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Marty squinted up at him. “What the hell is your name again?” Marty asked.
“It’s Jeff Benson, but people call me Ben all the time for my last name so I’m kind of used to that, too,” he said shrugging.
“Maybe we can combine it,” Marty offered, nodding her head as she thought about it. “Ben-Jeff. How about we call you BJ?” she asked cheerily and then winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
“Oh yes,” Derrick said, “please, let us call you BJ.”
Ben just glared at Derrick, “Sorry D bag, not gonna happen,” he said, and continued off down the beach.
“Have you checked on Todd today?” Derrick asked Taylor, and she nodded.
“He is going home tomorrow. Nan is going to stay with him until he is up on his feet totally.”
“That woman is tough as nails,” Derrick said.
“Damn skippy,” Taylor laughed. Taylor felt so bad that she believed Todd was trying to kill her, she had confessed it all to him on one of her visits to him at the hospital. But, in a completely un-Todd-like fashion, he had hugged her.
“I understand, Taylor,” he said, “my shitty attitude only made me look more guilty.”
“Yeah, you can be a bit of an asshole,” Taylor admitted.
“I knew something was going on, and I had a weird vibe about Charlie. I was just trying to protect my best friend's daughter. You were his whole world.” he said.
“Your gun saved my life,” Taylor reminded him.
“I forgot I even had it,” he said, laughing.
Marty stood up, interrupting Taylor’s flashback thoughts. “Well, I think that meeting went well. I’m going to take an afternoon siesta,” she said, and sauntered off to the beachfront castle that was the only structure on the Isle of Fletcher.
Taylor laid back on her lounge and looked out at the water, not a cloud in sight, and the waves lapping at the shore. She turned to her husband, who was sitting up watching the surf himself, sipping a beer.
Derrick smiled at her. “Happily ever after, Tay?” he asked her.
Taylor smiled back. “Happily ever after,” she agreed, and pulled his face to hers, sealing their future with a kiss.