“Yes, fun. Maybe you’ve heard of it? This whole time I noticed how easy it is for you to talk about science but not anything else and I couldn’t help but wonder: do you do anything else? You know, like, hobbies or something?”
By his stricken look, Katie could only assume the answer was no. Before he could say anything, she picked up the tablet. If she was going to help him, she needed to go in a completely different direction and she knew exactly where to start.
“We’re done for the day, right?”
Bennett nodded absently. “Yes, I don’t need anything else. Are we finished already?” He sounded relieved.
That wouldn’t last long. Katie had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like her new direction any better than the last one.
“For now. But I’m not done working. Once I’m at home, I’m going to come up with a list of ways to teach you to have fun. Then I’ll send you homework assignments to complete.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad. At least homework is something I’m familiar with.”
Katie didn’t correct him but she had a feeling this homework was going to be a challenge. For the first time, Bennett Alexander was going to learn to do frivolous things.
CHAPTER SEVEN
?
By the time Katie left work an hour later, she had a list of ideas to try to get Bennett out of his shell. It wasn’t going to be easy. The man was naturally suspicious of anything that didn’t seem logical or productive. She smiled, remembering his reaction to her question about hobbies. The poor man was probably going to need a drink to handle some of the things on her list.
The kids were a little more subdued than usual when they got off the bus. She’d noticed that Hunter in particular was very quiet. Katie gave them their snack and supervised their homework before she decided to call Ridley. Playing with the Alexander boys would definitely cheer the kids up and it would give her a chance to confer with Ridley about her “teaching Bennett to have fun plan.” This kind of thing was Ridley’s specialty.
Her friend didn’t answer when she called so she hung up and decided to wait an hour. Knowing Ri, she was in the middle of whipping up some amazing creation for dinner. Katie opened her own refrigerator and sighed. Leftover spaghetti and meatballs would have to do. The boys were always starving within an hour of getting home which didn’t leave much time for creating culinary masterpieces.
Her phone rang while she was heating up the leftover pasta. When she saw Ridley’s name on the screen, she snatched it up. To her surprise, it wasn’t Ri’s voice she heard.
“Hi, Katie? It’s Mara.”
“Oh, hi! This is a surprise. Didn’t expect to hear your voice.”
Mara was an old friend of the Alexanders but had moved to New York with her husband Trent the prior year. Before that, she’d been a constant presence in Ri’s house and Katie considered her a friend. Actually, Mara was one of the first people she’d confided in about her divorce. She was very easy to talk to and just a vibrant, fun-loving type of person in general. She’d always made their Girls’ Nights more fun.
“Yeah, Ri asked me to call you back for her. Penny is here with me and she’s giving Ridley a pregnancy massage. Can you come over? I’d love to see you while we’re in town.”
“That’s actually why I was calling. I need Ri’s advice about something but you’re probably going to be a big help, too. I’m working as an assistant to Bennett now and he’s asked me to help him with a … special project. It’s kind of hard to explain.”
Mara hummed. “Now you have me intrigued. Hurry up and get here!”
Katie laughed and promised she’d be there within the hour. She packed the spaghetti in a box and called out to the kids. She could feed them at Ridley’s house. They’d done that plenty of times before. Once she told them where they were going, the boys got their shoes and jackets on in record time. Twenty minutes later, they were happily eating spaghetti along with Ri’s two boys.
Mara pulled her by the arm into the living room where Ri was lying on a table while Penny massaged her shoulders.
“Hey! Sorry I didn’t get up. But I feel like jelly,” Ri mumbled. “This pregnancy massage table is amazing.”
Upon closer inspection Katie could see that the table had special cutouts to allow room for a pregnancy belly and to avoid putting pressure on the delicate chest area. Penny smiled and waved before turning to get more massage oil.
“Cool, right? Trent finally convinced Penny to come up with a design for a modular massage table that can adapt for a variety of conditions. This thing is fantastic. I’m so proud of her.”
Penny shrugged but didn’t speak. Katie figured she was probably trying to remain quiet so she wouldn’t jar Ridley out of the dreamlike state her friend was in. Katie and Mara got comfortable on the couch and talked quietly until Penny finished. A few minutes later, Ridley sat up looking completely relaxed.
“That was great, Penny. I didn’t know how much I needed that!” Ridley climbed down from the table carefully before fixing her gaze on Katie. “Sorry I couldn’t greet you when you came in. I was in another world.”
Katie chuckled. “I could see that. It looked like you were on the verge of falling asleep.”
“She actually did fall asleep for a little while there. Which is the ultimate compliment, by the way,” Penny interjected before going back to packing up her supplies.
“So what’s going on with you?” Mara finally asked. “You definitely sparked my interest on the phone. What kind of special project are you working on?”