“Back to the grind,” Ben whispered to himself as he climbed into the street sweeper. There wasn’t anything more boring and uneventful than sweeping in the daylight. Nothing exciting happened then, not like during the hours of darkness. Sneak around time.
“Shit, damn, shit!” Todd Smith yelled alarmingly over the radio waves, jolting Ben out of his mundane thoughts.
Ben stared at his radio waiting for more words from Todd, or for one of his co-workers to respond. Every public works employee with a radio had to have heard the terrified man’s shriek, yet nobody replied, not even Director Mueller.
Needing to know what had caused such panic to his co-worker, Ben grabbed his radio and pressed the button. “Todd, are you okay? What happened?”
Silence…
“Smith. What happened?” Director Mueller’s raspy voice crossed over the air.
Silence…
After a few beats, an audible gulp sounded over the airwaves. “A body.” Todd gulped again. “A body just dumped out of a trash can and into the garbage truck.”
Ben’s heart seized. Had he heard his co-worker correctly? No way. He couldn’t have.
“What did you say?” Mueller asked.
“I just dumped a body—lady—into the refuse truck.”
“Alive?” Mueller questioned.
“I’m thinking not, but I haven’t taken a close look yet.”
“Stay put. Don’t touch anything. I’m calling the cops,” the director ordered.
“Okay,” rattled out of Todd’s mouth.
All public works employees in a city-owned vehicle had to have heard Todd and had to be as curious as Ben was about the who, what, when, where, and why. Mostly the who. Thank God refuse collection was automated now or Todd would have gotten a real close look at this body, and thank goodness for the cameras on the truck. If not for those, Todd may not have noticed a body fall from the garbage can into the box container of the truck at all.
Whose can did the body fall from? Ben considered sweeping that direction to get a peek, but that area wasn’t his normal route for the day. Knowing Todd’s typical itinerary, he was probably on Eighteenth Avenue or one of the cross streets up there right about now.
Ben’s pulse raced in anticipation. Who was in the refuse truck? And why?
His cell phone buzzed. He stopped the sweeper and pulled the phone from his pocket. A group message popped up on the screen as his phone dinged non-stop with more message alerts. He didn’t know his coworkers could text that fast. All of like mind, they, too, wondered who was in the box container of Todd’s truck, and how and why they ended up there.
Lunch break would be a good one today. No doubt, everyone would come back to the shop to eat at noon.
After a few minutes, the group text went as silent as the radio waves. Not a word or a texted syllable. The clock on the dash ticked at a snail’s pace. Fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, forty-five minutes. The silence gave him too much time to speculate about the person in the refuse truck. He didn’t know if she was dead or alive. Either way, it creeped him out.
His cell phone buzzed, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. He stopped the sweeper. His fingers shook as he reached for the phone on the dash.
Ben’s heart slammed against his ribcage. Scarlett Jansen lived there. Had her husband finally had enough of her cheating ways?
This could prove interesting.
Beads of sweat formed on Ben’s brow. He should have never told the guys what he’d witnessed on his routes. He watched enough crime shows on television to know this wasn’t going to go well for him if it was Scarlett. He knew too much, and his coworkers knew he knew. How long before the police questioned him about what he’d seen?
The next four hours went excruciatingly slow and were painfully quiet, leaving too much time for him to create never-ending, worst-case scenarios in his idle mind.
A sigh of relief drained his lungs.
That’s it, no more gossiping. No more telling the lunch clan anything about what he saw in the wee morning hours. Period!
Thank God his shift ended at noon, and though most times he stayed after to eat with his buddies, he wasn’t up for today’s anticipated lunch conversation.
Ben parked the sweeper in its spot, slipped through the back door of the shop, nearly tip-toed to the time clock, punched out, and slinked out the door unseen. His tense shoulders didn’t loosen until he climbed into his truck.
