Evelyn's Game | Lesbian Novel

XV

Ben called me every day on his vacation to Wales. He'd managed to send me a hundred selfies over the span of seventy two hours. Some were of him in front of castles and cathedrals. He wore new clothes and shoes, courtesy of Evelyn.

In some of the photos, he had his arm around her, beaming ear to ear. She photographed well. Almost all of the pictures were her, mildly caught off guard with a smile that started in her eyes. There were several photos of her walking with her hands tucked in the pockets of her Burberry coat. He had sent a few more with the two of them in matching sweatshirts. It was wholesome and I was already printing a few for the living room.

My kid was strategic.

After a while, I realized that the pictures of Evelyn were intentional. He'd put a lot of thought into taking those. Especially the ones where she tried to cover the camera with her palm. Those ones caught her dimples and that Colgate smile.

They were far better than anything trending online. And when he got home, we went through them again. Well, right after Ben showed me my Wales beanie. I hadn't worn one of those since college and yet here I was, completely ruining my hair.

Ben was curled up on the couch next to me. I was mindful that my shift started in half an hour and even more so aware that Catalina would be here soon with breakfast and coffee. Sometimes, we had the expensive stuff at my kitchen table to avoid sharing with our coworkers. This morning was one of those times.

Ben was scrolling through thousands of pictures, describing each one vividly. I honestly felt like I went with them.

"See? Evelyn smiled in this one all on her own. I took her for ice cream after," Ben smiled.

I raised my brows and stifled a laugh, "You took her for ice cream?"

Ben nodded furiously, "Yeah. I used my allowance and everything. Speaking of, can I have some more allowance? I spent the last of it on your beanie."

Then I was openly laughing, "After you clean your room and wash the dishes. Sure."

He didn't like that response too much so he just ignored it. I tried not to find that humorous as well.

He was scrolling through photos of Evelyn walking. She was wearing a black trench coat and to my dismay, a pair of boots. I didn't even know she owned those.

"This was on the way to the museum. And this was when Catalina called," Ben was zooming in on Evelyn taking a phone call. I was slightly thrown but didn't react in the slightest. He sure as hell didn't need to know that.

Ben kept scrolling through aimless photos of Evelyn on the phone, laughing. I ignored the pit on my stomach and tried to make the best of my new found knowledge.

"Did Evelyn work at all on your trip?" I changed the subject whilst he lingered on some of his favorite images. His boyish smile was contagious and honestly relieving. I was glad he had a good time.

"Nope," He murmured, "Ramona called once and Evelyn totally told her to shove it."

I raised my brows, "Shove it?"

Ben shrugged his shoulders, "It's trending. Anyways I guess Catalina and Evelyn are close now."

"What makes you say that?" I pretended to only be listening lightly, as if it didn't matter.