Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Hope your trip gets better.
Marina
Bennett had said his flight got canceled. Perhaps Marina was mistaken? I started to write her back, and then something made me check for myself. Calling up the Delta flight status website, I typed in the departure and arrival cities and set the approximate time of departure as 7AM. Sure enough, it confirmed that Bennett’s flight had taken off fifteen minutes ago and was due to land at a little after eleven. The page also listed the subsequent flights, so I scrolled down to find mine. The estimated landing time was now pushed to after our meeting was set to start at one.
I’d made the right choice to drive. But why had Bennett joined me?
***
Not knowing the answer gnawed at me as we drove. I internally debated the reasons Bennett might’ve lied about his flight being canceled. There were only two I could come up with. He had either been afraid his flight would get canceled and I’d show up to the meeting alone…or…he didn’t want me to drive alone because he knew how I felt about driving. The logical explanation was that he didn’t want me alone with the client. It should’ve been a cut-and-dried answer requiring no debate. Yet I kept coming back to what Madison had said the other night at dinner.
Beast. Was he a good guy underneath the roar and trying to hide it?
Whatever the reason, I could have just let it be. But that wasn’t my strongpoint. No, I had to understand the man next to me, whether he wanted me to or not.
I turned my body toward the driver’s side so I could watch Bennett’s face as I spoke. “So Marina got back to me about confirming our return flights.”
“Good. Any issues?”
“No. We’re all set with the same return.” I paused. “Except she mentioned something.”
“Let me guess, her lunch went missing and she called the cops on me even though I’m not there today?”
I chuckled. “No. She mentioned that she had to rebook yours. It seems they canceled your return because your seat wasn’t used on the outbound flight that had already taken off.”
Bennett side glanced from the road to me, and our eyes caught. He returned to staring straight ahead and said nothing for a solid minute. I saw the wheels in his head turning.
Eventually he said, “Needed to play it safe. Couldn’t have you showing up at the client without me.”
I was probably nuts, and I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I didn’t believe him. For some reason, I was suddenly certain Bennett was lying. He’d taken the trip with me because he didn’t want me to have to drive alone. It warmed my heart a little, though he clearly didn’t intend for that to happen. And it made me want to be nice back.
I took a deep breath and stuck my neck out…again. “The other night really helped me a lot.”
He glanced over a second time. His face was pensive, like he was curious to hear what I had to say, but also didn’t think it would be wise to have this conversation.
“Oh yeah?”
I nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it. I really owe you. If you hadn’t set me straight on what you thought Andrew’s intentions were before I went, I would have woken up the next morning in a room at that hotel. Not only that, but when I eventually figured out on my own that he wasn’t planning on us reuniting for more than one night at a time, it would have been like ripping open a wound that had already started to heal.”
“Just told you what I saw happening. Could have been totally off base.”
“But you weren’t. And you were there for me, to help pick up the pieces when I might’ve fallen apart, even though I’d told you off.”
Sitting in the passenger seat while Bennett drove really had a big advantage: I could study his face. Being able to focus and watch the way his jaw ticked, his mouth moved, and his brow furrowed with confusion when he was unsure of how to answer shed a lot of light on Bennett Fox. He struggled for a moment over how to respond to my last comment before deciding on a simple nod.
“So now that you know my sad relationship history, what’s your story? The only thing you’ve given me is that you’ve never had a girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. It’s only fair that I know something about your love life. Plus, we’re stuck in this car for hours more, so you might as well tell me and get it over with, because I’ll get it out of you before we reach L.A. And don’t worry—we can go back to being non-friends when we open the car doors.”
Bennett stayed focused on the road, but managed a forced smile. “Nothing to tell.”