90 Days (Prairie Town Book 2) (2 page)

     But that was neither here nor there.  Lydia had been living in Prairie Town for almost a year and she was busy planning her dream wedding to her dream guy, Callum.

     Benji was back in Vermont with Ags, living up the American dream of never-ending bills and making it to work on time.

     Lydia was so lucky.

     He was truly happy for her.  He’d often worried that Lydia would never find someone to love her as much as she deserved—it was something they all wanted—but then her grandmother passed away and it seemed like all the pieces had fallen into place as perfectly as could be.

     He envied that.  His friend was so fortunate to find someone who wanted to be with her no matter what.  He still had to worry that fate wouldn’t be as kind to him.

      Relationships had come and gone since he was old enough to sneak out and party with his friends in high school.  By the time he was fifteen, he had become quite an expert on the art of pleasuring a woman.

     For the first fifteen years of his life, Benji was known as Rebecca Ann Palmer.  Rebecca, or Becky as she preferred, was a total band geek and obsessed with keeping her boobs flat.  She never really fit in with any particular clique in school, but everybody seemed to like having her around anyway.

     Rebecca was decently good-looking, but nowhere near as attractive as the other girls were in her class.  She had long, curly brown hair and decent taste in fashion. 

    She was funny and creative.  Everybody liked Rebecca Palmer.

     But she was long gone.

     Rebecca identified as a lesbian and she loved girls.  Man, did she
love
girls.  Thinking back on it now, Benji didn’t miss very much about being Becky; he only missed the simplicity of girls being attracted to the femininity of his old body.

     After he determined he was never meant to be Rebecca and he was tired of the façade, he decided it was time to do something about it.

     It was then, and only then, that Rebecca Palmer faded into the past and Benjamin Palmer became the freak of Matheus Coltran High School.

     He made the mistake of thinking that by becoming a man—who he really was—it would make life easier.

     Boy was he wrong.

     Life was never easy for anyone.  Everybody faced problems and went about resolving them in different ways, but Benji knew he was not alone when it came to the intolerance, discrimination, and hate.  There were thousands upon thousands of people just like him, all across the globe, fighting to make it through one more day.

     They were fighting to stay alive.

     Just that morning he’d read another article online about a trans person being murdered in cold blood.  That poor girl lost her life simply because she was different.

     Would it ever stop?

     Would he ever be able to stop worrying that he could be the next body found, the next name in the article?

     It was bullshit.  No one deserved to live their life in fear just because other people refused to accept that some people were different.  It wasn’t fair.

     Sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder if the safe, albeit miserable life, was the better alternative.

     Did he make the wrong choice?

     His phone began vibrating in his back pocket and he’d been so lost in thought that it made him jump.  As his heart hammered against his ribcage, he tugged the small device free and grinned when he saw who was calling.

    
Laney.

    
Even though his hands began to shake for the stupidest of reasons, he slid his thumb over the green button on the screen and lifted it to his ear.

     “Hello there, gorgeous.”

     “Benji, hi!  Are you busy?”

     And just like that, by some unexplained magic, his worries and the stress of the day melted away.  Hearing her voice or seeing the words of her texts always did that to him.

     “I’m never too busy for you, doll.  What’s up?”

     “Well, as you know Lydia has chosen me and Ags to be her joint maids of honor…”

     “Yes.”

     “And there’s a lot to plan before the wedding gets here in August—that’s only three months away, Benji.”

     “I know.” He said, and laughed.  “I can count, sweetheart.”

     “I’m sorry.”

     She echoed his laughter, but he could hear the nervousness in her voice.

     The selfish, arrogant part of his mind hoped she was only nervous because she was talking to him, but it was more than likely the stress of wedding planning that was getting to her.

     “Don’t be.  It’s cool.  So what do you need me to do?”  He asked, leaning against a nearby shelf and glancing up as his boss walked by.

     The old man tapped his index finger against his watch and frowned.

     Benji put on his most charming smile and won.

     “I know that you and Ags have been thinking of moving to Prairie Town for a while now and…”

     “Yeah?” He perked up at that.  Sure, they’d been thinking of moving there, but
actually
moving there was an entirely different story. 

     Prairie Town was a humble little town filled with picturesque scenery and some of his favorite people—Laney included—but there were also assholes inhabiting the lovely little city that he wasn’t sure he could handle being around.

     Devin Rose was still on his shit list for everything he’d done to Lydia, and her family, and that wasn’t something Benji could easily let go.

     What if he moved there only to end up in jail for whipping that idiot’s ass?

     “Benji, did you hear me?”

     “What?” He blinked and pulled himself from the fantasy of bashing Devin’s ugly face into a brick wall.  “I’m sorry, Laney.  What did you say?”

     “I said that one of the apartments just opened up down the hallway from us; Lydia thought you might be interested in it.”

     Arching an eyebrow, Benji switched ears and rolled his eyes.  “It’s not the one that belonged to that really sick old lady, is it?”

     The prolonged silence on the other end confirmed his suspicions and he laughed again.

     “Laney, she died, didn’t she?  You want us to move into a dead woman’s apartment?”

