CHAPTER ONE #2
The evening didn’t last too long. With so many young children, once the meal was over, the families left pretty quickly.
Ben stood with his parents, watching as most of them walked off in the direction of their homes, while Annie and Cole climbed into their vehicle with their two kids.
His mom slipped her arm around his waist. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
Ben kissed the top of her head. “I’m glad to be here too.”
After visiting a bit more with his parents, Ben went up to his room to prepare for bed.
It had been a long day, and with the time change from New York, it felt later that it actually was in Serenity.
But he planned to be up the next morning for church, so getting to bed at a reasonable time wasn’t a bad idea.
The next morning, Ben dressed in a pair of chinos in a color that his tailor had called “light coffee” and paired them with a linen button-down, short-sleeved black shirt.
He fastened his black leather belt, then slipped on a pair of brown loafers.
After strapping on his watch, he straightened the chain he always wore.
When he went down to the breakfast room, Ben found both his parents there already. And from the look of their attire, they were also planning to attend church that morning.
“Are you joining us at church, son?” his dad asked.
“I am,” Ben said as he lifted his mug of coffee for a sip.
He’d never found a church that he’d committed to attending in New York.
Admittedly, he hadn’t tried very hard. It had just been easier to watch the livestreams from the church in Serenity.
He enjoyed the familiar services, and they had given him the opportunity to keep up with what was happening in the church.
In the past decade, the church had grown significantly, and about six years ago they’d opened a Christian school.
Through donations from the Burke family and others in the community, the church had been able to build a new building on the outskirts of town, which had the school attached to it.
The school’s gym was where they’d be holding the basketball clinics he’d come to help with.
Back in the day, Julian and Angie and their spouses had attended church in Coeur d’Alene, but as their kids had arrived, they’d made the decision to attend the church in Serenity instead.
Since it was closer, it allowed them to be more involved.
Plus, all of the family’s school-aged kids attended the church’s school.
Once breakfast was done, their bodyguards arrived to accompany them to the church. His mom and dad climbed into an SUV with their bodyguards, while he and Luca took a separate vehicle. Ben slid behind the wheel while Luca rode shotgun.
As they neared the church, Ben took in the large buildings. This was the first time Ben had seen the campus, and he was impressed with the look of it as they turned into the expansive parking lot.
His parents’ SUV pulled to a stop near the front doors to let them out, but Ben guided his vehicle to an empty spot in the lot. He approached the entrance to the church with Luca at his side.
Ben didn’t think they needed to have their bodyguards when attending church, but if there was one thing that his dad hadn’t relaxed about, even with age, it was the protection of his family. They weren’t to go anywhere without a bodyguard. Even the grandkids traveled to and from school with guards.
Luca stayed close to him as they entered the foyer of the church. There were groups of people gathered there already, and the enticing aroma of coffee with a slight hint of chocolate hung in the air. Though he’d had a cup of coffee already with breakfast, he wasn’t opposed to another one.
“I’m going to get some coffee,” Ben said to his mom when he joined his parents in the foyer. “I’ll find you and Dad inside.”
“The coffee is over there,” she said, pointing to the opposite side of the large foyer.
Ben and Luca headed in the direction she indicated and joined the line of people waiting to get a drink.
“Do you want a cup as well?” Ben asked Luca.
“Are we able to drink it during the service?”
“I think so,” Ben said. “I plan to.”
“Then I’ll have one.”
As they stepped up to the counter of the small space where they were making coffee, he smiled at the two women working there.
One was on the tall, slender side with dark brown hair, pulled back in a ponytail, who looked like she was just a teen.
She wore a plain pink T-shirt tucked into a pair of jeans.
Though he couldn’t see her face clearly, the other woman appeared to be a bit older, and she had light brown hair that fell in waves over her shoulder, almost to the middle of her back. She was shorter than the other woman and had a curvier figure. Her dress flowed around her as she moved.
The younger woman smiled as she greeted them, drawing Ben’s attention to her. “What can we get for you today?”
“What are our options?” Ben asked.
“Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Nothing too fancy here.”
“Good thing I’m not about fancy,” Ben said with a laugh. “We’ll just take two coffees.”
The teen pulled two cups from the stack, then handed them to the other woman, who set them on the counter in front of the hot beverage dispenser and removed one of the carafes to pour coffee into them.
“There’s no charge?” Ben asked. Since it was set up like a café, he wasn’t sure.
“Nope,” the younger woman said, then gestured to a sign and box on the other end of the counter. “But you can give a donation if you’d like.”
“I don’t have cash.” Ben turned to Luca. “What about you?”
“I do.” Luca pulled out his wallet and pulled out a twenty. When he gave Ben a questioning look, Ben nodded. The guard dropped the bill into plastic box.
When they returned their attention to the coffee, their cups were full and sitting on the counter.
The younger woman placed lids on the disposable cups and held them out to Ben. “Here you go. Cream and sugar are over there.”
He took them, then handed one to Luca. “Thank you very much.”
“You’re very welcome,” the young woman said with a beaming smile. “Enjoy the service.”
Knowing that Luca preferred a little cream in his coffee, Ben headed toward the area the young woman had indicated. After taking a sip from his cup, he decided he might need some cream as well as it was quite strong. Perhaps it was made that way in an effort to keep people awake during the sermon.
When they returned to the doors of the sanctuary, he spotted Annie and Cole and headed in their direction. Cole held a cup, but Annie didn’t.
“Did you talk to Amelia?” Annie asked, gesturing to his cup.
“Amelia?” He shook his head. “I didn’t see her.”
“She’s working in the café,” Annie said. “I assumed you had talked to her since you got coffee.”
Ben thought back to the two women who had served them, but neither had been Amelia. It had been ten years since he’d last seen her, but he didn’t think she would have changed so much that he wouldn’t have recognized her.
And surely, she would have said hi to him if she’d seen him.
Maybe…
They hadn’t talked at all in the years since she’d ended things between them.
She’d said she needed to focus on her skating, and though he hadn’t understood at first—and had been hurt that she hadn’t wanted to continue their relationship—it hadn’t taken long for him to see that she’d done the right thing.
She’d gone on to achieve Olympic success, though as far as he knew, Olympic gold had eluded her.
And much to Ben’s surprise, she’d retired from competition a couple of years ago, without ever attaining that gold.
Not much had been said in the news about her abrupt retirement, and when he’d asked Annie about it, she’d just said that Amelia had decided it was time.
Though he’d watched her compete a few times early on after their breakup, Ben had eventually accepted that things were well and truly over between them.
That wasn’t to say he held any ill will in his heart toward her.
He didn’t. Once he’d accepted that the breakup had actually been a good thing for both of them, he’d hoped that she would be able to reach all the goals she had set for herself.
It was a rare moment when she entered his thoughts these days, but perhaps he should have given more attention to the fact that they’d likely run into each other while he was there helping Cole with the clinics. Not that it should be that big of a deal.
He didn’t think there was too much water under the bridge for them to rekindle their friendship.
Or at least interact without awkwardness.
If he’d broken up with her, maybe it would have been more tense.
But since she’d initiated the breakup, if he wasn’t upset with her, then perhaps they could at least be friendly in their interactions.
Ben glanced over at the café, but the people standing around the counter blocked his view of the women who were working there. Amelia must have stepped away in the time between when Cole had gotten his coffee and Ben had gotten his.
He might have missed an opportunity to talk to Amelia that morning, but Ben was fairly certain that there would be more chances for them to chat in the weeks ahead.