In less than five minutes, he’d parked in his driveway and stared out his windshield at the neighbor’s postage-stamp lawn, which was in dire need of mowing. Maybe he’d do that to help keep his mind off things. He could save Cori the trouble. As busy as she was, it wasn’t surprising she hadn’t gotten to it for a while. But, with two teenaged boys in the house, why he ever saw her mowing the lawn was beyond him.
He slid out of his truck, headed straight for his garage, and fired up his mower. When he finished her small front yard, he moved toward the backyard.
With a peek at his watch, Ben knew she’d be home soon from job number one, her part-time receptionist position in the police department at City Hall. He’d been so excited for her when she got that job. Though she wanted a full-time one with benefits, it was a foot in the door. He wondered if she’d have to waitress tonight, her second job at the Italian restaurant downtown.
A few more passes and he’d be done with her lawn. He rounded the corner of her small home and caught her pinning gaze, her hands grounded on her thin hips. She gave him that look. That dammit, I can do this myself glare. The same one she always gave him when he tried to help her out. But lately, she followed that expression up with a soft, appreciative smile.
Maybe she was finally mellowing out a bit. The thought caused him to grin.
He understood completely why she acted so overly independent. Her asshole ex had done a number on her, bailing about ten years ago when the economy tanked and he lost his job, leaving her on her own to support their two boys, then aged five and seven. Not one dime in child support in all this time. She didn’t even know where he was anymore. Last she’d mentioned, she’d heard he might be in Belize.
He’d known Cori his entire life. She was his younger sister’s best friend. Younger by six years. He had a soft spot in his heart for her. As a teenager, she always looked at him with adoring eyes. She was sweet and naïve, just too young. His chest tightened as he recalled when he introduced her to his fiancée. He remembered it as if it were yesterday, though it was almost twenty-five years ago now. Then, he recalled his devastation when she introduced him to her fiancé. By that time, he had separated from his wife and been looking at Cori, who’d developed into a beautiful young woman, in a different light.
Timing—poor timing. By the time she married Jim, he was divorced, and she was off the market.
Now, here they stood, neighbors, houses side by side, but most times when she looked at him, he felt like they were hundreds of miles apart. She was guarded. Had tucked her heart so far inside herself he worried she’d never let herself love again. But, she’d slip on occasion, and give him that adoring stare he remembered vividly from almost twenty-five years ago. The gaze she flashed him right now. The one that ratcheted up his heartbeat was that same intense look.
Still, after all these years this woman was vulnerable, and he had to tread lightly as to not push her away. That, his ability to not send her running, scared the hell out of him. His track record with women wasn’t great. In fact, it was downright poor. Though he tried, he couldn’t seem to ever say or do the right thing when it came to the opposite sex. His ex-wife had mentioned that a time or two. To make matters worse, these traits of his seemed to worsen as he got older.
If his own ways weren’t a big enough hurdle, there was the issue of Cori’s kids. He didn’t mind kids, he’d loved raising his son. Wouldn’t trade that in for anything in the world. And, he’d be an idiot to think that at his age, kids would likely be part of the package with any woman he’d become involved with. But, Eli, that older teenager of hers was trouble. Up until a year ago or so, he seemed to be a good kid, but then something went seriously wrong—
“What are you doing?” Cori asked.
Ben turned the mower off. “Mowing your lawn,” he replied as he glanced around her yard, intentionally averting from her penetrating gaze. The very one which he assumed was designed to let him know she didn’t need his help.
“You know you don’t need to do that for me. I was going to get to it, this afternoon as a matter of fact, but…” She pulled her fists from her hips and let her thin arms fall to her sides. “I do appreciate it. It’s been a busy week.”
His pulse ratcheted up again.
“Do you have to waitress tonight?” he asked.
“Nope, I’ve got the night off.”
Her smile held in place. He supposed she appreciated a relaxing afternoon and evening. Not something she got very often. That is unless the boys had reason to run her ragged tonight.
