6. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sam

I can't believe I asked Ben Hoffer to give me dating lessons. What's worse, I didn't realize I was so ultra-polite. I was shocked when he asked me if I was attracted to him. I didn't know how to answer that. I've just started noticing him more. He's definitely attractive, but I don't know how I feel about him. I hardly know him.

One thing is for sure, I'm looking forward to the mini-date we have planned tonight. I think I might even go home and change during the afternoon lull. I want to tell Brandy, but I don't want her to tell me this is a bad idea. With her, you never know where she'll stand on an issue.

In the middle of the afternoon, before I go to change, I receive the quote from Hoffer Handyman Services.

It's reasonable and a little low, to be honest, but who am I to complain? I follow the instructions to make the down payment and then leave for my place. I keep thinking back to how easily Ben handled my embarrassment. I felt like I was blushing the entire time we sat together.

I spend the rest of the afternoon thinking of questions I can ask him on our make-believe date. I carry a small notebook in my apron pocket, and every time I think of a question, I add it to the list of others I've noted down. It's silly, and I feel like a teenager doing it, but I acknowledge the fact that it's making me feel something deep inside.

Six o'clock can't come fast enough, and when that darn bell rings, announcing a new customer, my heart skips a beat. Why am I reacting this way? Isn't the Mayor the man that I want? I wave to Ben as he holds the door open for Amy to leave. He's wearing a tool belt that looks totally adorable on him, and he's got a toolbox in his hand. I wonder if the Hoffer brothers make a sexy calendar for the new year. They totally should.

"Hi Ben, welcome back. I'm going to be in my office doing some paperwork. Serve yourself as much coffee as you want, and the pastries that are out are game, too. Feel free to knock on my door when you're on your break. Oh, I mean, when you're picking me up for our date."

He gives me a big smile that makes my heart flutter slightly.

"Oh, thanks. I will."

I reluctantly go to my office. Honestly, I should have stayed out there doing some organizing or cleanup so I could check him out while he was working. It's too late now, so I sit down behind my desk and start inputting old vendor receipts. I work in segments of forty-five minutes, then take a break for fifteen. I check in with Brandy and see that I've got a message from the mayor's assistant saying they saw the fliers I've put up around town.

Gosh, I sure am happy they acknowledge my hard work. As if. They don't care. They are not paying for this event. I start to get angry all over again when there's a soft knock on my office door.

"Come in."

"Are you busy, or do you want to go out on a date?"

My cheeks start to burn. "I'm good,” I say. “This is boring work."

"If I were an insecure man, I'd take offense to that."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. That's not what I meant at all."

He's at the doorway with half his body hidden, which I find weird. He then smiles at me and brings his hidden hand out, which is holding a bouquet. It's a mishmash of flowers that bloom in the winter, and I'm sure he got them from Lilah's shop down the block. This moves me more than anything else he could have done. But wait, this is fake, isn't it?

"They're beautiful, Ben. I love flowers. Thank you so much."

He places them on my desk and offers me his hand.

"Come on, or we'll be late."

I place my hand in his, noticing again how his warmth envelops me as soon as our fingers touch. Standing next to him, I can also smell his delicious aftershave, making my body hum in pleasure. Ben looks at me funny, but he tugs me along until I see one of the tables all set up for our date.

"How did you manage all that?" I ask.

"I won't name names."

Oh god, did he tell Amy about our date? I'm mortified. Amy is discreet, though, so I'll be okay. I think.

He pulls my chair back so I can sit, and then he sits across from me.

"I thought we might share a sandwich. Is that okay?"

"You didn't have to do this, Ben."

"Actually, I did have to do it, and you should expect things like this from your suitors. You deserve to be treated well, Sam."

Damn it, I thought I was done with the blushing, but this man says such sweet things to me. I can't help myself. He offers me what looks like punch, and I nod for him to go ahead and serve me. It feels weird being treated like a special person. The guys I dated back in high school didn't even leave a good memory.

"So, a few things before we start. First, you should laugh at all my jokes."

I don't know what to say to that so I remain quiet.

"That was a joke," he says.

I don't laugh.

"A very bad one?"

"Fine.” He sits back. “I'd like to know how you would flirt with me if you wanted to attract my attention."

"Um, I'd probably give you free coffee or food."

"Physically, I mean. We're here together. Where are your hands? What are you thinking about?"

"Do you want free food for the rest of your life?"

"Don't do that. You'll attract the crazies."

"I guess I could try harder to laugh at your jokes. I feel like I skipped this class at school. Why is this so hard?"

