Page 37 of Feel It All

“Um, yeah, she told me. I think we will do something, just not sure yet.” I rub her back; I’m sure this topic is still raw for her. I know it is for me, and I just listened.

“Oh good, she needs to celebrate it. I’ll admit things have gone wrong in the past, but I have confidence you can break the chain.” Her mom gives me an encouraging look.

“Mom, can we talk about something else and not put 24 years of bad birthdays on Graham’s plate?” Winry leans into me for a moment; knowing she needs the comfort, I continue to rub her back.

“Oh Winry, they weren’t all that bad.” Mrs. Bennett counters. I have to bite back a response and remind myself that she doesn’t know what happened.

“Okay, Isabel, new topic.” Winry’s dad comes in with a tray of burgers and sets them down on the kitchen table. He gives Winry a sympathetic smile, but once he sees me, his smile fades.

“Fine, fine,” Mrs. Bennett holds her hands in the air. If she only knew what happened last year, she would understand.

“Hey there, moon baby. Come give your old man a hug.” He motions for her to come over.

“Hey, Dad, thanks for inviting us.” Winry goes in, and he wraps her in a hug.

“Oh, so it’s ‘us’ now?” Chief stares at me. Crap, now my hands are sweating.

“Griffin, be nice.” It’s Mrs. Bennett’s turn to give a stern look.

“What? I can’t ask a question?” Winry shoots her dad a warning glare and then makes her way back over to me.

“Oh, come on, Dad, we already told you they were together.” Waverley chimes in, not being helpful. My mind immediately panics. Surely, he doesn’t know about how her sisters found us that morning.

“Right, must have slipped my mind. Graham,” Chief holds out his hand and I take it. He grips my hand a little harder than necessary.

“How are you, Chief?” I stand my ground; he may be intimidating, but I can’t let him know that.

“Good, glad all my daughters are here.” He claps his hands together, “Well, let’s eat.”

We all gather at their kitchen table, which is just big enough. I take my seat next to Winry and she places her hand on my thigh. The dinner starts out with the usual small talk about everyone’s days. Winry and I gloss over our emotional day. Every time I think about our conversation, my chest hurts and I have to reach out to touch her to make sure she is still here, still breathing.

“So, Graham, how are you liking it here?” Mrs. Bennett asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“I like it a lot…”

“Clearly,” Chief grumbles under his breath cutting me off.

“Dad,” Winry snaps.

“No, that’s okay. Yeah, I think it’s safe to say Winry has a lot to do with it, but work is good too. I still ride with Owen, but that’s not so bad, makes the nights go by a little faster.”

“I can’t imagine riding in a car for twelve hours with Owen West. Shoot me now.” Waverley sticks out her tongue and acts like she is gagging.

“You two would shoot each other,” Wyla adds.

“Anyway, I was…ah fuck,” Mrs. Bennett knocks her drink all over the table.

All of the Bennett’s burst out into laughter. I try to hold it in, but it escapes a little bit.

“Stop laughing, it is not funny, someone help me.” She is scrambling to clean up the drink.

Winry gets up to get some napkins to help her mom. “You know we aren’t laughing that you spilt your drink, we are laughing because you said ‘fuck’ again.”

“What? I most certainly did not,” Mrs. Bennett says adamantly.

“Yes, you did, Izzy,” Chief laughs but takes his wife’s hand in his.

Winry comes back to my side. “Mom does this thing where she says ‘fuck’ but has no memory of it. The first time ever was one Christmas Eve, I was like ten, and a dog ran out in front of her. We missed it but she screamed ‘oh fuck.’ We were all mortified, and she still claims to this day that she did not say that.”

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