Under the Orange Moon (27 page)

Ben sat puzzled and then it hit him. For a moment, she must have mistaken his careful behavior for the possibility that he actually liked her. Thankfully, she realized now her assumptions were a bit premature, and completely wrong.

“Why do you have a finger painting taped to the back wall of your closet?” she asked sneeringly, letting out a snobby giggle. She was obviously embarrassed by his brush off and now being spiteful at the artist’s expense. “Do you, like, have a little sister or something?”

Ben looked just behind Nicole and felt nothing but a stinging pain in his chest at the sight of Dylan’s painting. On his thirteenth birthday, he watched from his window as she placed it on his porch, and then ran away. He never said a word about it. He carried it with him from then until now, always hanging it up in hiding places so that no one but him would see it. He knew even then that the two kids holding hands on a mountain, placed just under a bright red heart in the sky, were he and Dylan. And, even then, it touched him the way it touched him now.

Nicole must have noticed the look in his eyes because she retreated quickly. “I mean, it’s cute and all. Who’s it supposed to be?”

Ben stood to his feet and glared at her as he closed the doors to the closet. Normally he kept them shut, but he was obviously not in his right mind the night before and forgot all about it.  The closet was a personal space, he thought. It was just an invasion of privacy to have someone staring into it.

“Ben, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” She sat down to put her boots on. “It’s good of you to have it hanging. You obviously don’t want to hurt the poor thing’s feelings. That means you have feelings yourself, which is surprising really.”

“Would you shut the hell up?” he snapped. “Just stop talking and get out of here.”

She stood up and shot him a dazed expression, an almost fearful look. “Is it really that bad, what I said?”

“It was pretty shitty,” Ben replied. “I don’t care. Just leave.”

“I didn’t know you’d be so upset about a finger painting a ten-year-old did. God.”

“Actually, it’s not a finger painting. It’s a painting that a very talented artist did when she was twelve. Her work is shown in
New York galleries now, as a matter of fact.” Ben growled in frustration. He was saying too much in defense of Dylan. “Just leave. Please.”

“Ah, I understand now,” she said with a smile. “I’m sorry, Ben. I won’t say another word about it.” She was being respectful now, but Ben was still annoyed.

“You understand nothing.” Ben held his bedroom door open. “Bye now.”

Nicole grabbed her jacket. “Well, it was fun last night. I’d love to say the same for this morning, but I can’t.”

Ben laughed. “I can’t even say that I remember last night. You obviously didn’t do much for me.”

“Nice. That’s real nice,” she hissed, and threw his front door open. As she was about to step out into the hallway, she was stopped by an unfamiliar man with an amused smile. His arm was raised as he prepared to knock on the door she opened angrily.

“Excuse me,” Nicole said, pushing past him with huge tears in her eyes.

Ben sighed at the unexpected visitor. “What a morning,” he groaned. “Hello, Dad.”

Warren turned and looked down the hallway. He smiled, as he said, “You have a lovely way with women, Benjamin.”

“She’s just the end result of a drunken night.”

“You should never allow the ones you don’t plan on calling to follow you home, remember?”

“My mistake,” Ben chuckled. His father was always full of amusing advice. “What are you doing here?”

Warren looked around Ben’s apartment as if he’d never seen it before. “You live better than I did when I was attending, that’s for sure. What a time in my life, though.”

“Yes. You’ve told me.”

Warren sat down on the couch. He looked around and then continued to recall his glory days. “I was poor and working my tail off, scooping ice cream during the day and cleaning campus classrooms at night. I didn’t mind the work, though. It was that much more rewarding, knowing I accomplished it on my own. I vowed that my own child wouldn’t have to work like I did.” He pointed his finger as if to remind Ben what child he was speaking of. “You’re very lucky, son.”

“Yes. Thank you.” Ben rolled his eyes as he turned his back on his father. He never told a story without sticking a jab at Ben in between.

