“Who said it was for you?” I teased and playfully hit him in the chest when I reached out to collect my new metal baseball statue.
His empty hand went back into his pocket again as we continued our walk. I pointed to a few different tables as we went along, and I waved to some of the artists I had recognized from last year. We even stopped to talk to a few of them.
“It was about them,” Ryan said out of nowhere. He finally responded to my question about his nightmare.
“What were they doing?” I asked him as we kept walking.
“Nothing good,” he mumbled.
“I suspected as much, Ryan.”
We carried on along the rows of tables, talking as we went. While both of his hands stayed in his front pockets, Ryan revealed pieces of his nightmare. The animals he referred to as “parents” continued to inflict damage as he slept. It was hours later by the time we had made it through the rows of tables and through the heartbreaking details of his nightmare.
As we made our way back to my SUV, he asked me where I had planned on putting the baseball figure. I told him that I already had the perfect place all picked out for it and left it at that. I set it down gently on the backseat while he took up the passenger seat. I took my seat behind the wheel and looked at him. He was gazing out the window, and both hands bounced on his knees, mimicking some beat in his head.
“It’s good to see your hands finally,” I commented.
His hands stopped their bouncing for a moment, and he slid them up and down his thighs nervously.
“They were safe in my pocket,” Ryan replied shyly.
“Safe?” I questioned, somewhat confused by his choice of words.
He nodded and turned his head to look at me.
“I was too tempted to reach out and touch you,” he admitted with a sad look in his eye.
I reached over the center console and took hold of his left hand. I watched him as he looked down at the simple gesture of love. While I brushed my thumb on the top of his hand, a smile appeared on his face…dimple and all.