     “She died at the hospital.  She didn’t die in the apartment, Benji.  It’s not like it will be haunted or anything.”

     “Well, maybe I’d want to move into it if it was haunted.  Did you ever think of that?” He teased, wondering if she was smiling on the other end or not.  He loved Laney’s smile.

     “I miss you.”

     Fuck, his heart tried to jump out of his mouth as her words settled into his mind.  It was the small things, like this, that made him long for Prairie Town.  He had no right to miss the place.  He wasn’t born there—far from it, actually—but Laney lived there.

     Sometimes he felt like a sailor lost at sea and she was the lighthouse beckoning him home.

     “I miss you, too, Laney.”

     “I’m glad.” She released a breathy giggle and he was certain she was blushing.  She always blushed in his presence and that gave him an ego boost like no tomorrow.  “So, do you think maybe you and Ags would be interested?  I can try to get them to hold it for you.”

     “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll talk to Ags.  We’ve got a lot to take care of here and we’d have to find work there.  I don’t want to show up and not have anything waiting for me.”

     “
I’m
waiting for you.”

     His breath hitched in his throat as his stomach did a series of flip-flops. 

     Damn, was she trying to kill him?

     “I meant job-wise, beautiful.” He murmured, glancing up to see his boss eyeballing him.  “I’ll call you back later, okay? After I talk to Ags?”

     “Okay.  Have a good day, Benjamin.  Goodbye.”

     When the line went dead, Benji lowered his head to hide his moronic grin.    

     After months of flirting and intense eye contact, had things finally gotten serious enough for Laney to voice her desire to be with him?

    
Don’t be an idiot.  She just misses your friendship.

     But that couldn’t possibly be the whole truth.  Benji knew what it looked like when a woman was attracted to him and Laney
definitely
had the hots for him. 

    
You’re an arrogant dick.

    
“I don’t pay you to talk to your girlfriend on the phone, Palmer.” His boss called from behind a bookshelf.  “Get back to it or I’ll send you home for the day.”

     “Yep.  I’m on it.” Benji replied as he tucked his phone into his pocket.  “Work.  I’m doing it. Right now.”

     
But not for much longer,
he thought with a sly smile. 
Prairie Town, here I come.

Chapter 2

Laney

     “That’ll be fifty-seven dollars and ninety-two cents, please.” The cashier bagged the last items and placed them in the buggy, staring at Laney with boredom written all over her face.

     Thumbing through her purse and finding her small wallet, Laney frowned and gazed at the pitiful, thin stash of money she possessed.

    
Goodbye, money.
  She thought with a sigh. 
Maybe I can afford some new clothes soon.

     She handed a hundred dollar bill to the cashier reluctantly and couldn’t help but to wonder when she’d get a raise.  She’d been an employee at the Prairie Town Bank for quite a while now…didn’t that mean she was supposed to get a raise?

     “Here’s your change, Ma’am.  Have a nice day.” The cashier said without giving her a smile.

     “You as well.  Thank you.” Laney did the smiling for her and then pushed her buggy out of the store, eyeballing her groceries in dismay.  “You’re lucky I need to eat to survive or I’d be buying some new clothes instead.”

     She shivered and gazed up at the afternoon sky.  Summer wasn’t too far away—thank goodness—and that meant she wouldn’t need to wear so many layers.  Being a McIntosh meant two things for Laney and her siblings: hot-blooded and prone to sweat when the sun was out.

     Oh well.  She supposed she’d just have to make due with her current wardrobe.  There were lots of nice clothes in her closet.  They weren’t name brand items or anything of the sort, but they were nice enough to wear to work.

    
I really wanted a new dress, too.

    
It was almost time for Benji and Ags to visit again.  Hopefully this time was for good.  She’d planted the seed of temptation in Benjamin’s mind, now he just had to take the steps needed to be an official Prairie-Townian.

     Her heart fluttered at the thought.

    
Could I handle having him so close all the time?

    
Goodness gracious, she missed his adorable smile.

     It didn’t matter that Benji had once been a girl; it didn’t matter that he had to use the bathroom sitting down; it didn’t matter that he had scars on his chest.  All that mattered was the fact he was very kind to her and he stirred emotions within her soul that sometimes terrified her.

     Yet her heart threatened to burst every time she thought about him.  Having him as a permanent resident in Prairie Town was one of the best things that could happen.

     She began to smile like an idiot as she unlocked the trunk and pushed it open, wincing as the old clunker groaned in protest.

     Maybe he would try to hold her hand again like he did the night of her mother’s accident.

     Maybe he would hug her for two seconds too long like he did before their last goodbye.

     Maybe he would finally kiss her.  Or maybe she’d take the reins and—

     “Hey, Laney.”

     Hearing Devin’s voice sent a shiver down her spine and her entire body went rigid as she clutched her purse to her chest. 

     “It’s been a while, huh?  How are you doing?”

    
Just ignore him.  Just put your groceries in the car and leave.

     “Need some help with your bags?  Here, let me help you.”

     “N-no, thank you.” Her voice trembled as he stepped closer.  The static electricity of his close proximity wasn’t comfortable in the least.  He gave her the creeps.