Elli (A Second Chance Novel Book 1) Page 33

  Ben felt a deep ache in his chest. A heart attack couldn’t hurt more. The woman had played him and he had let her. He couldn’t believe it. He’d thought he was smart enough to never let that happen again after Sarah. He wasn’t. He’d been played by a Texian.

  “Dis house feels too hollow wit her gone,” Tante Izzy said, standing in the doorway. “Go get her back.”

  Ben was about to tell her to mind her own business, but didn’t when he noticed Joey sitting on the bed looking so forlorn. “Joey, we’re going to get Rosa’s dogs at the kennel and bring them here,” he said, hoping the animals would put his son in a better mood. “Go downstairs and get the water bowls filled and ready.” Joey did as his father asked.

  “No dog will take her place,” Tante Izzy told him.

  “She’s gone and that’s the way it should be.” Ben thought he had said enough and wanted to leave, but Tante Izzy stood in the doorway blocking his exit.

  “Youz is a fool.”

  “No kidding.”

  “Youz don’t know nothin’, Ben.”

  “Did she tell you why she left?”

  “No. I didn’t even get me a note.” Ben crossed his arms over his chest listening to every word his aunt said, hoping to learn something. . .anything. “I’m a little disappointed ’bout dat. It waz rude, but I trust her to have a good reason. I know her heart and a heart like hers don’t run away like a crook unless somethin’ is wrong.”

  “I don’t buy it.” The e-mails in his hand felt as heavy as the anchor around his heart. He took a step closer to his aunt. “Excuse me, I need to go.” She didn’t move.

  “I guess youz need to let the shock wear off.” She frowned. “She hurt youz pride. Dat’s for sure. Tomorrow, youz will think right and go bring her back.”

  * * * *

  Three weeks later, Ben had still not gone to get Elli and Tante Izzy wasn’t happy about it. She kept blustering around the house, pointing out how miserable he was, like he didn’t already know it. He hated himself for letting Elli manipulate him and he hated himself for trying to think of reasons to justify why she had. It was crazy and he had no time for crazy. He had a business to run and a son to raise.

  The door to his office opened and Beau walked in. He tossed a folder on the desk where Ben was doing paperwork. “That’s from Elli’s attorney.”

  He opened the two-inch-thick folder. “Give me the abridged version.”

  “It’s Elli’s will.” Beau stretched out on the sofa and put his hands behind his head. “In the event of Crocifissa Morenelli’s death, you will inherit all of her interest in Sugar Mill Plantation and the kennel.”

  Ben looked at Beau. “This just dropped out of the blue sky.” He was feeling like he’d been dropped in a blind-sided tackle, when another thought popped into his head. “Elli isn’t sick or dying, is she?”

  “I don’t know.” Beau sat up. “Abby never said anything about that. Maybe you should call Elli and ask her.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t.” He looked at the folder, but the words just blurred in front of him. The idea that Elli might be really sick worried him. “Why did she send this to me? Why didn’t she just let me find out in the event of her death?” There was that awful feeling in his stomach again. Ben got up and began to pace.

  “The cover letter explains it.”

  Ben walked back to his desk and read the letter on top of all the documents. It was written to him by Abby, stating that her client wanted him to have peace of mind and assurance that the family home would remain in his care. It should be a Bienvenu legacy. “I’ll be damned.” Ben started to get a headache. What was she doing this for? She had already given him control of the plantation, although she retained half ownership. What scheme could she be cooking up with this? It just didn’t jive with the way she conducted business behind his back and pretended to be someone else in front of his face. “This doesn’t make sense.”

  “Yeah, right, huh?” Beau walked to the coffeepot, poured a cup, and took a sip. “Shit. This is cold.” He shook his head and took the cup with him back to the sofa to finish it. “I think you read Elli wrong, couz. She’s not the barracuda you thought she was. I think something else is going on. Unless you talk to her, you won’t really know what she intended by leaving those e-mails.”

  “Talk to her? Do you think I can trust what she says?”

