“I’ll save the full tour for later, but there’s something downstairs in the basement I want to show you.” As much as I’d love to show him all around the house, specifically to our bedroom, there’s something else I need him to see.
I lead him down the stairs and flick on the basement lights, watching as Charlie’s eyes widen as the room illuminates. “My dad’s project in his later years was restoring the house. He did a lot of woodworking down here. He had every carpentry tool imaginable.” I watch as his eyes look around the room in amazement. “I want you to have it.”
He runs his hands over the tables of equipment, surveying the stock of the room. “Alice, this is incredible.” I haven’t been down here in years. I couldn’t even bring myself to come down and pack everything up after Dad passed away. It was too hard. But maybe I was just waiting to find Charlie. I was waiting for someone to breathe life back into me. He turns toward me and kisses me gently on the forehead. I can feel a teardrop fall onto my face. “Thank you.” I was hoping this would give him some connection to a prior life, a thread between two worlds.
We head back upstairs toward the kitchen and living area. Ben is standing in the kitchen opening a bottle of Merlot, so I head to the cupboard to pull out three glasses. Ben pushes the bottle across the counter toward me and I pour the wine. I hand them both their glasses and raise mine.
“To new beginnings.”
“To new beginnings,” they both reply in unison as we clink our glasses together.
Ben puts the cork from the wine bottle into the palm of my hand. “You should keep this one. It’s a new beginning. That’s special.” My eyes become misty and before I can return a sentimental phrase to him, Ben continues talking. “I’m starving after all this excitement. What do you say our baby step for today is introducing Charlie to Ray’s pizza?”
I laugh at his ability to break an emotional moment with his stomach. “Well, I think that’s a great idea.” I pull out my phone and quickly order an assortment. It’s a Saturday night, so it’s going to be at least an hour before it’s delivered.
Charlie walks into the living room and begins looking around. Ben and I lean against the kitchen counter, watching him absorb his new surroundings. He picks up and examines each framed photo on my fireplace mantle and smiles to himself as he watches my life unfold in pictures. I can’t help but feel excitement at the idea of adding future memories we create together.
I look back at Ben, feeling guilty for everything I’ve put him through this week. “Hey Benj?”
He’s staring forward, amused at Charlie. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry. For everything.”
He looks back over at me with a confused expression. “What are you talking about, Al?”
“Everything I’ve put you through this week. I kept my feelings hidden from you. I’ve lied to you. I never do that. I put you in dangerous situations. If anything had ever happened to you, I… I don’t know what I would do.”
His face becomes serious. “Ali, we’re good. We always will be. You're my family.”
I can feel my heart swell.Family.I haven’t had that in a long time. “Promise?”
“Trauma bonded, remember?” Ben winks at me, a magical gleam in his eye. That phrase has a whole new meaning now.
I grin back at him. “I remember.”
“I like you like this, Ali.”
“What? How?”
“Happy. Free. In love. It suits you.”
I playfully nudge him on the shoulder. “It could suit you too, you know.”
He tries to laugh off the suggestion. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Let’s not expect more than one miracle this week, okay?”
“Do you remember what you told me last night, Ben?” He shakes his head. “You said once you realized there was no stopping me, you figured the best thing you could do was to jump with me and hold my hand on the way down. Remember?”
He cocks his head skeptically. “Yeah.”
“Well, I can do the same thing. Whatever journey you go on, whatever path you take, I’ll always be there to hold your hand.”
Ben slumps his shoulders and looks down at the floor. “But… Ali, I don’t want my darkness to become yours, too. Not when you’ve fought for so long to find the light.”
I smirk at him. “You’re forgetting something.”
“What’s that?”
I lean in toward him, as if I’m about to tell him a secret. “I’ve been down in that hole. And I know the way out.”
