08

Chapter 7

On Saturday, after the diner was closed for the day, Ben and his staff gathered for lunch. He and Paul prepared the food and they all had an enjoyable meal. It was something Ben organized for his staff once in a while to reward them for a job well done. After nearly three hours of eating and talking, they all started clearing the tables.

"Thanks for the treat, boss," Rachel said. "The food was awesome."

"Hey, Ben's not the only one who'd cooked, you know," Paul protested almost grumpily. The others laughed and Rachel looped her arm through Paul's and leaned into him.

"I didn't forget you, Paulie. You've done above and beyond today. Thank you for feeding us," she said with a laugh.

"Yeah, and I will be eternally grateful if you can drive me home, Paulie," Lily called from the other side of the room.

"Always Paulie," he grumbled, but he had an amused glint in his eyes.

Ben turned to Elle who had just finished stacking the chairs back on the table. This is now or never, he thought. "Elle, can I drive you home? I want to talk to you."

He watched as Elle's eyes widened in surprise. This was the first time he had offered to drive her. "Oh. Sure."

He nodded, forcing himself to remain calm. "I'll see you in ten." He headed to the office, his heart beating a hundred miles an hour at the prospect of finally getting the chance in asking Elle out on a date. He took in several deep breaths; this was not the first time he was asking a girl out, for God's sake. Sure, it had been a while, but still. He shook his head and started the clear papers from his table and emptied the trash.

Twenty minutes later, after Paul, Lily, and Rachel had left, Ben locked the front entrance and Elle helped him pull down the metal grate. They walked to Ben's car together and Elle told him her address.

"It's a nice neighborhood," Ben said.

"Oh, you know the place?" Elle asked.

"I always pass through it on my way to my mother's house," he explained. "It's a quite matured suburb, isn't it? I gathered it's quite hard to live there. You're lucky to have a place there."

"Yeah, thanks to Zoe," she said.

"How long have you been living there?" he asked.

"For a couple of years," Elle said. "I lived with my aunt and her family while I studied for my diploma. After I graduated, I wanted to look for my own place because even though my aunt was glad to have me, she had her own family and I've stayed at her house for far too long. I found Zoe and the apartment in an ad on the internet. It was really reckless to answer to an online ad for a roommate, I know," she laughed. "But as you could see, it was the real deal."

Ben was curious about her family, but he thought it would be too personal to ask her now. So he settled on a safer route. "Yes, I thought I'd seen in your job application that you have a diploma in accounting."

She nodded. "I studied part time and it took me two years, but I got it done," she said.

He nodded. "I admire your perseverance."

"Thanks," she said shyly. Ben continued driving and silence descended upon them once more until they arrived at Elle's apartment and he pulled up by the roadside. Ben gripped his steering wheel as he pondered once more how to ask Elle out on a date. He felt silly; he shouldn't be so nervous. Elle was not a stranger. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

"There's something I-"

Elle said the same words at the same time as him. They quickly looked at each other, surprised, and burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry," Elle said. "What do you want to say?"

"No, I'm sorry. You go first," Ben said.

Elle glanced at her hands. "I just want to ask you about the coffee we talked about last week." Ben's heart rate picked up but before he could speak, Elle continued. "I am wondering if we can make it a date."

Ben turned to face her, unable to believe that she had asked him out on a date. "I would love to take you out on a date, Elle," he said happily.

She laughed once, apparently relieved. "Okay. Um, so we'll make plans later?"

"If you haven't made any other plans, how about tomorrow night?" he asked. He caught the surprised look on her so he took a deep breath and plunged head on. "Actually, I've wanted to ask you out for a while now. I was going to ask you out on a date just now, but you've beaten me to it," he admitted sheepishly.

"Really?" she asked. "Since when?"

"Can I not answer that?" he said. "It might creep you out."

Elle looked sideways at him. "Now I'm worried."

"No, it's not what you think," he said quickly. "God, I... I don't know how to tell you."

"Since when?" she insisted.

He sighed. "A few weeks after you started working at the diner."

"That long ago?" she whispered.

"It's not really that long considering we only see each other during the weekends. I admit I was attracted to your looks at first," he said. "But I didn't do anything about it because I didn't know if you have a boyfriend or if you wanted to date. Or even if you wanted to date someone who is saddled with a kid."

"What changed?" she asked gently.

