Page 14 of Feel It All

“Yeah, I’m not too bad in the kitchen, but it’s not very hard. I will have to teach you sometime,” she gives a nervous laugh. I want to keep talking to her, but just as she is about to say something else Claire pulls in.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t know you were going to have company. I will get out of your way.” Winry’s voice changes from her usual honey-sweet tone to something flat.

“No, it’s not like…” I want to tell her nothing is going on, but I am interrupted.

“Graham,” Claire hollers. “Can you help me carry in the food; I got your favorite lasagna from the Italian place back home.”

“Yeah, I’m coming.” Winry goes to walk away, but I grab her arm. “Why don’t you join us?”

“What?” both Claire and Winry say at the same time.

“Yeah, stay. I mean we ought to get to know each other, why not over food?”

“Um, Graham, I only got food for me and you,” Claire says, completely unhappy with what I have suggested.

“Yeah, I am not going to intrude on your night, Graham.”

“No, I insist. I’ll share my food, the to-go orders are always too much anyway,” I shrug.

Winry looks at me confused; she thinks Claire is here for a date and I am not okay with that. Claire is staring absolute daggers in the side of my head, but I hold Winry’s gaze.

“Um, okay,” she agrees.

“Great. Winry, this is Claire, a friend from my town where I grew up. Claire, this is my neighbor Winry.” Claire looks at me like I just shot her. I feel a little bad about doing this; she didn’t know that my mom orchestrated this whole thing without me knowing.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Winry holds out a hand for Claire, but she doesn’t return it.

“Right, well, we’d better get this food inside,” Claire replies tightly.

The awkwardness is so thick I think I could cut it with a knife. We walk into my apartment and get the food unloaded on the coffee table. I grab an extra plate to share my food with Winry. I lied when I said I wouldn’t be able to finish all of this lasagna. Claire was right that it is my favorite. I don’t mind sharing with Winry though, but I know I will still be hungry later.

I take my seat on the couch, I set Winry’s plate next to mine, and before Winry can make it to sit, Claire slides right into the spot I wanted for Winry. She gives Claire a fake smile and grabs her plate to take it over to the side chair, literally as far away as she can sit from me, and I hate it.

“So, Graham, your mom said you have been working a lot this week. Will you always work this much? When will we ever see each other?” Claire set her plate down on the coffee table. She never really ate much when we were together, and that bothered me; I wanted to tell her to eat. But I knew she wasn’t here for that; she and my mom had one goal for tonight, and it did not include eating or Winry.

“No, it can be a weird schedule, so it’s five on, two off. One week I work five days and the other I only work two days. It rotates every weekend too.”

“Oh, so you will be off this weekend, right? So, you could come home, and we could have dinner with your mom too. She would love that.” Claire places her hand on my thigh.

“Sorry, Claire, I already have plans this weekend.” I look over at Winry, who has not made eye contact with me since we came inside. She is just eating her food, avoiding my stare.

“Really? What are they?”

“Winry’s dad is the Chief of Police here, and he is having a barbecue this weekend, so I will be going to that.”

“You’re coming?” Winry asks. Why does she have that deer in headlights look?

“Well, it is for the police department, and I am one of his officers.” I say it out loud to remind myself also.

“Right. So, Wendy, what do you do?”

“It’s Winry, but thanks for asking, Carol.” I really do try to hold in my laugh, but one slips out and Claire gives me the evil eye. Winry finally looks at me and gives a small smile then continues, “I own a bookstore and café in town. It’s named Crossroads if you are ever back in town.”

“Yes, I will have to come check it out. Graham, will you take me?” Claire asks, and just like that Winry stares back down at her plate and starts eating again.

The rest of the night mostly involves Claire talking about any and every date we ever went on, which was only four by the way, but Claire somehow made it seem like we had a full-on relationship going for months. It didn’t help that she knew so much about me from my mom, so I am sure to Winry it seems like we are a couple. She has barely spoken, and she still won’t look at me.

“Well, thank you for having me for dinner. It was…nice, but I am going to get back over to my place.” Winry gets up and places her empty dish in the kitchen. “It was nice to meet you, Claire, and I guess I will see you this weekend, Graham.” She gives a tight smile and heads for the door.

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