The next chapter, p.7
The Next Chapter, page 7
"Good God woman, you're getting creepy; someday, okay. Someday you will have grandchildren, quit trying to steal other people's kids." Elizabeth and Caisey chuckled at Melanie’s outburst but Jennifer looked cross.
"Thank you, Jenn," she placed a manicured hand on top of hers kindly. "That's a very sweet offer and I'm sure that they would love to visit you sometime." Jennifer smiled cheerfully and then started a conversation with Elizabeth about wanting to redecorate Bentley's office, which caused Peyton to giggle.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Caisey, you're not really into this are you," Melanie asked after they finished up at their third store.
She looked at her group to realize they were all watching her play with a loose string on her shirt. "I'm sorry guys," she flushed, guilty. "Shopping's not really my thing. I was actually really wanted to stop by the book store—"
"Well why don't you go," Liz offered kindly, holding out her hand for the few shopping bags that Caisey carried. "Leave Peyton with us and we'll meet at the restaurant in like an hour and a half."
"I don't know," she hesitated, never having been one to pawn her kids off on others.
"You should go," Jennifer insisted, scooping Peyton up into her arms as Liz snatched Caisey's bags. She chuckled and conceded, kissing her daughter good bye and thanking her new friends.
It took about twenty minutes for Caisey to find the most decent of the few bookstores that Port Angeles had to offer. It was not very well stocked but it was still a better selection than the Conflict library carried. She nodded politely to the teenage girl talking on her phone behind the counter who ignored her presence and continued her conversation.
Caisey strolled down the aisles of old books, relishing the musty old books and feeling more relaxed than she had in a long while. She found a lightly used copy of Wuthering Heights, one of her favorite books, and decided to purchase it since her own copy was practically falling apart from having been read so many times.
Not wanting to disturb the young clerk, and with time still to kill, Caisey found a small table in the stacks where she sat to get lost in her book.
Caisey wasn't sure how much time had passed when she heard someone clear their throat and she looked up to find Bentley standing in front of her. "Howdy Stranger," he grinned at her, his hands tucked in the pockets of his charcoal overcoat.
She smiled self consciously, suddenly wondering what she looked like compared to him.
"Is this seat taken," he asked, pointing to the chair across from her. She nodded dumbly and sat up a little straighter in her chair. "I thought you were having a shopping day with everyone today?"
"I was—I mean, I am—shopping's not really my thing so I snuck off to find a bookstore, I'm supposed to meet them for lunch soon."
"I see, you didn't really seem like the shopping kind of girl to me."
"What kind of girl did I seem," she asked him, leaning closer to him across the table.
"Like the kind of girl who ditches shopping to sit in a dusty old bookstore reading used books," he teased and she blushed. "That's a lovely shade on you," his comment only deepened the color of her cheeks. "Let me escort you to lunch," he stated, standing and offering her his hand to help her stand.
Caisey held on to Bentley's hand as they walked down the street to meet Jennifer and the girls. He was telling her about his morning, how he ended up in Port Angeles to meet with an old friend. Maybe she was imagining things, but his tone is a little less upbeat than someone who just met with an old friend. It spiked her curiosity but she kept it to herself, not wanting to overstep her bounds.
When they finally reached their destination, everyone was walking out the door of the restaurant. "Mommy," Peyton calls, releasing Jennifer's hand and running towards Caisey; she scooped her up in her arms and give her daughter a hug.
"Look what the cat dragged in," Melanie teased her cousin as they approached.
"Nice to see you too Melanie," he retorted jokingly. "I was in town meeting someone, thought I'd stop by the bookstore and I found this ole thing hiding in the shelves." He gave Caisey a wink and she stuck her tongue out at him playfully, realizing she was in a much better mood than she had been earlier today.
"Mommy, I had ravioli for lunch but not like the canned stuff grandpa makes… this was crunchy and there was no sauce," she made a disgusted face and Caisey laughed accordingly.
"We tried to wait for you," Jennifer interjected guiltily. "It just we were really hungry and—"
"Oh that's okay; I wasn't really that hungry anyways."
