Gratefully, he stood up from her desk and headed to his office without pushing the issue. He turned in his doorway. “Did you see Ben this weekend?”
“Yes, why?”
“How did he seem?”
“I don’t know. About the same as usual, I guess. Why?” Amy wasn’t about to tell him she was the one who was a wreck yesterday. A comforting warmth stole over as she remembered Ben’s embrace. She knew him telling her she was an amazing woman was only meant to comfort her, but a part of her wanted—needed—to believe his words.
“This Saturday is the one-year anniversary of Melanie’s death.” Robert’s expression was grim.
The familiar tightness she felt anytime she thought about Ben’s loss gripped her chest. “That’s right. He did seem quiet, I guess.” She’d thought his somberness during dinner was due to the things she’d told him, but maybe it was more than that.
“He’s going to need a lot of support these next few weeks. But will he accept any?” Robert turned and entered his office, deep in thought, leaving Amy to her own thoughts of Ben. Thoughts she shouldn’t be entertaining.
Later that afternoon, Amy opened the door to Robert’s office to let him know he had a visitor. The unmistakable image laying in the open folder on his desk caught her eye.
Robert had Melanie’s file.
Ben wasn’t the only one who would find the next couple weeks difficult.
Would Robert ever be able to forgive himself for not bringing Ben’s daughter home?
* * *
“I appreciateyou watching Kallie again, Ben.” Amy sat on the couch in the family room.
Ben lay stretched out on the floor with Kallie climbing over him, and James was on the phone in his office with the door open.
Amy had taken her time cleaning up after dinner, and still she lingered, hoping to get a feel for how Ben was doing. He’d been quiet during dinner, but that wasn’t unusual.
“Thanks for letting me watch her. I know it’s not easy to entrust her care to me and my dad, but I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Had he sensed her reservations about letting him watch her daughter?
Kallie picked up her doll and climbed onto Amy’s lap. Ben got up off the floor and sat at the other end of the couch.
Feeling awkward, she searched for something to say. She couldn’t come right out and ask him how he was doing. She certainly didn’t want to remind him it would soon be the anniversary of his wife’s death.
“Mommy.” Kallie demanded her attention. “Baby.”
“Yes, that’s your baby.” Amy acknowledged the doll she held. Then, because she couldn’t figure out how to broach the subject without causing Ben pain, she kissed Kallie’s hair in preparation to leave.
“Daddy,” Kallie said, holding her doll out to Ben. “Baby.”
A soft gasp escaped Ben’s lips and his eyes widened. She felt him tense despite the distance between them. Shock enveloped Amy as a twinge of pain settled in her chest.
“Did she call me Daddy?”
Amy nodded, holding her breath.
Ben had said he didn’t mind Kallie calling his parents Nana and Papa. Did he feel the same way about Kallie calling him Daddy? Would it be a painful reminder he’d never hear his own daughter say it?
Ben looked away, blinking his eyes.
“I feel like I should apologize but... I don’t know... should I?”
“No,” he whispered, not meeting her eyes. Instead, he smiled at Kallie.
“I’m sure she just said it because she doesn’t know what to call you. I can teach her to call you Ben.”
