Hometown Boy

Chapter 9

The beautiful Alex Roe above. And yes, I called him beautiful!

Eliza quietly sat at her breakfast table, coffee in hand, her journal lying in front of her. Power to the house had been restored, and the shower running upstairs was like a constant niggle in the back of her mind. It was early afternoon and Coulter had not returned home. He had fallen into a restless sleep on the floor beside Benji who was slumbering on the couch. And by the time they had both awakened, it was nearly noon. Eliza had left them to sleep, curling up in a corner of the room on her giant beanbag with a book.

Her eyes kept inadvertently wandering to the two, marveling at the surreal picture. Coulter looked unbelievably handsome laying on her living room floor. His arm was thrown carelessly over his eyes to block out the light, his legs were akimbo, and the man was softly snoring. His other arm was awkwardly stretched to rest on the couch near Benji. Somehow he made the position look comfortable even though she knew it was anything but. The image of him lying next to Benji made her heart ache. Inwardly, she knew that caring for him was a mistake. He was Benji's father and no matter how many times she reminded herself of that fact, her wayward mind still eyed him speculatively. Her ability to gravitate towards wounded things was part of what was drawing her to him. She knew this, but couldn't help it.

When they had finally awakened, Benji had kept to his usual routine, pointing to the backyard and asking to play in his silent way after eating some fruit. The back yard wasn't too messed up from the storm, just a few twigs thrown around. He was currently in the playhouse Ken had built for him. From her seat at the kitchen table, Eliza was able to keep an eye on him.  She continued writing in her journal, documenting her feelings in almost a clinical manner that was amusing to read back on. Reflection left her laughing as she analyzed herself. It probably made things worse.

A man's heavy footsteps thumping down the stairs made her close her journal and look up. Coulter stood in the doorway, his hair all wet from the shower. Water droplets running down the back of his neck drew her attention and she almost didn't catch what he said, she was so caught up in her own thoughts. He did a quick scan of the room. "Where's Benji?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

"Outside," answered Eliza, her gaze flying to Benji and then back to Coulter, "You hungry?"

Coulter didn't answer. He was too busy staring out the kitchen window at Benji in the backyard. "You just let him go out there by himself?" he asked disbelievingly.

Eliza got up and moved to the coffee pot as she answered, "He's perfectly fine. He enjoys being outside and I can watch him from in here."

"That swing-set is pretty high off the ground," Coulter suggested nervously, "He could fall and injure himself. Or-or what if he gets a splinter?"

Eliza chuckled. She couldn't help it. Coulter was getting all riled up over what to her was simply a child playing. "I suppose he could," she answered nonchalantly, "He's gotten splinters before. But he loves his playhouse. He's never fallen out of it."

Coulter turned to face her, his fingers repeatedly drumming against his thighs as he ranted, "He still could fall. And you'd be in here. What if you weren't looking? What would happen then? What if you got up to go to the bathroom and someone came into the backyard and kidnapped him, huh? He could get hurt! I just think it's pretty irresponsible to let him be out there by himself."

He would have continued but Eliza stopped him, now annoyed that he barely knew her or Benji and was already questioning her parenting methods. Given, she knew this was bound to happen if Coulter wanted to be involved in Benji's life. She threw her hand up and snapped, "Hold on there one small second. Are you kidding me right now? Stop!"