One Day

Part 40 - Benson

I make it to work a few minutes before I have to unlock the door for our first customer. Sunday mornings are always pretty slow which gives me extra time to clean up from the night before's tournament. I pull the string on the open sign in the front window and unlatch the door as Benson comes walking in.

"Nothing like the last minute," I laugh as he walks towards to front computer to clock in.

"I'm not late yet," he says glancing at the clock above the door. "I've even got a minute to spare." He winks as he walks to what he calls "his side of the store" which includes all of the outdoor and hunting equipment as well as the archery counter where he and the other guys work on bows. I'm the only female in our small workforce of five so my side of the store includes all the clothing and boots, as well as inventory, payroll, accounts payable – you name it, I do it. Benson and I are the only two scheduled on Sundays as they are our slowest day of the week.

"Hey, Lay," I hear Benson yell just as I start pulling up my clothing catalogs to decide what we need to order for the spring season. It may be August but all orders have to be placed way in advance to ensure a good product selection. "Can you come help me with this?"

I walk over to find him surrounded by boxes of inventory that wasn't put away yesterday. The approaching months means hunting season so trucks are arriving every day with new items waiting to be scanned into our system and tagged.

"I'll help you on one condition," I say knowing that he would never tell me no. Doesn't matter what it is, Benson is always there to help me. He cocks his head to the side and smiles. "You have to watch the front while I clean up from the tournament last night."

"Deal," he quickly replies.

I've known Benson for many years. He was two grades below me in high school and I graduated with his older brother. Our families have known each other our entire lives but I didn't really get to know him until he started working with me at the outdoor store. Over the past few months, we have grown to be really good friends and he spends more time at my house than at his mom's where he lives. When he and his long-term girlfriend broke up last month, he started spending most of his free time with us to keep busy.

He's reliable and loyal to a fault and would do anything for anyone if they needed help. But, he holds grudges almost as bad as I do and once you are on his bad side, it's impossible to recover.

And, man, if he isn't adorable. His baby face contradicts his muscular build and broad shoulders but he only stands a few inches taller than me at six feet. His beard is trimmed almost as close as his dark hair and his tanned skin is only pale around his eyes where his sunglasses normally sit. His eyes are ice blue and I swear someone could get lost in them if they stared long enough. Since his recent breakup, his phone never seems to stop dinging with constant messages from interested girls but his heart still belongs to the girl that left him for no particular reason at all. They had been together for almost four years when she told him things weren't working out and she stopped answering her phone. He hasn't spoken to her since she broke his heart but not for lack of trying. He finally reached his breaking point last week when pictures of her and another guy appeared on Facebook so he deleted her number and vowed to move on. She is quickly making her way to his bad side so I hope she knows once she is completely on that list, there is no coming back.

I hop up on the stool at the back computer and start scanning in items as Benson hands them to me. It's starting to rain outside which means our day is going to be even slower than normal.

"You okay?" he asks while organizing boxes of arrows for me to scan.

"Yeah, why?"

He smiles. "You just seem a little distracted is all." I look down and realize he is holding 10 sheets of printed tags instead of the one sheet I meant to print.

"Agh, sorry!" I say as I grab the extra sheets and start deleting them out of the system.

"So, are you not going to tell me or do I need to text Jace?"

I scowl and look back at the computer screen as I fill him in on the evening before. By the time I've finished, we have completely finished scanning, tagging and putting away everything on his side of the store.

"You're a guy – what's your take?" I ask as I break down the cardboard boxes to take to the recycling bin.

He doesn't answer immediately and I start to wonder if he didn't hear my question.

"Well..." I say impatiently as I finish breaking down the last box and throwing it on the pile.

"I'm thinking of the best way to put this without being a complete jerk."

"Just spit it out. You've never been one to sugar coat anything."

"I hate Jacob. You know that. I hate the way he treated you, I hate the way he always has this way of making you do things that you don't want to do and making you think that it's your idea, I hate that he is a smooth talker and knows all the right thing to say to you."

I lean against the counter and wait for him to continue.

"Do I agree with the way Jace handled things last night? Absolutely not. But you know that I also hate the way Jace treats you, too. Jace is my friend but he also has this terrible temper so..."

"So, you think Jace is right? You don't think I should forgive Jacob?"

"Now, wait – I don't think that is what this conversation is about. Jace never said anything about you not forgiving Jacob. I think he was upset because for some reason it took you going to meet Jacob for him to realize that you could potentially leave him. I think you've catered to his every want and need for so long that he never thought about you actually breaking up with him. And when he did consider it, he freaked out."

"Whose side are you on here?" I ask confused.

"Yours, Lay. Always yours. I'm just trying to help you see all the sides here."

I sigh. "I know. And I guess I get it and am somewhat happy about Jace finally fighting for our relationship but his whole way of going about it was all wrong."

"Here's my advice. Stay away from Jacob – he's bad news. I think you need to work through forgiving him but I don't think you need to have a friendship or any type of relationship with him in the process. As far as Jace, you need to have a good long conversation with him about your relationship, your expectations, and your future."

I nod and push myself off the counter. He's right. He's always right and I never listen. He pulls me into a quick hug before grabbing my shoulders and holding me a few inches away from him. My hands move to his wrists as he leans down eye level to me.

"And stop being a doormat. You deserve better." He kisses my forehead and squeezes my shoulders. "Now, go clean up the mess those guys left you before I change my mind about watching the cash register."

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