Starting over Chapter 25

Chapter twenty five

The New Year’s party was a big success. It was the talk of town for the next week, all the time until people started to talk about Gaby and Ricardo’s wedding. In a very short time Meg and Gaby together with a few others had put together what hopefully would be Gaby’s dream wedding. Ben and Derek had gone back to England to wrap up the estate after their aunt. Of course Meg was missing him, but with her friends from Europe finally arriving and helping them to get settled she was more than busy. Today was one of the rare days when she had an afternoon all to herself and it hadn’t taken long before she had fallen asleep in a lounge chair on the balcony to the house. It was where Mark found her when he came looking for Ben. “Sorry Meg, I didn’t mean to wake you” he said apologetic when she startled sat up “I was really looking for Ben” he went on. “Oh, Ben’s in England, didn’t he tell you?” Meg sat up “To my knowledge he’s not coming home for a few days more, might even miss the wedding” she continued “My wrong then, I thought he’d be back today” Meg looked surprised at him “Have you talked to him?” “The day before yesterday, and then he said he was coming home according to plans today” After a brief moment Meg realized she had missed that today was a Saturday, the Saturday when Ben was surely returning from England. She got up from the chair “My mistake Mark, I’ve been working quite a lot to forget he wasn’t home, so I totally forgotten that he is coming today” Mark laughed “You two suite each other so well, true workaholics” Mark handed Meg a file “Could you give this to Ben, it’s the figures from the last two weeks and what we need to order on Monday since I’ve got next week off” he tried to look at Meg with a stern look “Unless someone I know I know when to take time off to rest up” Meg slapped him on the arm with the file “Mark Wopler, you’re unbelievable. But I love you anyway” Meg smiled “Don’t let Ben hear that” Mark said and rubbed him arm “He knows I love you, as a very dear friend and the best bartender/d j in this town” Meg opened the door and felt the chill from the aircondition coming at her. “Are you in a hurry?” she asked “Or you want to come in for some coffee?” “Coffee…. Coffee, man you can certainly play with a guy’s mind. I totally forgotten I was to start my shift at the Java Web five minutes ago” Meg burst into laughter “I’ve seen your schedules for that place, no one keeps track of any times, but you go ahead” she held up the file “I’ll give this to Ben when he arrives”

Just as Meg was to go inside she heard someone call her name “Hi there” she said to her friends and hugged them all as they came up to the terrace “Have you been to the beach today?” she asked even though it was obvious “Sure thing” Anja and Tina said at the same time “Can’t stay away” Jenn added “And I just love it, not a single chance of snow” Maria said. An hour later just as Meg was to let her friends out the front door the bell rang and not only once but twice “Hold your horses” Meg called and opened the door to a man with is arms wide open “Gosh, I’ve missed you Meg Cummings” he said and made Meg laugh “What? No hugs and kisses for your fiancé?” Meg shook her head “You don’t fool ME Derek Evans, you go and see my sister at the hotel and send Ben home to me” Meg’s friends stood astonished “How can you tell them apart?” Jenn asked curiously “Well for the first, Derek wears his hair differently than Ben and for the second he hadn’t even bothered taking off his wedding ring” The girls laughed “Have they tried this trick on you before?” Maria asked “Just once, but we didn’t believe them then either, they tried too hard to convince us that time, and call it strange but I get this special feeling whenever Ben’s close to me” “That’s because you’re soul mates” Tina said and then the firls left and promised to meet up at the Deep in the evening.

The wedding went off without any more problems and before soon it was Valentine’s day. Ben and Meg was off to Kansas for a few days. Ben had only been there briefly to ask for Meg’s hand a gesture that still made him the best son-in-law in Hank’s eyes, although Derek wasn’t that much in the dog house… after all he was the father of their first grandchild. The winter had started to loose it’s grip but there were still a lot of snow. Ben and Meg went for long walks every day. Of course Ben wanted to know everything about Meg’s childhood. “I bet this is a lovely place in the spring” Ben said one day when they walked thru the apple orchard “Yes it is, it’s all different kind of apples and different colours on their flowers” Meg snuggled close to him as the wind took off. “We used to play a lot here, it was far enough from the road, not that that’s ever been very busy” Meg said sarcastically “and far enough from the fields” I bet all your friends used to love coming here to play” Been looked her deep in the eyes “and boyfriends when you got older, I could easily have round a spot or two that was secluded enough” he teased. Meg thought back to the summer before she turned twelve, Tim had been there just as always mainly because his parents worked on the farm. They had been playing hide and seek with Sarah and just as Meg had ran by the tree Time stood behind he reached out and pulled her there too and kissed her for the first time. “Worth more of less than a penny?” Ben asked and woke her from the memory “Less” Meg said and wrinkled her nose. Ben knew all about Tim’s stunts around the time he and Meg was supposed to have gotten married, but not much more “Tim involved?” he asked “Mmm” Meg answered and took his hand. “Come along, I have to show off Sarah’s first masterpiece” she said and guided him to a big tree “This is almost all her doing, of course dad helped out, she was only ten by that time” Ben looked a bit surprised “Didn’t your brother build any tree house before?” Meg shook her head “He took care of the animals, I guess that’s why he’s the best veterinarian in the whole state” she said proudly. “Is it safe to climb up?” Ben asked curiously “Should be, dad’s always been looking after it” Meg lead him around to the other side where the ‘stairs’ was “Are you coming too?” Ben held out a hand for Meg halfway up the tree “You’re not scared are you?” he teased “No, of course not, it’s just that the last time I tried to get up there I fell and broke my arm” Ben looked sweetly at her “Poor you, I promise
that it won’t happen this time”