"I saw you with River," he said. "How easily you connect and I became curious about this woman whom my son became so attached to after a short period of time. I want to know you better. That's why I'd offered to hire you full time, but you already have a steady job."

Elle continued to look at Ben. He was beginning to worry that he had scared her. To his surprise, she laughed.

"I appreciate your honesty, Ben," she said. "Okay, what time tomorrow?"

This time, it was Ben's turn to laugh. "I'll pick you up say, six-thirty? We can go to that new Italian place downtown."

"Perfect," she replied with a smile.

*

Later that evening, Ben picked up the phone to call Karen.

"Hi, Ben," Karen answered in her usual soft voice. "It's unusual for you to call at this hour."

"Yeah, I want to talk to you about something," Ben said. "When I talked to River the other night, he told me that he thought you were mad at him for making cookies for your dad."

"Oh," Karen said, sounding surprised. "He thought that?" Ben could hear the hesitation in her voice. "It was nothing, I... I was tired after a night at the hospital. I must have been a little too short on him so he thought I was mad. I'll explain to him later."

"No, Karen. I know you were not mad at him for making cookies. You were mad about whom he made those cookies with," Ben said. He heard her sharp intake of breath and when she didn't reply, he continued. "Were you angry because I had gotten Elle to babysit River that night?"

At last Karen said, "I had dropped River off at the last minute and you had to work. You couldn't find a babysitter so you asked her." She sighed. "I can't help feeling protective of River. Yes, I was angry for a moment because I hardly know the woman. But I thought better of it now. I should have trusted your judgment when it comes to the safety of our son. So I chose to keep quiet because I didn't want to make an issue out of it."

Ben pulled in a deep breath and exhaled slowly as relief coursed through him. "No, it was not an issue. It's just that River was really worried that he did something wrong."

"I know, I'm sorry he thought that," Karen said sincerely. "And I'm sorry too that you thought I blamed you for asking for Elle's help. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Karen, you don't have to apologize. I'm glad we got things straightened out," Ben said. "Anyway, how is James doing?" he asked, changing the subject and Karen went along.

"As you can see from the other night: not good," she said with a weary sigh. "Mom leaves the decision to my sister and me so we have decided we should get Dad into a hospice. At least he would twenty-four-hour care."

"If there is anything I can be of help, you let me know, okay?" he said.

"I appreciate that," Karen replied. "If you can come over to visit him once in a while, that will be great. You know he likes to talk to you."

"Yeah, just let me know if you have decided on which hospice to go to and I'll go and help with the move," he said.

"Oh, thank you so much," she said. They talked for a few more minutes, mainly about River's next stay before hanging up the phone.

Well, that settled it, Ben thought. Even though Karen was mad at him for asking Elle over to babysit River, she had figured out the difficulty of his situation then and had decided to let it go.

Karen had always been a very calm and logical person. They hardly ever fought when they were still together and even when they broke up they remained amiable with each other. This made living arrangements easy and drama-free and Ben was thankful that when it comes to River, at least he and Karen had the same belief which was to make the boy feel loved by both his parents even though they were not together anymore.

Chapter 8

Zoe took a step back to survey Elle's reflection in the mirror. "You look absolutely smashing," she declared. She had helped Elle with her makeup, curled and styled her long hair for the past thirty minutes.

Elle turned around to give her roommate a hug. "Thanks, girlfriend."

"Whoa now, don't mess up your face," Zoe said and pulled back to examine Elle's makeup, making her laugh.

"I'm going out on a date, not getting married," Elle reminded her.

Zoe wagged a finger at her. "Doesn't mean you should treat my efforts any less carefully."

"You do realize I might snag a kiss tonight, right?" Elle said, deadpanned.

"That's different. If you guys kissed, the last thing he would see would be sexily smeared lipstick for like two seconds. If you rubbed your foundation on my shirt, he would be looking at a patch of uneven skin tone all night," Zoe reasoned.

"Come on, my skin's not that bad," Elle feigned nonchalance, but suddenly feeling self-conscious inside.

"Of course not, you look perfect," Zoe said. "But don't go ruining the perfection even before the night begun." Elle stood and pulled on her jacket. "Hey, I hear the door," Zoe said. "Let me go get it for ya." She skipped out of the bathroom and Elle heard voices at the front door. She pulled in several deep breaths to calm the fluttery butterflies in her stomach before venturing out.

