29. A “Wealth” of Information
Ben satin his armchair in the reclined position, feet up. It had undoubtedly been an eventful day, and he was fully prepared to remain in the relative safety of his apartment for the remainder of the afternoon. He stretched his legs outward and reached for the TV remote, placing it on the extra wide arm on the side of his chair. Upon reaching into his pocket to remove his wallet and phone, his fingers caught on a piece of paper—no, a slightly crumpled napkin. Ben pulled it out, turned it around and peered at it as if it would bite him. Charmed to Table was written above the restaurant’s logo, with Gia’s phone number just below.
Ben glanced at the napkin again and felt his chest tighten with anxiety. He wanted to text her, but his fingers didn’t move. He felt frozen. Why am I being such a wuss? What’s wrong with reaching out to a woman after spending a lovely afternoon together—even if we didn’t mean to spend it together? Ben shrugged in response to his own question. “Nothing,” he finally said aloud. “Absolutely nothing!”
He carefully typed the digits from the napkin into his phone, storing the number and double-checking it before he began crafting his greeting:
Hey Gia, it’s Ben. I hope you enjoyed our lunch today. I’m really looking forward to the rare plant show at the botanical garden this week—I hope you are, too.
Ben slapped his hand over his forehead. “This sounds stupid,” he muttered, erasing the message and starting over:
Hey there, Gia. Ben here. It was nice seeing you—especially when we weren’t yelling at each other. Are we still on for the rare plants on Wednesday?
Ben read the message, shaking his head. Ugh. Trying too hard.Ben, this isn’t rocket science, he thought. Okay, one more try…
Hi Gia, it’s Ben. I enjoyed lunch and hope you did as well. Are we still on to visit the botanical garden for the rare plant show? Let me know if Wednesday is still okay. I know scheduling can be challenging with the kids.
“That’ll have to do.” He hoped bringing up scheduling would show her he knew what he would be getting into if they started dating. He hit send, hoping for a rapid reply. No such luck. An hour passed, and his message sat unread. Ben couldn’t help but wonder if Gia had given him a fake number or whether she was just ignoring him to play it cool or—the worst—ghosting him entirely. He rapidly moved his head back and forth, trying to shake it off, then placed his phone in his lap and closed his eyes. What will be will be, I guess.
He awoke to his phone vibrating on his lap, causing him to jump, blinking in surprise as he got his bearings. He swiped his screen to open his notifications. Two messages. He read the first, an angry expression morphing his features. Jen.
Hey Benji, what was up with that little display? She’s not even a quarter of the woman I am. Let’s meet up for some fun.
Jesus Christ, Ben thought. She’s crazy.
Jen: I’m not interested. Please stop texting me. I have things to work out in my life right now. I’m sorry for any confusion I may have caused.
Ben rolled his eyes as he hit send. He’d seen enough crazy from Jen. His frown disappeared as he realized the other message was from Gia! Ben couldn’t hide his excitement, but no one was around to judge him, anyway. He began to read:
Hey. Sorry for the delayed response. I was in the garden. I’m in for Wednesday. Just let me know where and when you want to meet.
Matt grinned from ear to ear, letting the positive-sounding response sink in. A real date. She was interested in meeting him for an actual date, one they’d planned, not one they’d been trapped in. Ben couldn’t help but wonder if this was a second chance at getting something back that he thought he’d lost a long time ago—in what felt like another lifetime.
For Ben’s entire adult life, Gia had been the one who got away. From the moment he returned from Brazil and found her married to another man and raising a newborn—his newborn—he’d felt a deep sense of loss. It was a nagging pain that stayed with him wherever he went and whatever he did. It wasn’t jealousy. It was something more significant.
He’d made the biggest mistake of his life, realized it too late, and was unable to do anything about it. Nothing Ben tried or accomplished could fill the gap in his world that losing Gia had created, but he knew he couldn’t just upturn the life she’d created to survive the mess he’d left her in. So, he went back. He finished his commitment with World Corps in Brazil and just kept going. His travels went much further than South America. He spent years searching for something to replace Gia with—and he never found it. Not in Borneo, Cameroon, Australia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or anywhere else.
What he did find, however, was an unexpected fortune.
When he realized he needed a break, he declared himself “retired.” He returned to his hometown finding the town and himself changed in many ways, but the same in others. It didn’t take long for him to discreetly ask around town about Gia, quickly learning she had moved into a quiet, pretty neighborhood—and, interestingly—that she had gotten divorced relatively recently.
Having succeeded in tourism already, Ben didn’t take long to realize that he wanted to continue to work in the service industry in a way that connected several of his other interests. Lucky for him, two storefronts had gone up for sale downtown. A coffee-lover from birth, Ben didn’t think twice about purchasing the Café on Main and re-branding it as Cold Brew: The Café on Main.
Then, when a nearby restaurant was listed, Ben didn’t bat an eye as he offered the sellers, locals for their entire lives, straight cash—and significantly more than they had asked for. Charmed to Table became his pet project, a farm-to-table restaurant focused on gourmet local and regional food items—always fresh and of the highest quality. With a constantly shifting menu based on what was in-season at the time, it supported local farms and the broader community. Ben had several other ideas for the space, like community cooking and gardening classes, food distributions for those with limited access or funds for food, and more. He had other dreams for Charmed to Table as well, but they were on hold until he saw how things panned out with Gia—if she even remembered he existed.
Returning with money hadn’t been a goal when Ben left his hometown, but it sure made things easier as he built and branded the businesses. As they say, it takes money to make money, and both the café and the restaurant were doing quite well already with the funds he’d poured into advertising, staffing, and branding! He had high hopes they would continue to do so—and even higher hopes for other parts of his life.
Ben glanced at his phone again, mentally preparing to respond to Gia’s text, and then he started typing.
B: Can I pick you up? I think it would just make things easier if we headed there together. If not, no worries. I leave it up to you. If so, Wednesday at 9 am?
G: Sure, that works. I’ll text you the address to use for GPS in a separate message.
Part of Ben was concerned that if they traveled together, they’d be stuck together. Their first two interactions had involved Gia running away from him, and despite his high hopes that this one would end differently, he felt that with those odds, there was still slight cause for concern. But Ben pushed the thought from his mind, trying to focus on the success of their last unexpected outing instead.
His phone vibrated again, this time with a message containing Gia’s address and confirmation of the time for pickup. Excellent, Ben thought. And terrifying.