Seb’s eyes widened as he shout-whispered, “Don’t say that out loud; they’ll hear!” Then he grinned and went upstairs.
I glanced at Ben, who had greeted Seb with a nod, but there was no hint of thatOMG he’s gorgeousexpression most people got around Seb, especially when meeting him for the first time.
“All right, where do we start?” I asked Ben when we were in Ruth’s office.
He’d brought his chunky laptop case downstairs and settled on the edge of the desk across from me.
“So, Maria told me you read the manuscript and had some thoughts,” Ben started, rummaging through his bag. He got out a notebook and a slim laptop with a USB mouse and keyboard, which he plugged into the laptop.
“Yeah, I did. I’ve read the series about five times, I think.” I smiled with the sadness that still came over me every day at the most random times. “I wish I’d known she was my aunt, you know.”
Ben’s smile was small, his eyes sad like mine. “Ruth was a great lady. I only knew her for a few years, but we had a great working relationship.” He made a littleah-ha!sound and used the mouse to navigate to something on his computer. “Here’s the thing: I don’t know exactly where she was with the manuscript, because I last checked in on her a couple of months before she passed, so I’ll need to do that first. But since you’ve read it all and you’re so well acquainted with the source material, why don’t you make me a list of what you think should happen in the rest of the story while I read the rest of what we have?”
I cracked my neck and pulled my keyboard closer. “All right. I’ll send you the file and get to it.”
“Oh, and do two things for me.” Ben barely glanced at me, clearly already in work-mode. “Write down what you think as a fan and separately as what you think she might’ve wanted.”
“What if those two are different from what I would want?”
He smiled widely, and I suddenly saw the boy River had fallen for in their teen years. “Then you add that to the list, too.”
“I can do that.” I grinned, then took a sip of coffee and started work.
* * * *
We got really into working together. Ben’s love of his job was one thing, but he clearly loved my aunt’s words, too. It made me wonder if I could be a passable substitute for her amazing storytelling, but I guess I could only try. If it wasn’t good enough, even with Ben’s help, then that would be it.
Around lunchtime, we were both startled when Rey knocked on the door.
“Hey, there’s sandwiches and salad in the kitchen. I’m going back upstairs to feed the babies.”
“Thank you,” Ben said, smiling absently again.
Rey appeared amused.
“Did you eat?” I asked, wanting to make sure he didn’t forget himself in the excitement of the kittens.
“Yup, two big sandwiches and some salad. I’m good.” He gave me a knowing look. “Need to keep my strength up to be able to take care of the kittens.”
I rolled my eyes at him. I kept forgetting he wasn’t an irresponsible kid. He was a young man, even if he felt like a kid brother.
Since it was sunny, I suggested we eat in the backyard. Ben seemed hesitant, but then nodded. The more time I spent with him, the more I wondered what made him tick.
As we settled in the lawn chairs with our food, he glanced around and smiled almost tentatively, as if he wasn’t sure if it was nice or not.
One of the horses on the pastures beyond the orchard whinnied, and Ben’s gaze snapped there.
“Oh, I didn’t realize there were horses there,” he mumbled, but luckily didn’t seem to react negatively to the proximity.
“Yeah, there are a couple of paddocks there and more on the other side of the stable. That’s where the corrals are.” I nodded toward the stable as I bit into my sandwich.
We ate in silence for a while, until Ben cleared his throat. “I know it’s a rescue,” he started hesitantly. “But…like…what do you rescue the animals from?”
I tilted my head in thought. “Well, I’ll give you one of our brochures so you can see for yourself, but basically, it’s from different kinds of abuse. The abuse isn’t always obvious. Though, not in the way many people might think.”
“When I think of that word, I think about a horse that’s not being fed and is being hit a lot.”
I hummed in partial agreement. “It can be that, sure. It can also be overfeeding and under exercising an animal. It can be yelling and general neglect, not socializing an animal.”