  Beau shook his head. “For a man who has a crazy ability to read a dog’s mind, you’d think you could figure out a little about a human’s. Sarah really did a number on you. She messed with your confidence in your capacity to judge another person’s character.” He swigged the rest of the coffee and winced. “Maybe that’s not true. She just destroyed your confidence in dealing with women.”

  Ben didn’t like what Beau said, but he knew it might be right on target. Sarah had made him jaded. “You can’t tell me that Elli’s actions weren’t deceitful.”

  “I feel like there are some missing pieces in this puzzle.” Beau said, balancing the empty coffee cup on his knee. “Your girl is smart. Maybe things started changing faster than she could adapt. Call her and try to settle this. She just gave you a huge gift. At least you can tell her thank you.”

  Ben told him what he thought Beau could do with his advice as only close cousins could. But the truth of the matter was, he knew Beau was right.

  “I liked you better when Elli was here.” Beau put the mug on Ben’s desk. “I bet you liked yourself better when she was here, too.” He walked to the door. “Think about it, Ben. What did she do that was so horrible, anyway? She didn’t bring a buyer here and try to sell it without your consent. She just solicited investors. Did she manipulate you to gain that end? What do you think? The girl didn’t seem to have it in her to fake it.” Beau laughed. “Unless she had to because you are a rotten lover.”

  “Ha, ha, ha.” He leaned back in his chair.

  “She is not Sarah.” Beau looked at Ben and slapped himself on the forehead. “I’ll be damned. You really are in love with her or you would have just called her to find out what in the hell is going on. You wouldn’t be moping around like this if you didn’t care a lot. I suspected you might be in love with her, but now I can see that you’ve got it bad. Well, cuz, I always thought you and I would be the level-headed ones in this world who wouldn’t fall prey to society’s dictates that a man had to settle on one woman.” He laughed and came over to slap Ben on the back and laughed again. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

  “You are too damn smug.” He sneered at Beau. “I’m every bit as a confirmed bachelor as you.”

  Beau looked at his cousin for a moment and then let out a howl of laughter and left.

  Ben opened the folder and re-read the cover letter. “What are you up to, Elli?” Part of him wanted to believe she had named him in her will because she meant what was written in the letter. The other part of him thought it might be another tool of manipulation. He just didn’t know.

  The door to the office flew open and Joey raced inside, dropping his school bag on the floor. His navy polo shirt, monogrammed with the school logo, was half tucked into his khaki uniform pants, which were stained green at the knees and skimmed the bottom of his ankles. His son was growing so fast. Time was racing by.

  “Hi Dad.” He walked into the kitchen and found a bag of cookies and box of juice. He sat on the chair across from Ben’s desk and punched the straw into the juice box.

  “How was school?”

  “Good. Lucy Cheramie threw up on Tommy Simoneaux when he pretended to eat a lizard during recess.”

  “That’s a new variation on scaring a girl with a lizard.” The sound of someone slamming on their brakes in front of the office interrupted their conversation. Ben knew before she came barreling through the door, it was Tante Izzy.

  “Moodee dis new phone.” She handed her cell phone to Ben. “I can't get it to work.”

  Ben picked up the phone. “What do you want to do with it?”

  “I want to do dat Face Time
.” She walked behind her nephew. “I have an appointment to talk to Elli. She keeps callin’ me, but when I answer, we get disconnected. I knowz I need to press somethin’ for it to work.” On cue, the phone began to ring. “It’s Elli, again.”

  Joey jumped off his chair and came around the desk. “You have to press this.” He tapped the screen and shifted the phone’s camera until it faced himself. Elli’s face popped up. Her bright blue eyes were big and round and full of surprise to see his son. Ben’s heart started to accelerate.

  “Hi, Joey,” she said, her voice cheerful. “I’m so happy to see you. How are you?”

  “Good. Lucy Cheramie threw up on Tommy Simoneaux today.”

  Elli laughed and Ben’s insides felt warm. “I bet that was something to see, huh?”

  “Tommy threw up right back at her. It was really gross,” he laughed making disgusted faces. He clearly enjoyed telling the story.

  “No kidding. I’m glad I wasn’t there to see that.”

