Just One Thing Read online

  “I’m not sure about being the best assistant ever but I’ll settle for someone just giving me a chance.”

  “Oh don’t you worry about that. We’ll get someone to give you a chance.” After a little groan, Ri pushed up from the table. She waddled over to the front door. “As a matter of fact, I know exactly how to get the ball rolling. Come with us to dinner at the Alexanders’ tonight.”

  Suddenly Katie understood exactly what Ri had in mind. Jackson’s parents, Julia and Mark Alexander, were pillars of the community and knew pretty much everyone in town.

  Including all of the business owners.

  Her heart soared at the possibility of finding a way out of this mess. For the past year, she’d struggled to do it all on her own, raising her children, working, keeping the house up and trying to hold together the pieces of her shattered heart. It had been important for her to do things on her own, if for no other reason than to prove that she could.

  Never again would she be that naive, impressionable girl who believed that love was all she needed. She would stand on her own two feet. But pride wasn’t going to keep food on the table and she’d been raised to believe in the power of family. Community.

  Pride be damned. It was time to accept a little help from her friends.

  ♥

  A few hours later, Bennett lifted his head and blinked a few times. Damn it, he’d been about to go up to the main house for dinner and he’d gotten distracted. Again. He stood abruptly, his knee colliding with the edge of the worktable. It took a moment for him to catch his breath after the pain subsided and that was when he heard the noise that had broken his concentration in the first place.

  His phone was ringing.

  Not many people had his number to begin with so it probably meant he’d forgotten something important. Again. He gripped the back of his neck in frustration. It was one thing to make a decision to change but actually doing it was an entirely different matter. The ringing stopped only to start again a minute later, the annoying noise only pushing his frustration even higher.

  After he finally located his cell phone in the front pocket of the coat he’d been wearing that morning, he answered with a terse, “Hello.”

  “Finally! I’ve been calling and calling. I was about to send out a search party.”

  His friend Olivia’s voice brought a smile to his face. She was one of the few people that could have that effect on him. He supposed it made sense because she’d been his first friend back in kindergarten (before alienating all the other children by refuting the widely held belief that babies came from kissing), his first kiss (the summer after sixth grade), and his first date (the prom). She’d been his first in a lot of ways, although not in the way people usually assumed. The thought brought an unexpected blush, making his cheeks uncomfortably hot.

  “Oh, hey Boo." He could almost hear her annoyance at the nickname even over the phone.

  “How many years have to pass before you stop calling me that?”

  He chuckled. “It’s instinct now. I will forever associate peek-a-boo with my Olivia.”

  “Whatever. I’ve been trying to reach you. What’s up with you ignoring my texts?”

  “Sorry. I really meant to call you last night but I'm in the middle of testing the newest iteration of my soil. I started reading my notes from the last phase of testing.”

  “Of course. The last time we spoke you’d decided to alter the nitrogen levels again, right?”

  Bennett relaxed as the conversation turned to his newest formula. He could talk about his research for hours and never get bored. Especially when he was on the cusp of a breakthrough.

  “You sound really excited, Ben. I hope this new batch is the one.”

  Bennett was momentarily paralyzed by a wave of insecurity. There was so much riding on this research. He didn't want to think of what would happen if his newest theory didn't pan out.

  “It has to be. The changing weather patterns have really messed with our crops in recent years. We need soil that’s robust enough to gain us maximum yield this coming summer.”

  Talking to Liv was always so easy. Even though she wasn’t a scientist, she was remarkably clever. She understood the basis of his research and was an excellent sounding board when he needed to bounce ideas around. She also understood when he tended to zone out in the middle of conversations. Something he was grateful for when he realized he’d done it again.

  “Bennett? Hey!”

  “Sorry. I’m still here.”

  “Your mom said you’ve been nominated for a Mentor Science award! That’s awesome.”

  He glanced behind him at the invitation on the floor and bit back a curse. “Yes, I just got the invitation to the awards ceremony. Wait, you talked to my mom?”

  Her warm laugh carried over the line. “Well, you weren’t answering your phone as usual. So I figured Julia could at least make sure you were still breathing!”

  He wiped a hand over his face. It was a running joke with his friends and family that he could get so lost in his research that they often weren’t sure if he was dead or alive sometimes.

  “Great. So that’s why she put the invitation out for me to see. I was wondering why she bothered. Social gatherings have never been my favorite thing.”

  “Um, well she did that because I asked her to. I was hoping that you’d take me as your date.”

  His mouth fell open. Was Olivia asking him on a date?

  “I was just thinking that we don’t get to spend nearly enough time together these days, you know? And I can talk to everyone for you when you get nervous.”

  His heart was beating so hard that it was difficult to hear himself think. Olivia had always been there for him and she’d covered for him in social situations more times than he could count. Her parents and his ran in some of the same social circles so they’d grown up attending a lot of the same events. It had seemed natural for them to attend those events together since they would have both been there anyway. This, however, was different. Bennett couldn’t even put his finger on exactly why other than it just felt different.

