One Spring Night

Chapter Six

Ben, who'd left Kara upstairs to finish blow-drying her hair and to do whatever else women did to get ready, strolled through the back door into the kitchen.

He glanced at Beckett, expecting some quip about his wet hair, or about having had sex upstairs while customers were downstairs. Whatever Beckett had to say, it would be crude, he knew. Something that could be counted on was Beckett's ability to be absurd, and he loved his brother for it.

Instead, Ben found his brother's face contorted and staring at the stove in a trance. "The beast giving you trouble again?"

"Women are annoying."

"What?"

"Women. They're annoying and difficult and...annoying."

"Whoa," Ben said after waiting a beat. "When did the tear in the space time continuum happen?"

"While you were having sex in the shower. Way to go, by the way," Beckett grumbled.

"Uh huh." He grabbed a carrot stick from a nearby bowl, chomped on it as his gaze narrowed. "So what'd I miss?"

Again Beckett shook his head, speechless, motioning in the direction of the bar. "She... I mean, all I meant was... And then..." He made a sound effect signifying his head exploding.

Ben swallowed the bite of carrot. "I'm going to need more than that."

"Danielle."

"Ah."

"What do you mean 'ah?' Why'd you say that?"

Ben finally chuckled. "All right, spill. What happened?"

"She...Danielle...came in here all happy for you, and I said I was happy too. Everything was fine and then she told me not to be Beckett. To not ruin the romance of you and Kara, by being Beckett."

Ben examined his brother; he'd never seen him so bent out of shape.

"So then she came back in the kitchen and I told her she was wrong about me. That I was going to take her out and show her romance."

Nodding, Ben continued listening without commenting.

"And she said no. She said no."

"No, huh?"

"She said no," Beckett repeated, still dumfounded. "What the hell?"

"I know you're not used to the word, especially coming from women, but let's break this down."

Beckett scratched at his ear and faced his brother, ready to take whatever advice was offered—a rare notion on Beckett's part.

"First, you told her you were going to show her romance? Maybe you could've asked her to go out with you, then showed her some romance."

"Oh, shit. Yeah, that's good. What else?"

"Well," Ben continued, pleased to see his brother being tortured by a woman. It was about time. "Danielle has been waiting for you to ask her out for years. She has a good heart, a sweet heart, and when you finally ask her out like you did, it's anticlimactic. It probably didn't match what she thought it would be like. So she said no. Or," he added, "maybe she just thinks you're ugly."

"Sure, kick a man while he's down." Beckett attempted a death stare but ended up looking like a helpless puppy.

"Look if you're going to ask out a smart, independently minded female like Danielle, you're going to have to try harder than you did. You didn't try at all, and you're not used to trying. But do me this favor, don't ask her out if you're just going to sleep with her then toss her away. She's the best server we've ever had. Which makes her not the greatest target for your next conquest."

"I resent the implications of that."

"No you don't."

"Yeah, okay." Beckett huffed out a breath, feeling mildly better. "So now let's talk about you having sex with Kara while I was down here floundering like an idiot."

"Let's not."

"I'm happy for you, man," Beckett told him, then thought of Danielle's words. "You in love with her?"

Silently, Ben leaned against the stainless steel workstation and crossed his legs at his ankles. "I didn't know what love was, really, until that day she stepped foot in the pub. I'd never been in love before."

"And now you are?"

Ben pushed out from his lean, paced toward the door to the pub then circled, and returned to stand beside Beckett. "We were never really shown what a relationship looks like. Not a healthy one, at least. Dad disappeared, mom was crazy, then mom disappeared. We weren't, as kids, shown an example of what love between two people really looked like.

"So I don't know what to call it, or what it means. All I know is that I'd do everything in my power to make Kara happy, to give her everything I have, to use every ounce of strength I have in me to protect her. I don't really know about the rest just yet. But I want to find out."

At a loss for more words, the two brothers stood quietly in the kitchen of the Plumber's Pub.

Finally Beckett moved, crossing to the walk-in. As he strode by Ben, he punched him in the stomach.

"What's that for?"

"You deserve it," Beckett explained as he tugged on the shiny handle to the walk-in.

"I deserve to be punched?"

Beckett shook his head. "Love. You deserve love," he told him before disappearing behind the thick door.

The corners of Ben's mouth curved as he took a deep breath then made his way back into the pub. Maybe he did. But so did his little brother.