Starting over chapter 18

Chapter eighteen

A funeral suited Ben’s mood perfectly, the flights had been delayed so he was a day late landing in England, he was away from Meg and on top of all the lawyers had the keys to the estate and he couldn’t get them until after the funeral. He really would have liked to get a look at it and then decide on a real estate agent. He had a few lined up, one was a really old firm with great references. He finally arrived at his hotel at 10pm and was able to check in without any problems. When he was set up in his room he logged onto his computer and decided to try and see if Meg was on any messenger service and was up for a bit of a chat. “Just my luck” he sighed, wrote Meg an e-mail and then decided to try and get some sleep as the funeral was in the morning.

Meg felt sorry for Ben when she saw the e-mail. She was really missing him and would have loved to be with him. She looked up when she heard a knock on her door “Come in” and the person entered “Hi Casey” Meg smiled “What brings you here?” she motioned for the chair in front of her desk “Hi Meg” he smiled “I just thought I’d pop in before work and give you an update” Meg looked surprised “Don’t you remember, we talked about trying to see if your guests were interested in the beach” “Of course Casey, I was just thinking of something else” Meg answered “Or someone else?” Casey teased “Ben and Derek are some of my best friends and I can’t believe the way they both fell for you and your sister instantly” Meg smiled “We have a saying in Kansas, it must be Kismet” “Sounds like a great expression, how is Ben by the way?” “Good, irritated since he didn’t arrive in England until today, something about the flights being delayed and a few other things” Casey nodded. “Anyways, by the look of it I estimate between 25 and 50 percent of your hotel guests use the beach as well as the pool area. I did talk to your life guard on watch before I came there and thought that maybe we’d have some kind of exchange” Meg nodded “You know safety pamphlets and signs” Casey suggested “That sounds like a great idea, both me and Sarah wants this hotel to be as safe as possible” Casey stood up “I’ll get on it and I will come by another day so you can approve them” Meg followed him to the door “You do that Casey, if I’m not in just leave it in the reception and I promise to get back to you asap”

Ben dressed for the funeral, he really hated these occasions, especially here in England. It reminded him a lot about his mother’s. He got into his car and drove towards the church, he stopped by a florist to pick some flowers up. As next of kin he was seated in the front, at least at his mother’s funeral he had had the support of his brother. ‘If I only was the one that was in Mexico’ he thought. Then the service began. His aunt had wanted an old fashioned funeral so therefore the last part was to take place at the grave. Ben and the rest of aunt Louise’s friends followed the coffin and priest. She was going to her final rest at the same place as her parents and her sister. Ben hadn’t been here in ages, but it had been kept very well ‘Aunt Louise’s work’ he thought ‘I need to see to it that it keeps being looked after’ Ben made a mental note. When the priest had finished and the people had said their goodbyes and everyone said a few words to Ben they left. Finally Ben was alone, he crouched down in front of his mother’s headstone and arranged the flowers he had brought. “Sorry I’ve not been here in a long time Mom” he had tears in his eyes and felt a lump in his throat “You know I would have loved to but living in America doesn’t make it easy” he closed his eyes “Derek couldn’t come, he’s on his honeymoon, can you believe that? Derek’s married” Ben sat down not minding his trousers getting dirty or wet, he had loved his mother so much “Sarah’s a lovely lady and they’re having a baby in June” “You want to know about me” he smiled “Well, believe it or not but I’ve met my soul mate, she’s a Kansas girl and we met on vacation a few months ago. I know it might seem I rushed into things but I’ve asked her to marry me and we’ve set the date to September next year. I hope I can bring her here before the wedding, I want you to meet her” “Oh yes, her name’s Meg. Meg Cummings” Ben said proudly “And now you will laugh, she’s the older sister of Derek’s Sarah” Ben continued ‘talking’ to his mother. It was almost an hour later when he got up and left. He walked towards his car where a woman was waiting for him “Ben Evans?” she asked “Sophie Sinclair” she extended her hand “I’m with Stevens’ real estate” Ben remembered the name of the firm “I believe you might have something for us to help you sell” Ben didn’t know what to believe, how could professional people act this way? “Well yes” he answered and pulled his hand back “I’ve just not yet decided on any agent” he found his car key and unlocked the car “Well, let me give you my card” she took it out and scribbled something on the back “My home number in case you want to get hold of me outside the office” Was she for real Ben asked himself, was she flirting openly like this, what had the world come to. “Excuse me” Ben said and opened the door “I really need to get back to the hotel” “Ok, but please give me a call when you’ve decided, I promise I’ll make it a quick affair, estates like that are really on the market right now” She closed the car door for Ben and let him drive off. Ben was still stunned when he arrived at the hotel. It was almost 1 o’clock and with the time difference it was still in the middle of the night in California so Ben couldn’t call Meg just yet. He picked up the phone and called the lawyer’s office. He was put straight thru and got an appointment to come see the lawyer at once to get the keys to the estate.

