Accept This Dandelion (11 page)

Ben led her to the opposite side of the room where he had a large, comfortable couch in front of a mountain scene pulled down on a screen. He yanked a few other scenes down and shook his head. “I don’t think I really need much of anything,” he said. “I want something to provide good light to bounce back onto your face.”

“You’re going to shoot up close?”

Ben nodded. “A specific part of your face.”

Renee needed to show her true colors like she had for the cameras. She fidgeted. As Ben chose a background, she shook her arms and stretched her legs. He settled on a bright yellow background. When he turned around, she was massaging her cheeks with her fingers. “Just trying to warm up a bit.” She gave him a cheery smile. She wasn’t totally at ease with the situation, but she planned to pretend like she was until it became the truth.

“Trying singing a few scales.” Ben smiled in return as he snapped several practice shots.

“Scales?”

“You know…me me me me.”

“Me me.” Renee sounded silly. “Me me me me.” She threw her hands out, singing louder with every “
me
.”

“Now you’re talking.” Ben took pictures faster.

“Wait, are you shooting this?” Renee’s embarrassment returned.

“I’m getting everything.” Ben’s camera snapped again. “I only need one image, but I never know when I might capture the right one.” Snap. “Just be yourself.”

Renee sighed and flopped onto the couch. She threw her head back onto the cushion. “Where did you come up with the idea for ConArt?” She wanted to learn as much about Ben as she possible while she had the chance.

“It was really something I did for myself,” he replied as he snapped away. “I’ve always loved photography, and I’ve dabbled in painting and other areas as well. I like the way art makes me feel alive as I create it. I wanted to share that with people who enjoy it as well.”

Renee shivered. She had similar experiences in her job as a radio announcer. She loved being on the air and making people laugh. She wanted to brighten their day and share herself with others.

“So you just played around with software until you got it right?” she asked.

“Something along those lines. ConArt is an idea I created many years ago and once it was discovered, it really took off. The first time anyone recognized what I was doing was when I had a tiny little art show of my own in a small store no one really knew anything about. The guy who told me it could be huge visited the gallery because of my family’s legacy. Once I realized I actually had something, I took his praise seriously and built a business.”

“What does your family think?”

Ben shrugged as he continued to click. “They always hoped I’d take over the family company, but they’re proud, I guess. At least I succeeded, you know?”

Renee didn’t have much family to speak of, but she was certain if she earned millions of dollars with an idea she concocted, all of them would burst with pride.

“So now, you run the daily operations?” She wanted to know what his day-to-day life consisted of.

“Actually, I’m more like the queen of England.” Ben took the camera away from his eye.

“The queen?” Renee frowned.

“You know, sort of a figurehead. I mean, I own the company, and I have a large interest in what happens, but I’ve hired good people who understand the business side of things. I show up at corporate events and smile and wave for the press, but I mostly stay in the background.”

Renee had a flash of Ben getting out of a limo in a tux with a stunning woman beside him. “So that’s why you date so much?” she asked.

Ben laughed. “Do I date a lot?” His tone teased. “Is that what you call seeing four women at once?”

“Well, that and having a different woman on your arm for every event.”

“Oh, yeah.” Ben hid behind his camera and snapped more pictures as Renee waited for his response. After a long pause, Ben stopped shooting and sat down next to her on the couch. “You really want to know?”

Renee nodded.

“I wouldn’t even call it dating.” He sighed. “I take women out because it’s expected of me. I’m an average man like any other guy who wants to find the right person to spend my life with.”

“You’re anything but average.” Renee shuddered as Ben slid a little closer to her on the couch.

“That’s not true. Sure, I have a lot of nice things and a cushy job and a company of my own, but inside,” he said, reaching for her hand and placing it on his heart, “where it counts, I’m ordinary.”

Renee glanced at their hands, then into Ben’s eyes. His eyes captivated her. He could easily hypnotize her if she let him.

“So you’re looking for the right girl.” Renee tried to direct her gaze over Ben’s head so his eyes wouldn’t fool her. “And you date because you haven’t found her.”

“Right,” Ben said. “I can often tell whether or not a woman is worth my time on the first date. Once I see she’s not the one, I move on. Simple.”

Ben released her hand, but she didn’t remove it from his chest. She liked the thump of his heartbeat beneath her palm. It reminded her of the truth. No matter what the press said or even how he acted sometimes, he was a normal, everyday guy. He had blood in his veins, and a beating heart like anyone else.