Recalling his awful track record with women, he tore his gaze from her enticing mouth. Cori was the last woman on earth he wanted to hurt. She was too nice, too fragile for the likes of him. The way of the Deprez men played through his mind. Coming from a long line of marriage failures, he hoped his son, Ethan, could break the mold if he ever met that special someone. Ben held hope that the Deprez men got better with each generation. It cycled from his grandfather abandoning his grandmother, dad, and aunts with no trace of him since the day he’d left. Of course, the fact the man had been accused of killing his mistress may have had something to do with his jailbreak and disappearance. Next was his father who divorced his mother. At least he showed up at Christmas with gifts for Ben and his sister. Then, there was he who divorced his wife. But in his defense, he and Lisa maintained an amicable relationship, enough to share custody of their son. Maybe Ethan would figure it out.
His gaze returned to her sparkling eyes. He knew he should back off and end the conversation, but he couldn’t.
“Does Holden have a baseball game tonight?”
She shook her head, “Free and clear for the whole evening.”
“Great then. You and the boys will be my guests for dinner tonight.”
She threw her hand up to protest. The old, I can do it myself, Cori, was going to chime in.
“I’m going to grill us some pork chops,” Ben said, ignoring her decline of his invitation.
He looked up, “It’s a beautiful day for grilling.”
“No, I…”
“Look, you already said you were free, and you gotta eat, right? Plus, you’d be doing me a favor. After the hellish day I had at work, I could use some good company,” Ben interrupted.
If nothing else, he’d guilt her into it. And, if he knew her, that angle would work. He should be ashamed of himself, but he wasn’t. He was selfish and wanted to spend time with her.
Her facial features softened. “Yeah, I heard you guys had quite the day at municipal services. Dinner sounds great. I’ll make a pasta salad and a dessert. Seven-layer bars still your favorite?” She tilted her head and winked. “Would that make you feel better?”
His heart skipped a beat.
“Yes. Five o’clock, then?”
She nodded and padded off toward her house.
Cori pushed her way through her front door, then leaned back against it. What had she done agreeing to dinner with Ben? Yes, the man was sweet and nice to her, but he was such a flirt and the non-committing kind of man, which was a problem.
Lydia, her best friend, and Ben’s sister, defended him back then, insisting he wasn’t a player. Her friend’s theory was that her brother dated that type of woman as an inadvertent way to shield his heart from pain like he’d endured when his ex left him. It was a phase—a means he used to work his way through the hurt. Dating women who were only out for a good time meant he didn’t have the risk of them falling in love and wanting a commitment from him which in turn meant that his heart would not be broken again.
Yet, when Ben looked at her with those enticing mocha eyes, she couldn’t refuse him. Especially when all those old feelings she held for him resurfaced. That had been happening a lot lately. Even more, since Lydia reminded her how much he liked her.
If only Ben hadn’t gotten engaged when she was only sixteen, and then married when she was eighteen. If he had just waited for her. He had to know how much she loved him then. He’d been all she thought about back then, and she had been devastated when he introduced her to his fiancé, Lisa. Oh, how she despised that woman years ago. Cori sighed. Truth be told, there was nothing wrong with Lisa except that she married Ben. In fact, the woman was quite nice, even to this day when she ran into her around town.
Holden arrived home from baseball practice at four forty-five.
“Where’s your brother?” Cori asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know where he was going. He dropped me off and said he’d be home later.”
Curse words hung on the tip of her tongue. Eli was grounded. He knew he wasn’t supposed to go anywhere other than school or work until the end of the school year, and she knew he wasn’t scheduled to work at the grocery store tonight.
“Did he say what time?”
Holden shook his head.
Foolishly, she stared at her phone as if he’d actually respond. She’d been shocked earlier in the day when he’d responded to her text informing him about their dinner plans with their neighbor.
Holden reached for a seven-layer bar, snapping her out of her disappointing reverie. Number two son, the sweet one with a sweet tooth. She let him snag one even though it was before dinner.
“What’s Ben making?” he asked.
“Pork chops.”
Holden smiled. “My favorite.”
