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The memory now became clear again. Her hair had been shimmering like gold in the sun, and she was touching a flower as if it was a baby bird. Gently and lovingly. He was excited when his friend spotted her, ran over to her. He wanted to share his Ava with his friends, show her off. But then one of the girls his mother had invited to this get together said something mean about Ava’s dress.
“One of the girls said something mean to you.”
Ava nodded. “But that didn’t hurt me. You did. When all the kids were laughing, you just stood there. Didn’t say a word. I looked at you, begging you to help me, but you lowered your head, stayed silent. I turned around and ran away, and I never wanted to see you again.”
How did he just forget about this? All these years he wondered why Ava had stopped coming over, and he had never bothered to remember this incident of his childish cowardice?
“Ava,” Benjamin said, shaking his head. “I was a child back then. I have grown a lot since then. And although at the time my reaction was awful and foolish, I can promise you that I would never let anyone talk to you like that ever again. I don’t care who it is, I won’t let it happen.”
She looked at him, but he couldn’t make out if she was sad or felt comforted.
“It’s okay, Benjamin. Really. As I said, it was a long time ago.”
He pursed his lips. “Still… I know it is not much, but back then, I thought you were the prettiest creature I had ever seen.”
“Oh please,” she folded her arms and muttered, “you don’t have to say that.”
“But it’s the truth. I still think you are–”
“Yeah right…” she interrupted him. “With all the supermodels you were dating.”
Benjamin opened his mouth to tell her that it was the God and honest truth, when she laughed and added:
“Besides, I got my revenge. Remember when your friends came back and the bees chased you?”
He grinned. “Yeeeeees…” he said in great anticipation. “We all screamed, and I think the girl that made fun of you actually peed herself.”
“I threw a rock at the hive,” Ava grinned.
“No, you did not, not Ava Burns, savior of the world and the homeless.” Benjamin feigned shock.
She lifted her chin. “Sometimes you gotta throw a crown on and remind them who they are dealing with.”
They both laughed out loud. “Is that why you became a social worker? To make up for your past sins?”
“Ha. If that were the case, shouldn’t you be the pope by now?” she joked back.
They both grew silent again. Just looking at each other for a moment.
“Still, I’m sorry for back then. I got your back now, I promise it.”
“You did have my back with your mother and that drunk guy.”
Ava smiled at him, that honest pretty smile again that robbed him of his senses. How was this even possible? To feel like this just because someone smiled. He walked around and opened the car door for her. “Have you ever wondered—” but he stopped mid-sentence.
“Wondered what?”
Wondered if my grandfather wasn’t so crazy after all?
“Nothing…,” he said carefully closing the door. “I forgot what I wanted to say.”
The car ride home was a little awkward. A shy laugh here, a weird joke there… The air was thickened with emotions that were hard to pinpoint. But whatever it was that filled the air, Ava couldn’t deny any longer that she had had a really enchanting evening with Benjamin. More than once her mind drifted off to the things he had said to her, how he was taken by her when they were children, and how he apologized for his childish behavior back then.
As beautiful as it all sounded, there was also a rising fear boiling inside her.What if Benjamin Radcliff was not as bad as I thought he was? What if he was on his way to find his way back to the boy he used to be before his father was taken from him?Tonight, it almost seemed like it was possible…Would I fall for him again and get my heart broken once more?
When they finally got home and drove into the compound, the headlights shone on a grinning Uncle Barney, standing arms akimbo in the driveway.
Benjamin chuckled. “There’s the old man.”
