Once Julian moved to another set of chairs, Ben turned toward Amelia. "Are you doing okay?”
“So far, so good,” she said. “Though I have to admit I’m a bit nervous about the testing.”
“What concerns you about the tests?”
Amelia looked out the window, her grip tightening slightly on his hand. “It’s not the tests themselves. It’s just hard to not get my hopes up, but I don’t want to be disappointed again.”
“Have your prior tests not shown anything?”
She shook her head as she looked back at him. “They told me everything was normal, though clearly, nothing is normal for me. Maybe we just haven’t run the right tests yet. I know they started with the most basic ones, then I just wasn’t able to get more testing done.”
“If there’s one thing that I know about Julian, it’s that he’s tenacious. He will get you answers. Maybe it will take awhile, but he’ll get them for you.”
“I appreciate him doing this,” she said. “And also you coming along with me.”
“I’m happy to be along for the ride, especially since you haven’t told your family what’s going on.”
She shrugged. “I don’t want them to get their hopes up either. It’s been hard, especially on my dad.”
“Is he feeling a bit helpless?” Ben asked.
Amelia’s brows rose. “How do you know that?”
“He can’t do anything,” Ben said. “And I can only imagine that for a father, that’s the worst possible situation.”
Amelia smiled sadly. "He’s a mechanic, so he's used to fixing things. My whole life, if something was broken, Dad could repair it. He's always been so capable. But he can't fix me."
The attendant approached with a tray of food, and Ben reluctantly released Amelia's hand as they made room for their meal. The spread was simple but elegant. Grilled chicken breasts, roasted vegetables, quinoa, and sparkling water.
"This looks amazing," Amelia said, her eyes widening at the presentation.
“Should we pray before we eat?”
She glanced at him, then nodded.
Ben took her hand again and said a quick prayer, thanking God for the food and asking that the tests would go smoothly and give Amelia the answers she was searching for.
After the prayer, Ben watched Amelia take a bite and hum in appreciation. Smiling, he picked up his own fork and began to eat.
When they were finished, the attendant cleared their plates away and brought them dessert. A cheesecake that was rich and smooth and delicious.
Amelia leaned back in her seat after finishing her last bite. “That was amazing. And I’m full to the gills.”
“I could probably eat another piece of that cheesecake, actually. Maybe I’ll have another piece for a midnight snack.”
“Well, you can afford to,” Amelia said. “Because you can just work it off.”
“So now I have to decide if that cheesecake is worth having to work out extra.”
“I’d probably have to say yes, but thankfully, I’m too full to be tempted, since I can’t work it off.”
“Is there any exercise that you can do that doesn’t cause you more pain?”
Amelia frowned, crossing her arms over her waist. “I haven’t really tried a lot of different exercises. I do know that running, skating, and weightlifting are a no-go. I’ve done some stretching, but often it leaves me exhausted. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to be exhausted because I need to go to work.”
"What about swimming?" Ben asked, thinking back to the conversation they'd had about the pool party at the estate. "It's low-impact, and the water supports your weight."
Amelia considered this, her head tilting slightly. "Unfortunately, it would probably still exhaust me, especially with the added effort of moving in water."
