CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
As Cole spoke with them, Ben kept an eye on the table through the gym doors. He hoped that he’d have a few minutes to chat with Amelia before the clinic started.
He felt bad that she was experiencing more pain and exhaustion that day. It was a struggle sometimes to remember just how up and down Amelia’s health could be.
Ben thought that she tried to appear as normal as possible so people wouldn’t suspect how she was truly feeling. Hopefully she’d realize that she didn’t need to be that way with him.
He wanted to be someone she could rely on without hesitation, someone who understood that some days were better than others.
The kiss they'd shared on the boat had been playing in his mind constantly, a reminder of what they once had and a hint of what they might have again.
Ben glanced at his watch, noting there were still fifteen minutes before the clinic was scheduled to start.
He listened politely as Cole continued talking about some of the kids' progress, but his attention kept drifting to the empty table. Usually, she was there already.
Even though they’d only communicated through texts that day, there had been something in the interaction that had concerned Ben. She’d just seemed… down.
Maybe he was just reading into things.
When Cole finished his talk, Ben made his way out of the gym, happy to see that Amelia was now at the table handing out name tags to the teens. It didn’t take her long to finish that, and soon the last teen left to head into the gym.
"Hey there," Ben said as he approached, his gaze sweeping over her face.
She looked tired. The shadows under her eyes were more pronounced, and there was a tightness around her mouth that he recognized as her trying to hide pain.
"How are you feeling?" he asked softly, leaning against the table. She’d told him her levels on the phone, but he still needed to ask.
Amelia glanced up at him, a small smile on her face despite the weariness in her eyes. "I'm here."
"That's not what I asked," Ben said gently.
She sighed, her fingers absently straightening the few remaining tags on the table. Her gaze flicked up to his for a moment.
“Like I said in the text, seven for pain, eight for exhaustion.”
“Did something happen to trigger the increase?” Ben asked. “Your levels weren’t as high yesterday.”
She shifted her attention to her laptop and opened it as she said, “Sometimes that’s just the way it is. My health can be unpredictable. Sometimes I can pinpoint what makes things worse, and sometimes I can’t.”
“I’m sorry you have to live like that,” Ben said, wishing he’d asked for a level for her emotional state because she seemed very down. “I’m sure that must be very hard.”
“It is,” she admitted. “Making plans is always iffy.”
Before Ben could respond, he heard a whistle blow. “I gotta go. I’ll see you at the break.”
As he walked backward toward the gym, she gave him another small smile. He winked at her, then turned to join the others in the gym.
There were a few fresh faces in the group that week, which kept things interesting. Unfortunately, a couple of the teens didn’t seem to appreciate that the clinics weren’t just about basketball.
In the previous weeks, the kids had been willing to sit and listen to what Cole wanted to share with them, in addition to playing basketball. His ability to make his interactions with the teens interesting and engaging each day was admirable.
Cole wasn’t the only person who shared with the teens. The other men who’d come to help with the clinic also shared their testimonies. Ben’s admiration for all of them had grown during their time together.
But that day, two of the teens were being perpetually disruptive and outright rude, making Ben wonder why they were even there.
Just before the break, Cole gathered everyone around him and had them sit on the floor so he could speak to them. Ben left the gym to help Amelia set up the snacks.
“How’s it going?” she asked as he joined her.
“Got a couple of kids with attitudes this week,” Ben said. “Just stay sitting. I’ll take care of getting the drinks out.”
“I can help.”
“You can supervise.”
She looked like she was going to argue, but then just nodded. Ben bent and quickly transferred the drinks from the cooler to the table. Amelia organized them into lines by type of drink.
“Are the kids with attitudes picking on other kids?”
“A bit,” Ben said. “I’m not sure why they’re here. They were a bit disruptive earlier in the week, but today, it’s like their goal is to make sure no one enjoys the clinic.”
“That’s too bad. Do you think Cole will do anything about it?”
“I have a feeling that he’s going to pull them aside during the break.”
Once the drinks and snacks were all arranged, Ben sat down in the chair beside Amelia. At the beginning of the week, a second chair had appeared, but Ben wasn’t sure who was responsible for putting it there.
