Aunt Chelsea sighed. “Put like that, I would pass, too. So are we warning Kenzie that the hot Canadian is probably here for revenge and possibly working with the enemy?”
“He is not.” No matter what reason he was here, he wasn’t working with Huisman. “I know that asshole tried to put the idea in everyone’s head, but he’s not. Ben would never help Manny.”
“I know you think you know him,” Chelsea began.
“Dare knows him,” Tasha added. “Dare’s known him for a longtime and he believes in Ben.”
“He thinks Ben’s come here for purely nice purposes?” Her mother’s question held a bit of challenge.
Tasha’s lips pursed. “He thinks Ben needs time to come to terms with things. Unfortunately, he’s not going to get much.”
“He’s had weeks,” Kala pointed out. “Weeks where he ignored her. He never called. He showed up, and I know it was romantic and shit, but it’s also convenient since we’ve got all the data unlocked now. The meeting is tomorrow. We knew CSIS was sending someone. We didn’t know who. One would think Ben could give us a heads up.”
“Or he wanted to surprise her,” Lou suggested, always the optimist. “What if he’s been thinking all this time and he needed to see how she would react. Without preparation. Now he knows that she’ll leap into his arms. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t propose tonight.”
Kenzie held a hand up. “Oh, we’re not there, and I would not allow that to happen at my sister’s wedding.”
But it would happen. She hoped it would happen. Maybe in Europe. She would say yes. She would make that leap because when she’d known she was going to die the only thing she wanted was a few more minutes with him. They were meant to be, but she couldn’t force that on him.
“Kenz, I love you. I know you’ve been waiting for this guy for a long time, but he’s damaged. Like seriously damaged,” Kala said.
Chelsea cleared her throat.
Kala shrugged. “Yeah, I know. Super damaged, and guess what, Aunt? Like knows like. Ben is in a bad place. He’s wrapped in guilt over what happened to his high school girlfriend. He’s pretty much lost everything to Manny Huisman. Even the car accident where Deanna Fisher died affected him physically. He was being scouted by major league teams for his pitching skill. After that accident, he didn’t play again. He finished up his degree, joined CSIS, and started working on taking down Huisman.”
“Which is a good and productive thing to do.” Kenzie wasn’t sure why she was arguing since she thought the same thing, but she couldn’t leave it. She felt the deep need to defend her lover. “He’s trying to stop that man from ruining the world. The same way we are.”
“Ah, but we’re not obsessed with him,” Kala replied. “We don’t think about him night and day. Look, Huisman did spend time trying tosow dissent and suspicion between our team and the Canadians. Do you honestly think he’s not working Ben the same way?”
She couldn’t help but think about that phone call he’d taken. He’d told her it was work, but she’d seen that look on his face before. It was rage and cold calculation, and there was no small amount of guilt in there. She’d known who had been in his ear, but he hadn’t wanted to talk about it.
So she’d held his hand and led him to the dance floor. He would talk to her when he was ready, and honestly, given their jobs, he might not talk to her about it at all. She had to make peace with the fact that there would be a wall between them when they weren’t straight up working together. She would have to keep things from him, too.
Could this work?
At least when she’d danced with him he’d seemed to relax. He’d swayed to the music with her, and she’d felt him kiss the top of her head like she was precious. They’d stayed on that dance floor for the longest time, simply existing in each other’s space. Their space. Making a new place where they were together.
That was all that mattered, after all.
Was she being naïve?
“I think he’ll handle it the same way we do. No one bought what Huisman was selling.” Even Kala had rolled her eyes and said Ben was way too bad at acting to pull that off.
Would he be good at role-play? Since the day she’d met him she’d dreamed of some fantasy role-play.
She should probably keep her mind on the conversation at hand since if her sister truly thought she was in danger of getting her heart broken, she might try to take said danger out.
Kala’s expression softened. “I’m worried he’s not coming from the same place we are. He’s had a shit ton of betrayal in his life, and it colors how he looks at things. I worry the right words will plant suspicion in Ben’s head because the truth is he’s been waiting for you to do exactly that. He’s waiting for you to betray him, and that can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Aunt Chelsea’s jaw dropped. “I thought the therapist was evil.”
Lou grinned. “Oh, she was, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t say some things that were super true. Also, Kala’s been seeing a good therapist to get over the fact that the last one tried to murder her.”
Kenzie had made that happen. “She lost at poker. She was so sure she had me but she was out of cash, so I suggested she meet with Willow once a week for the next two months.”
“I’m almost sure she cheated,” Kala said, eyes narrowed.
She’d totally cheated. A girl had to keep her skills up, and cheating at cards came up a lot in her line of business. It was weird, but she was good at it. And in this case it was for a good cause because Willow Madden was doing a great job at the Ferguson Clinic, and Kala did seem to be dealing with her shit now. “I had good cards that night. I certainly wouldn’t cheat.”