All of it was his favorite. At fifteen, he was an eating machine. Tall and thin, not yet filled out like his older brother, but that would come in time. She suspected both her boys would be built like their dad, tall and muscular, not tiny like her family.
Her ex, Jim, had that tough biker, bad boy look, aura, and build. That was what had grabbed her attention at first. But it didn’t take long to figure out how weak he was. Both in terms of commitment and general all-around character. Deep down, she knew they were all better off without him, but it still stung when he’d taken off without ever looking back. To ditch her was one thing, but to disregard his boys—his flesh and blood—like he did was disappointing.
Cori grabbed the pasta salad from the fridge while Holden snatched the tray of bars off the counter and followed her out the back door to where Ben stood on his patio.
“Hey, Holden. How’s baseball going?” he asked.
Her son’s face lit up. He enjoyed talking about baseball, and he loved the fact the man cared enough to ask and listen. Cori appreciated that about Ben. He probably had no idea how much that meant to her and her son.
“Good. We only have one game left and only lost one so far this season.”
“That’s great. And I hear you’re a starter.”
Holden beamed, “Well, it’s only JV, but yes.”
“Starting as a freshman in junior varsity is nothing to sneeze at.” Ben transferred the pork chops from the platter to the grill then pointed at the patio table with the tongs. “Have a seat. It’s so nice out today, we’ll eat out here.”
She sat, but Holden stepped closer to Ben and watched him grill the meat.
“No Eli tonight?” their kind host asked with a glance over his shoulder.
“No, I guess not. Sorry. I thought he was going to be here.”
The man’s look hardened a bit.
Cori’s averted her gaze to the clear tabletop. Shame sifted through her. It was no secret Eli had been a handful for her lately. Ben being in proximity to her family, coupled with being her best friend’s brother, surely knew of their problems.
“No worries. I can make up a plate for him for later.”
Cori met his gaze. It had softened as compared to a moment ago. “That’s not necessary.”
“I know, but it’s no problem. I’m sure he’ll be starving when he gets home. My son was like an industrial vacuum at his age when it came to food.”
Cori nodded in agreement, then recalled how active Ben had been in his son’s life though he and Lisa divorced when Ethan was only four years old. The man had first-hand experience raising a teenaged boy, and it showed when he interacted with her sons.
Ben served up the chops and the three of them ate, as Ben and Holden continued their conversation. They chatted so freely—comfortably. Her son ate up the attentiveness. Why wouldn’t he? An adult male giving his undivided attention to him. Consideration he should be getting from his father, but the selfish man was nowhere to be found. Her heart ached for her sons. They’d never known the love of a father, but nor had she, which made it even more disappointing. When she was younger, she and Lydia would watch in envy of their friends who’d had dads who played active roles in their lives. For them, a father figure wasn’t the norm, and having one was just a dream.
Ben rose and reached for her empty plate, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Let me—you cooked,” Cori offered as she stacked their empty plates, silverware, and glasses.
“I have homework,” Holden blurted as he rose and beelined for their house.
She chuckled at her son and looked at Ben, “Schoolwork beats helping with dishes, I guess.”
He shared her laugh and reached for the dirty tableware in her hands. “I can clean this up.”
Sure he could, but she felt a compelling need to help, and an undeniable desire to spend more time with him.
Cori followed him into the kitchen and set the dishes on the counter, then pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. Disappointment rippled through her even though she wasn’t surprised to hear nothing from Eli. Why she even bothered to check, she didn’t know.
“Everything okay?” Ben asked.
His knowing gaze caused her to avert her eyes. “Yeah. I guess. It’s Eli, he’s grounded, yet when he dropped his brother off at home this afternoon, he still took off. It’s like he doesn’t care one bit what I tell him to do or not do.”
“Gotta love those teenage years. He’ll come around eventually.”
He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and she shivered at his touch. “I hope so. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Ben edged closer and began rubbing her back in a calming manner. “It’ll be fine. This comes with the age.”