  “That’s true,” he said finally. “I’m no good at this kind of stuff but you always cover for me.”

  “I don’t mind covering for you, you know that. So, it’s a date! I’ll call you later. Bye!”

  Before he could even respond, he heard the soft click and dead air. He slipped his phone in his pocket as he considered the strange conversation. People were always a mystery to him but this behavior was strange, especially for Olivia. She’d seemed in a terrible hurry to get off the phone, like she didn’t want to talk to him any longer but that didn’t make sense because she was the one who’d called him. Why would you call a person if you didn’t feel like talking to them?

  He sighed. There was something that he was missing, a puzzle piece that he knew the shape of but not what it looked like or what it meant. Much of his life was like a puzzle, different parts fitting together in ways that he couldn’t understand or replicate.

  He wasn’t good with words and his awkwardness was a weakness that he constantly had to compensate for. Olivia was the only one who’d ever seen past all that and treated him like a person instead of an oddity. She was the only one outside of his family that he was truly comfortable with. Almost like a girlfriend.

  Bennett stilled at the thought. It was impossible of course. He was just thinking that way because of the scene he’d witnessed outside earlier. Normally his solitude didn’t bother him but after watching his brothers fall in love one by one over the past few years, he’d have to be made of stone not to feel a little lonely. Since Olivia was his closest friend and also happened to be a beautiful woman, of course he’d start to wonder.

  But the more he wondered, the less ridiculous it seemed. Until finally he had to ask himself, why couldn’t Olivia be his girlfriend? Given how many years they’d known each other, she knew him better than anyone else. She was used to all of his strange silences and social mishaps. All things cons
idered, she was the woman most suited to him there probably was.

  The longer he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. They would go to the ceremony together and then afterward they could spend some time alone. They would talk and she could see all the ways he’d changed since high school. He was a different man now.

  He just had to make her see that.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ♥

  The door to the laboratory opened and Bennett smiled as his sister-in-law Ridley walked in. Or he should say, waddled in. He knew better than to comment on it though after seeing the way she’d pinched his brother when he’d mentioned it.

  “Hi, am I interrupting anything? Nothing is going to blow up if I come in, right?” She glanced around warily.

  Bennett chuckled. She’d interrupted him once before while he was mixing something and there’d been a minor chemical reaction. It had scared Ridley though. For her to venture out here there had to be a good reason.

  “No, nothing is going to blow up. Here have a seat.”

  He stood and pushed his stool to the other end of the worktable so she could sit down. Although pregnancy wasn’t a foreign concept by any means (he did have three younger siblings and a slew of cousins), it still made Bennett exceptionally nervous. Pregnant women just seemed so delicate, like there were a million factors waiting to go wrong at any moment. Which made being around pregnant women nerve wracking on any given day but especially when it was Ridley.

  He adored his sister-in-law, not only for saving Jackson from himself but because she brought so much happiness to his family as a whole. She’d given his parents the daughter they’d always longed for, was a wonderful mother to his two nephews and had fit into their family like she’d always been there. She even tolerated his strange behavior with a patience unmatched by the rest of his family. She always seemed interested in what he was working on and didn’t expect him to be like everyone else.

  Which was why this pregnancy was so particularly stressful. If anything ever happened to Ridley it would devastate them all.

  “Did Mom send you out here?” he asked.

  Ridley shook her head. “No, I just wanted to see what you were up to. It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  Bennett rubbed his hand over his hair. He had been working pretty doggedly the past month. Without his assistant to keep track of things, his usually orderly existence had become a bit haphazard.

  “My assistant got a teaching fellowship to Oxford. So I’m trying to manage by myself. There are just so many details that I’m not used to keeping track of.”

  He wasn’t exaggerating either. John Wilson had been the perfect assistant. He’d hired him originally as a graduate student. John had needed a job that wouldn’t interfere with his classes. Bennett had needed someone who could keep track of all the pesky details that came naturally to everyone else. Like when to eat and whether or not he needed a haircut. But over the past year John had become like his right arm. With his science background he’d been able to help Bennett with his testing and kept his notes organized.

  Ridley put a soft hand on his arm. “No wonder you look so lost. I mean, it’s great for him that he got a fellowship though.”

  “Yes, it is. That’s why I recommended him for it.”

  “You recommended him even though that meant you’d lose your assistant?” she asked incredulously.

  He nodded slowly, not sure why Ridley would find that so surprising. John had been a fine student and would likely go on to have a promising career. He’d been determined to develop formulations for pesticides that would be safer and less expensive to produce. Bennett was extremely proud of him.

  “Yes, of course. He was a very bright student. I believe he’ll do great things in the world.”

  She grinned at him then. “You’re a good guy, Bennett Alexander. But then I already knew that.”

  Unsure of how to respond to that, Bennett just nodded. Then he jumped to his feet when she struggled to stand.

  “Oh, it’s fine. I can get up. It just takes me a minute with this belly, that’s all.”

