BROKEN ROAD - One Man's Journey

CHAPTER EIGHT - Hard Truths

    He waited for two days before going to see her. It couldn't be over. Could it? He didn't want it to be. Te-Ana was outside shoveling snow for the neighborhood. A fresh blanket of it had fallen overnight. She waved him over. "Where you been stranger'" she asked? She was being solicitous not nosy. He knew that. Ben doubted there was much Te-Ana did not know. "Here and there," he replied. "How are you?" "Busy," she said with a laugh, "kids, school, work...and snow." "Need a hand?" "I have an extra shovel in my truck." She told him that would be great and if he would do Wanda's then she would have time to get to old man Joe's a few doors down before the kids got out of basketball.

He stalled for a minute. How would that go? Would she come outside and ask him to leave in her oh so courteous manner. "You know you want to," she said with a grin. He laughed. "Yes." "I do." "Any opportunity I can get to see her is an opportunity I won't pass up." He wasn't even going to play that Te-Ana did not already know he had evaporated into thin air last fall or that she did not know that he had been unceremoniously kicked out on his ass when he returned. He had never cared for the mind game routine and wasn't about to begin now. "Don't rush her Ben," she advised him. "She's been through a lot." What did that mean? He wasn't going to. He was going to work backwards and try to be her friend. If she would let him. If and only if she wanted more he would go there. "You really screwed her head up," she continued with a frown, "but, I think you can still get her back." "You don't say." Ben smiled. "You didn't hear it from me." Ben made the zippered mouth motion. He liked her. She knew what the deal was and yet was non-judgmental. He retrieved the shovel and started on the walkways.

When he was finished he was going to go ask her to move her truck so he could do the drive but to his surprise a car pulled up and she got out. Had Te-Ana said she wasn't even there? Did he miss that? Celia was behind the wheel. He braced himself for the lecture he assumed he would get from her but she just gave him a quick nod and drove off. Interesting. "Hello Ben," Wanda said quietly. Cordially. "Did Te-Ana put you up to this?" "NO. I wanted to," he replied. "How are you?" She did not come back with how should I be? He was half waiting for it but she was her usual self. Didn't she ever just want to scream, stomp her feet or throw something? He had no way of knowing that long ago in a different life that absolutely would have happened. "I'm okay," "Just okay?" "Is there something you need or I can do for you?" "No Thank you." He had to ask but he knew she would accept nothing from him. She thought his family saw her as a money hungry charlatan. Think of something to say he said to himself. Keep her talking. "Would you like some hot chocolate?" She was full of surprises it seemed. He wasn't expecting that. Where had that come from? Unreal. "Coffee would be great but let me finish up here. Can I have your keys?" She reached in her bag and handed them to him.

"You are all set. I think the snow is pretty much over for the next few days." This was strange. The last time he was here had not ended well for him and today she was hanging out the welcome sign. She handed him his coffee and they moved into the den to continue talking. Once they had sat down he asked her why Celia seemed oblivious to her dumping him. He had assumed he would get her anger for breaking his promise. Wanda sighed deeply. "I didn't dump you Ben and she doesn't know." You didn't? What then? That is news to me he thought sarcastically. What does I can't be with you mean? What would she call all of that? "Why didn't you tell her?" "My daughters have had to watch me hurt too many times. I won't do that to them anymore. I've been good for years now but they haven't forgotten. I won't drag them through more. They have been through enough. No child should have to live their parent's pain."