In her opinion, Eli’s poor behavior went beyond the typical seventeen-year-old ill-conduct, but her neighbor probably didn’t know the extent of it. Okay, maybe skipping school, staying out late, and defying her was typical, but how would she know for sure. He was her first experience with a boy his age. Her eyes watered. Her son was coasting on rough water, and she couldn’t seem to right the ship.
Ben’s arms encircled her. His soothing body heat seeped into her. His hold felt comforting, yet awkward. Her heart panged, reminding her that the last man who’d embraced her couldn’t have disappointed her more. That remembrance had her considering breaking free and running like hell to shield her heart before things went any further, but a part of her wanted to grip tighter, not let go, and let this kind man help wipe her worries away even if only for a moment. But this was Ben, her flirtatious neighbor…and the man who always seemed to know what to say and do for her. That scared her even more. How long before he’d disappoint her like all the other men in her life. Starting with her dad, then her ex, and now her oldest son.
“Everything will be fine, sweetheart.”
The endearment made the walls of defense she’d built around her heart crumble, and a full-blown sob ensued.
He held her tighter.
Cori was uncertain how long she sobbed into his chest, but it felt like forever. When her tears and quick breaths finally subsided, he still stood there simply holding her, being there for her. She inched her face back from his chest but kept her arms wrapped around his waist. His mocha gaze locked onto hers. It wasn’t pity emitting from his eyes. It was empathy. Thank God. She hated it when people pitied her. Those that knew her pathetic story, and now the shit-job she was doing raising her boys, substantiated by the trouble Eli had been getting into lately, looked at her with such pity it made her sick to her stomach.
What a turn of events today. When she’d accepted Ben’s dinner invitation, she did it for him. As it turned out, she was the one in dire need of a friend.
His hold loosened, and he slid his large, warm hands up, cupping her cheeks. He swiped away her tears with his thumbs as those intense eyes of his darkened. He was going to kiss her. Caution flags rose in her head, but her heart begged her brain to ignore them. Just once, it would be nice to allow herself to indulge in the comfort and security of a man’s arms, even nicer if she could count on him for continued support.
She knew she should turn and run, but her feet wouldn’t move. Instead, she stared into his dark eyes and tried to pull him in with her gaze. His head dipped, and he pressed his lips lightly to hers. Adrenaline rushed her veins. That was the exact reaction she feared, yet she kept moving her lips with his—soft and slow. It was beautiful, too beautiful.
His hands skimmed down from her cheeks to her neck, over her shoulders, down her sides, and then he hooked them at the small of her back and pulled her tighter to him. His clean, fresh, soapy scent drove her insane with need to stay near him. When he ran his tongue over the seam of her lips, heat surged through her, and she parted hers to let him in. Her knees weakened. He tightened his grip. He took her mouth more thoroughly, moving expertly.
Good God he could kiss.
Her phone buzzed. She sighed into Ben’s mouth. As much as she wanted to ignore the call and keep kissing him, she separated from him, pulled it from her pocket, and studied the screen.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“I think so. It’s Holden letting me know Eli is home.”
Cori sighed audibly, knowing what was coming. She needed to go home and deal with her eldest son.
Ben took a step back. A knowing look emitted from his gaze. “I know these times can be hard. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you. Well, I’d better get home and deal with him.”
When she turned, Ben placed his hand at the small of her back and led her to the door.
She’d taken about three steps before he called after her. “I enjoyed tonight.”
Glancing over her shoulder, she flashed him a smile. “I did, too.”
He’d given her exactly what she needed tonight: comfort, support, and understanding—the nourishment to regroup and face her problems at home and within herself. He’d also left her longing, thinking about dealing with her son and then sneaking back to his place after the boys went to bed. Could she do something like that? Did Ben want her to? Yes. He did. The desire in his gaze when she looked back at him was unmistakable. She placed her hand over her fluttering heart as she fought the urge to run back to him and fling herself into his comforting arms.
