LOVE TO HATE YOU

(NEW) VIRGIN CATHOLIC PRIEST...

I sat at the table with Ben in the restaurant that was right around the corner from us. I'd never seen it though. It was restaurant set in amongst the most beautiful trees, leading out onto a lawn with a huge kids play area.

"You know about these kinds of places when you're on the parent circuit." Ben said.

It was such a weird sounding statement. Ben on the parent circuit! I still hadn't really gotten used to the idea of him being a dad. It still hadn't sunk in. Especially since he looked like the furthest thing from a father. Fathers aren't supposed to be so sexy, and tattooed and they definitely aren't suppose to have sex with people in the backseat of their cars.

Li had run off even before the waffles had even been ordered and was currently playing on the trampoline, leaving Ben and I to sit in a strained, awkward silence.

"So you're a father." I finally said, breaking the silence.

"Yes. I'm a dad."

"You know, if you'd asked me forty eight hours ago what the most unbelievable thing about you could possibly ever be, father would have been at the top of the list. Along with virgin Catholic Priest maybe."

Ben let out a small chuckle.

"I'm being serious." I quickly turned to him.

"I know you are." He said. "Some days its still hard for me to believe. But I wouldn't change it for the world." Ben turned and looked at me. Our eyes connected and that same, totally involuntarily, bolt of something shot through me once more. That magnetic thing that was currently making me want to reach out and touch him against all logic.

I sighed loudly and shook my head at the total absurdity of this moment. "What are we doing?" I was feeling exacerbated. "What am I doing sitting here with you, once again? Why am I with you when I should be angrily avoiding you? Why am I here ordering waffles on a Sunday morning with your adorable daughter bouncing up and down on a trampoline like we are some kind of... " I stopped. I didn't want to say family, even if it was exactly what I was thinking. " After everything you've done, everything that's happened ... I'm meant to dislike you immensely."

"But you don't. " Ben's hand inched across the table.

"No! Stop it there, Ben." I pointed at his hand and it stopped it's sneaky approach. "I'm being serious, why are we here again, together? Why?"

"I told you, Sera. There's something between us. It was there from the first moment I saw you and it's pulling us together."

"That sounds ridiculous." I mumbled.

"How else do you explain it all then? You working in the same office as me, being my next-door neighbor, the fact we can't keep our hands off each other, that we can't stop thinking about each other and talking and..."

"Who says I'm thinking about you?"

He shrugged. "Anyway, we wouldn't be here together if you hadn't been spying on me. Sneaking around in the basement and the roses. You're the reason you're with me. You can't keep away." His hand crept again and I flicked it.

"But wait..." I pulled my hands into my lap least I temp him any further. "But what you did at the party yesterday, it was­–"

"Terrible." He cut me off. "And I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you." He looked at me with such sincerity that I believed him.

"Do you think I'm a total asshole?" His voice was soft and filled with emotion. Regret. Hurt.

"Honestly I don't know what to think about you anymore. I have so many questions."