Honestly, she was just as happy to not have her skincare stuff. It gave her an excuse to just peel out of her clothes and crawl into bed. She paused just long enough to gather her hair up into a scrunchy so she wouldn’t wake up tangled in it come morning.
As she crawled into bed, exhaustion held her body captive, but her mind… oh, her mind was happy to play back every moment of her conversation with Ben.
Please, God… I just want to sleep.
It seemed to take forever for her body to win the battle over her mind, but finally, she was given a reprieve from the weight of the memory.
Since she hadn’t set her alarm the night before, Amelia woke disoriented, but even before moving, she knew that she wouldn’t make it to church that morning. She picked up her phone to check the time and saw that it was almost time for the service to start.
With a groan, she sat up and carefully lowered her feet over the side of the bed. She slowly made her way to the bathroom, took care of business, then washed her face and brushed her hair.
Once that was done, she made her way back to the bed and climbed under the covers. She picked up the remote for the television that sat on the chest of drawers at the foot of her bed and turned it on. She used the remote to bring up the YouTube channel for the church. The stream was already up and playing the announcements she’d prepared earlier that week.
As the announcements scrolled through, she watched them with a critical eye, looking for anything she might have missed.
When eleven o’clock rolled around, the announcement screen was replaced by a wide view of the sanctuary. Almost immediately, she spotted several familiar figures, one of whom was Ben.
She could see that he was seated with Cole and Annie. As she watched, she saw him turn and look over his shoulder toward the back of the sanctuary.
Was he looking for someone?
Was he looking for her?
No… she couldn’t allow her mind to go down that road, especially after the previous night.
As soon as the service began, the camera zoomed in on the stage, and she knew it would stay that way until the end of theservice. The church had a policy of giving people privacy for their worship, so they purposely didn’t video the congregation during the service.
Her attention kept drifting as the service progressed. It wasn’t unusual for her to be unfocused, especially after a particularly draining period of time. All she could do right then was ride it out and hope that it had all been worth the effort.
When the livestream ended, she used the remote to turn off the television, then shifted onto her side, phone in hand. She looked through social media using the accounts she’d set up after retiring, having abandoned the ones associated with her skating career.
Her interest didn’t last long, and soon she dropped the phone onto the bed and closed her eyes. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, but she couldn’t find the energy to get out of bed.
At some point she’d get up and find something to eat, but it wouldn’t be right then.
The ringing of her phone roused her a little while later. Amelia patted the bed beside her, trying to find the phone. When her fingers closed around it, she lifted it to stare at the screen, blinking to bring it into focus.
Ben…
She stared at it for a moment, trying to decide if she wanted to answer it. However, before she could make up her mind, the phone stopped ringing.
Amelia turned onto her back, resting her phone on her chest, trying to figure out if she was relieved or disappointed.
Her phone chimed, letting her know she had a voicemail. Who left voicemails these days? Usually, if she didn’t answer her phone, she got a text message from whoever had tried to call.
After tapping her way to her voicemail, Amelia hesitated for a moment before playing it.
“Hey, Amelia. Missed you at church this morning.” He paused, then cleared his throat. “I realized this morning I still had your bag in the SUV, so I wanted to bring that by. I thought maybe I could bring some lunch as well. I’m going to come by your place, but if you’re not up for answering the door, that’s fine. See you in a bit. Uh… maybe.”
Amelia lay there for a minute before getting out of bed. If Ben was going to show up, she should answer the door.
Though her body was in the grip of pain, Amelia forced herself to change into a pair of shorts and an oversized T-shirt. She brushed her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.
It wasn’t how she’d liked to have looked when she saw him, but she didn’t have enough time to do much more. She walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
For a long moment, she stared at the drink cup, fry container, and the box containing the chicken strips that sat on the top shelf, then shut the fridge door again. Turning, she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap.
It was tepid, but she drank it down, then set the glass in the sink. She stared blankly at the glass, trying to figure out if she was going to answer the door when Ben arrived.
