Benjamin Cole

“I mean I trust that you wash your hands. But items in the trash aren’t exactly pre-washed,” Darcy replied with a crinkled nose. “Yeah, definitely do that. Remind me to not take random things from your without asking where you found them first.”

“Do you think I would let you take things that I hadn’t properly fixed or taken care of first?” Ben pointed out because he always did things to the highest standard.

“In the trash?” she gasped, dropping it back into his hands immediately. “Aren’t you worried it’s covered in some crazy amount of germs?” The redhead asked, pulling out a scented hand sanitizer to clean her hands.

Ben would be lying if he said he didn’t find the girls response amusing and he bit back a laugh as the item was shoved back into his hands. “Not really. I mean, I was my hands and I will make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned up before I sell it on.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, they’ve been broken pretty much since I arrived a few months ago, so I don’t think an extra week really did too much damage.” Woody replied, a shrug of his shoulders as he spoke. “Yeah, I’d be happy to help.” He answered, moving toward where he was working and looking up at the lights as well. “Just let me know when you’re ready for the help.” 

“Well I suppose that does help actually. Means my absence wasn’t really noticed.” Benjamin moved around, taking the light carefully out of the box and getting everything sorted, putting them into his tool belt before finally picking up the long cylinder. “Right so I’m going to go up, can you hold this and then help me hold it up when I get there.” Benjamin explained as he began climbing the ladder.

“Ben– I must insist. You’re really going all out to help me and I feel bad for taking your time,” Ophelia said. While his attitude was admirable, she felt bad not repaying him what his extra time and effort was worth. “I didn’t mean for this to end so late.”

“Keep insisting and I’ll have to refuse to help.” Ben answered seriously but a smile on his face. “Look, I’ll give you a price at the end if it exceeds what I expected. Is that fair enough?” He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. “But certainly not the amount you are planning to give me, because I know you. It’s extortionate.”

“ Buy another one ? Well, I’d better replace it before my mother gets home and notices. Thankfully, she’s been too preoccupied with wedding planning to notice how over-budget I’ll be on the pet budget this month. ” His guilty smirk transformed into to a grin almost immediately. “ Do you have the time today ? I could buy you lunch to say thank you ? ”

“I would imagine your Mum would understand what’s happened here. Dogs tend to do things like this.” It wasn’t the end of the world after all. “A wedding though? I can imagine why you’d want to keep her stress levels down at that point in a womans life. I hear it’s pretty hectic.” Benjamin hadn’t really experienced it himself though, other than being on the outskirts on occasion. “I can take you. It shouldn’t take too long out of my schedule though there’s no need for lunch. It’s not like I’ve been able to fix it for you which is essentially my job.”

“Thank you, Ben,” she said sincerely, giving one of his hands a brief squeeze before moving to get started. “Expect triple what I owe you after all this is over. You really didn’t have to stay but you did and I appreciate that so much.”

“Thank me when it’s done. No point doing that before we’ve even got started.” Not that he wouldn’t do his job of course but Ben was always that way. “And I don’t need triple. I’m not going to overcharge you for a job.”

Suddenly Ophelia’s expression fell a little, “Well, it’s pretty late. I could try to drop a line but I’m not sure many employees would be excited about showing up to work way after hours,” she admitted quietly, beginning to chew on her bottom lip. Her brain visualized all the crates that needed to be loaded. “Looks like we’ll just have to do it ourselves in the meantime.” She used her keycard to unlock one of the staff doors and held it open for Ben to follow her inside. “There’s a few forklifts if I’m not mistaken. If we work together to stack and lift, we should make decent progress. You in?”

This job was getting bigger and bigger by the moment but Ben didn’t like to think that anything was impossible, he could just foresee himself being extremely tired by the end of the night. Rubbing the back of his head, he let out a long breath before nodding his head and smiling. “I’m in. We better get started.”

Derek stared down at the torn apart fabric in his arms for another moment before unceremoniously shoving it into the nearest trash can. “ Any chance you make dog beds ? Prince will be devastated, but it serves him right for destroying things… ”

There was something quite sweet and unassuming about the question that made Ben warm to the man in a manner that made him wish he could help him. “I think i’d be cheaper and faster for you to just by one from the pet store. If you want I’ll take you down so you can check it out.” He offered, feeling that was the least he could do.

Ophelia smiled softly before inviting him to her car, driving them along to the Swan Spirit warehouse on the outskirts of Talle Hollow. As they made their way to the docking area, she let out a sigh of relief, “There’s a truck we can use,” she announced. “It must be my lucky day.”

Jumping into the others car, Ben made small talk until they got to the warehouse, a smile on his lips at the relief on the girls face. “Brilliant! Seems like we are more or less set to go. We’ll need to get everything loaded which I’ll help with of course but I’m guessing you have some workers who can help so we can get it done as soon as possible, right?”

“ Are you serious ? ” Derek resisted the urge to scoff. “ Who am I supposed to take a ripped up dog bed to for repair, then ? ”

Sometimes Ben hated that he had to be so polite because certain people really tested that patience that he liked to exercise. “I would say that in most circumstances a seamstress would be a good bet but under normal circumstances I would be more than happy to help but your dog has done a number to that. No amount of sewing will save it. My suggestion would be to buy a new one.”