Page 100 of Resisting the Fall

Ben shook his head, wrapping his arm around my back, then wiggling his fingers into my side. I shot toward him instinctively, pleading with him through my giggles to stop. His fingers stilled, but his hand remained on my back.

Ann and Tom were watching us, unable to control the intensity of their smiles.

“Oh, you two haven’t changed a bit.” Ann stood to gather the plates, causing Tom to stand too. He grabbed the pile from his wife, and she smiled at him before turning back to us. “Can I get you two some dessert? I have pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting.”

“That sounds delicious,” I said.

While she dished it up, my gaze returned to Ben. He’d changed plenty, and I knew I had too. We’d both grown up and made lives for ourselves—lives apart from each other. But when I was with him, it didn’t feel that way. It felt like no time had passed at all. That we were still just two kids in love.

The buzzing of a saw and the smell of freshly cut lumber inundated my senses when I stepped through the workshop doors with Ben at my side. The inside looked as different as the outside did, even more so. Instead of a cluttered space filled to the brim with an eclectic assortment of half-built cabinets like it had once been, a collection of neatly organized workstations were thoughtfully placed around the massive area. The far side seemed to be a holding area of finished cabinets, doors, and furniture. Everything had a place. Just like Ben preferred.

Ben was watching me for my reaction, and I don’t think I disappointed him. “It’s amazing, Ben.” I moved farther into the shop, turning as I took it all in.

The sawing stopped, allowing the music drifting through the space to be heard. Classical music. An orchestra playing Claude Debussy’s La Mer. The second movement: Jeux de vagues.

I pointed upward to the speakers where the sound was coming from. “Do you often work to Play of the Waves?”

“All the time,” a man with light brown hair, a square face, and a friendly smile said as he approached us. “Well, not this song in particular, but songs like it. The boss says classical music is good for our minds and helps us concentrate.” He put a hand to his mouth, blocking it from Ben’s view. “We change it when he’s not here.”

I laughed. “Right? Who in their right mind likes classical music?”

“This guy,” he said as Ben stepped to my side. “It’s either that or country.”

I glanced up at Ben, unable to hide my amazement. “Is that true? You listen to classical music?”

“I blame you entirely.” Ben winked at me before turning to his employee. “Maven, this is Boone, my head carpenter.”

It took me a minute to come back from the loop I was stuck in involving Ben and his preference for classical music. And that wink.

“Maven?” Boone said, his grin widening. “So this is the wife? She’s a heck of a lot prettier than you let on, boss.”

Ben sent me an apologetic look. “Sorry about him. Boone here was raised in a barn.”

“Literally.” Boone nodded, clearly proud of the fact. “Eleven kids in my family and only three bedrooms. Unless it was too cold, us boys slept in the hayloft.”

Ben glanced around. “Did Josh and Alex end up going to the Hiltman job?”

Boone nodded. “Lars called and said they needed extra hands if they were going to finish by the end of the day. I hope it’s okay I sent them. I know we have the Anderson job starting tomorrow, but we’re nearly done with everything except two corner cabinets. I should be able to get those finished before leaving today.”

Ben rested his hand on Boone’s shoulder. “What would I do without you?”

“I don’t think you’ll have to find out,” Boone said with a laugh. His gaze shifted to me. “Most bosses don’t move into a fifth wheel so their employee’s family can live in their house.”

My curious gaze landed on Ben. That’s why he wasn’t living in his old house? Because Boone’s family had needed it? In truth, I was hardly surprised.

“I’m glad it worked out,” Ben said. “The trailer suits Finn and me just fine for now.” He took hold of my hand, like it was once again the most natural thing in the world. “I’m going to take Maven inside and introduce her to Whitney. Let me know if you need any help with those cabinets.”

“Will do, boss.” Boone sent me a wave. “It was great to meet you, Maven.”

“The pleasure was mine.”

We headed back outside into the cloudy fall day. The sort of day ideal for cuddling up and reading a good book with a cup of cocoa. Though, with my hand in Ben’s, I actually preferred being right here.

“Boone’s wife is pregnant, and she has three little ones at home,” Ben said, as if an explanation was required for why he’d moved out of his house for them. “He’d been commuting nearly an hour to work each direction, so that meant two extra hours a day away from his family. And since I’m…” he paused briefly. “Well, the timing worked out perfectly.”

I smiled up at him, refusing to be envious that Ben would go to such great lengths for an employee and his family when four more months in New York City had apparently been too much of a sacrifice to save our marriage. “It sounds like the right choice.”

We passed the back entrance of Dust & Timber to go through the storefront, and as we walked along the sidewalk near the parking lot, I more fully noted the updates Ben had implemented on the exterior since he’d bought the place from Wally: all new windows replaced the eighties paneled ones, the company’s new name graced the side of the building in fabricated metal letters displayed in a rustic font, and the outside wood had been restained to a darker shade to match the new black paneling.