As the teens made their way out of the gym for their break, he could see a few of them glancing back toward Cole and then whispering to each other.
One of the kids approached Ben. “Are they going to get into trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Ben said. “That’s Cole’s call. But I know he’ll try to get them to see that what they’re doing is disrespectful to everyone participating in the clinic.”
Another kid scoffed. “They don’t care about respect.”
“Yeah,” the kid next to him said. “They’re not good in school either. Always getting into trouble. Bullying other kids.”
“Do they play basketball during the school year?”
The tallest of the three who’d spoken shrugged. “Only in gym class. The coach told them not to bother trying out for the team because even if they were the next LeBron James, he wasn’t letting them on.”
Ben could hardly blame the coach for that approach. It had been apparent from day one that they weren’t as focused on basketball as the others who were there were.
“I’m sure Cole will do his best to understand what’s going on,” Ben assured them. “And if that doesn’t work, he might ask them to leave.”
“I hope that’s what he does.”
“We’ll have to see,” Ben told them. “Cole will do what he thinks is best. For everyone.”
When Cole walked out of the gym, the two boys weren’t with him. He walked over to the table, a serious expression on his face.
“Can I have the information for Travis McNeil and Eddie Thomas, Amelia?”
“Sure.” Amelia sat forward and flipped open the file that was next to the laptop. She quickly sorted through the papers, pulling out one, then another. She handed them both to Cole. “Here you go.”
Cole took the papers, then pulled out his phone. He went back into the gym, leaving everyone watching him curiously.
Amelia glanced at Ben. “Remember Doug Leonard?”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Do I ever, and yeah, these boys are just like him. Do you know what happened to him?”
Amelia shook her head. “But I haven’t really kept up with people from high school. Layla might know. She’s done a better job of keeping in touch with the kids from your class.”
“I don’t think I want to know that badly,” Ben said with a laugh. “I’m in touch with the people from high school that I want to be in touch with.”
A spark lit in Amelia’s eyes, but almost immediately it died. She turned her attention to the papers, shuffling them back into order, then put them back into the folder.
Ben leaned closer to her, catching a whiff of something softly floral. “What’s wrong?”
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Nothing.”
Ben sat back, staring at her. That had been the response she’d give when they were teenagers when there was definitely something wrong.
He thought back over what he’d just said, but nothing stood out to him. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to coax it out of her.
Cole blew the whistle in the gym, and Ben got to his feet. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
Amelia looked up and nodded, but Ben couldn’t help but feel like maybe she didn’t want to.
He joined the others in the gym, but rather than Cole getting them started on the second part of the afternoon, one of the other men had taken over.
He noticed Cole taking the two troublemakers out of the gym. Ben was glad that Cole was taking steps to make sure that the clinic wasn’t negatively impacted by the presence of some troublemakers.
When Cole returned half an hour later, the boys weren’t with him, and he had a tense expression on his face. It faded away as he stepped back into helping the remaining kids. The kids who had proven they wanted to be there.
At four, the kids were dismissed, but Cole gathered the rest of them around to explain a bit more of what had happened with the boys.
The upshot was that they had been removed from the clinic and were not allowed to return unless they had a conversation with Cole.
If they were given permission to return, they wouldn’t be able to do so together at the same clinic.
It was four-thirty when their meeting ended, and Ben wasn’t surprised that Amelia was no longer at the table. He and Luca walked the hallways to the office so that he could check in with her.
When they got to the office, however, the desk there was empty. The light was still on in the pastor’s office and his door was open, so Ben approached it and knocked on the door frame.
After greeting the pastor, Ben said, “Is Amelia still around?”
The pastor shook his head. “She left not long after the clinic ended. She said she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
As they exited the church through the side door, Luca said, “Are you worried about her?”
“I’m always worried about her,” Ben told him.
Luca didn’t say anything more as he slid behind the wheel of the SUV. Ben debated what he should do. He wanted to see her or do something that might help her.
“Don’t leave yet,” he told Luca as he started the SUV.
Taking out his phone, he sent a quick message to Amelia.
The pastor said you left early because you weren’t feeling well. Do you want me to bring you some dinner?