"Let's do an exercise. Close your eyes."

I eye him dubiously. Perhaps this is too out there. I start to get up.

"Wait. Give me a little trust. I won't touch you. All I want to do is some visualization exercises."

"You know about visualization?"

"I'm a handyman, not a barbarian." He scoffs. "Close your eyes."

This time, I follow his gentle command and close my eyes. I hear noises from afar, but in general, the night is quiet. The coffee shop is warm and toasty, and I can almost feel Ben's presence across from me. I nod so he can continue.

"Think about a man whose attention you want. You're both standing in front of one another and smiling at one another. What would you do to make him focus on you if you allowed yourself to do it?"

The person I immediately think of is the Mayor, and I almost melt when thinking about him standing so close to me. I'm a big believer in personal space so I always try to be careful around others to respect theirs. I hesitate a bit too long because Ben starts talking again.

"Remember, you are giving yourself permission to reach out to this person however you see fit. You want their focus on you—you want to get their attention. What do you do?"

"I guess…I would touch them on the arm so they'd look at me."

"Would you leave your hand on their arm or take it away?"

"Take it away as soon as they place their focus on me."

"Could you see yourself keeping your hand on his arm during an entire conversation? Remember you're interested in this person romantically."

"I don't know." I shrug my shoulders and open my eyes abruptly. "I'm sorry. I don't know that I could be that forward. It felt uncomfortable even in my mind."

I can see the disappointment in his eyes, but I don't know what to tell him.

"Get up."

Is the date over? I feel weird about it all, but do as Ben says, anyway. He walks in front of me and stands there, just looking at me.

"Put your hand on my arm the way you did in the exercise."

I feel silly about doing it but do it anyway. My hand touches the sleeve of his forearm, and I realize he changed for our date. He had been wearing some work clothes before—and the toolbelt.

I squeeze his arm lightly and look into his eyes. They are so beautiful they threaten to hypnotize me. I feel the muscles of his arms twinge and respond to the pressure I've applied, even if just temporarily.

Suddenly, I feel like I'm touching a hot coal and I want to take my hand off him. This is too close, too personal. Ben starts talking again, and his voice soothes me.

"I can see in your eyes that you want to take your hand off me. Why don't we try leaving it on for a little bit longer while we talk?"

"What should we talk about?"

"Tell me something that makes you happy."

"Um, the shop is going to be so much cozier when all the booths are installed. People will come and hang out."

I smile up at him and take my hand off him. I can feel my face flushing already.

"Too much, too soon?" he asks.

"Yes."

"How would you feel if I'm the one putting my hand on you?"

"That's easy, I trust you."

"What if you didn't, though?"

"I'd step back before you could touch me." I frown.

"You didn't do that when the Mayor touched you the other day."

"Let's not talk about that."

I move to sit back down at the table. Reaching for my beverage, I hide my eyes behind the glass. Ben reluctantly sits down across from me once again.

"I think we should talk about it."

"It's not important," I say.

"I think it is, Sam. He's the reason you want these lessons, isn't he?"

I feel my heart constrict. Shame fills me, and I don't know how to answer his question, but I do it anyway.

"That's part of it."

"What's the rest?" He asks.

"Okay, fine, yes. I'd like to be able to have a conversation with him instead of him talking at me like I'm some silly schoolgirl. Is that so wrong?"

The frown leaves his face as I blurt out my confession.

"No, it's not wrong. A bit misguided, yes."

"What…How dare you?" I almost get up, but he puts his hand on mine to keep me seated.

"He's not a good man."

"He's done a lot for this town." I remind him.

"By getting everyone to do things for him instead of doing them himself. I'm tempted to run for mayor, but I don't think I'd be able to do two jobs at the same time without things falling through the cracks."

"You'd like to be mayor?"

"I'd like us to have a better mayor."

"I think we've gotten off track here."

"Yes, I'm sorry. When was the last time you went on a date?"

"Oh, wow. That was like three years ago when my BFF Brandy set me up on this blind date with Jim Pearson."

"The son of the owner of Pearson's Tree Nursery?"

"Yup, that's the one." I nod.

"What happened?"

"It was a disaster. He just wanted to get into my pants. At every stage of the date, he kept insisting we go back to my place. That we would feel more comfortable there."

"What did you do?" Ben frowned.

"Told him I was going to the bathroom and took a rideshare home. He blew up my phone for a bit, but then I blocked him."

"So you know how to handle yourself with creeps. Why isn't it working with Mayor Douchebag?"

"Ben."

"Okay, let's have some date conversation. What's it like to not have siblings? Mine drive me insane."

