have more free time then.
And speaking of situations, what about his father, anyway? He’d been hard on Thom. He knew Thom was trying to help. Maybe he was right, maybe knowing would make one less thing for him to wonder and worry about. Maybe if he knew more about his dad, and why he had left, he would understand more about his mom. He sighed, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket before he could change his mind. Uncle Chuck answered on the third ring.
“’Ello?”
“Hey, Uncle Chuck,” he took a deep breath, “I wanted to ask you about my dad.”
Ben headed back to the house at lunchtime. He hadn’t seen or heard from Thom all morning, but that wasn’t really unusual, since they often worked separately even when they were both out in the vineyard. Thom was in the kitchen, spreading mustard on bread for sandwiches. Ben joined him at the counter and squeezed his shoulder.
“Hey,” Ben said.
“Hey. Everything okay out there?”
“Yeah. It’s all ready for spraying tomorrow. Look, about earlier—”
“I’m sorry. It was none of my business.”
“No, I’m sorry. I overreacted.”
“Still.”
“You were right, though. I called Uncle Chuck.”
“I hope it’s not because… I mean, I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”
Ben laughed. “Really? You haven’t figured out by now that I’m not going to do anything I don’t want to do?”
Thom smiled for the first time since Ben had come back inside. “Yeah, that’s true. You are a stubborn jackass sometimes.”
“That’s more like it.”
Uncle Chuck hadn’t been able to tell him much, and he hadn’t kept in touch with his former brother-in-law, but he told Ben he would see what he could do to track the man down and contact him. Ben left it up to Uncle Chuck. If his father was willing to talk to him, great, but if not, Ben would know he had made an effort and wouldn’t have the regret of never even trying.
“Hey, Thom?” Ben was trying to figure out a formula in one of the spreadsheets Thom had put together. They were in the final push of getting the business plan put together, and if all went well, Thom would go to the bank next week to meet with the loan officer.
“Yeah?” Thom looked over from his desk where he was going through a hard copy of the plan with a red pen.
“I’m not sure what’s going on with this formula. Would you take a look?”
Thom came around to the computer desk to look over Ben’s shoulder. He was just about to rest his hand on Ben’s shoulder, as he usually did when leaning in to see something on the monitor, but stopped short and put his hand in his pocket.
“Sure. Which one is it?”
Ben highlighted the cell in question, opening it to show the formula. Thom quickly diagnosed the problem, Ben entered the correction, and they both went back to what they had been doing. Ben frowned as he worked. He didn’t think it was his imagination that Thom had started acting distant. He was still friendly and joked around, but now it seemed like he went out of his way not to touch Ben or get close. Ben knew they were getting to be friends, and anything more would probably just remain his own fantasy, but he missed the relaxed moments, the occasional horseplay when they would get in each other’s way in the kitchen or toolshed. He sighed and got up.
“I’m going to go make some coffee,” he said. “You want any?”
“Sure,” Thom replied, not looking up. “Sounds good.”
The coffee was just a distraction. Ben needed to get out of the office for a few minutes. Maybe Thom was trying to make it clear that there was nothing between them, and that he didn’t want there to be. If he was going to maintain a good relationship with Thom, he’d have to respect whatever distance Thom put between them. After all, Thom was his boss when you came right down to it, so he needed to figure a way to work with him without wanting him so much. Or figure out how to fake it.
Thom met with the loan officer next week. If he approved the loan, maybe they’d both be so busy that Ben wouldn’t have time to think about anything for a while.
Chapter 6
“THEY SAID yes!” Thom was shouting as he jumped down from his truck and started running toward the house. “They said yes!!”
Ben came out the back door, drying