Sweet Bits Read Online Free

spoke on the phone.”
     
    “Me, too,” she admitted. “It’s really good to see you.” She suddenly realized just how good it was and it made her heart flutter a bit. Ben Harper is here in my living room. It was like a dream.
     
     
     
    ***
     
     
     
    Dinner had been delicious. He’d taken her to a newer restaurant across town and it had lived up to its reviews. As they drove back to Ali’s place they talked easily just like they’d never parted.
     
    Ben walked her to her front door. “Gosh, I feel like this was a date or something,” he joked.
     
    “Yeah, weird, huh?”
     
    “Do you date much?” he asked. The entire dinner they had talked about family and friends and caught up on gossip without really talking about themselves.
     
    “Nah, not much. Here and there. I guess I’m going to be an old spinster with cats,” she joked.
     
    “No, not you,” he laughed. “Aren’t you allergic to cats anyway?”
     
    He looked at her in the moonlight. He couldn’t imagine her ever being alone.
     
    Ali laughed. “Yeah, I guess that will save me.” She wanted to know the same. “Do you?” she asked him.
     
    “Not much. Same as you. Here and there. No one special,” he said.
     
    They stared at each other for a moment. If they had been on a date, now would be the time for a goodnight kiss. But it wasn’t a date. It was just two old friends catching up.
     
    “Well, I guess I better get going,” said Ben.
     
    “OK, I’ve got a full day tomorrow,” said Ali. “I have to cook a week’s worth of food for a lady who’s going into the hospital for surgery. She doesn’t want her family to starve while she’s there so I’m going to stock their freezer,” said Ali.
     
    “That’s thoughtful,” said Ben. “Sounds like you like your work.”
     
    “I do,” she said not wanting to get into the subject that once parted them. It was best to leave it alone. He seemed happy enough. It was his choice and she was bound and determined to live by it as he had.
     
    He gave her a quick hug and was gone promising to call in a few days.
     
    She looked after him as he walked down the sidewalk to his car. If he’d been just a guy she passed in the street he would definitely turn her head. But it was Ben. And she was glad to have him back in her life.
     
     
     

CHAPTER 4
     
     
     
    “So, how did he look,” asked Josie? Ali put the phone on speaker and changed her clothes while she talked. It had been a grueling day and she was beat.
     
    “He looked good. Great, actually.”
     
    “Still gorgeous?”
     
    “Yeah, still gorgeous.” Ali had filled her friend in on Ben and their history together, not leaving out the fact that he was one good looking guy. This fact alone intrigued Josie, who was constantly on the hunt for a man.
     
    “Is he seeing anyone?” asked Josie.
     
    “No, I don’t think so.”
     
    “Hmm,” said Josie.
     
    “What do you mean by that?” asked Ali, but she knew.
     
    “Oh, nothing.”
     
    “Forget it, Josie.”
     
    “I know, I know.” Josie wouldn’t push it, but if Ben was so good looking and not dating anyone then what about her?
     
    “OK, so how was your date?” Ali asked. “Didn’t you have a date with that salesman last night?”
     
    While Josie talked about yet another date gone wrong, Ali washed her face and brushed her hair back into a ponytail. She’d heard all about Josie’s bad dates for the last two years and this story would likely be no different. The running water obscured some of the details, but all of it pretty much sounded the same.
     
    “Sorry to hear that,” said Ali. “I told you that internet dating was shady.”
     
    “Yeah, but Melissa from my work met her husband that way,” said Josie, ever hopeful.
     
    “Well, just be a little more picky, I guess,” said Ali. This had to be the 20 th bad date story and she was growing a bit weary of listening to them.
     
    “So set me up with Ben,” joked Josie.
     
    Ali felt a