Liam explained, “Let’s just say, his daughter calls me Uncle Liam.”
“Wow.”
“Yup.”
“And you guys eventually had a falling out that made you,” Eden pointed to Liam, “move away just to get away from him.” She pointed to Benson. “I want to know what happened.”
“You need to ask him. He’s the one who ended it.”
Benson was put on the spot, and his food couldn’t save him. Not with two pairs of eyes watching him – one in curiosity, and the other in disbelief.
“It just wasn’t going to keep working out,” Benson said. “As much fun as it was, he and I are very different men. For fuck’s sake, I’m ten years older than him.”
“That’s right. I’m a dirty Millennial.” Liam chuckled. “So are you, grandpa.”
“We’ve been over this before. I amnota Millennial.”
“Fine. Cynical, Xennial shit…”
“Stop making up words.”
Eden laughed.
“What?” Benson demanded.
She waved her hand, as if that would dissipate the sound of her laughter. “You sound like an old married couple.”
Benson was gonna be sick.
“We kinda were, honestly,” Liam said. “By the way, has he told you that he’s—”
Benson had to say something. Quickly. “Embarrassed by all of this? No, I haven’t mentioned that. Because, quite frankly, I have to be careful with my image. I like to think I’m a progressive, modern man, but as you can guess, Eden, I’m in a very conservative industry. My partners don’t care what I do in my private life, but many of our established clients do. It’s one thing to rock the boat withonepartner… it’s quite another to have two.”
“You considered him your partner?”
“In building a life, so to speak,” Liam said. “I think that’s what he means. Right, Ben?”
He was on to him. Benson was gonna circumvent the truth, no matter what.Not here. Not now.That could come later. If this wasreallyserious with Eden. He was already on the verge of confessing one thing about himself. The thing that had been the final straw for Sydney and made her file for divorce.“Do whatever you want with them, Ben,”she had said when he begged her not to leave,“But I’m not gonna join in.”
Even Drew knew a good bit of it. Not the sexual details, of course, but things about her father that didn’t fit the mold of what good and proper society dictated.She knew Liam and me were very close. She loved that.She called Liam her uncle, but he was definitely more like a bonus father than anything.
And every time Benson thought too deeply about that, he wanted to punch the wall.
Not Liam, though. He wasn’t a puncher. He was atalker.He wanted to talk everything out. Because how Benson hadresponded to Sydney leaving was exactly how Liam responded to Benson ending everything five years ago.
“Weren’t you engaged five years ago?” Eden asked Liam. “Right around the time this would have been happening?”
Benson bored a hole into Liam’s temple.Don’t tell her. I swear to God, if you say something, I’ll rip your balls off.He knew where they were!
“Yes. That was what ended the whole arrangement. I wanted to marry… our third.” He glanced down at the table before forcing a smile on his face. “We were in love and had the same trajectory in life. She was even my age. She talked about having a kid, and I wouldn’t mind. Just, you know, to make it official and to ensure she was taken care of by one of us. Benson had even made it clear he never wanted to marry again after his divorce, and he definitely didn’t want more kids. So, I’d have to be the father.” Liam shrugged.
“So you ended it?” Eden asked Benson.
“I did end it, yes.”
The silence was impervious. Especially with Liam staring at him like that. “Yup. He sure did,” he muttered.
“What happened to her?”