“What about the women left on the show? You haven’t ruled any of us out?”

Ben slid closer. “Obviously not or none of you would be here.”

“And kissing each of us is your way of trying to figure it out?” she said just as Ben leaned forward, his lips searching for hers.

Ben stopped. “What are you asking?” His breath was hot on her cheek.

“Nothing, really.” Renee slid her hand from his chest and stood to get away from Ben. “I’m just trying to tell you I’m not the type of girl who wants a guy who can’t make up his mind. I mean, either you want me or you don’t. If I’m the one for you, it should be obvious.”

Ben got up and ran his hand over his hair while bracing the camera at his side. He raised the lens again and started taking pictures as Renee shifted her feet awkwardly next to the couch.

“Can you blow for me?”

“Blow?” she asked.

“Pretend like there are birthday candles in front of you and blow.”

Renee gave in and blew a few times. “Are we done now?”

“I think I have all I need.” Ben moved to the bank of computers to upload his work.

Ben sat at his computer, a look of concentration on his face. Renee wondered if the tension in the air would remain between them for the duration of the date. Maybe she shouldn’t have accused him of indecision, but she didn’t want to stand by and remain helpless either.

“So I know you have low blood pressure.” Ben glanced at her from behind the screen. “Tell me something else about you. I want to hear a Renee Lockhart story.”

A Renee Lockhart story? Now the pressure to entertain him was back on her. She could mull over her options for hours, or just jump in. In true form, she opened her mouth and began to deliver the first story that popped into her head.

“I have poor circulation too.”

“Is that right?” Ben muttered around the pen in his mouth.

Renee nodded. “I got my job at the radio station in the fall and when winter rolled around, the company Christmas party came with it. This wasn’t just a party with the people I worked with daily either. Some of the corporate big wigs came in to celebrate with us, and I got to meet the higher ups.” Renee took a breath. This was the story she chose? Too late now. “I have a tendency to sit on my legs.” She gestured down to her lap. Her legs were folded beneath her in her signature form. “The problem is that when I sit this way for any length of time, my feet fall asleep.”

The clicking from the computer mouse paused, and Ben gave her a lopsided grin.

“I also like tea. And you know what happens when you drink too much tea…” Renee let her sentence trail away. She didn’t want to get graphic about her need to use the bathroom when she was on a date. “Well, when I got up to use the ladies’ room, I knew my feet were asleep.”

“Oh, no.” Ben put his hand over his mouth.

“I was used to using sleepy feet. They just have tingles in them, no big deal.” Renee shrugged. “That day, my feet weren’t just asleep. I swear, they were missing completely. When I put weight on the first one, it was like it was gone. I no longer had a foot. The other foot was very similar.”

“No tingles?” Ben’s amused expression was partially hidden behind the computer.

“No tingles. Suffice it to say I met the ground…hard and fast. The worst part of it was, absolutely everyone I worked with on a daily basis was there. In addition to the corporate head honcho and a few others pretty high up on the ladder.”

“Renee.”

She heard shock in his voice.

“I’m appalled.”

Renee frowned. Was there something wrong with her story? Did the fact that she needed to use the restroom turn him away?

Ben stood and side stepped around the computer. “I thought I was the only one you fell for.” He extended his hands out to both sides.

Renee noted his teasing tone and boyish grin.

“If I was sure that I had feet at the moment, I’d get up, come over there and smack those arms of yours back down.”

Ben feigned fear and slowly lowered his arms. “You have to admit, my arms have come in pretty handy.” He sat back down at the computer and started clicking again.

Renee wondered if he referred to the time he saved her from falling or when he helped her keep her dress in place. Maybe even when he put her out when she was on fire. Of course, that had been more with his entire body…

“Where do you get ideas for commercials?” Ben changed the subject.

“I hear voices in my head.” Renee blurted her answer before she could think about the implications.

“What?”

Renee couldn’t do anything right. She fell at his feet, lit herself on fire, pushed him into pools, told him embarrassing stories, and admitted to hearing voices. Why did he not alert security to her presence and have her escorted from the premises?

“When I have to write a commercial, I read up on the client and the information they want included. Then I close my eyes.” Renee closed her eyes like she had hundreds of times before when she formed commercials. “And I hear the commercial in my head. Really all I have to do is write it down and then produce it to match what I hear.”

“Interesting. Did you make the pet hospital one?”

Renee remembered how complicated that commercial had been to produce. It took a number of voice actors and myriad animal noises. “That was me.”