Bentley eyed her skeptically, "I really think that you should eat."
Caisey raised an eyebrow at him, "I'll be fine; thank you for the concern, but I can just grab a sandwich when we get home."
"Why don't you take her to lunch," Elizabeth offered.
"Oh what a great idea," Jennifer said excitedly. "We will take Peyton home with us and you can pick her up from our house when you get back to Conflict?"
Caisey hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip and looking up to Bentley for some clue as to what he was thinking. She wanted to spend more time with him, but she didn't want to intrude on his afternoon; maybe he had plans and didn't expect to head back to Conflict so soon. Peyton smiled brightly at Jennifer and then looked back to Caisey, waiting for affirmation. "I don't know, I'm sure that Bentley—"
"Would love to take you to lunch," he finished her sentence and gave Caisey an encouraging smile.
"Are you sure? I don't want to impose on your plans for the afternoon."
"Nonsense, I'd be more than happy to take you to lunch and then drop you and Peyton back off at Lincoln's."
"Okay," she conceded, causing Peyton to hug her excitedly and wiggle out of Caisey's arms to join hands with Jennifer once more. "You have my cell phone number and Lincoln's in case anything happens, right?"
"Of course," Jennifer waved her hand dismissively. "My husband's a Doctor darling; you have nothing to worry about."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Caisey and Bentley sat at a private table towards the back of the restaurant, away from most of the other early diners. Their waitress served their drinks and took their orders before excusing herself to the front of the restaurant to seat a new customer.
"I've never eaten here before, is it any good," Caisey asked conversationally.
"This is actually one of Jennifer's favorite restaurants so I've eaten here quite a bit over the years, it's never disappointed."
"That's good," she replied, taking a sip from her coke and enjoying the cool tingle as it slid down her throat. "Oh, by the way, I ran into an old friend of yours as well today."
Caisey wasn't sure if she imagined the way that Bentley's shoulders tensed slightly as she spoke. "Oh, who?"
"I believe her name Devin… she seemed pretty pissed when Melanie introduced me as your girlfriend."
He chuckled and she blushed when she realized what she'd just said. "Girlfriend, huh? Yeah, I'm sure she was quite surprised… that makes sense then."
"What does," she asked, taking another sip to busy her hands. Why did she suddenly feel so stiff and awkward around Bentley? Something was off, different.
"Well, considering you're my girlfriend now," he gave her a teasing wink and she felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. "I guess that you should know… the old friend that I met with today, the reason that I know Devin, is my ex-wife—Jaclyn... Devin is her cousin. She always had a crush on me but it got a little more serious after I moved back to Conflict."
"Oh," Caisey stated, shocked by his confession. "I'm sorry to hear that…."
"I know, I should have mentioned it before but I didn't want to scare you away. We just got married so young and— are you laughing at me?"
Caisey placed her hand over her mouth and shook her head, trying to hide her amused giggles as they bubbled up between her lips. "No, not at all," she laughed.
"I do believe you are Miss Groves," he grinned and she let out a loud laugh in response.
"I'm sorry, I just find it amusing that you're apologizing for having an ex-wife… to me… apologizing to me for having a past." She couldn't contain her laughter and, as her words sank in, Bentley found the humor in their situation, his own laughter spilling out.
"Yeah, I guess I am," he laughed.
"I'm sorry," she wiped a few stray tears from her eyes and straightened herself in her seat. "Please, continue."
Bentley chuckled, "Jaclyn and I have been divorced for about a year now, one of the reasons that I moved here from Seattle was actually to get some distance but she recently decided that she missed living in Boston and moved back to be closer to her parents."
"Boston; I'm sorry, I thought you said you lived in Seattle," she asked, confused.
"I…we did. I met Jaclyn in Boston one summer when I was in medical school. I came to visit my Aunt and Uncle for the summer, Dylan and I decided to head in to Boston for the weekend and I met Jaclyn. She was a waitress at a coffee shop near our hotel and Dylan invited her to hang out with us for the weekend. We did the long distance thing for a few months before she joined me in Seattle and we got married. I was naive, I thought I was in the love, but she just smelled money."
