She stepped closer. “Actually, I’m right on time.”
Had she heard?
Benny looked at Red for help, but the man was already folding his crossword and mumbling, “I need to go find something in the garage.”
“What is it?” Benny asked, jumping on his escape. “I can find anything in that garage. What are you looking for, Grandpa?”
He threw Benny a look that was equal parts love and a warm familiar feeling that Benny couldn’t name, but he certainly loved.
“My ice skates, son.”
“Yes!” Benny leaped in the air, giving a fist pump of victory.
“You know, I used to be pretty good back in my day,” Red said. “’Course, Eisenhower was president, but still.”
As he walked out, Benny followed, but he barely made it past Mom when she snagged his sleeve.
“Not so fast, buddy.”
In the kitchen,Mom sat Benny at the table and faced him directly, which was never good.
She stared him down, her eyes steady. “All right, young man. Explain.”
He swallowed. “You want the short version or the long version?”
“I want thetruthversion.”
He huffed out a breath and dropped all his schemes, ideas, and angles. They’d never work on Mom.
He told her the whole story about how Mrs. Locke came into the bakery, Olivia’s wholeParent Trapthing, and the deal that they’d make one gingerbread house in exchange for Grumpy Santa on ice.
By the time he finished, her face didn’t have any of the usual color under her freckles. She was pale, and her eyes looked sad and scared, and Benny wanted to go in a hole and cry for making the person he loved most in the whole world feel anything like Mom looked.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, tears springing behind his eyes. “I’ll fix it.”
“You might make it worse,” she murmured.
“I’m sorry,” he said again.
“Oh, Benny,” she said. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“For what?”
“For…making you want a father.”
He made a face. “I have a father, Mom.”
“I heard what you said, honey. You want a dad, and Olivia wants a mom.”
He shrugged. “I just got in a little deep and was trying to get Grandpa to go along with it. And he is, so…will you?”
“Will I be manipulated into working with Marshall Hampton?”
“Manipulated?”
“It means…” She smiled. “Never mind. You know what it means and how to do it. But, no, Benny, I won’t.”
“Why not?”