  Even though she didn’t want his help, Bennett hovered behind her uncertainly, ready to offer a hand if she stumbled. It was a miracle to him how she managed to stay upright while carrying around the basketball-shaped lump under her shirt.

  “Anyway, I hope I’ll see you at dinner. I know you usually don’t have time to come but yeah … anyway.”

  “I’ll be there. I was planning to come today anyway but I got distracted earlier.”

  Ridley’s face lit up. “Oh good. I know everyone will be really happy to see you.”

  She stopped at the door. “Bennett? Have you already hired another assistant? Or did you have someone in mind?”

  “No. I haven’t had time. But I suppose I’ll have to eventually. Why?”

  “Oh nothing. Just wondering.” She smiled again, her face the picture of innocence.

  Bennett wasn’t sure why but he suddenly wondered if going to dinner was such a good idea. He’d heard his brother complain that Ridley could be a bit of a meddler and fancied herself a matchmaker but he’d never seen it firsthand. His brother was probably exaggerating anyway. From what he could tell, Ridley just liked fussing over everyone because she wanted them all to be happy. What was the harm in that?

  Besides, there wasn’t too much she could do to meddle in his love life considering that he didn’t have one. Unless she could somehow manage to get Olivia to see him as her perfect match. In fact, maybe he would ask Ridley for help. If she liked matchmaking, then she probably wouldn’t mind giving him a few pointers and there really wasn’t anyone else he could ask.

  “Yes, I am going to dinner. Would you mind saving me a seat? There’s something I want to talk to you about tonight.”

  Ridley looked curious but didn’t ask any questions. Just watched him with a little smile on her face that made him feel very much like a bug under a microscope.

  “Sure thing. I’ll save you a seat. I know exactly what you need.”

  ♥

  Katie took a deep breath and then let it out slowly as her youngest son ran past her for the hundredth time.

  “Matthew Hosea Mason. Come back here and put your shoes on, right now!”

  He skidded to a halt but not in time to avoid colliding with her. Katie grabbed him so he couldn’t run off again and then held him on her lap while she wrestled his shoes on. Her oldest son, Hunter, stomped down the stairs carrying a soccer ball and what looked like a plastic snake.

  “Uh uh, no way. You’re not taking that plastic snake with us and playing pranks on everyone.”

  Hunter’s face fell but he put the plastic snake on the edge of the couch. That was when she noticed the small stain on his T-shirt. Katie hung her head. If she sent him upstairs to change it, it would be another ten minutes before he came back down. They were already late as it was. Maybe no one would notice it? It wasn’t that big and it was on the hem.

  “Okay, everyone to the car. I’m sure Ms. Julia is wondering what is taking us so long.”

  The boys ran out the door and raced to the car. Over their squeals of I’m first! No, I’m first! Katie managed to lock the front door while carrying the peach cobbler she’d made that afternoon. It hadn’t seemed like it would throw them that far off schedule when she’d decided to make it but as usual, she’d underestimated how long it took to get the kids cleaned up and under control.

  Ten minutes later, they pulled into the long drive leading to the Alexander-Bennett Co-op. She’d heard the story from Jackson before about how his parents had joined the farmland they’d each inherited and then built a home right in the middle of it. It almost sounded like a fairy tale to her, to find someone who was so perfectly matched that you could actually work and live together. But the Alexanders made it look so easy.

  As soon as the car was parked, Hunter took off his seatbelt and pushed open his door.

  “Look! I see a horse!”

  Before Ka
tie could even respond, Hunter took off at a run across the yard. She sighed.

  “Hunter, wait for us please!” she called out to him as she got out of the car. When there was no response, she hurried around to the other side of the car and made short work of getting Matthew out of his booster seat. He scrambled down, eager to follow his brother. The first time they’d come here she’d been so worried they’d get into something but Julia had quickly reassured her that the farm was used to wild little boys running around.

  It was hard to imagine Jackson and his brothers being the age her sons were now but she bet it was a lot of fun. Just thinking about it made her miss her own siblings. Nelson traveled so much because he was a musician. He was living in London now. Mari actually lived close to her mother in Barbados but over the years, she’d gone home less and less because Don had always complained about the expense. She talked to her family on the phone frequently but it wasn’t the same as being there.

  It hit her at the strangest times, this feeling of homesickness. She missed the food, the dancing and the sense of belonging. Most of the people born in this part of Virginia carried a faint southern accent but it was nothing like home. There were times she picked up the phone and called her mother just to hear the lyrical rhythm of the accent she’d grown up with instead of the flatter American sound.

  Katie grabbed her purse and the covered pie plate from the passenger seat of the car before walking in the general direction the kids had run toward. She was already late so she didn’t bother worrying too much. Instead she took the opportunity to enjoy the view. The Alexander farm was acre after acre of rolling land so green it practically sparkled. In the distance several large red barns broke up the vista, looking postcard perfect. There was a large tractor in front of one of them. She sped up her steps. Even though the farmhands who worked here were used to little boys being around didn’t mean they weren’t in the way. Katie didn’t know a lot about farming but she figured springtime had to be a pretty busy season for them.