"I thought you were partners in your handyman business."

"Yes, that doesn't stop them from driving me insane."

I hesitate for a few moments. How honest should I be? I don't want to bring the conversation down when we've just started dinner. A smile appears on my lips.

"What's that smile for?" Ben asks with one of his own.

"I was thinking as if I were on a date. Didn't know how honest I should be. You're doing a good job."

"What did you decide?"

"Being an only child can be lonely. It was hard until I met Brandy in high school. We haven't separated since. Well, not until Brandy went to Miami to get her man. Now we do video conferencing at least once a week."

"What's Brandy like?"

"A spitfire. Always making up schemes to make things happen in life. That part I don't miss. She'll be arriving in a couple of days. You'll get to meet her."

"Seems like she balances you out. Though you're no shrinking violet."

"I have my days. What do your brothers do that bother you so much?"

"Silly stuff.” He shrugs. “They're all in their thirties and insist on doing things like pulling pranks or causing rumors that upset our parents. The only one that respects me somewhat is Danny. We're closer, even though Michael is between us."

"Do you get them back?"

He grins, and the glint in his eyes tells me he indeed gets his brothers back when they pester him. That smile makes me warm all over and I start thinking of things I can ask him that will make him keep smiling.

"Here and there. When they involve my parents, I let it go."

I take a small bite of my sandwich to stall the conversation for a moment. Sharing personal stories with Ben Hoffer is unsettling in the best ways. I could listen to him for hours. We eat in silence, but he doesn't take his eyes off me. I guess I'll just walk around with a permanent blush on my face from now on. I'm so flustered.

"What else can you tell me about yourself?" Ben asks.

"Not much. I went away to college and then grad school. After that, I worked with several companies managing logistics and such until I got so homesick I decided to move back to Woodland Falls and get whatever job I could do that would help me save seed money to open up this place."

"You had a vision."

"Yes, not many people see that."

"We went through something similar, me and my brothers. We had an idea, but we wanted it immediately, didn't want to wait. When you do it like that, you make a ton of mistakes. Don't get me wrong, those mistakes taught us so much about our business, but those were tough times."

"I can imagine. But don't you think it's fun?"

"Owning a business? Heck, yeah. I'm very proud of what we have built. And I admire how you've made your business work for you."

Elbows on the table, I put my head down on my hands. I like the words he's saying, but I'm a bit ambitious at heart.

"I need to level up. Grow. I think I'm stuck."

"You going for the big leagues? Have a location in all the surrounding towns?" Ben smiles.

"Something like that."

I watch him with what I assume is a silly look on my face, and it slips out.

"Being with you is so easy. I love it."

That's the first time I've made the huge lumberjack across from me blush, and I kind of like it. He seems a little uncomfortable, though. He shifts in his seat but doesn't stop staring at me with those bright blue eyes.

"Did I say something wrong?" I ask.

"Actually, no. What you said is perfect. I think you are getting the hang of this."

"Thanks."

"I've got a surprise for you."

"You do?"

"I'm not sure you're going to appreciate it because it's from the competition, but I couldn't resist."

He goes and rummages through my fridge, the nerve, and brings out a box from Flora's Baked Delights. He's right to be worried about how I would take such a gift. Truth is, I have a full commercial kitchen, and if I hired a baker, I could upgrade my shop’s offerings. Flora let me shadow her for a few months when I came up with my coffee shop plan and fully supported me.

People like that are what make Woodland Falls such a good place to live in. We all support one another, mayor aside, without jealousy or pettiness. I try to peek at what he's bought, but he's being shady about it.

"Let me see already!"

"It's her famous Tiramisu."

"Oh wow, she only makes that for special occasions. How did you manage that?"

"I've got my ways."

"Should we split it?" I ask politely.

"We could feed it to each other. Here's your spoon."

"Mmm. I think that's advanced dating, though. Isn't it too early for us to be doing lovey-dovey stuff?"

"Humor me."

We spent a full hour on our dinner, and I don't think I've ever laughed as much as I did tonight. Who knew Ben Hoffer would have so many layers? Who knew I loved layers?

After Ben cleaned up – he wouldn't let me touch anything – I went back to my office, but I couldn't really concentrate. Was that what a real date should feel like?

All I remember are complete disasters over the years that made me put my dating life on hold. Brandy will die if I tell her. OMG, Brandy. I don't know what I'm going to tell her. Can't keep my mouth shut, though. This is too big. The one thing I'm left to wonder, however, is if I'm learning to like dating in general or if I'm falling for my teacher's charm.