Amelia stared at the familiar packaging, her throat tightening unexpectedly. She remembered how he would sometimes slip one into her training bag when she wasn't looking. A little treat for after practice.
Reaching out, she took the bag from him, slowly sliding it toward herself across the rough surface of the table. “Thank you.”
“Do you still like them?” he asked.
“Yes. I do.”
“I got some of the chocolates I used to eat too,” he said, pulling another bag out and holding it up.
Amelia should have been surprised that he’d remembered what she liked, but she wasn’t. He’d always paid attention to details, especially details about her. No one had known the little things about her the way he had.
That might have been why it had been so easy to tell him everything. She’d known that he would pay attention to what she said. He hadn’t been asking frivolously.
She hadn’t realized back then that the virtue he had for paying attention wasn’t one necessarily shared by other boys his age. It made her feel… secure knowing that it was still something he valued as an adult, even though he had plenty of other demands on his time and thoughts.
“Are you going to have one now?” Ben asked as he unwrapped a piece of his own.
“I’m full,” she said. “But I’ll definitely have a piece later.”
Ben smiled as he popped his candy into his mouth. His eyes sparkled in the evening light, and Amelia couldn’t help but be drawn in by the warmth in his gaze.
For a moment, she wanted to believe that he was interested in her, the way he’d been in high school.
But immediately she dismissed the thought. Her life then had been dominated by her training and the career goals she had set for herself. Her life now was dominated by her unstable health and how she had to manage her life around it.
No sane person would willingly involve themselves with someone who couldn’t be with them one hundred percent. Her health would always have to be at the forefront of her life, which meant that would be the case for any man she got into a relationship with.
She couldn’t do that to Ben.
She wouldn’t do that to Ben.
“I should probably be getting home,” she said, wrapping her fingers around the plastic bag of candy.
Ben nodded. “I appreciate you agreeing to join me here for a little while. And for sharing about your health.”
“Thanks for listening.”
“Anytime.” Ben smiled, then reached out to consolidate their trash, shoving it into the bag their food containers had come in.
When they got to their feet, so did Luca. She was glad he’d given them some privacy, though she knew that he wouldn’t have shared anything she’d told Ben with anyone else.
Still, she was thankful that Ben had made sure they had privacy for their conversation.
They made their way to the car, Ben veering off slightly to drop their trash into a wire receptacle lined with a black garbage bag.
It didn’t take long to get back to the church, where Ben pulled in beside her car. It was the only one still in the parking lot.
“Thank you for dinner,” Amelia said as they stood beside her car. “I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” Ben reached out and touched her arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’ll be there in the afternoon.”
It was a somewhat awkward goodbye, and Amelia was glad to slide behind the wheel of her car. She had almost wrapped her arms around him in a hug like they used to share whenever they said goodbye.
Not doing that had felt… wrong.
When she reached home, Amelia sat down on her couch and stared blankly at the doors leading out onto the balcony. Now that she was home, her energy seemed to have flooded right out of her.
