Page 40 of Live Like There's No Tomorrow
Charlotte’s stared at him for a long moment. “Do you get along with them any better these days?”
Ben shook his head sadly. “No. I rarely see them anyway. I didn’t want to get them all excited about seeing you. And I sure as hell didn’t want to hear, yet again, what a failure I am to have lost you in the first place.”
“Okay, this is supposed to be a first date, remember?” She didn’t want their new beginning to be bogged down in all the sadness of the past. “So, Mr. Handsome and Mysterious Stranger, what do you do for fun?”
He smiled. “I know you’re probably expecting me to say work, but I’ve been trying out all kinds of things lately.”
“Like what? Anything I can join in on?”
“Absolutely. You know I’ve lived at the resort all my life and I’d never taken advantage of all the activities we offer. These last few months, I’ve been taking one of the boats out when I get a chance; I even went out in the mountains on a four-wheeler.”
“I’m impressed!”
“Me too. I’ve been having all kinds of fun, and I’d love to share it with you.”
“When’s your next day off? We should go do something.”
“I’ve been taking Tuesdays off since Angel ….” He stopped abruptly and met her gaze.
Charlotte’s heart sank; she’d decided she wasn’t going to mention Angel this evening. She decided it was probably best to move on and ignore it. “Since you’ve had an assistant?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah. After you and I talked in Vegas, I really got to thinking. I’ve spent so much of my life waiting and working, that I forgot to get on with living.”
“Oh, Ben.”
“No, it’s a good thing, really. You know I’m naturally a workaholic, so it was easy for me to lose myself in work and I enjoy it, you know that. But after I spent that night telling Chance our whole story, I remembered how I always used to say you were chasing tomorrow.”
She smiled at that. “I always loved that phrase, you know. Even though it felt like you disapproved.”
“It wasn’t so much that I disapproved, it was just that I wanted to live the day we were in.” He rubbed his hands over his face, but not before Charlotte saw the glistening tears in his eyes. “I always thought there’d be plenty of time for tomorrow, that we’d share all our tomorrows.”
“So did I.” Charlotte swallowed—hard.
“Anyway.” Ben smiled and squeezed both her hands. “After we saw each other in Vegas, I made myself a promise. I decided that I need to live each day like there’s no tomorrow. Because ….” His voice cracked. “We never know if there will be.”
Charlotte swiped at the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. “Do you mind if I join you in that? I think that’s the best philosophy for life I’ve ever heard. I think it’s what we should do, you and I. We should live like there’s no tomorrow. Especially since we can never make up for all the yesterdays we lost.”
The server chose that moment to return with their pizza. Ben let go of her hands and swiped at his own tears. He served her the first slice, just as he’d always done when they were kids. “Do you still have hollow legs?”
She laughed. “I still eat like a horse, but I’m getting worried as I get older. I mean, even hollow legs must fill up eventually, and I’m scared that once they do, I’ll suddenly gain huge amounts of weight.”
Ben laughed. “You could always try to cut down on the amount you eat.”
She tried to look offended. “That’s not very gentlemanly of you.”
He laughed. “Well, you can hardly claim that the way you eat is very ladylike, can you?”
Charlotte looked down. She’d already picked up her pizza and folded it in half to eat with her fingers. Ben’s fork was poised mid-air. She shrugged. “This guy I used to know once told me it was quite endearing. He didn’t like girls who were fussy and picked at their food.”
“He still doesn’t. You know I’m only teasing.”
She took a huge bite of pizza and grinned at him as she munched.
“Since that mouthful is going to take you a while, I’ll tell you another thing I’ve been enjoying for the last couple of years, and that’s hanging out with the gang again. It’s awesome having everyone move back here. For years, it was just me and Miss. Everyone else had made their way out into the world, and I never would have believed that any of them would come back. Then over the last couple of years, they all have. It’s awesome.”
Charlotte smiled. “I’ve been so jealous of everyone getting to come back here. I didn’t think anyone would either. I mean, I used to think that it’d be impossible. How could anyone make a living up here? And yet it seems there are so many ways.”
Ben grinned. “So very many. From Dan and his secret squirrel computer stuff to Pete moving his headquarters up here.”