  Elli and Joey continued to talk for a few minutes like old pals, laughing and telling each other stories. Ben forgot his anger for a time and just enjoyed watching their byplay.

  “Okay, youz hogged the call long enough,” Tante Izzy said, turning the phone until she was in the corner box on the screen. “I tole youz I’d get da fancy phone to talk to youz.”

  “You sure did.” Ben could see Elli on the phone from where he sat. He watched her shrug her shoulders in that way that always made him smile. His heart pounded harder in his chest. His breathing grew heavier. His fingers tingled and he had a ridiculous urge to touch the screen, to touch Elli. How in the hell did that simple shoulder shrug get his insides stirring like that?

  “Dis is somethin’.” Tante Izzy smiled into the phone’s camera. “Who would ever have thought dat one day I would be talkin’ on a TV telephone? Me, who didn’t have a phone until 1976 and it waz a party line at dat.”

  “What’s a party line, Dad?” Joey asked Ben, and Elli’s eyes widened. She seemed to back away from the phone a little.

  “It’s when da whole town shares da same phone line as you.” Tante Izzy smiled. “Like when youz has extra phones in da house peoples can talk on at da same time. Except, da phones are in different houses. If youz call someone else, youz can bet someone on da party line will be listenin’ to dat call, too. I miss those days. Youz got youz news by just pickin’ up youz phone and listenin’.”

  Ben watched as Elli started fidgeting in her seat. She looked uncomfortable. Was it because she knew he was there? He asked Tante Izzy for her phone with a gesture. She handed it to him. “Hello, Elli,” he said, when he knew she could see him. She tucked a curl behind her ear. Ben remembered doing that same thing. He remembered doing a lot of things to her. His muscles bunched in his legs and stomach. He sucked in a breath.

  “Hi, Ben. How are you?”

  “Comme ci, comme ça.” He saw Tante Izzy and Joey staring at him, looking like they were afraid of what he might say. “How are the girls?”

  “Oh, Ben, they’re great. I thank Aunt Rosa every day for giving them to me.”

  Now it was his turn to shift uncomfortably in his seat. One day, he’d have to tell her where those dogs really came from and give her the three she was supposed to inherit. Ha; she could not possibly handle six dogs. He smiled, thinking of how she’d try to walk them all at the same time. They would be straining on their leashes as Elli raced after them, wearing her worn multicolored knit cap, body-hugging white T-shirt, and snug running shorts that exposed long, muscular legs. He shook his head. What in the hell was he doing thinking of that? “Look, I just wanted to thank you. I got a copy of the will today.”

  She shrugged and Ben’s heart began to pound. What was it she wanted to say? She smoothed her hair behind her ear again. Desire flared hot and heavy in him. The woman made his body crazy just with two ridiculously simple gestures. Would time reduce his immense reaction to her? In that deep, crystal clear place where pride and hurt didn’t cloud knowledge, Ben found his answer. No. Whether it was right or wrong, his feelings for Elli would never fade.

  “It’s your plantation, Ben. I just want to make sure you get what’s yours.” Elli stared at the phone a long time. Ben wondered if she was thinking about what he looked like naked, like he was thinking of her. After ten seconds of silence, she spoke. “I’m glad to have spoken to you. To all of you. I have to go now. Good-bye, Ben.” Her voice broke for a moment. “Good-bye, Joey and Tante Izzy. We’ll talk again soon.” She hung up the phone.

  “Mais, I dink dat girl was ’bout to cry,” Tante Izzy said looking sad.

  Ben thought so, too.

  Tante Izzy tossed something on his desk that landed with a smack. He looked down at it. “People Magazine?”

  “It’s autographed. By Elli. There is an article inside youz should read. And, Ruby says Elli had a blog too that lets a person peer into her heart. Youz might be wantin’ to read dat, too, is all I’m sayin’. Seems to me youz needs some serious learnin’. Youz been actin’ real stupid.”

