A Matter of Trust (12 page)

“Carrie, come out of the bathroom,” Ben
called out. He started to the bathroom door just as Carrie opened
it a crack. He could see her entire face. Her expression took on
one of those awkward looks, as if she had been caught with her hand
in the cookie jar. She was now wearing one of the white bathrobes
that had been hanging on the bathroom door. It draped to her
ankles, it was so big. Ben slid his arm around her shoulders and
pulled her closer to him when she took another step.

Jack didn’t say a word, standing with his
hands fisted at his sides. He was a hard man to read, and right now
Ben thought it would be nice to have some idea of whether he was
going to have his teeth knocked out or be asked to leave. When
Jack’s gaze lingered on Carrie, Ben could see how much he cared for
her.

“Carrie, you’re a grown woman, and you get
to make your own decisions, but you’re still my daughter.”

Ben could feel the way Carrie seemed to pull
into herself. “Look, Jack, this probably doesn’t look good, but I
swear to you—”

The look Jack gave him was blazing and left
the words Ben was about to say falling away. Angry fathers were not
an area he had experience in.

“What exactly are your intentions toward my
daughter? You’re a guest here, and Carrie may be a woman, but she’s
young. She hasn’t finished college and is working some two-bit job
making next to nothing for a local environmental group that’s your
sworn enemy. What exactly is your reasoning, Ben? Is it to sway
Carrie to your side? I really hope you wouldn’t stoop to that
level.”

If anything, Ben was offended. He’d never
used a woman to further his career, ever, and hell would freeze
over before he stooped to that level of sliminess. “Jack, I would
never consider that. Carrie means something to me, and…I don’t know
what this is, between us.”

He could feel Carrie watching him, and when
he glanced down, he could see her confusion, as if she was
misunderstanding him—as if she, too, was wondering whether her
father was right. “You came here, remember? I warned you, Carrie,”
he said, low enough that the words were meant just for her. Maybe
it wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Again, Ben, what are your intentions with
my daughter? I’m not a fool. I understand the complexity of the
situation.” He actually gestured to the blood on the bed, and for a
second Ben wondered if this man was actually going to demand that
he marry his daughter.

“Dad, I’m old enough to make my own
decisions!” Carrie said. “This has nothing to do with you.” She
actually stepped away from Ben and pulled at the robe at her
neckline as if to cover herself more. Damn, she was uncomfortable.
This entire situation seemed pulled from some bizarre soap opera.
How could this be happening to him?

“Look, Jack, give us a moment, and Carrie
and I will come up to the house. You and I can talk, but I need to
have a word with Carrie,” Ben said. Jack may have been Carrie’s
father, but Ben was pretty sure the man also understood that he
wasn’t some snake—or at least he hoped so, anyway.

Jack turned to the door and said, “Carrie,
both Alice and I will be expecting you with Ben.” Then he pulled
open the door and left.

Carrie sank down on the edge of the bed, and
when she looked up at him, there was such sadness in her eyes. He
stepped closer and couldn’t stop himself from reaching down and
brushing a lock of her hair back, then running his hand over the
back of her head.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She frowned. “For what, making love to me?
Was it so awful?”

“No, it was a gift. I’m sorry for how you
feel now, for turning this experience, your first time, into
something awkward. It shouldn’t be, and your dad finding us like
this…I can honestly say this has never happened before.”

She reached for both of his hands, and he
pulled her up so that she was standing so close that she was almost
touching him.

“You okay?” he asked, tilting her chin up.
He ran his hands over her back and down lower, over the curve of
her bottom.

“So you really wanted me?” she asked. She
was biting her lip again, and for a moment he wondered if she knew
the effect she had on him.

“Yeah, and if we don’t leave now, you’re
going to find out just how much I want you again.”

She smiled and started to lean in to kiss
him, so he put his hands on her cheeks and held her still. “No,
you’ll be too sore, and I need to go have a talk with your dad. I
promised. No matter what, I can’t disrespect him.”

He was holding her hand, walking with her
across the grass to the house. Carrie took in the horses out in the
pasture, ones she had never done more than give a passing glance
to.