"She'll be out soon," Zoe was saying and turned around. "And there she is!" she announced when Elle appeared out of the hallway.

"Hi, Ben," she greeted.

Ben smiled and his eyes widened as he took in her appearance. He cleaned up pretty nice as well; his face cleanly shaved and he was wearing a black Henley shirt under his dark jacket and gray slacks.

"Hey, Elle," he said softly.

Zoe backed away into the kitchen and Ben took a step closer to Elle. "These are for you," he said, holding out a bunch of flowers.

"Thank you," she said and took the bouquet, smiling down at the delicate petals. "They're beautiful."

"I'm glad you like them," he said.

"I'll just put these away and we'll head out, okay?" she said. Ben nodded and she went into the kitchen to find Zoe standing by the table with a vase ready. With a knowing grin, Zoe took the flowers from her wordlessly and settled them gently into the clear crystal. "Thanks, Z. What would I do without you tonight?"

"You'd still gonna own the date anyway," Zoe replied confidently. She clapped her hand once against Elle's arm. "Come on, your date's waiting. Tell me all about it later, capiche?"

Elle nodded. "And I'll do your hair and makeup for your date tomorrow night."

"It's a deal, babe."

Ben and Elle left a few minutes later and they drove towards the restaurant. Elle had looked forward to this for quite some time, but now that the time was here she didn't know what to do. Ben seemed nervous as well and she noticed his hands kept slipping against the wheel. She bit her lip to keep from giggling.

"So, uh..." Ben said and closed his mouth again. He gulped as if struggling to put his thoughts into words.

Elle shifted in her seat. "How is River?" she asked.

"He's great," he answered quickly with relief. He talked about River's progress in school and from there they talked about Colt and Elle confessed that she once cried reading a book about a dog. Conversations flowed easily between them as they talked about various books and movies that they liked.

Ben maneuvered his car into an available parking space and they both walked towards the restaurant near the end of the block. After they ordered their food, Elle took a good look around. It was packed with people, mostly couples out on a date on a Friday night.

The establishment was quite small and the setting was intimate. Mini chandeliers hung from the exposed rafters and cast a soft yellow glow to the tables below. The floor was made of light wood panels whilst the walls had an exposed brick façade, giving the restaurant a country home feel.

"This place is really beautiful," Elle said.

Ben nodded. "It was opened just a couple of weeks ago. I like the atmosphere."

"You've been?"

"I popped in on opening night. I wanted to try out the menu," he said.

She grinned. "Looking for new recipes?"

He shrugged and returned her grin. "What can I say, I love food." They talked about the restaurants they had visited and Ben told Elle about his grandfather and Becky's Diner's history.

"How did you get into the nightclub business with your friends?" she asked.

Ben shrugged. "My granddad had always been about giving me choices. I wanted to see how far I could go if I started something from scratch. Becky's Diner is a well-oiled machine with everything in its place. I didn't want my world to be confined to the diner, as happy as I was working there. I was only twenty-five when I started the Chameleon with my friends. I figured if I didn't do it then, when would I have the guts to do it?"

Elle was in awe of him. "You're running two businesses, yet you still find time for your son."

"I'm trying my best. I want to be a good father to him, something my own never did for me. Fortunately, I have a great support system. My mom babysits River for me whenever she could," Ben said.

"That's wonderful," Elle said softly.

He nodded. "Yeah, if it's one thing Karen and I agreed on, it's that no matter what, our son deserves to be loved. Both of us came from broken families, so we know how it felt like; like we were not enough. Obviously, Karen and I hadn't worked out, but that doesn't mean our son should have less love from either of his parents," he said. "And we are never selfish about it. River spends his time with Karen's mother and her father comes to visit regularly. I'd like to think that we never deprived him on love."

They switched their conversation to their own respective childhoods and they traded funny stories about them growing up. They had a good time; two persons hanging out and enjoying each other's company. When Ben walked Elle to her front door later that night, neither of them was ready for the date to end.

"I've enjoyed myself tonight," Ben said.

"Yeah, me too," Elle replied with a smile.

"Maybe we can go to that Indian restaurant you told me about next time," he suggested. "If you're cool with that, of course," he added quickly.

"Yeah, I'm cool with that," she replied, feeling breathless by the thought that there was going to be a 'next time'. "But it's going to be my treat, deal?"

Ben grinned. "Deal."