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“It’s odd that you would say either of those things to me. If you walk slower than I thought, it means more time with you and if you should start to sweat it means I’ll see you in another beautiful light.”
She snorted and continued to walk.
“If someone told you otherwise they were wrong.”
“I don’t know men seem to get frustrated when women can’t keep up.”
“Some men might but I think a man who cares for a woman wants to travel with her not drag her along.”
Claudia looked over at him curiously.
“Even if he has a plan and she’s slowing him down?”
Austin stopped in front of the kiddie park. The kids could be heard laughing and Claudia looked at them and then back at Austin. Once again she had managed to take his breath away. This was the woman eh envisioned when he saw the mother of his children. She was the kind face he saw when he imagined a helper to wake up next to in the mornings.
“If a man makes a plan and it doesn’t include his partner then he shouldn’t be in a relationship. A plan is made whole not just be getting to the end of it but by us getting there and being better for it,” he said.
“I’ll have to keep that in mind, she said with a smile.
Austin knew she had endured a hard life with an abusive partner, but it had never bothered him until now. Now when he was trying to share something so simple with her that he found that a person she trusted had treated her poorly. He wanted to make that person hurt the same way he had made Claudia hurt.
“You can start walking first and I’ll follow. Remember Claudia it’s always about you.”
He slowed to a crawl and then sped up along the way and he never said a word. He could see Claudia testing him and he reveled in the fact that she trusted him enough to do so. In his goal to woo Claudia he forgot it was a very public park. If she thought the kiss was the news just wait until the town spread the gossip that they were walking in the park like children talking. In for a penny, in for a pound was Austin’s thought. He figured he was already in it so he might as well indulge all the way. When he saw the sno cone man in the park he pointed it out.
“So do you want a sno cone?”
“A sno cone! I love them,” Claudia said as she went over.
“Two of whatever the lady would like,” Austin said.
Claudia looked at him with a smile.
“What if I pick something you don’t like?”
“I like them all so there’s no problem, choose away.”
After ordering two strawberry cones they sat on a nearby bench. Watching the joy on her fact brought Austin a contentment he had never known. It was still a surprise to him how easily she was able to slip beneath his defenses and then instead of making him feel vulnerable she made him feel stronger.
“I can’t remember the last time I took time for me,” she said.
“You should. It’s self-care first. You know your mask first and then everyone else,” Austin said.
“Well, I have friends who I think might need help or things in the house I want to do or even more time I want to spend with Whisper and smoke.”
“But no time for yourself Claudia. It seems like you may need someone to attend to that. If you nourish yourself you’ll be better for the others.”
“You’re saying the right thing Austin, but it feels selfish to give to myself when there are others who need.”
Austin leaned over and Claudia turned until they were a breath away from a kiss.
“it seems to me that is a position I can fill for you. I’ll look after you Claudia. You’ll look after the rest of the world.”
“You think you’d be satisfied doing that?” Claudia asked.
“I think it might be a life goal.”
Claudia pulled away and started on her cone again.
