“She lives in Europe. They met in school right on this campus. She was studying to be an artist. Him a farmer. Dad doesn’t talk about her leaving, but I was just old enough to remember seeing him standing in the middle of the road watching her go. I’ve never seen him look as broken as he did that day. I don’t think he’s said her name since. Seems to me they had nothing in common, but Mom still broke his heart.”

“Attraction fades sometimes,” Jenny said. “Or maybe she couldn’t live in such a quiet place. Maybe she needed more color, more noise, more excitement.”

“Right. But something must have pulled them together in the beginning.”

“Maybe your dad was a hunk?”

“I doubt it. He is tall and lanky like me. His sentences are usually three words or less, and I’ve never heard him talk about anything but the weather, farming, or what he eats.” Ben leaned back, beginning to feel comfortable around Jenny. “You know, in the years I’ve been teaching, he’s never asked me one question about what I do.”

He noticed Jenny had a way of listening, really listening. Like she cared about what he was saying. He’d count that as a point of attraction on a survey.

As she ate a chip in little mouse bites, she added, “Maybe he was a great lover, or she liked the way he felt. Touch can be powerful. I’ve heard people say they never forget the feel of someone’s heart beating against theirs.”

Ben had never thought about it, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to think of his parents in that way.

When he pulled out a small notebook to make notes, she asked, “Can we take a break, Benjamin? My brain needs a few minutes off.” She lowered her fingers atop his hand that held the pencil. “I’m enjoying just talking to you. It’s nice to have a conversation with someone my age.”

Touch, he thought as he stared at her hand over his, one of the ways couples show interest. “We’re not the same age. I’m forty-two.”

“Then think of me as the older woman.” She winked at him.

“Of course.” He pulled his hand away slowly, having no idea what she was getting at.

They ate in silence for a while, then she smiled. “This research reminds me of the first time I fell in love. I was fifteen and he was a senior in high school, a star basketball player.”

Benjamin just kept eating. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear this, but it was hard not to listen when they were the only two in the place. The kid who’d served them had disappeared in the back.

“I went to every basketball game and never watched anyone but him. Turned out he didn’t even know I was there.”