“You ride?” Ben asked. He was looking down
at her, but the expression on his face was so male, confident, and
cocky that she wanted to get closer still. He squeezed her hand
when she didn’t answer right away.

“No, they’re Alice’s horses. She’s had them
forever. I think they’re too old to ride, anyway. She loves them,
but I just never had any interest.”

“That’s too bad. I love horses, grew up with
them. Haven’t ridden in years, though.”

She had never taken him for a country boy,
despite what he had told her about his past. For some reason, when
she looked at him, she could only see the city, the oil company.
She understood that there was so much about Ben buried deep below
the surface, and she wanted to dig, to uncover the special and
complex person he was. She wanted to know everything about what
made him tick, what he was thinking.

She could still feel him, the effects of
being with him. Maybe that was why her body brushed up against his
instinctively.

“What’s going through that head of yours?”
Ben squeezed her hand as the house appeared too quickly in front of
them.

“Oh, you know, things like what my dad’s
going to say to you. I didn’t think he cared.”

Ben stopped and pulled her around to him.
“Hey, your dad cares for you very much, and I knew that even before
he came in and raked me over the coals. He’s doing what any father
should. Everyone makes mistakes, Carrie. No one is perfect, so stop
holding your dad accountable for things that are over and
done.”

She didn’t like being reprimanded for
anything, but she knew Ben was partly right. She was just having a
hard time with her dad deciding only now to be a dad. “I know,” she
said.

Maybe he hadn’t expected her to admit it, as
surprise registered on his face. “Well, good. Maybe there’s hope
for you yet.”

She wanted to hit him, and what did he do
but pull her close and put a kiss on her lips?

“Hey, you two, come on in here before
breakfast gets cold,” Alice called. She was standing on the porch,
waving.

“Come on, let’s go,” Ben said. “I think
maybe this would be a good time for you to have a talk with
Alice.”

He took her hand again, and just touching
him filled her with happiness, even though a sense of shellshock
came over her as they started up the steps and her father appeared
behind her stepmother. The expression on his face, directed toward
Ben, was concerning.

“Ben, can I have a word with you in my
study?” he said, though it really wasn’t a question.

Carrie didn’t want him to go alone. She was
starting to panic that her dad would say something and Ben would
leave. She knew she couldn’t handle it if that happened. “Dad, no.
I’m a grown woman. This is between me and Ben.”

“No, Carrie, there are some things I need to
say. Go on in the kitchen with Alice.”

The way he said it made her feel as if she
was two years old and she’d done something wrong. She couldn’t
remember her father ever talking to her this way.

Ben actually nudged her. “Go, Carrie. I
think this is between me and your dad.”

Standing in the doorway, Ben helped her off
with her sweater, which she unzipped and hung on the coat tree. He
shrugged his off, hanging it over hers. He didn’t give her another
glance as he followed her father down the hall and into his study.
She actually craned her neck and stared until Alice called out to
her.

“Carrie, come in here now,” she said
softly.

She could smell the aroma of apple cinnamon
muffins, the fresh coffee. She didn’t know how Alice was so
organized, but being in the kitchen with her was comforting. Alice
didn’t look up as she lifted the muffins from the pan, arranging
them on a platter.

“Carrie, can you pull the pitcher of orange
juice from the refrigerator, please?”

She didn’t answer as she pulled the
well-stocked fridge open. Hers never looked anything like this. She
took the green-topped Tupperware jug out and set it on the counter
beside the glasses and four mugs sitting on a paper towel, just
waiting to be used.

“Ben is a very nice man,” Alice said.

Carrie turned around, and Alice set a knife
on the cutting board beside her.

“Cut up this pineapple, please,” she said.
“It’s starting to get old.” Then she poured herself a cup of
coffee.

Carrie picked up the knife and cut off the
top and the bottom.

“Your father doesn’t want to see you hurt,”
Alice said. She was behind her, and she set a cup filled with dark
coffee beside her.

“I know. I just wish he hadn’t shown up like
he did. It was embarrassing.”