Meg was tossing and turning in her bed, somehow she hadn’t slept very well the last few nights. She woke up and went downstairs to drink a glass of water. She still had a lot of the flowers left that Ben had had set up for the proposal. She brought her water with her and sat down in the living room. She closed her eyes and remembered that lovely evening minute by minute. She took a rose in her hand and smelled it. Feeling a bit at ease she laid down and fell asleep right there on the sofa.

Ben opened the front door. The last time he had visited his aunt she had been in hospital with a broken hip. He hadn’t been to this house since before he moved to America, it still looked as grand as he remembered it. He walked thru the hall towards the living room. Walking from room to room he remembered to many things, how would he be able to choose what to keep and what to sell on. He ended up in the kitchen remembering baking cookies with his mother and aunt as a little boy. Something felt both right and wrong about that memory. He thought back and remembered that his mother had packed them up really quick and said they were going for a little vacation. Knowing now what he didn’t then it must have been one of the periods when his father was drinking heavily. He sat down on a stool to think about what to do. He and Derek had decided it would be too expensive to keep the estate, especially since it wasn’t their family heritage, it had belonged to their ‘uncle‘s’ family. He got up and went up the stairs. Looking around the rooms he realized this wouldn’t be fixed in the two weeks he thought. He took out a notebook from his jacket where he had a few numbers to real estate agents.

He called two of the firms and made appointments for the next day to get the house evaluated. He tried a third firm as well but there he only got the answering machine, he left a message and if they didn’t call back by the evening he’d scrap them from his list as he already had with “Stevens’” That person looking him up at the funeral had really made Ben uncomfortable. He picked the keys up and went outside to have a look around before he went back to the hotel.

Ben walked into the hotel lobby where he bumped into Sophia again. Ben put on a fake smile as he didn’t for a second believe that she was there by chance. “Let me buy you a drink” She offered and since Ben was too well mannered to say no so he let her lead the way towards the bar. Luckily it was one of those brighter ones so hopefully she’d not get any ideas. “So Ben” she turned her stool towards him “May I call you Ben?” he nodded “Sure” was his short answer “You think we could help you sell the estate?” Ben shrugged his shoulders “I need to talk to my brother about it” she put a hand on his thigh “Did the house bring up memories?” she said sympathetically “Yes it did” Ben admitted “But that’s not the problem really. I just don’t know what Derek would like to keep from the house” “Maybe I can help you, we got great photographers that can take photos and you can send them by mail” Ben didn’t know how he could get out of this “Well I can’t get to my brother at the moment, he’s on his honeymoon” he saw a bit of shifting in her eyes since she had lit up when he mentioned he had a brother. He took a drink of his beer and felt her hand on his arm “We could go over there and take the photos anyway if you like” Just then Ben’s cell phone rang “Excuse me” he said as he took out of his inner pocket. He smiled when he saw the photo id of Meg “You’re a sight for sore eyes” he answered the phone and forgot about his company totally.
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