Page 59 of Resisting the Fall

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Her smile widened, and she kissed me again before dropping down and taking my hand to pull me toward the house where not only my mom stood on the porch, watching us, but Maven’s mom as well.

“Were you surprised, Bennett?” Ms. Price asked when we approached.

I nodded. “Best surprise ever.”

Maven sent me a smile that was worth the admission.

“I can’t remember the last time I found it so hard to keep a secret,” Mom said.

“You knew?” I asked.

She lifted her shoulders, clearly satisfied with herself. “Maven called me last week to make sure we’d be here when she got to town.”

“What about Tate? Did he know?”

“He found out right before he came down to get you.”

Man, Tate was a vault. I didn’t suspect a thing. I wrapped my arms around Maven’s shoulders and she leaned back into me, placing her hands on my forearms. It felt so right to have her in my arms again. To feel her skin against mine. To breathe in her scent.

“I just wish you had the whole week off for fall break,” Ms. Price said, forcing me back to my reality. Maven had to leave Tuesday so she could be back at school by Wednesday morning. “Five days just isn’t long enough.”

“It’s two days longer than we were supposed to have.” Maven glanced up at me. “And I get the entire week at Thanksgiving, and then Christmas break is a few weeks later.”

Looking into her green eyes that pleaded with me to be okay with the time we would have together, I had no choice but to smile and pretend the thought of her leaving again wouldn’t break me. “I’ll take what I can get.”

Maven

“How’d that go?” I asked Ben as we started the drive back toward Autumn Ridge. “Is everything ready to go for the barn raising?”

“It will be by Saturday.”

Finn rested his head on my lap, his pouty eyes aimed at Ben.

“What, boy?” Ben asked, petting the top of his head.

I stroked Finn’s back. “He’s sad you didn’t want to play fetch with us.”

Ben’s gaze shifted to me. “You’re a dog whisperer now too?”

“Look at that face.” I cupped his cute face and lifted it from my lap to better show Ben. “He’s clearly disappointed you wouldn’t throw the stick.”

At the word stick, Finn perked up.

“There wasn’t time. I told my parents I’d be there before eleven.”

My gaze shot to him. “To your parents’ house?”

He nodded.

“Can you drop me off at my mom’s on your way?” Did I sound overly desperate? It was probably because I was. Not that I hadn’t seen Tom and Ann from time to time over the years, but it had always been in passing. And I hadn’t been to the Walker house since the divorce. There wasn’t a memory I had of that place that didn’t involve Ben, and today was not the day I wanted to face the onslaught. Honestly, I’d just prefer to avoid it indefinitely. “With my mom working today and Carson having to digitize all the dental records, Penny would probably love some auntie time.”

Ben considered me for a bit too long, but he finally nodded his agreement.

Thank heavens!

Thirty minutes later, we pulled onto our lane. As we neared my mom’s, Carson’s black Lexus was backing out of the driveway.

Ben rolled down his window with a few swift rotations and leaned out when Carson had pulled forward. “Where are you two headed?” Ben asked.