Page 38 of Feel It All

“Winry Ann, stop saying that. I do not say that word.” Mrs. Bennett looks offended by Winry’s accusation.

“Okay, sure, Mom.” Winry gives me a wink as she takes a bite of her burger.

“Winry, remember that time Mom tried to give you bangs and they were so short,” Waverley snorts at the memory.

“Oh gosh, how could I forget? Ugh they took forever to grow back.” Winry turns to me. “You will never see a picture of me from middle school. I burned them all.”

“Oh, come on, I’m sure they weren’t that bad,” I couldn’t imagine Winry looking bad ever.

“Thank you for trying, Graham, but they indeed were that bad. I helped her burn the pictures myself,” Mrs. Bennett buries her face in her hands. “I cried just as much as she did the night I cut them.”

“What about the time Mom got pulled over for speeding because we were jamming ‘Black Betty’ by Ram Jam.” Wyla says, continuing to throw their mom under the bus.

“Hey, I got out of that ticket, thank you very much.” Mrs. Bennett says with pride in her voice.

“Yeah, because you would not stop talking to the cop; the guy had cut you off to tell you we were free to go,” Winry adds to the pile.

“Well, we were in a different county, I couldn’t use your father to get out of it, so I had to do something,” Mrs. Bennett exclaims.

“You literally annoyed him out of it.” Waverley laughed.

“My word, girls, are you guys going to talk about any of the good I have done? Graham, do you talk to your mom like these brats?”

“No, ma’am, but in their defense, I think the funniest thing my mom did was make me run laps around the house when I got in trouble, which was often,” I chuckle at the memory.

Mrs. Bennett nearly chokes on her water. “When you got in trouble you would have to run around the outside of the house?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Yeah, backfired on her a little, I enjoy running now and it kept me in shape.”

“It sure did,” Waverley jokes.

“Waverley,” Winry gives her a look and throws a chip at her. Waverley just sticks her tongue out in response.

The rest of the dinner goes smoothly for the most part. Chief barely speaks and there is this weird tension between us. I know he had to like me at some point—I mean, he did hire me for a reason. Granted, he probably didn’t think I would date his daughter within a month of starting. The girls help their mom clear the table and I notice Chief walk outside on the back porch. I decide to slip out to talk to him.

“Chief, you got a minute?” We have to clear the air for Winry’s sake because I don’t intend on going anywhere.

He is sitting in one of the rocking chairs with a beer and motions for me to take the one next to him. “What’s on your mind, Taylor?”

I take the seat and take a deep breath. “Well, I guess I want to start with a thank you. Winry told me today what happened last year… I don’t know what to say other than thank you. Thank you for saving her, sir.”

He takes a long pause like he is processing what I just said. “Ah damn it. If she told you about that then she must be serious about you…don’t get me wrong, Taylor, I do like you. I wouldn’t have hired you if I didn’t, but you look at her like I look at their mom. Like she hung the moon, and I’ll tell you, Winry did. Waverley and Wyla may be sunshine, but Winry shines the brightest in the moonlight. All I want is for her is to find someone who loves and accepts her. I just thought I was more prepared for it. Turns out I’m not.”

“I do love her.” I thought saying out loud would feel weird like it did in my head, but saying it out loud made it all make sense.

“Yeah, I know you do. I guess I’d better get on board.” He takes a long swig of his beer.

“Hey, what are you two doing out here?” I hear the sliding door and Winry steps out walking to us.

“Oh, nothing. I was just telling Graham about how you used to try to sneak out and go skinny dipping at the beach,” Chief says casually.

My head falls back from laughing. I’ll add that to the list of things I want to do with her.

Winry’s mouth is agape. “Okay, and we are leaving,” She grabs my hands pulling me up out of the chair.

“Thanks for having us, Daddy.” Winry gives her dad a kiss on the cheek, and we head inside to say our goodbyes. I get hugs from all the Bennett girls and Chief gives me a normal handshake and doesn’t look like he wants to punch me.

I open up the passenger door for Winry.

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