“I didn’t know I was supplying such a habit,” Warren said, pointing to the liquor bottles in the kitchen. “You have yourself a full bar back there. Top shelf even. It’s a wonder how you even meet the young ladies that run from your apartment in tears. You don’t need to leave.”

Ben sighed deeply. “The bottles aren’t empty. I like a little variety is all. You should see my fridge stocked with beer.” 

“Benjamin, don’t be so defensive. I have a right to comment on the items my son purchases with my credit card.”

“Dad, I don’t have time for this back and forth thing. To what do I owe this great pleasure?” He drummed his fingers on the counter. “Would you like a drink?”

“Scotch. Neat,” Warren answered.

Ben smirked as he grabbed the Johnnie Walker. The man would ridicule everyone, although when it came to him, the guy that asked for scotch at nine in the morning, there was no room for judgment. Ben had meant water, or possibly juice if he had any. He poured the liquor into the glass and walked it over to his father.

“Thank you,” Warren said, and sipped in his usual way, pompous and snobby. He lifted the glass and swirled his drink around. Ben wasn’t sure why he did that, nor did he care.

Ben sat down across from his father and smiled as he stared at him, waiting to hear the meaning of his unannounced visit. There was no way he was there under any warm circumstances. He watched as
Warren looked around, just trying to find something he could scold Ben about.

Warren
picked up a picture of Jonah and Ben on Spring Break in Cancun two years before. It was one of two that Ben had framed and displayed in his bare apartment. Naturally, the other picture on exhibit was of him with his arm around Kendra Wilkinson. As his good luck would have it, he happened to walk right into a Playboy shoot on a night out in Chicago. He simply had to frame the evidence.

“Ah Jonah,”
Warren said, avoiding the conversation he meant to have. “How is he?”

“Good,” Ben lied. He hadn’t heard from Jonah since he last saw him in
Phoenix. He didn’t seem good then. He looked close to punching Ben in the face actually. “He’s really good.”

“That family has always been good to you, son.”

“Sure.”

“Son?”

“Dad?”

“Son.”
Warren paused while his eyes trailed to a random area of the room. He sipped from his glass again, and then he let Ben have it. “Jackie and I were married three weeks ago.”

“You
what?
” Ben asked, slightly surprised.

“I’m in the process of adopting her children. She has two lovely daughters; you have sisters now.”

Ben wondered who in their right mind would marry that man and, more than anything, he wondered who the hell would allow him to be a father to their children. He was a lousy father to his own biological son. Odds were he’d be just as neglectful to them, too.

“How old is Jackie?” Ben asked before he thought. “I mean, you had her sign a pre-nup, right?”

Warren looked a bit insulted. “She’s thirty-eight,” he shot too quickly, causing Ben to automatically assume five years younger than that. “Why do you ask?”

“Where did you meet her?”

“She was the paralegal under Bob Dawson. Why?”

Ben smirked. “
Was?”

“She doesn’t have to work anymore.”
Warren sipped from his glass. It was obvious to him where Ben was going with his questions.

Ben nodded. He didn’t have much to say. He wasn’t surprised his father found a plaything. He could only imagine what this Jackie person looked like. She was probably hot as hell in a trashy way with her boobs hanging out over low-cut, slutty shirts. Knowing a bit of Bob Dawson, she probably wore tight skirts that showed her ass while she bent over to dig through file cabinets that were purposefully placed too low to reach. Of course, this was only Ben’s assumption, but it was probably dead-on.

Still, no matter how much fun Warren had with her, Ben hoped his father wasn’t blinded by his own stupidity. He certainly didn’t expect him to get married, only because he did such a horrible job with it the first time.

“If you’re wondering about money, Benjamin, I’ve had your trust fund set aside since you were born. No one but you will ever get that.”

Ben rolled his eyes. After he graduated, he wouldn’t need his father’s wallet or assistance ever again. He chewed on the inside of his mouth and tried to narrow in on what it was that had him so angered. Was he jealous?

