He snorted. If he squinted and looked sideways and grew his imagination a thousand percent,maybehe could pass for a homeless version of him. Winnie patted his hand. He could sometimes go days without being touched, but Winnie was always a hugger, arm holder, and hand or cheek patter. It reminded him of his grandma, who had been like that too.
She’d died in the same accident his parents had, when he was in high school, but he could still recall the tightness of her hugs, how she held on like she’d never let go. And she never broke a hug first. She’d hug you until you were done with it and stepped away. Sometimes he’d tease her that he was going to hug her until she moved first, and she’d tell him they’d be hugging forever then, because she was never moving.
Man, he missed them.
His chest ached, and he drank the rest of his soda, fast enough for his throat to burn with the carbonation. This was why he didn’t let himself think about his family too much.
The waitress delivered their soup, and he dug in right away. Bruno was an amazing chef, but his soups were legendary.
“I heard you met my granddaughter, Eliana.”
Again, his cheeks felt ruddy. Was this the moment Winnie was going to lecture him on treating her visiting granddaughter poorly? He’d deserve it.
“I’m sorry I had her car towed—”
“She parked in a reserved spot,” Winnie said, shaking her head, but smiling.
“I could have parked on the street and—”
“There aren’t street spots this time of year.” Winnie was not going to let him apologize. “She could have parked in my driveway. And from what I heard, you paid for her ride home.”
He shifted, uncomfortable. “Still, I shouldn’t have done it.”
“She’s okay. It all worked out. And you got to meet her, which is fun.”
Fun wouldn’t be how he described their first encounter. But he also wouldn’t call himself foxy. They were in Winnie’s world now, and he was along for the ride.
“Have you followed her on social media yet? She’s at Happily Single.”
“No.” He didn’t do social media.
“Let me show you one of her videos.” She found it and held her phone out to Asher. He realized then that he’d already finished his soup, while Winnie had barely touched hers.
A caption beside the video said it had previously been recorded live. He watched Eliana as she attempted to announce her book deal in the midst of her family making noise and attempting to talk to her. He smiled when Cameron came on screen and made faces at himself.
When Asher had done telemed calls for speech during COVID-19 quarantines, his younger clients had spent an equal amount of time making faces at the screen and playing with filters as they had practicing their words. He’d done more than one session with his client looking like a cat in outer space.
Eliana’s grace and patience was apparent, though she had thrown more than one incredulous look at the camera, mostly when someone started banging around in the kitchen. The video suddenly ended, and he handed the phone back to Winnie.
“Happily Single?” Maybe it was a book he needed to read.
“Yes. But here’s the thing.” She leaned forward and whispered, “I don’t know how happy she really is.”
He got a lot of this. Loving grandparents who were worried about their grandchildren and wanted to talk things through with him during sessions or in the hallways. He didn’t know if it was because he didn’t talk much, but for some reason, people seemed to open up to him.
“She’s lucky to have you then,” he said, meaning every word. If everyone could have a grandma like Winnie, the world would be a better place.
“I hope so,” she murmured, staring past his shoulder at a framed acrylic painting of Sweetie and Bear on the wall. They were wearing a lion and a Dorothy costume.
“Tell me, Asher. Do you think it’s possible to ever truly let go of the mistakes in our past?”
“I hope so,” he said repeating her earlier phrasing. “Or else we’re all in a lot of trouble.”
“Well,” she said as if pulling herself out of her reverie, “I’ll stop talking your ear off and let you get back to work.” Then bustled away like a woman on a mission.
He thought about his conversation with Winnie for the rest of the afternoon while he worked with his patients. What mistakes could she be talking about? In his estimation, Winnie was the kindest, sweetest person at The Palms, and if she was worried about past mistakes, then none of the rest of them had any hope.
Unless she was talking about his mistake of calling a tow truck on Eliana. That had to be it. He didn’t know how forgiving Eliana was, but if the heated glare she’d directed at him was evidence, then, well … hopefully they wouldn’t run into each other too often.