"I'm sorry Bentley," Caisey said softly, leaning across the table and placing her hand on top of his comfortingly. He shrugged, but she could see the familiar look in his eyes… he'd been hurt, she understood the feeling.
"Anyways, she played the supportive wife for a few years and then she got bored with sitting at home and shopping all day… she decided she wanted children. Unfortunately," he paused, his voice caught in his throat and he looked uncertain.
"You couldn't have kids," she finished for him, he nodded sadly.
"I had mumps when I was about 17, I've always known that I was probably sterile and Jaclyn knew before she married me… I guess when she got bored with her life, she decided a child would be her new play thing and we tried but I couldn't give her what she wanted so she went looking elsewhere. I caught her with one of my coworkers from the hospital. We divorced but now that she's back in Boston, she's been contacting me and trying to weasel her way to more money... I guess her divorce settlement has run out and she's hoping to play on my heart strings for more support." He finished his story and now it was Caisey's turn to blanch.
"Oh Bentley, I'm so sorry—" he shook his head and she stopped, trying her best to keep the pity out of her eyes… pity eyes were the worst. "Honestly, I think you dodged a huge bullet not having kids. I know I'm completely heartless for saying that, and I love my kids, don't get me wrong, but it's not the easiest conversation to have when you have to explain that daddy won't be around anymore."
Bentley chuckled. He didn't think it made her heartless, quite the opposite actually. Caisey's blatant honesty was one of the things that he adored about her. His Aunt Jennifer often spoke about Jaclyn in a manner that made him feel that she was trying to walk on eggshells and he never understood why, it had happened and he moved on. Besides Melanie, Caisey was the first person to talk about his situation in such a matter-of-fact way. "You're an amazing woman Caisey," the words slipped out before he could stop them. She blushed a deep shade of red and he couldn't help smirking at the effect he had on her.
The waitress reappeared then and served their food, refilling their drinks. Caisey was head over heels with the mushroom ravioli that she'd ordered and the couple found themselves lapping easily into conversation as they ate and enjoyed each other's company.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The next few weeks seemed to fly by, Caisey and Bentley's days spent in the office and their nights generally spent at Lincoln's house with the kids. It was a comfortable routine they'd fallen into, Peyton enjoyed having Bentley around to help with her homework and Cayden generally got him to stay late enough for piggyback rides and bedtime stories.
One night, while Lincoln was out with Cheryl and after Caisey had given the kids a bath and put them to bed, Bentley and Caisey were laying on the couch together watching a made for TV movie. Her fingers absently running through the ever-messy crop of copper hair on Bentley's head, Caisey was lost in the movie and Bentley was enjoying watching her. "I meant to tell you something," Bentley started, breaking the silence and pulling Caisey's focus from the television. "I was going through your employee file and realized there's a big event coming up," Caisey raised her eyebrows in confusion. "It's your birthday this weekend."
"Oh God," she rolled her eyes and shifted her attention back to the TV, effectively ignoring him.
"Caisey, what," he asked in good humor.
"I don't acknowledge my birthday. It's just another day, marking the fact that I'm another year older. I don't see the point in that," she explained, not meeting his gaze.
He chuckled, "well I wish I'd known that before I mentioned it to Melanie…"
"You told Melanie!?" She sat up and hit pause on the remote control, now he had her attention. "What'd she say?"
"That we're having a party at Jennifer and Alex's this weekend and that you," he tapped the edge of her nose and watched her brows crinkle with frustration, "are the guest of honor!"
"Bentley," she whined, laying back down and throwing an arm over her eyes dramatically. He chuckled. "I hate birthday parties, the only time I even remotely enjoy birthday parties is when it's for my kids."
"Come on," he lifted her arm and looked down into her eyes affectionately. "It'll be fun. There's no way that Jennifer Carson is going to throw a cheesy birthday party."
…
As they turned into the Carson's driveway, Caisey spotted two large bouquets of balloons framing the gate on the side of the house that led to the back yard. She groaned, balloons? So much for not cheesy. Bentley chuckled and reached across the console of his BMW to hold her hand, gently stroking her wrist with his thumb.
