Page 44 of A Constant Love

“I love her. I’d do anything for her.”

He smiled and patted my shoulder. “I know. For what it’s worth, if the old Sammie is coming back, I’d be worried.”

He began to walk away.

“About what? That something more is going to happen to her?”

He looked back at me. “No. I’d be worried about what’s going to happen to James when she gets ahold of him.”

Chapter 26 – Sam

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I rapped on the door in front of me trying to remember the last time I was standing on that porch. Although I knew I had been there thousands of times, I couldn’t remember the last time.

Maybe because you didn’t think it would be the last time.

When the door opened, there stood Benny. His eyes widened when he realized who it was, and it didn’t take him long to pull me into a big hug.

“Sammie, what are you doing here? I didn’t think you’d still be in town. You sticking around for awhile?”

“Not too much longer. Just taking care of a few things. I was wondering if maybe you had a few minutes to talk.”

“Anything for you, baby doll. Get in here!”

I followed him into the house that once belonged to his mom. My dad had told me she passed not too long ago, and he inherited the house.

“I’m so sorry to hear about your mama, Benny,” I said, taking a seat on the couch next to him.

He shrugged. “It’s okay. Her cancer came back again, and she was just tired of fighting it. I get it. I mean I saw how sick the chemo made her, and her poor little body just didn’t have enough strength for another round.”

“She was a good woman,” I said, remembering how she would always let me come over when my mom was having one of her bad days.

Benny nodded. “She was. I just put on a fresh pot of coffee. Do you want some?”

“Coffee would be great.”

He got up to go fix it while I wandered the living room as a photo on the mantle caught my eye. It was he and I when we were about ten years old. He was in some old overalls while I was in a t-shirt and jeans. We were both holding up the fish we had just caught, and our grins were as big as ever.

As he came in and handed me a mug, I said, “I can’t believe you kept this all these years.”

“That was a great day. Why on Earth would I get rid of it?”

We sat back down. “Oh, I don’t know…maybe because I was awful to you.”

He waved his hand in front of his face. “Oh, please.”

“Benny, I’m serious. I started dating James, and I just left you behind because his jealousy didn’t allow for you in my life.”

He set his coffee down and set his hand on my knee, “Sammie, I was never mad at you for dating James. I felt sorry for you because I could see what he was doing to you. I knew you’d figure it out eventually, but sometimes, it’s hard to see the situation unfolding when you’re too close to it. It’s me who should be apologizing.”

“For?” My eyebrows went up.

“For seeing the road you were heading down and not doing anything to stop it. I figured you’d just get your head your head on straight and kick his ass. I never figured it would end with…”

I cut him off. “No. That wasn’t your fault. I don’t think anyone would have seen that ending coming. Yeah, James was an ass, but I never thought he would resort to physical violence.”

“He never did anything besides that night?”