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Stroking my belly, Ben turned to her in mock indignation. “Fancy of you to show up. You’ve been out of the Company for hours. Where have you been?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “That’s how you’re gonna greet me?” She sniffed the air. “From what I can tell, you haven’t made dinner yet. It’s unbelievable.” She planted her hands on her hips. “I work my ass off all day long, and you don’t even have the decency of having a warm meal waiting for me.”
“Would it kill you to give a call or send a text saying you’d be late? The kids don’t even remember what you look like.” He faked a crying voice, making me laugh.
“Oh my God, you’re such a pain in my ass. That’s why I sleep with other men before coming home!”
Even though we were chuckling, I could still hear Zach mumbling, “I didn’t need to hear that.”
“Sorry, Zee, you were a casualty in what I think was a fair argument.” Mia kissed him again, this time on the side of his head.
Their closeness and how freely they showed their love was inspiring. I hoped to raise my kids to be as open about their feelings as they were.Kids. Apparently, I wanted to expand our family beyond our Little Bean. I hoped Ben was open to that.
As I saw the subtle change in Mia’s demeanor, I remembered we had a lot to deal with first, before popping out multiple kids.
Zach also noticed something was different, sitting up straighter on the couch, and staring at her. She gave him a sad smile and went to the little table on the corner to pour two glasses of scotch, one for Ben, and another one for Zach. Being so different from what she drank, Ben tensed. I hadn’t understood yet why she had that cart if she didn’t drink alcohol. Then I realized she didn’t have it for her. It was for her family.
“What’s going on, Mia?”
Before she answered, she tipped her head to the armchair, in a silent invitation to Ben to sit down. She headed to the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water, one for her, and another one for me.
Zach ran to the other room to turn the TV off and came back to sit on the couch as Mia toed off her shoes and sat next to him, sideways. She perched herself on the armrest and rested her criss-crossed legs on the cushions.
Ben took my hand, and we both went to the armchair, but instead of both of us sitting together, I sat on it as Ben leaned on its armrest, with his feet on the floor. More than anything, I wanted to sit on his lap and hug him, but I knew he’d need his space to digest the news. I was grateful I had Hugo, who brought his toy to sit with me and boop my belly.
Ben and Zach both sipped their drink, while Mia played with the label around her closed bottle of water. Without waiting for either of them to ask again, she dropped the bomb. “Michael is back in town.”
After a moment of silence, Zach rubbed one of his hands on his face, clearly in distress. “Fuck.”
Ben was worriedly quiet. Until he stood up, threw his glass against the wall, near the fireplace, and boomed, “That son of a bitch!”
Mia stared at the broken glass, the liquid running down the wall, and muttered to herself with eyes slightly narrowed, “Uh...I should’ve guessed that. Maybe giving him something made of glass wasn’t a good idea.”
“How long?” He shook with rage.
“Apparently, for a few months.” She sighed deeply. “He knows about Izzie and the baby.”
“I’m gonna kill that fucker!” Gripping his hair, Ben looked like a caged beast. “How do you know?”
“He’s been following and keeping tabs on her, especially on the bakery.” She was nothing if not a straight shooter.
“What?” He turned furious eyes at me. “Are you fucking crazy? Why the hell didn’t you tell me that?” I knew his anger was taking the front seat. More than that, his eyes showed undeniable fear. I knew he wasn’t lashing out at me. He was scared. Before I could even respond, Mia intervened.
“Back off, Benjamin.” Her tone was hard as she stood up. “She had no way of knowing who he was, so watch your tone.”
As he was about to freak out on her, Zach stood and enunciated calmly, yet firmly, “You better calm down, Ben. Now.”
“Calm down?Calm down?How do you expect me to calm down? The devil’s spawn is back in town, harassing my woman, and you think the answer is to be calm?” His voice wavered at the end.
“Yes, I do. We need to understand what’s going on and then act on it. Losing our minds won’t get anything done. I’m gonna tell you again. Calm. Down.”
Breathing hard, hands on his hips visibly trembling, he shifted to engage with Mia again, working hard to keep his voice still. “What happened?”
Crossing her arms, she leaned back against the armrest. “I didn’t know about him being here either. I was with Izzie leaving the bakery when he approached us. He was less than friendly and tried to intimidate her, then—”
“Wait a second. You wereleavingthe bakery? Izzie sent me a text hours ago, saying you were leaving.” His rage was boiling out of control again. Misplaced another time. “What the fuck, Mia?! Michael’s been following Isabella and my baby for months, you learned he was in town, and it didn’t occur to you that, I don’t know,I should be informed of that?” His voice gradually raised. “You, better than anyone, know the man he is. The first thing you should’ve done was tell me.” He threw his hands through his hair. “I can’t believe you could be so irresponsible as to not disclose it to me the moment you learned what was going on.”
“Excuse me?” She was indignant, rightfully so, as she raised from her leaning, standing tall. As tall as her short frame would allow.
