before the breast cancer.

  “I guess my skills haven’t been challenged in the last three years,” she murmured, slipping her head under the water to wet her hair. Breast cancer had changed everything about her life. She took her washcloth and ran it over chest, taking a moment to look at the four-inch scar on the side of her right breast. It was just a thin, pale line now, but it might as well be a huge, electronic billboard with bright, colorful lights advertising how fragile life was. If that scar didn’t remind her of her mortality, the mastectomy reconstruction scars that were now vertical lines beneath both of her nipples and the horizontal scar slashing across her hip would. When she looked at all those scars, including the two-inch scar from her chemo port, near her left collarbone, she was very grateful for her life.

  Elli slapped the water with her hand, sending foam flying over the side of the tub. “A woman with a noble cause must be fearless. She must put on her armor, mount her steed, and charge into battle with her sword drawn,” she said, affirming aloud what her mind was trying to reason. “I will not feel guilty or remorseful for selling the plantation. Ben and Joey will be happy with a fat nest egg in the bank. That kind of security is much better for them than romantic sentiment about family legacy.”

  She reached for her sandwich and took a bite, but before she could put it back on the paper plate on the floor, a blur of tan fur flew in front of her and landed in the tub. She let out a scream. “Jenny! No!”

  The big Lab-mix wagged her tail, sending water and foam flying across the room. She turned to face Elli with a big smile on her goofy doggie face. “Out!”

  Elli heard the patter of dog claws running on wood floors, and before she could get out of the way, Doe was in the tub with her, too. “Nooo.” She thought it was a game and started her god-awful happy baying. “Out!”

  Donna and BJ came running, barking and howling the whole way. They were slipping on the wet floor and tugging on the towel she had hanging on the sink.

  The door to her bedroom flew open, and from where she was huddled in the tub, she saw Ben and Joey race in. “What the hell is going on? It sounds like someone is getting murdered in here,” Ben shouted.

  “Out, or there will be a murder!” she cried, trying to cover all her naked bits with what foam was left in the tub. She looked at little Joey who was laughing at the top of his lungs. “Cover your eyes, young man!” He threw his hands over his eyes and slipped onto the floor. He rolled onto his side and continued laughing. BJ jumped on top of him and began licking his hands covering his face.

  Ben’s beautiful, scared mouth lifted in a full smile. “Cher, if you wanted company for your bath, all you had to do was ask.”

  “Ben!” She gave him a proper insulted look, nodded toward Joey, and mouthed the words—watch what you say in front of him.

  He reached into the tub and pulled Jenny out first. He grabbed the towel from Donna’s mouth and began to dry her drenched, beige coat. His eyes, however, weren’t on his task. They were on Elli’s naked body, or what she hoped he couldn’t see of it. She had her knees tucked under her chin, and the slices of sandwich bread positioned like a bikini top over her breasts.

  “Joey, without looking, can you throw me a towel?” she asked, knowing by the mischievous spark in Ben’s eyes that if she asked him to do it he would refuse.

  “Sure thing.” Joey opened the linen cabinet against the wall and in one swift movement, tossed a small, thin washcloth over his shoulder.

  Ben laughed. “That’s my boy.”

  “Can you toss me a bigger towel,” she called to him, and for some reason, Doe thought Elli was calling her. She plodded thru the bathwater to where Elli sat tucked in the corner and licked her face with her big slobbering tongue. “Ewwww.” She grabbed the washcloth and wiped her face with it. Doe spotted the sandwich bread and snapped one of the slices into her mouth in one big, hungry bite. “Doe!”

  Elli was mortified. The surgeons had done a beautiful job reconstructing her breasts, but now the scars were there for Ben to see. She twisted in the tub, giving him her backside instead.

  “Everybody, out!” she shrieked, “Now.”

  “I think she’s going to cry,” Joey said, grabbing Jenny by her collar and pulling her to the door.

  “I’m not going to cry,” she said over her shoulder. “I’m just…just…embarrassed. Mortified, really.”

  Ben reached into the tub and lifted Doe out. He leaned close to Elli’s ear. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about, cher. It’s not like you have a lumpy ass.” She splashed him with a handful of water.

  “Out!”

  He ran his fingertips down her spine, and as much as she tried to prevent it, she shivered right there in front of him. She knew the arrogant man saw it and was gloating over his power to affect her that way. And as unwanted as it was, he did have some kind of power over her body. She didn’t know what in the world was going on between them, but something was. It was most likely pure, simple lust and sexual chemistry. How that fit into their adversarial partnership, she didn’t know. It certainly complicated things. She didn’t think she had the emotional fortitude to keep the two things separate. Nothing could come of this…thing…between them. So what if the man was ridiculously sexy. He was off limits. To be intimate with him would make her feel even more vulnerable than she already felt. He’d see her scars and her imperfect body and know she was damaged. Your opponent shouldn’t know your weakness. Besides, she just couldn’t stomach the idea that he might feel sorry for her.

  “Don’t forget our meeting,” she told Ben as he was walking out the door with Doe and Donna. “I’ll see you in the dining room at seven.” That is, if she could crawl out of the hole she wanted to bury herself in.

  * * * *

  The heavy brass and amber crystal chandelier was on when Elli walked into the dining room promptly at seven. The light cast golden prisms on the faded green and cream magnolia wallpaper and matching silk drapery while blending with the inlet edging the round, mahogany t
able. Elli’s theatrical eye appreciated the scene set before her by one of Ben’s relatives from long ago. She was disappointed that Ben wasn’t in it. She knew, however, that he had been there. His smooth, earthy scent, which reminded her of a warm, fall day in the woods, lingered in the room. He probably just walked away for a moment, she figured.

  She sat on one of the ornately carved dining chairs, pushed against the wall, and folded her arms over the soft blue cardigan sweater set she had spent so much time deciding to wear. It was casual, yet sophisticated. Like her black wool slacks and black Jimmy Choo pumps. She listened for Ben’s footsteps or voice. All she heard was the distant sound of the TV in the main parlor. Was he there? She waited another minute, then stood and looked at her watch. It had been seven minutes since she came into the dining room. Was he standing her up for the latest episode of The Simpsons? Would he be that rude? That defiant? Elli sighed. He might be, she thought, looking more closely at the dining room table, hoping to find a note.

  There, in the center of the table, was a small piece of torn paper bag with her name on it. It was no wonder she’d missed it, with the way he tucked it under the brass candelabra centerpiece. It was printed in all caps.

  “Going to see a man about a dog—literally. B.”

  She smiled. It wasn’t a rejection. That was good. Great, really. Her mood lifted to a place it hadn’t been since she arrived. He had intended to meet with her. She clutched the crumpled note to her chest. There was hope. He didn’t hate her, she sighed, having a Sally Field at the Academy Awards moment. “He likes me,” she shouted, twirling in a circle.

  The image of the sexy white scar slashed over his lip, wet from their kiss, came to her and her heart beat faster. Her spine tingled with the memory of his fingers stroking her with a whispered touch. “Stop it.” She willed her crazed mind not to provoke her womanly bits so much. It was dangerous. She had to stay focused on the goal. Ben wasn’t the goal, selling the plantation was.