Right?
I was silly for hoping it’d be more. For expecting him to want more.
I pushed my cardboard boat away with a sigh.
“Full?” Ben asked as he shoveled more salad in.
I nodded tightly and gave him a wan smile. “Just not used to being up this late, and definitely not eating this late. It’s been a surreal day.”
A sudden burst of noise made me swivel on my bench seat. “Looks like we officially missed Shawn Reyes’ show.”
“Not breaking my heart.” Ben scoffed.
“You want to get out of here? I’m not keen to see Spyglass Rules, and you already know my feelings about Reuben Bello.”
Ben rubbed his hand over his face. “Right. I uh, kinda need to stay for the last show.”
I winced. “You’re a fan. And here I’ve been talking shit all night. Sorry. And of course we can go see his show. You went to Monica Moore for me. I’ll see Reuben Bello with you.”
A different guy coughed loudly at the end of the table. Concerned, I turned and found Roscoe glaring at Ben. His eyes darted to me before he looked away, shaking his head. Clearly, Roscoe didn’t agree with Ben about something. Maybe he wasn’t a Reuben Bello fan either.
I turned back to Ben and raised my eyebrows. I didn’t care what Roscoe thought. If Ben wanted to see Reuben’s show, we were going.
I shrugged. “Maybe it’ll be fun. You could probably convince me to like his music. Maybe.”
A muscle flexed in Ben’s jaw. Then he nodded resolutely. “Okay. But uh, he’s playing on the floating stage. And we’re going to have to watch from the wings.” He shrugged like it was no big thing. “I know a guy.”
“Oh, he knows a guy all right,” Roscoe bit out from the other end of the table.
I widened my eyes at Ben. I didn’t know what was going on. Nodding weakly, I tried to sound excited. “Sounds like fun.”
“Yeah.” Ben smiled wanly at me. “Fun,” he echoed.
“Hey Ben,” Roscoe called from the side. “We gotta start heading over.”
I didn’t have to look to see the disapproval on Roscoe’s face; it was clear in his tone. Whether it was the concert or me, I couldn’t tell. But he was clearly pissed.
And so was Ben, judging from the steel in his expression. He nodded tightly. “Let’s go.”
“Okay.” I stood up, grabbed our trays and trash, and then searched the tent for a trashcan that wasn’t overflowing.
When I came back to the table, Ben was standing next to a shorter man in his forties wearing a suit and a devilish smile that looked oddly familiar.
“…doesn’t know. Try to be normal for once in your fucking life,” Ben bit out to the guy before turning to me with a forced smile. “Emma, this is my father, Jacob. Jacob, this is my girl, Emma.”
“Your dad. Right. Nice to meet you, sir.” I held out my hand.
Jacob sent me a look that had everything inside me curling up for a moment. This was Ben’s dad? Ick.
Jacob shook my hand, and I let go the second it wouldn’t be obvious I was uncomfortable.
Turning to Ben, I forced a smile, even though I could still feel Jacob’s gaze on my body. “Shouldn’t we be heading…”
I just wanted to get away from him. Here. Whatever.
“Yup,” Jacob replied even though my question was for Ben. “They have the piers all set up and are waiting for us.”
“Right. Let’s go then.” Despite telling me he wanted to see Reuben Bello’s show, Ben sounded like this was the last thing he wanted to do.
