“Okay. I’ll have Connie make us a meal,” he said. “Any requests?”
“My tastes haven’t changed much,” she said. “I’m sure whatever you decide will be fine.”
“I can promise you a good meal, but there are no guarantees about fireworks.”
She gave a small shrug. “It’s probably better if there aren’t any.”
Ben didn’t happen to agree, but he didn’t press. They’d have time the next evening to talk through things. That was what he wanted most. A good conversation with her.
The whistle from the gym grabbed Ben’s attention, and he glanced toward the open doorway. “I guess I’d better get back to work. Talk to you later?”
She nodded and gave him a small smile. Ben jogged toward the group, preparing himself for the rest of the afternoon.
When the clinic ended, Ben spent a few minutes talking with the kids, some of whom wouldn’t be returning to future clinics. Once the kids were gone, Cole gathered the men for a debriefing of the week. A couple of the men weren’t returning the next week either, and Ben was sad to see them go.
After everything was done, Ben left the gym, not surprised to see that the hallway table was empty, the chairs pushed neatly in.
“I’m going to swing by the office,” Ben said as Luca joined him. “To say goodbye to Amelia.”
He found her seated at her desk with a stack of folded papers in front of her.
“The bulletin for Sunday?” he asked as he sat down across from her.
“Yep. Not sure how many churches still do paper bulletins, but we do.”
“Need some help?” Ben offered.
She glanced at Luca, then back to Ben. “You don’t have to leave?”
“Nope. Dinner’s not until seven at the house.”
Amelia took half of the unfolded stack and slid it across the desk to him. “Make sure you line up the edges.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ben said as he picked up one of the bulletins and looked it over. “Did you design this?”
“Yes. It’s one of my assignments,” she said. “Marian isn’t a fan of computers, so I took it over when we split the job.”
Luca had disappeared into the hall, but Ben didn’t rush to join him. His bodyguard knew how to roll with the punches when necessary.
“What’s exciting in the bulletin this week?” Ben asked as he carefully lined up the edges.
“Not a whole lot,” Amelia said. “Things at the church are pretty quiet with it being summer. There are only a couple of programs continuing.”
After he’d folded around ten bulletins, he said, “Why don’t you have a folding machine to do this?”
“A folding machine?” Amelia asked, her movements slowing.
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure they have machines that fold papers like this.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Marian just told me that this was how it’s done.”
“Because that’s the way it’s always been done?”
Amelia gave a little huff of laughter. “Probably. She isn’t a big one for change or for technological advances.”
“Well, while it might not benefit her anymore because you’re doing it, I think it might be worth looking into for your sake.”
Her movements stilled as she looked down at her hands. “Why do you say that?”