“I know you’re supposed to listen to the radio for the music, but I always looked forward to hearing that ad.”

Renee smiled. She was glad he appreciated her work behind the scenes.

“What made you go into radio?”

“I got a shift on the campus station back in college,” she began. “Really more for fun then anything else. When people started stopping me between classes to talk about my show, I wondered if I could make a career out of it.”

“And you have.”

“I have,” Renee agreed. “Enough about me, I want to hear more about you. Tell me something the city doesn’t already know.”

“You want the dirt, huh?”

“All of it.”

Renee moved her legs from beneath her on the couch and crossed her ankles on the floor. She didn’t want another foot disappearing incident. Ben was clicking even faster at the computer, and she wondered how he could work and talk at the same time.

Ben spoke after a long pause. “Well, my nickname in high school was The Pits.”

“That bad?”

“No, that was my nickname…
The Pits.
”

Renee frowned. She thought Ben was well-groomed. Perhaps his use of deodorant didn’t come until later in his life?

“Before you jump to any conclusions, let me explain.”

“Gladly.”

“My parents insisted that academics were not enough. They wanted me to be involved in other activities. To make me grow up into the well-rounded person I am today.” Ben grinned at Renee over the computer. “I joined the school marching band, and I didn’t think I would fit in with the flutes and clarinets, and I was too lazy to carry a tuba, so I became part of the pit.”

“You mean one of the people that stands on the sidelines?”

“Yes, I played the big things that couldn’t be moved out on the field. Occasionally the drum set, the timpani, various standing cymbals…but mostly the mallet instruments.”

“You were ‘The Pits’ because you were in the pit.”

“That pretty much sums it up.”

“And you have pictures of this?” Renee couldn’t stop herself from wondering what Ben would look like in a band uniform with tassels on the shoulders and a funny looking hat.

“Only one.” Ben got up from the computer and dug around on a shelf behind him. After a few moments of searching, he approached Renee and tossed a hardcover yearbook into her lap. “You find it, and I’ll let you call me The Pits…but only today and never again.”

“Deal.” Renee resolved to scour the yearbook until she found what she was looking for. The idea of Ben in a band uniform was too juicy a prize to pass up. As she searched, she glanced up at Ben from time to time and enjoyed the look of concentration on his face. The tension between them was gone, and she grew more relaxed in his presence then ever. She was enjoying the afternoon.

After studying half the book in her lap, Renee flipped to the back and found an alphabetical page key. She found Ben’s name and then had access to all of the pages he appeared on. There were only three. She searched for the first and found Ben’s portrait. He had a goofy grin and a twinkle in his eye that made her think he was up to something, but he looked very similar to the Ben who sat across the room. She continued her quest and next came across a picture of the school musical. Renee squinted and held the picture close to her face. The stars of the show were in mid-dance on stage, but Ben wasn’t one of them. Finally, she recognized his profile at the bottom of the stage.

“The musical?” he asked.

“That’s the one.”

“Yeah, I played percussion in that show. I liked to tell people that I was in every scene of the school musical. But it was only because I was standing in the orchestra pit, and my head went slightly above the stage level.

Renee smiled and wondered if Ben distracted anyone from what was going on in the musical. She wasn’t sure she would be concentrating on the song and dance above him had she been there.

Her search was almost complete. There was only one page left with Ben’s name tied to it. She furiously flipped to the back of the book. And there it was. A full marching band class photo. She scanned the faces until she found his. The stern look on her face took her aback. But he didn’t look silly as she’d hoped. He had the marching uniform on, but the black pants and white coats with red accents were not all that bad. And instead of the hats with plumes the rest of the band wore, the percussion section had on stylish berets.

Renee sighed. “Disappointed?” Ben’s voice sounded much closer than before.

“A little.”

“The hat helps.”

“What’s up with your face?”

“What do you mean?” Ben asked in mock hurt as he threw himself on the couch next to her.

“You’re so serious.”

Ben imitated the stare he gave in the photo. “This is just the way I look.”

Renee tried to keep a straight face, but found it impossible when met with his icy expression. She laughed until he joined her.

“It was part of being in band, especially in the percussion section. We weren’t allowed to smile.”

“That’s not fair.” Renee closed the book in her lap and raised her eyes to meet Ben’s gaze. “You have a nice smile.”

“Why thank you, Miss Lockhart. Yours isn’t so bad either.” Ben leaned forward, closing the gap between them, and Renee closed her eyes.