As soon as he saw the table, he noticed that it was no longer Miss Marian minding it. The woman there now had long, light brown hair that hung loose around her shoulders. She appeared to be on the shorter side and had a curvy figure.
Seeing her, Ben realized that she had been one of the women who’d served him coffee at the church, and he felt a bit sick that he hadn’t recognized her.
His mind went back to the conversation he’d had with Annie, Layla, and Lexi on the boat the previous afternoon. They hadn’t gone into great detail, but they’d said enough that he had a better understanding of the things that had led to Amelia’s retirement.
She had definitely not retired because it was what she’d wanted. Her body had demanded that she give up the sport she’d loved and had devoted most of her life to. From what Lexi hadsaid, Amelia no longer trained or skated, which had led to the physical changes that had kept him from recognizing her.
Which was stupid. He should have known who she was, no matter what changes she might have undergone. If someone had told him what all she’d endured prior to him seeing her at the church the day before, he would have been on the lookout for the changes.
Instead, he’d been expecting her to look the way she had the last time he’d seen her. Which had also been stupid. He’d changed in the ten years since they’d seen each other, so it had been unrealistic for him to expect her to look exactly the same, even without the physical challenges she’d been dealing with.
“Hi, Amelia,” Ben said as he neared the table.
She’d been bent over, laying out papers on the table, her hair sliding over her shoulder to create a curtain. Ben saw her freeze, her hands curling into fists for a moment.
Straightening, she turned in his direction, sweeping her hair back over her shoulder. Her face held no expression, and her gaze was guarded.
“Hi, Benji,” she said, crossing her arms over her waist.
Ben grinned at her. “I haven’t been Benji in a long time.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he told her. “You’re probably the one person I don’t mind calling me that.”
Her eyes narrowed briefly, then she said, “How are things going with the camp?”
“Things went well this morning, I think,” he said, struggling a bit with the thought that he was standing there with Amelia,chatting as if ten years hadn’t passed since they’d last seen each other. “Though the kids had a lot of energy.”
“That age group usually does. The teens this afternoon will probably be a little more focused.”
“I hope so,” Ben said. “I’m too old to be chasing them around.”
Amelia’s brows lifted, her blue eyes widening. “Too old? You’re not even thirty.”
“I’m getting close,” he said. “Plus, those kids this morning had a lot of energy. Way more than I have.”
“Hi, you guys,” Cole said as he joined them at the table.
Ben was actually glad for the interruption. He hadn’t wanted things to get awkward, which inevitably they would have when they ran out of casual things to talk about.
“Do you have everything you need for this afternoon, Amelia?” Cole asked.
“I think so,” she said, sinking down on the chair behind the table and giving Ben the opportunity to take in more of her as she interacted with Cole.
There were obvious differences. The angles of her face were not as sharp as they’d once been, and her loose hair added to the air of softness that surrounded her now. She’d had long hair back when they’d dated, but it had been a rare thing for her to wear it loose.
Over the years, he hadn’t dwelled on how a meeting between him and Amelia might unfold. For the first couple of years after their breakup, he’d actively avoided any chance that they might run into each other, which hadn’t been too hard since he’d been away for school. Eventually, though, he’d gotten to the pointwhere he didn’t think about seeing her when he returned to Serenity.
When he and Amelia had first broken up, Ben had been assured by his family that he’d move on from it. That he would find love again. In the midst of that heartache, he’d been sure they were wrong.
They hadn’t been.
As time passed, the pain over the ending of their relationship faded to a pleasant memory of the time they’d had together. One that he only revisited at significant moments in time, like when Amelia had won her first Olympic medal.
Ben wasn’t sure that their relationship would have lasted, even if they hadn’t broken up when they had. He was a different man from who he’d been in high school, and he was certain that Amelia was different as well.
The woman who stood before him wasn’t the person he’d fallen in love with, and he wasn’t the man she’d fallen in love with either.
