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It was a stupid idea, of course, a contradiction to everything I’d been telling myself—that Carly and I were just friends, that I wasn’t that into her anyway, that she’d be better off with someone who wasn’t me. Maybe my brother. But hell, all of us were family now, weren’t we? There couldn’t be any harm in some innocent family fun at a local park.
Carly seemed to accept this fact, too. And it was obvious she’d do anything to make that little girl smile. So she said yes, and Ella squealed, and the plan was set. I wondered, for a second, if I could convincingly lie to myself that it was a date.
6
BENNETT
After taking a bus, a ferry, another bus, a tiny terrifying plane, and then a bigger one that didn’t exactly spell relaxation because I had chosen to fly coach, I was finally in an Uber on my way home. And Jesus, I was exhausted.
As the silver sedan that had picked me up from the airport drove through familiar hometown streets, I was armed with all of my belongings—admittedly not a lot, as I’d been providing healthcare to people in need in the developing world for the past year and that didn’t lend itself to a lot of shopping—and a healthy heap of anxiety. Of course I was glad to be home, to see my family after a long separation. But I was a little anxious to see Logan, Nate, and Dad again after all this time away, too. Maybe it was some leftover worry from years ago, when Dwight took me in and I worried I’d never feel comfortable in this new family.
That worry had turned out to be unfounded, obviously. But now there was a new one to contend with. Never once in all the years since Dwight McDonald had lovingly pulled me into his cadre of sons had he ever been as cryptic as he’d been over the phone when we last spoke. My logical brain didn’t do well with too many possibilities to mull through, and I certainly wasn’t one for “surprises”. The basic facts of my life were surprising enough.
I wasn’t sure if you could really call losing both of my parents in a car accident and having to be taken in by their lifelong best friend something as positive as “surprising”, but it definitely was destabilizing, even years after the fact.
Not that I was ungrateful for all the good surprises that had come out of that tragedy. It was because of that event and Dwight’s longtime friendship with my biological parents that I now had him and my foster brothers. And without them, I wouldn’t have been able to survive everything I’d done since that first day when my dad’s best friend had offered to take me in.
For the past several years, I’d been in a whirlwind of hard work and miraculous experiences that made all the surprises worth it. From making it through college despite some poorly-timed quarter-life crises, to getting through med school and part of my residency before I was offered the chance to provide healthcare in Sierra Leone, to the adventure and heartbreak and beautiful fulfillment of helping underserved communities, I’d been incredibly lucky, despite a rough start in life.
That rough start had been part of the draw of my charity work. I’d wanted some distance from the life I had in the States, one that was so filled with sadness and painful memories even with the efforts my family had made to make me feel safe and welcome. It was a great career opportunity, but I’d really been more looking for adventure in accepting a role with the nonprofit organization I’d worked with overseas.
And maybe there was something else motivating me, too. Some mixture of a drive to make my parents proud—my deceased biological ones and my foster dad alike—and a need to stay away from Dwight’s lingering guilt.
“Is this the house?” my Uber driver piped up, helping me break out of my head.
My eyes focused on the familiar street, and it took me a minute to gather my thoughts enough to say, “No, the next house down. Yeah, with the SUV out front.”
I climbed out of the car and barely had time to tap the five-star rating on my phone screen before Dwight came rushing out of the house, beaming at me in that very dad-like way he had.
“There he is! My prodigal son, back at last!” He was laughing as he met me on the lawn, wrapping me into a big hug.
“Good to see you, Dad,” I supplied automatically. He beamed at me as he started to help me with my luggage, leading me into the house.
It was the first time I’d called him Dad in a while, since we hadn’t been able to talk much while I was out of the country. Usually, he was Dwight, or sometimes just a respectful “sir” that my biological parents had ingrained in me when I still just knew him as a close family friend. I’d started to call him Dad on occasion over the years, accepting the role he’d stepped into so willingly, but there was still some tension there, for me at least. Despite the love and gratitude I had for Dwight, I remembered my real dad too well to fully accept a new one. But Dwight McDonald was a good man and always treated me with just as much love and care as he gave my two foster brothers, and now he was kind enough to let me stay in his house again after an extended absence. At least until I figured out my next steps.
“It’s so good to see you, Benny,” my foster father gushed once he’d dutifully carried all of my luggage to the now-guest room that used to be mine. “I want to hear all about your adventures as soon as you’re ready to tell them, but first, are you hungry? I’ve got leftover enchiladas in the kitchen—your favorite.”
“That sounds great,” I told him as my stomach rumbled as if on cue, and I followed him back through the spacious, bright home to the kitchen.
He happily chatted as he prepared my food for me, asking about my flight and telling me about how excited Logan and Nate were to have me back in town. It wasn’t until I was shoveling microwaved Mexican food into my gaping maw like a madman that I started to sense there was something Dwight wasn’t telling me. I made sure to chew and swallow my third heaping bite before I slowed down enough to ask him, “What’s up with you? Anything new?”
Of course, I hadn’t forgotten the surprise he’d hinted at when we last spoke, but I had downplayed it enough in my jetlagged brain that it had become something insignificant, somehow. That must have been why his next words could have knocked me straight off the stylish barstool I was sitting on.
“Well, yes, there is one fairly new development.” He lifted his left hand, and I blinked in confusion for a second. He blurted out, “I got hitched!”
Sure enough, there was a plain gold band on his third finger. I was usually observant enough to notice that kind of thing. I blamed the many hours of travel.
“That’s….” I started, then cleared my throat. “That’s great, Dw—Dad. Who is she? Someone I’d know?”
“No, but you’ll know her soon,” he assured me. “Oh, you’re gonna love her, Benny. Her name is Jodie.” He practically had hearts in his eyes as he heaved a dreamy sigh. “She’s moving in here soon. It’s been so long since this house has had a woman’s touch.”
“That’s… great,” I repeated, though my brain was struggling to adapt to all of this. As far as I knew, Dwight hadn’t even dated in the many years since his first wife, Logan’s mother, died. And now he had a whole new wife. And she was… moving in?
He seemed to notice my reaction before I even registered having it. “Oh, don’t worry, bud. There’s plenty of room for you to stay here, too. It’s just Jodie moving in, since her daughter and granddaughter are going to stay at the house they all live in now.”
“I don’t want to… intrude,” I told him, even though I really had nowhere else to go at the moment. I hadn’t exactly been apartment hunting while I was helping children with cholera. I knew it was a sentiment he wouldn’t love, since he’d never quite gotten over the difficulties I’d had in accepting him and his other sons as my true family. It was just the resistance to change I’d always exhibited, even before life had thrust such a huge change on me with zero warning when I was just a scared adolescent.
And now there were even more new family members to adjust to years after the fact. The exhaustion I already felt threatened to heighten further.