  * * * *

  Elli hung up the phone and didn’t move. Tears swept down her cheeks. God, she missed Ben. She missed them all. She looked at a sparrow that landed on the fence in the tiny backyard of her new apartment. She was right to let them all remain free, like the bird, she thought. She had no right to burden them with her reality.

  She reached for the fresh carrot juice on the coffee table in front of her and flinched. The area where they had done a needle biopsy on her breast was still tender and slow to heal. The doctors said that was because the lump had been in the irradiated breast. Elli didn’t care if it hurt like this the rest of her life. She was just so dang grateful the lump was benign.

  Elli smiled, remembering the line from Deconstructing Harry. It had popped into her head a lot these past few weeks. “The most beautiful words in the English language are not ‘I love you,’ but ‘it’s benign.’”

  “I love you” seemed pretty darn good, too, she thought. “If it didn’t hurt so much.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Did I tell you all how much I love my BFF, Abby? She hosted a wake to say farewell to my breasts on the eve of my double mastectomy. There was a memorial with gaudy funeral flowers and everyone in attendance wore funny wigs and colorful knit caps. Anatomically themed refreshments were served, too. If you want the recipes let me know. It may take a few weeks before I can respond with them, though. I will be recovering from my surgery and reconstruction. It’s another step to try to keep the enemy away. I didn’t choose this fight, just as my mother didn’t and many of you reading this blog didn’t…but I will not back down. That is my vow…til death do us part. E.

  Bosom Blog Buddies Post

  It had been two weeks since Ben had spoken to Elli on the phone. He thought of that call a lot, almost to the point of obsessing over it. He thought about what he should have said. He thought about what she wanted to say but didn’t, as indicated by the ridiculously sexy shoulder shrugs. Most of all he thought about how he just wanted to talk to her again, especially after reading the magazine article and her blog posts online. Ruby had been right about the blog, it let him peer into her heart…but didn’t he already know, on some level in his brain, what was there without reading it?

  It was the article and the others he found online, though, that gave him the most pause. They all described the fiasco involving the foundation that Elli founded and the big fundraising event that had resulted in a few dozen celebrities and high rollers having their identities stolen. The articles stated that Elli had sold her house and donated the proceeds to the Gene I.D. Foundation to help keep it afloat. Ben thought that seemed like the actions of a noble woman. More than that, it was just one more thing that didn’t logically paint the picture of the villain he had thought she was when she left Sugar Mill. It was time for him to get the answers to the jumbled mess Elli left in his head. It was way past time to speak to her face-to-face.

  Ben sat in a nondescript
rental car wearing a tuxedo. He had just parked in front the address Beau had given to him with stupid enthusiasm. He gripped the steering wheel, looking at the building in front of him, just breathing in and out…in and out. There was a neat but small apartment complex with a row of low-growing shrubs and a lot of bright pink and yellow flowers planted along the walkway. It didn’t look like the fancy home he had originally thought Elli would own. It looked exactly like the home she could afford.

  “Hello,” Ben answered, when his phone rang. It was Tante Izzy, his second excuse for coming to California. They were there to attend a small but formal fundraiser for Elli’s foundation. “Yes, I promise I won’t be late. I know how important this event is and how worried Elli must be that no one will attend. I have something to take care of first.” He wanted to talk to Elli alone, not in a crowded room.

  He stepped out of the car. He brushed at the wrinkles in the black, formal trousers and looked at his reflection in the car window to straighten his bow tie. He had considered cutting his hair, but in the end just settled on wearing it in a stubby ponytail. Once, while they were settled naked and satisfied in his bed, Elli had told him that she liked when he wore his hair in a ponytail.

  Ben took in a deep breath and walked toward the path leading to the complex. He hesitated when he reached the front of the car and saw a flash of baby blue. His body reacted physically before his mind fully understood what his eyes had seen. It was Elli. She was dressed in a flowing, glacier-blue strapless gown. She seemed to float around the corner onto his street as three happy dogs tugged on their leashes with joyful eagerness. She had never quite gotten that she was the pack leader, not BJ. It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. His heart squeezed so tightly in his chest, he thought he might not be able to breathe. He managed to move forward to meet Elli on the path.