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"You can look at them later. Right now we need to go," Tacey said.
"But the man just put them on the wall. I'm not allowed to put pictures on the wall, but he said he's allowed!"
No, Tacey did not need a new tantrum to deal with. Rory was too big to carry out to the car while she was screaming. She wasn't a two-year-old any more. "Which man?" she asked. Because this was Ben's gallery, as her artist in residence, and no one else was allowed to pin art to her walls. If someone thought they were going to just come in here and steal Ben's job, they'd be out on their ear before they could blink.
Rory pointed to the customer at the counter. "The one kissing Auntie Rochelle!"
Ben. Tacey blinked. Ben, in the daytime? Didn't he have a day job, which was why he could only come to the café after dark?
"Tacey. Rory," Ben said, doing that chin lifting greeting thing the students at the high school did.
"What are you doing here?" Tacey asked.
Ben grinned. "Would you believe I'm getting coffee and a muffin? I had nothing to do today, and seeing as Rochelle is working, I thought I might keep her company. It looks like my table's free, and I brought my sketch books, so as long as you don't mind..." He winked. "I can always go out back and do the dishes to earn my keep, if a few new sketches aren't enough."
"Mummy, look at these wings!"
Tacey didn't have time to look at sketches, even Ben's. "Maybe later. Uncle Ben's going to be very busy drawing, so we should go and leave him to it now."
Ben set his satchel on the table, beside his coffee. "I don't mind if she sits with me. Hey, maybe I could teach you to draw wings just like that, if you want. If you keep practicing every day, by the time you're grown up, you'll be a better artist than me!'
"Please, Mummy? I don't want to go! I want to draw wings with Uncle Ben!"
If it were any normal day, Tacey might allow it. After all, Ben was hardly a monster, not like Wystan. He'd been Rochelle's sort of bodyguard the whole time she'd been hiding here from her abusive ex. And she'd trusted Rochelle to keep an eye on Rory, and Rochelle would be here...
"I don't know how long I'll be out. I might be a few hours," Tacey hedged.
Ben shrugged and flipped open his sketchbook. "Do you have your own paper, Rory, or do you want to borrow some of mine?"
Rory set her bag down and began pulling out art supplies. "I have everything I need right here."
Ben chuckled. "It's almost as if you knew I'd be coming in today. Well, art class is in session, I guess."
"Are you sure?" Tacey asked. "If she's any trouble, just get Rochelle to call me and I'll come right back. If I'm not back by lunchtime and Rory gets hungry, order some lunch for her. For both of you. On the house."
Ben snorted. "Rory won't be any trouble. We're going to draw until we get hungry, and then we're going to have the best sandwiches in that cabinet over there, and we'll be right here when you get back. No worries."
Tacey was torn. Sure, Ben seemed like the ideal babysitter, a gift from heaven at just the right moment, but... "You can't let her leave the café. She has to stay right here, in this building. Nowhere else. Have you ever taken care of kids before?"
Ben gave her a mock salute. "Right. No trips to the brothel on Bannister Street."
Tacey blinked. "No...what?" She couldn't possibly have heard that right.
Ben just laughed. "We'll be fine, Tacey. Like Rory said, we're going to be drawing wings. Go out, enjoy yourself. See you when you get back."
Tacey glanced at her watch. If she didn't leave now, she'd be late. And she did trust Ben and Rochelle... "All right. See you when I get back," she said, and forced herself to march out the door to her car.
It wasn't until she was halfway to the lawyer's office that she realised she'd never actually introduced Ben to Rory. How did he know her name?
Telling herself Rochelle must have mentioned her to him, Tacey just shook her head and kept driving. The sooner she engaged this lawyer's services, the sooner she could be more secure about Rory's future. No leaving her with a monster like Wystan. Better yet, if she no longer needed Wystan to protect them from Matt, then she could unsummon him (however you did that) and she'd never have to think about that kiss ever again.
THIRTY
An hour and twenty minutes, she'd been kept waiting. She'd chewed off all her lipstick, and even started biting her nails. Sure, the view of the river out the window of the high rise office where Lamont and Partners did business was real pretty, but she wanted to see the lawyer, not the ferries crossing and recrossing the damn river.
Worse, every minute she was away from Rory, she imagined all manner of terrible things happening to her. She might reach for Ben's coffee and spill it on herself. Some crazy person might try to hold up the café, and hold her hostage. She might throw another tantrum and scare away all the customers, and Ben and Rochelle wouldn't know what to do. Or Matt might come into the café and take her while Tacey was here and when she got back, Rory would be gone...
"Miss Bell?"