When Ben and Meg came back inside they were met by a lovely smell “There you are” Joan said “I almost thought you’d miss lunch” Ben walked over and gave her a peck on the cheek “Never Joan, if it wasn’t for our long walks I’d gain pounds from your home cooking” “And here I was thinking that old time flattery didn’t exist anymore” she laughed. Meg stood by her father’s side “Dad, shall I be jealous of mom?” she asked and Hank put his arm around her “No need Meggie, Ben only got eyes for you and besides he would have to fight me to get to her” the both snickered. They all sat down to eat. “Meg, I met reverend Anderson in town earlier and promised him to bring the cakes for tomorrow’s bingo, could you maybe bring them in?” Meg looked at Ben “We don’t have any plans and besides what is a trip to Ludlow without a cup of the special hot cocoa at Green’s café in the winter?” Joan smiled at her “Good and I have to warn you, I told him about you and Ben being engaged” Meg laughed as she started to clear the table “I’m considering myself warned” What Joan didn’t tell Meg was that it wasn’t the older reverend Andersson but his son that now served in Ludlow. Meg and John had been dating for almost a year at one time when she and Tim had been broken up. If it hadn’t been for John going off to college a lot of people in town had thought they’d end up together. But he had left and Tim hand been there to comfort Meg.

Meg borrowed her father’s truck since that was the safest car in this weather. Ben glanced at her “You know Meg, you look just as home here and now that you do anywhere in Sunset Beach” he put his hand on her though and Meg game him a quick glance, she knew how quickly an ice patch could turn up on these roads “So it’s bingo night tomorrow” Ben said “Oh, no!” Meg exclaimed “Why not, isn’t that what folks do around here?” Ben asked “Well… it depends” “Are your parents going?” “I guess” Meg hadn’t been to the bingo since before she was 15. Again she got lost in thoughts, that was the year when she had dated John and he was kind of obliged to be at the bingo and Meg wanted to spend as much time with him as possible “If I ask nicely?” Ben suggested “I’ve never lived in an American small town” he pouted “Oh Ben” Meg sighed “We’ll go then” she said and parked the car outside the community hall. As they came inside Meg called “Hello” but no one answered “I’ll just go put these in the kitchen” she said and went towards some doors like so many times before. This building held so many memories and she honestly didn’t know if she’d be able to sit thru an evening of bingo. “Hello, may I help you” Ben turned around to the voice.
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All connections to Sunset Beach, any other soaps/series and real life characters are purely for your pleasure.
©tinadolphin@comhem.se 2010-

Starting over Chapter 26

Chapter twenty six

“If I ask nicely?” Ben suggested “I’ve never lived in an American small town” he pouted “Oh Ben” Meg sighed “We’ll go then” she said and parked the car outside the community hall. As they came inside Meg called “Hello” but no one answered “I’ll just go put these in the kitchen” she said and went towards some doors like so many times before. This building held so many memories and she honestly didn’t know if she’d be able to sit thru an evening of bingo. “Hello, may I help you” Ben turned around to the voice.