“You need to meet her, son. She’s a good person. She’ll make a terrific mother.”

That struck an unfamiliar nerve in Ben. His mouth moved quickly in retaliation as he leapt to his feet. “I have a mother. Have you forgotten her already?”

Warren
looked down to his glass and sighed. “No. No, I certainly have not.”

“Oh, be honest. There’s no one here to impress,” Ben said sharply. “You forgot her a long time ago. Tell me, Dad, was it a relief to you knowing she was dead, eliminating your time in divorce court? You must have been happy when she shoved those pills in her mouth.”

Warren stood to his feet angrily and backhanded Ben in the mouth. It wasn’t the first time he used his hands to silence Ben. Only this time, it may have been his last.

Ben barely flinched. He smiled an expression that was sure to irritate his father more. He wiped the blood from his lip and laughed. “Oh, there you are, Dad. Welcome. For a minute there, I thought I had an imposter in your place.”

“Whether you choose to believe this or not, I grieved for your mother. It broke my heart when she did what she did.”

“Maybe if you had been there, I could have seen this so-called grief you speak of. I suppose it’s one of those
had to see it to believe it
things. I’m positive a night with Jackie took it all away, though.”

“Damn you!”
Warren cocked his fist back again.

Ben grabbed his hand and held it tight this time. “Damn
you!
” he shouted back. He threw Warren’s fist away and took steps closer to look deep into Warren’s shocked eyes. He drew long breaths, inhaling and exhaling heavily with each gulp of air he took. His shoulders rose and fell as he clenched his fist and latched onto his father’s shirt.

Warren
cowered back. For the first time in his entire life with the man before him, Ben had the upper hand.

“You sad, wretched old man, you’re as selfish and pathetic as they come.” He shook
Warren’s shirt, as he snarled into his face. “Get the hell out of my apartment. Go make your new family as miserable as you made my mother and me.”

Warren
’s eyes were round with surprise. Ben had never spoken to him that way before now. He looked into his son’s angry, raging red eyes and wondered if they were wet with tears of fury or sadness. He didn’t ask.

Ben walked to his door and opened it wide. “Get out of here. Don’t come back.”

Warren nodded his head as he adjusted his shirt. “You just kick everyone out of that lonely life of yours, don’t you?”

“I learned from the best, sir.” Ben’s jaw tightened. His heavy breathing slowed somewhat, but it was still out of control. “Go,” he said, moving his head in the direction he wanted his father to leave.

Warren stepped out into the hallway. He turned and, for only a brief second, his eyes fell sad, revealing that very rare spark of humanity he hid so very often. “I didn’t do everything right. But you and your mother never wanted or needed anything. I always provided.”

“We
needed you, not your damn money!” Ben blasted with anger, and slammed the door in his father’s face.

Ben sat back on his couch. He always imagined one day he’d stand up to
Warren, and he always thought he’d congratulate himself after the big event. He never considered the guilt that he felt now. He didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment. He felt anger. He finished his father’s scotch and stood to make himself another one. This was it. He was becoming his father. He
was
his father.

His voicemail alert light was red, he noticed. Against his better judgment, he put the speaker phone on and played his message that had been marked urgent. He knew it would be nothing good. His motions were robotic and he did it all without thinking.

“Hey man. It’s Charlie. Listen, I just left my sister. I know you don’t want to hear this, but—I don’t know—I just think you should. She’s different, you know? She’s getting her own place and moving on. Meredith told me what she said to you. I freaked out on her and I may have called off my wedding. I don’t know. Anyway, Dylan’s fine, Ben. I thought maybe you were waiting to hear that before you showed your face around us again. It’s just not as bad as you think. Everyone can get over this if you give them a chance, is all I’m saying. Hopefully we see you at the wedding,” he laughed nervously, “if I even have one. Later.”