A Shepherd Afield Pt. 02

"That BITCH!" Trish growled. The woman with the tablet shied back in fear at Trish's tone.

"Trish!" Ben said and she settled back. "No good deed goes unpunished," she grumbled and Ben had to nod to that.

"I'm sorry. She was talking about the reporter who took the picture. May I see the magazine?" Ben asked the woman who immediately moved closer to hand him the tablet. She seemed to be absolutely thrilled to be standing next to him. She squeezed into their space to allow the other passengers to get past her to go to their seats.

Ben flipped to the next page and found the photo credit for the cover image. There was Naomi's name. In the table of contents there was an article by her as well. He looked up into the awestruck face of the woman hovering over him. "Could I read the article and bring the tablet back to you once we're in the air?"

"Sure, if I can get a photo with you," she blurted.

Ben's eyebrows went up. "Uh... sure."

The woman beamed a smile at him. "Seat 32C," she chirped then slipped out into the flow of people moving towards the back. Ben turned back to the tablet. He made note of the publishing house. He'd lay odds that it also published Naomi's magazine. Had he done an article for her for her magazine he wondered how quickly it would have shown up in this one too.

The article Naomi wrote was about La'Shia and Dream's secret wedding which had imploded in the few days they'd been in Costa Rica. Ben scanned through the article not really reading it as much as searching for keywords. Then he found it. The story of how he'd saved a woman from being sliced open with a knife and how the man was dead after the encounter. There was a lot of implied violence but she didn't outright accuse him of murder for which he supposed he was grateful.

Naomi even covered how he'd saved a relationship while on the cruise with no mentioning her part in that crisis. Worst of all she actually used the term 'love doctor'.

He'd seen enough. She'd proven she had no integrity, and was a terrible writer, so he shut down the app and got up to take the tablet back to its owner.

He found her excitedly gabbing with the woman across the aisle and both froze to look at him with broad smiles. "Thanks for the use of the tablet."

She took it from his hand and started up the camera app. She handed the tablet to the woman across the aisle. Then she stood next to Ben and grinned up at him. He smiled at the woman holding the tablet and she took some pictures. Then they switched places and more pictures were taken.

Tracy came by and rescued him by directing him back to his seat for take-off.

While Trish and Rochelle were pleased that he wasn't getting as upset about the attention he was getting they saw the tension showing in his eyes. Rochelle switched seats with him to tuck him back by the window. This made him less accessible to the other passengers. Trish's glare made the gawkers move along.

Ben tucked himself under the blanket and leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. He was out before the wheels left the tarmac.

He woke with Rochelle gently nudging him. The afterimage of flames passed behind his eyes. "Wha?"

"Sorry Ben, you were having a nightmare. You shouted. Was it the house fire dream again?" she asked quietly.

"Uh, yes. I think so." He saw Trish looking around Rochelle at him and he gave her a smile. He looked out the window but saw the tops of the clouds. "Any idea where we are?"

"We're almost home."

That word rang like a bell through Ben's being. Home! His spirits immediately rose and he smiled at the two women. They returned the smile and Rochelle took his hand in hers to give it a squeeze.

They were soon on the ground and made their way through customs and immigration and got their luggage as they entered the terminal to make their way to the long term parking lot.

An older gentleman in a dark suit and a bushy white mustache approached Ben and stood before him.

"Ben Shepherd?" he asked with a deep southern drawl.

Ben didn't recognize the man but he nodded.

"You've been served." The man handed him a court summons, nodded politely to the two ladies then walked away.

Ben looked at the papers in his hand with a frown. "Someone is suing me?" He opened the papers and froze. Written there on the papers was a name he never thought he'd see again. He couldn't breathe, his chest was tight and his hands began trembling.

Trish looked at the papers and her face dropped. "Oh fuck me," she gasped quietly in shock.

Rochelle couldn't see the papers and gave Trish a worried look as Ben didn't appear capable of answering.

"It's Wendy. Ben's ex. She's back."