“You’re new in town” the man with the dog-collar said “I’m reverend John Anderson” he extended his hand “Ben Evans” Ben answered “So can I help you Mr. Evans”? John asked and Ben laughed “Sorry, I’m here with my fiancée, she’s in the kitchen” Ben pointed to a door in the wall “or there” he pointed the other way “We’re just dropping off some cakes for tomorrow” “I see” John said “You must be Meg’s fiancé, Joan said she’d try to get you to drop them off” Ben looked puzzled “To us she said she didn’t have time” the guys started to talk. Suddenly they heard a bump and a chair that fell over and Meg with is as she had been leaning against it. Both Ben and John ran towards her “Meg are you ok?” both asked “What happened?” John went on. Meg got up from the floor “Sorry I wasn’t expecting to see you there” she said to John. “Mom sent us over with some cakes for the bingo. Is your father here?” she asked as she still hadn’t seen the collar. John shook his head “No, he and mom are in the city, coming back tomorrow” Meg looked puzzled “Must be a short trip” “No, they left last week” John looked at Meg “Are you sure you’re ok?” “I’m fine, just mom said she met reverend Anderson this morning” Then John pointed to his neck “Yes she did” Blushing Meg started at him “You? When? Why? How?” the questions just flowed on “Why don’t we sit down” John suggested and Ben pulled a chair for Meg while John walked around to sit opposite. “You said that you couldn’t get away from home and church fast and far enough when you left for college” Meg unzipped her jacket “That was true, but then when I had been away from it a while I actually started to miss the lifestyle. I started to attend church again, re applied for other studies” he went on telling “Didn’t your mother tell you?” Meg shook her head “Was there something more that triggered your interest?” she asked and John had always been an honest person “Yes actually there was” he looked at her with sad eyes. Ben had been quiet the whole time, intrigued what was behind this story, obviously Meg and John knew each other well. “I came back that first autumn Meg” John said and Meg thought back, that was just when she and Tim ad started to date properly and like all teenagers had had a tough time keeping their hands of each other. “I’m so sorry” Meg said “I didn’t know you came back” John shrugged his shoulders “No big deal” “Must have been” Meg added “I never sae you then or anytime after either” “I then finished college, looked for jobs elsewhere, I didn’t want to come here and have to be the one marrying you and Tim, and it wasn’t until just before Christmas I came back home” John lent back in the chair “You see, dad wants to start thinking of retiring and he really wanted me to come back” Meg had almost forgotten that Ben was there “Sorry Ben, are we boring you?” Ben smiled at her “Not at all, I love hearing stories about your past” he took her hand and kissed it and then looked at John “So, have your family always held the church here in Ludlow” he asked “I mean since your father wanted you to take over” John rolled his eyes “Don’t ask him that question, you’ll get the full story but to my knowledge more or less for five generation including me that is” Meg put her hand on Ben’s arm “Shall we get going? I bet John’s got stuff do to” “I actually do, just a few more things” John admitted “I have a wedding this evening” “Maybe someone you know Meg?” Ben said intrigued. John had heard the stories about Tim and Connie “Well it’s Connie” he said “I don’t know if Meg told you about her?” Ben nodded “Too bad it would have been nice to see the church for a wedding” “Are you staying the whole weekend?” it was Thursday today “Yes” Ben answered “We’re not going back until Tuesday” “Then I hope to see you on Sunday and I can show you around after the service” Ben shook his hand they’d reached the door “That could be nice” Ben and Meg said bye to John and left, but before the door closed Ben turned around “John, what are you doing Saturday evening?” he thought about it “Nothing really” “Good, why don’t you come for dinner, bring your wife” “I’m not married” John said and that shocked Meg “Girlfriend?” Ben asked “Or a date if you like, and please bring your parents too, I’ve promised Joan to cook you see” Ben said and then looked at Meg “Is it ok with you, love?” “Sure” Meg said “Please come John mom and dad would love it” “Ok, I’ll com, is it ok that I tell for sure tomorrow, I don’t know what plans my parents have” “More than enough, it was really nice to meet you” Ben said and he and Meg got into the car.

The café was in the other end of town on their way back, otherwise it hadn’t had eny meaning to bring the car- Ludlow, Kansas wasn’t a very big place. Unless someone who knew Meg came up to talk to them Meg was pretty quiet and also in the car. Inside the house Ben helped her off the jacket before he took his own “Was I wrong to invite John. He seems like a nice person so I didn’t think you’d mind” “You’re right Ben, he is a nice person, I just felt sorry for him there a bit. I was sure he’d found someone to settle down with” Meg went into the kitchen. Her parents were out in the stables this time of day. She started to peel some potatoes and Ben walked over to stand behind her. Softly he stroke her arms up and down, but that was what made Meg burst into tears and run upstairs. Ben didn’t know what was wrong and before he could go after her Joan and Hank came inside. They started to ask about the afternoon and it was at least half an hour later when Ben entered the room. Meg was sitting in the middle of her bed hugging a pillow. Ben sat down facing her. He put a finger under the chin and lifted her head up. Meg’s tears hurt him to the bone.
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All connections to Sunset Beach, any other soaps/series and real life characters are purely for your pleasure.
©tinadolphin@comhem.se 2010-