Page 57 of Feel It All

I walk over and open her door, “You ready, buttercup?”

“Always.” I hold her hand, leading her toward the center of town, where there are food trucks and booths set up. The carnival is set up just a few blocks over at a park with a big field connected.

We run into several people I know since it is small town. I introduce Winry as my girlfriend, and everyone has the same surprised reaction. I just laugh. I know I don’t know how I managed to win her over either.

We finally make it to the center, and Winry is beaming. “Where do you want to start?” I ask her.

“Let’s do the booths then get some food.” She pulls me, taking the lead into the booths that are practically stacked on top of each other. We browse every single one, at least twice to make sure she didn’t miss anything. She buys a few things, some jewelry and clothes. I buy her a necklace with a G initial on it because I am cheesy like that now. We finish up at the booths and take her stuff back to the car.

This time we go straight to the food trucks. Winry chooses the taco truck, so I tell her to get me some steak tacos, and I head over the station that has the giant cups of sweet tea.

“Two sweet teas, please.” I hand the man my cash and take the teas. I hear a familiar female voice say my name and I turn to see Claire standing behind me.

“Oh, hi, Claire. How are you?” I don’t know whether I should act like the last time we were together I didn’t break up with her, and it wasn’t awkward as hell.

“Good, what are you doing here?” She asks. She seems all right, so I relax a little but not too much. I haven’t mentioned Winry yet.

“I—well, I brought Winry here for her birthday.” And it’s awkward again. “We are together now,” I say a little sheepishly, not because I am ashamed of it, but it seems wrong to flaunt it.

“I knew it, I knew you liked her,” Claire rolls her eyes and lets out a huff. “Well, I hope you are happy, Graham, despite that it isn’t with me.”

“Thanks, I am. I hope the same for you. Again, I am sorry about how we ended things. I did like Winry and I shouldn’t have handled it the way I did that dinner.”

“I appreciate that. I am going to get going, but it was good to get some closure,” she shrugs and gives a lopsided smile.

“Right, yeah it was. See you around.” We part ways and I find Winry digging into our tacos. “Hey, save some for me,” I tease her.

“No way, these are too good. We will definitely need more.” She wipes her lips with a napkin and takes one of the teas. “Was the line long? You were gone for a while.”

“No, um, I actually ran into Claire. I told her I was sorry about how everything went down that dinner. I was just too smitten with my neighbor.” I pull her in by her chin and kiss her.

We part and she has a big grin on her face. “Was she okay? I’m sure that had to be weird.”

“It was a little, but it was good too. She said she got some closure.” I grab a taco and take a big bite.

“Good, I’m glad. My parents called while you were gone, to wish me happy birthday. They said to tell you hi.”

“Really? Your dad said to tell me hi?” I laugh.

“Well, Mom did, but Dad was there too.” She returns a laugh and continues to destroy her taco.

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I check it and Wyla has texted.

Wyla: Decided to head over early. Owen is driving us, much to Waverley’s dismay. Don’t worry, I have already given talks about not ruining Win’s day. Text you when we get there.

I shoot the thumbs up emoji back to her and slide my phone back in my pocket. “Wyla said they are headed this way early, should be here soon.”

“Oh, great. Thank you for putting this together, Graham.” She playfully nudges me.

“Of course, buttercup, nothing I would rather be doing.” I thread my fingers through her dark hair.

“Really? Nothing?” She tilts her eyes at me.

“Okay, maybe one other thing.” I lean in and kiss her like we aren’t surrounded by hundreds of other people.

“Ahem.” We pull apart and there stands my mom wearing her typical judgmental tone and arms crossed. “Graham Taylor, what is it you think you are doing? You are in public.”

Winry looks at me a bit flustered and confused, which turns to mortified when I say, “Hi, mom. What are you doing here?”

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