“And it’s too new,” Alice added, which had
Carrie turning around and taking another look at her stepmother.
She nodded, setting the knife down on the counter.

“Yeah, I don’t want anything to mess it up.
I don’t want Dad to scare him away.”

“Oh, honey, that’s not your dad’s intention.
But, Carrie, it was your first time. Your dad came back and told me
what he saw.”

She shut her eyes in embarrassment. Her
father and Alice had talked about her sex life and her first time,
knowing she was a virgin? She’d always imagined she’d have her
mother to go to, to talk to. She’d just been floating along for so
long, trying to go it alone.

“I went to him,” she whispered. She didn’t
say anything else, because she didn’t want to voice her fears that
Ben would walk out of her dad’s study, grab his coat, and leave and
never come back. Alice just rubbed her back. She heard footsteps
and voices.

Both her father and Ben were laughing.

Alice slid her arm around Carrie’s shoulder
and gave her a gentle squeeze. “See? It’s all good. Now cut the
pineapple.”

Ben had a lot to think about as he sorted
through the files on his computer and in his inbox. There was one
from Rick with the reports he’d requested, but he didn’t click the
files open, as he realized the importance of trust and how Carrie
would be affected by what he was doing. After all, they’d been on
opposite sides—or rather, they still were. He needed to sit down
face to face with her and hash this out. As he had promised Jack,
he needed to figure out what this was with Carrie.

Jack hadn’t minced words. As soon as he
stepped into his study, Ben following, he’d shut the door, sat
down, and said with a hard expression of certainty, “What are you
intentions toward my daughter, Ben?”

It had been the most uncomfortable moment of
his life. Never had he been held accountable for his sexual
encounters. All this because he’d been thinking with the wrong part
of his anatomy!

He’d taken a seat in a second side chair,
and he hadn’t insulted Jack by looking away. “Honestly, Jack, I
care for her, and I would never intentionally hurt her. I don’t
know where it’s going to go with Carrie. This was unexpected.”

Jack had leaned forward, resting his elbows
on the arms of the side chair. “Then let me be clear: I do not want
to see my daughter hurt. There’s been too much strife in her life,
and when she’s back home here, she doesn’t see things clearly. She
reacts, jumps in, and does things without thinking. I’m no fool. I
know what I saw. Again, I’m going to ask you your intentions.” He
actually lifted up a magazine to reveal that damn feature on the
front cover. He gave it a cursory glance and then flicked it with
his fingers. “Yes, I’ve read this, and I’ve clearly read between
the lines, as well, Ben. I don’t think I’m being presumptuous in
stating the obvious: You’re a playboy.”

Jack had an unforgiving hardness in his
expression that wouldn’t be satisfied until Ben spelled out, in
black and white, what he’d figured out about him and Carrie. The
problem was that he’d figured nothing out aside from the fact that
she was nothing like the women he’d been with before. He never
would have considered being with a young, mouthy, fiery woman like
her, but they had been thrown together by the most unusual
circumstances, and she had stirred something in him—passion, fire,
anger—just by being who she was. He should have taken offense to
being labeled, but the fact was that with all of his conquests and
the string of women he’d dated, he was in fact a playboy.

“I can’t change who I am, but I have
integrity, Jack—and a conscience. I know what I did, and Carrie
isn’t just another notch on my belt. She’s different. I wouldn’t
treat her that way. If you’re asking whether I’m planning to marry
your daughter…”

Jack actually held up his hands. “No! I’m
not going that far, but I need to be clear: You are responsible for
your actions, and I expect you to man up. If you get her pregnant,
you’ll be seeing the end of my shotgun, and you’ll face your
responsibilities. I did, with Carrie’s mother.”

Ben just watched Jack. The man had peeled
back yet another layer. So he’d gotten Carrie’s mother pregnant,
married her out of obligation? There had never been any passion and
deep love for her? “Jack, I may be many things, but anything I do,
I stand by it. Carrie isn’t meaningless to me, but I don’t know
what’s going to happen between us. We have a lot to figure
out.”