Once in a Lifetime Read online

Page 19

  Author: Jill Shalvis

  “Yep. Ben’s off my list. ” It wasn’t the right Ben, of course. The right Ben was seated next to her, but he didn’t need to know that.

  Nor did he need to know how much it was killing her, how she was sleeping less and less at night, worried about exactly that.

  His being on her list.

  Not to mention his reaction when he found out. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him, not yet. He’d walk away, and even knowing that’s what she deserved, she wasn’t ready for it.

  “Well, if you’re righting your wrongs,” he said—clearly fishing but coming so uncomfortably close to the truth that she held her breath—“then don’t forget Kristan. Remember how mean you were to her in high school when she took your spot in the school play?”

  Kristan wasn’t on Aubrey’s list. Nor would she be. “She tripped me at rehearsal, and I sprained my ankle so that I couldn’t dance the lead. If I were making a list of wrongs to right, which I’m not”—she paused when he snorted, and she sent him a glare—“then I should be on her list. ” She swiped her sweaty brow and sat back, arms still trembling from exertion.

  He started the truck and took them back to the highway. “You want to talk about it?” he asked casually.

  No. She didn’t want to talk about last night and the best sex she’d ever had. She was afraid she’d beg for more. “Talk about…?”

  He glanced at her. “You were out there digging for something—or attempting to, anyway, since the ground was pretty frozen. ”

  Damn it, he’d sneaked a peek. “A pumpkin patch,” she admitted. She leaned back and sighed. “And if you were spying on me, the least you could have done was come help. ”

  He gave her a slow, lazy grin that did things to her girl parts. Each and every one. And thanks to him, there were more of those parts than she’d remembered. “You looked like you were doing all right,” he said.

  Trying to ignore her annoying reaction to him, which she was helpless to prevent, she sighed. “Gee, thanks. ”

  “So why were you digging Mr. Asshole a pumpkin patch in the off-season?”

  She looked at him. “It’s the off-season?”

  He grinned. “Little bit, Sunshine. ”

  Damn. She’d not even thought of that, and she hadn’t looked at the seed packet when she’d bought it earlier at the grocery store. “How about I answer a question, and then you answer a question?” she suggested.

  “Fine,” he said. “You first. What the hell was that back there?”

  She slid on her sunglasses. “Mr. Wilford gave me an F in eighth-grade science because he didn’t like me. ”

  “He didn’t like anyone. ”

  “But I’m the only one he failed. He said I was cheating when in fact I wasn’t. ” She paused. “Okay, so I was cheating, but only to help Lance. ”

  “The kid with cystic fibrosis? The one who runs the ice cream joint on the pier in the summer?”

  “Yeah. He’d been going through a rough patch and had missed a week of school. He couldn’t catch up, so I was feeding him the answers to the test. Mr. Wilford caught me. ” She’d never forget how he’d stood over her, those bushy brows—which were black then—bunched together. And how he’d said so harshly, You’re a selfish girl, Aubrey Wellington. No one likes a selfish girl.

  She’d heard No one likes you, and she’d reacted with predictable bad behavior. “Lance tried to tell Mr. Wilford the truth,” she said, “but he wouldn’t listen. He thought I was a bad seed, and his mind was made up. So he failed me. ”

  She’d then been disqualified from two beauty contests that her mom had already paid for and bought gowns for, and it’d been a huge drama in the house. “I tried to talk to him about it after school,” she said. “I found him in the school garden, working on his pumpkin patch with the garden club. ” She blew out a breath and a low laugh. “I can still see him standing there among his prize pupils and his equally prized pumpkins, pointing a dirty, bony finger in my direction. He said”—she adopted a low baritone—“You, Aubrey Wellington, will never amount to anything. ”

  “He thought we were all miscreants,” Ben said quietly. “But he shouldn’t have said that to you. ”

  “Actually, in hindsight I probably deserved it,” she said. “I was a total shit. But there was something in his tone that got me. And then he just walked away, like I wasn’t worth his time. ”

  “He spoke like Darth Vader,” Ben said, “and walked like he had a stick up his ass. ”

  She laughed. “Yes,” she finally said. “But at the time I didn’t think about that. I was embarrassed and humiliated. ” She paused and then admitted the rest. “I kicked one of his pumpkins and broke it loose from the stem. I didn’t find out until the next day that it’d been one of his award-winning pumpkins, the one he’d planned on taking to the annual pumpkin contest—which had a thousand-dollar prize. ”

  “Ouch,” Ben said.

  Aubrey sighed. “He cried. Mr. Wilford cried. ” She was still staring out the side window, so she was surprised when she felt his warm fingers close over hers.

  “You were just a kid, Aubrey. ”

  “Yeah, but not really. And I cost the school garden club that grand. I’ve always felt so bad about that. ”

  “So you dug him a new pumpkin patch,” Ben said. “What’s your plan, to grow him another award-winning pumpkin?”

  She bit her lower lip, and he laughed. “It is,” he said, and laughed again.

  “Stop that. ”

  “It’s cute,” he said.

  “Cute?” She almost choked on the word. No one had ever called her cute before, not ever. Her phone rang, and she pulled it out, frowning at the unknown number. “Hello?”

  “Aubrey Wellington,” said Darth Vader’s voice. “What did you do to my backyard?”

  “Mr. Wilford?” she asked, glancing over at Ben in shock.

  “Well, how many other people’s yards did you decimate today?” he asked testily. “What the hell did you do?”

  “I…dug you a pumpkin patch,” she said. “I planted pumpkin seeds. ”

  Ben smiled.

  “You what?” Mr. Wilford asked.

  “I ruined your prize pumpkin all those years ago, remember? And how did you get my number?”

  “Of course I remember what you did. You cost me a thousand bucks and ruined the best pumpkin I ever grew. And this is Lucky Harbor. It was easy to get your number; I called Lucille. ”

  “I’m going to grow you new pumpkins,” she said.

  “Off-season?”

  She sighed. “Okay, so I didn’t plan that part so well. But maybe one of them will be a prize pumpkin,” she said. “It’s my way of apologizing. ”

  “Fat lot of good that’s going to do me now,” he said. “I’m too old to be worried about the watering. ”

  Well, crap. She hadn’t thought of that, either. “I’ll do it,” she said.

  Ben laughed and then choked it off when she glared at him.

  “You’re going to water the pumpkins?” Mr. Wilford asked in disbelief. “You, Miss Fancy Pants?”

  “Yes,” she said through her teeth. “I am. ”

  “Pumpkins like to be watered regularly,” he warned.

  “Fine. Um, how often is regular—” But he’d hung up. She slid her phone away.

  Ben was still grinning.

  “Not a word,” she said, Googling “pumpkin patches. ” “Unless you know how often to water pumpkins. ”

  That night, Aubrey closed up the bookstore after a decent business day and smiled as she walked across the scarred hardwood floors. They’d been a surprising find beneath the carpet. The wood was nice and light, and it seemed to open up the store.

  Happy, she headed up to her loft. There, she pulled out her notebook and eyed the crossed-off items, including BEN.

  She’d improvised there, and she thought maybe she’d