“It’s a bit overwhelming, isn’t it,” he said, not really asking. “We can order and wait outside if you’d prefer?”
I met his eyes then, and something inside me settled.
I felt calm with him. Something I’d only ever felt with my parents or in my house, in my room. Despite the noise, the heat, the smells, I knew I’d be okay. I liked that he gave me options. I didn’t want to leave him just yet, but I didn’t want to stay here. “Yes, please.”
So we ordered and paid. Winter seemed to know the man behind the counter. Jayden, his name was. He’d been in town long enough now, working at the diner and the B&B, for almost everyone to know who he was.
“We’ll just wait outside,” Winter told him.
Jayden looked at me, then back to Winter, and again they seemed to exchange information without speaking. It was about me, no doubt.
Winter held the door for me again, and as soon as I was outside, I could breathe and let the tension out of my shoulders.
“It’s a busy diner,” Winter said. “Gets a bit much, doesn’t it?”
I nodded, having to swallow before I could speak. My mouth was dry, and licking my lips didn’t seem to help much. “I don’t like it,” I said. “It closes in on me.”
It closes in on mewas something my father had taught me to say when I was going to college—if I got overwhelmed, overstimulated, and started to feel panicky, because most people understood that.
And he was right.
He always was.
Winter gave me a patient smile, looking up at me. He was close but not touching, and I wasn’t sure why, but maybe I wouldn’t mind his hand on my arm. A soft touch, just for a second. I wondered what, if he did, it might feel like?
But he didn’t.
“I get it,” he said quietly. “It’s fine. It’s why I like bookstores and libraries. I like quiet and calm. Being overwhelmed is an icky feeling, isn’t it?”
And just like that, he made me shuck off the panicky feeling and smile. “Icky?”
He nodded. “Totally icky. It’s awful.”
Then the door to the diner opened and Jayden appeared, holding our bags of pastries. “Here you go,” he said. “Deacon, good to see you. Say hello to your dad for me. Win, I’ll come see you tomorrow around nine?”
“Perfect.”
Then he was gone.
“I don’t know how he knew my name,” I said.
“You’re the vet in town,” Winter said. “Along with your dad. Pretty sure everyone knows who you are.”
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“And you grew up here,” he added.
That was true.
“He called you Win,” I said. “And he’ll see you tomorrow.”
I really wasn’t sure how I felt about that either.
“Most people call me Win,” he said. “Except you.”
“I like the name Winter.” I shrugged. “Though it depicts cold and dormancy, and I don’t think you’re either of those things.”
He grinned and his cheeks went pink. From the cold, surely.
