“I’m not sure about missing work.”
“I suspected as much. Julian said we could take the jet on Friday night, spend Saturday doing the tests, then either fly back that night or on Sunday.”
There was a long pause. “The jet?”
“We’d take our private jet out of Coeur d’Alene.”
“You’d come with me?”
“If you want me to, I will.”
“Would it be an inconvenience?”
“Not at all. I’d be happy to go with you.”
“I think I’d rather my family not know I’m going for the testing.”
Ben frowned. “Really? Why not?”
“It’s so hard to see their disappointment when I don’t get any answers.”
“It’s happened before?”
“Yes.”
He waited for her to give him more details, but she didn’t. “Okay. Well, if you’d rather keep it on the down-low, then flying out Friday and coming back Saturday or Sunday would work best. Will it be too much physically for you?”
“I think I’ll be okay. I’ll make sure I’m okay.”
“Well, I’ll do whatever I can to make it as easy on you as possible.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Amelia said.
“I know,” Ben replied. “But I want to be there for you. To help you.”
“Even though I turned you down for a date?” she asked.
“Especially because of that.”
“I’m confused.”
“I know that right now, you’ve got a lot going on,” Ben said. “I think you need a friend more than anything, and I’m going to be that friend.”
“Oh.” The line was quiet for a moment, then she said, “I… appreciate that.”
“So let me be a friend and help you out, okay?” Ben said. “We were friends before anything else. Let’s be friends again.”
“Okay. I guess if you’re that desperate for friends.”
Ben chuckled. “I’m not desperate for friends, though I can always use ones that I like and that I can trust.”
“Then I guess we’re friends.”
“Good. I’ll let Julian know to set it up for this next weekend. Would that work?”
“Yes. Will I have to make arrangements for a hotel or anything else?”
“Nope. We’ll take care of it all. You just need to pack yourself a bag and come to the estate on Friday after work. We’ll take the helicopter to Coeur d’Alene and then the jet from there.”
