She could feel Ben's occasional glances from the driver’s seat. He didn’t ask any questions, seemingly content with the silence, but she could almost hear the wheels in his brain turning, wondering what was going on with her.
Instead of going around and around with Celia’s words, she needed to get her head in the game while she was here in town. She had to make the most of her time between the wedding events.
Their next stop was, of course, Cal. Her old friend, and now successful real estate broker, had been on her mental list of people to talk to since the beginning, and Ben had agreed it was a logical next step.
"Do you think I'm inflexible?"
She hadn’t planned on asking that. She hadn’t planned on saying anything at all. What was it about this man that made her want to talk to him, get his opinion? He wasn’t Yoda or the Dalai Lama. He was just her neighbor, although an extremely handsome one.
"Could you expand on that question? I’m not sure what you mean."
Now he was just playing dumb. He had to know what she meant.
"Inflexible. Rigid. Unwilling to bend. Am I like that?”
“Why do I have a feeling I’m taking a test that I haven’t studied for?” he asked with a chuckle. “But if this is a serious question, and the answer is important to you, I’ll answer it. I don't find you inflexible. I do find you determined and focused. But not inflexible."
"So when have I compromised?" Kelly challenged, turning briefly to catch his expression. “How have I been flexible?”
“Okay, we’re going with this. Alright, on this trip alone, you've been remarkably easy to travel with. You didn't complain when our flight was delayed for two hours. You were fine with whatever rental car they gave us. You've been adaptable about sleeping arrangements, meal times, meeting my needs as well as yours."
"Those are small things."
"Are they? Most people I know would have been cursing the airline, demanding a better car, insisting on their preferred schedule." He gestured toward the road behind them. "Look at Marjorie at lunch. She made everyone miserable with her need to have everything exactly her way."
Kelly winced at the comparison. At least she wasn't that bad.
"It's just..." She hesitated, searching for the right words. "Celia basically said I don't compromise enough in relationships. That I'm too set in my ways to accommodate another person."
"And this bothers you?"
"Of course it bothers me." The words came out sharper than she intended. "Maybe I don't have what it takes to be with someone. Look at Kevin and me.”
Even though she’d always known that she didn’t have a future with Kevin.
"Yes, let's look at that," Ben said, his voice firmer than she'd expected. "He was a jerk. You don't compromise with someone like that. They just take advantage of you."
"I know, but?—"
“But what? If you loved Kevin, you would have been flexible for him. But you didn’t, and he didn’t deserve it. And you’re fine with me. We don’t have any issues.”
"We're not in a relationship," she pointed out.
And why am I kind of disappointed about that?
"We're friends helping each other out. That's a relationship."
"It's just that Celia has always been the good one," she finally said. "The one who makes everyone happy, who gets along with everyone. When she said I don't know how to compromise, it hit a nerve because maybe she's right. Maybe that's why I'm still alone."
"Or maybe you just haven't met someone worth compromising for."
A simple statement, but she couldn’t deny the truth of the words.
"You might be on to something."
"Look, I don't know your sister well, but it seems to me she was under a lot of stress at that lunch. Her future mother-in-law was being difficult, her wedding is days away, she was spending time with your family, and she probably just lashed out. Hell, I would have been shocked if she didn’t.”
"You're right." Kelly sighed. "I just wish I didn't care so much what she thinks of me."