"It will be fun," he reminded her and she rolled her eyes.
"Mommy look! Balloons for your birthday!" Cayden called excitedly from the back seat.
"I see that baby boy."
"Will there be cake and presents too Mommy," Peyton asked.
"I'm not sure baby girl, but we'll find out soon," she turned her head and smiled at her daughter affectionately.
When they walked into the back yard Caisey was surprised to see how many people were there. Manning the barbecue grill was a handsome older gentleman with blond hair who slightly resembled Bentley, she could only assume that was his Uncle—Alex Carson. Alex was talking to a tall, thin man with shaggy blond hair. In his wrangler jeans and cowboy boots, Caisey inferred that this was Melanie's husband—Dallas. Sitting at the patio table were Elizabeth and Melanie, talking to Jennifer as she poured glasses of lemonade.
"Bentley, Caisey!" A big booming voice called and a large bear of a man came running out of the backdoor. He was tall, taller than Bentley, and burly, but he wore the biggest grin that brought out his cherub like dimples. Without reservation, he scooped Caisey up in his arms and spun her around like a kid making her laugh out loud.
"Dylan, put her down; we don't want to scare poor Caisey off!" Elizabeth called to her husband, shaking her head in exasperation.
"My turn, my turn," Peyton said excitedly, jumping up and down with her hands in the air as Dylan put Caisey down and proceeded to pick up both of her kids, swinging them around in much the same fashion he had her.
Bentley laughed as they both screamed before Dylan put them back on the ground. "Caisey, meet my exuberant cousin, Dylan Carson. He's the special one in the family," he grinned as his cousin stuck out his tongue .
"Happy Birthday Caisey," Melanie smiled, skipping over to them and giving her a friendly hug. "I'd like to introduce you to my husband, Dallas Andrews." The blond boy in the cowboy boots stepped up beside her and offered Caisey his hand, kissing the back of her hand politely.
"Pleasure to meet you ma'am," he said in a thick southern drawl.
"Nice to meet you too," she blushed lightly.
Peyton and Cayden followed Dylan over to the table to get lemonade from Liz and Jennifer, and took the opportunity to introduce Caisey to his Uncle. "Caisey, I would like you to meet my Uncle, Doctor Alex Carson."
"It's nice to finally meet you Dr. Carson," Caisey took Alex's preferred hand.
"Please Caisey, call me Alex. It's nice to meet the woman who has finally captured my nephews heart. Happy Birthday by the way," Caisey grinned at Bentley and he ran his hand through his disarray of copper hair in exasperation.
"Okay, let's go see what Jennifer is up to." Alex chuckled as Bentley herded Caisey off to join the rest of his family.
"Hello Hello," Lincoln Groves called as he and his girlfriend Cheryl walked in through the back gate with a wrapped gift in Lincoln's arms and a gift bag around Cheryl's wrist.
"Welcome Lincoln, Cheryl," Alex called from the grill. "Please help yourselves to something to drink, steaks will be done soon."
"Hi Alex, thank you," Cheryl responded, walking over to greet Jennifer and hug Caisey happy birthday.
"I said no presents," Caisey scolded her father and he shrugged, passing her the box.
"It was Cheryl's idea, blame her."
Caisey laughed and hugged her father, "thank you dad, it was thoughtful."
"You haven't even opened it yet, Caise," he countered and she rolled her eyes. "Hey, watch your sass."
Alex finished cooking and they all sat around the table, enjoying the wonderful food and getting to know Caisey. It relaxing, not as celebratory as Caisey had originally thought it would be when she saw the balloons and for that she was thankful. She quickly learned that Dylan's excitable attitude extended to all points of his life and her kids greatly enjoyed it. Within an hour Caisey already felt as if she'd known him her whole life and she was instantly attracted to him as a big brother type of friend.
"Presents," Melanie clapped excitedly as everyone finished their meal. Caisey groaned as she stood to help the other women clean the dishes but she was quickly shooed, Jennifer insisting it was her day and she should relax.
