9. Declan #3
“Shhhh,” she says. “Just a movie. What in the world? Leave me be while I pick something amazing.”
She scrolls through the channels, and I watch her.
“Oooh! I know! Let me get into my account.”
She pulls up a movie channel, enters her code and clicks on a technicolor image of a dark-haired man being embraced by a red-haired woman.
“Is this a kissing movie?” I ask, mocking one of my brother’s favorite movies and books.
“You know The Princess Bride?” she asks, her mouth actually popping open.
“It’s Patrick’s favorite. I’ve endured it numerous times.”
She points at me. “You’re not fooling me, Declan. You like that movie. Would you rather watch that? I can never get enough Princess Bride in my life.”
“No. Let’s watch this …” I read the title out loud. “An Affair to Remember. I’ve never seen it.”
“You’re kidding me!”
“Nope. I don’t get a ton of free time where I’m laying around on a couch watching classic movies.”
“This is the movie that captures Meg Ryan’s heart in Sleepless in Seattle.” Winona squints over at me. “Tell me you’ve seen Sleepless in Seattle.”
When I don’t answer, she practically shouts. “Oh! Declan. Okay. We’re on a mission now. You need to be educated.”
I chuckle. “Okay. Educate me.”
She settles back into her chair and pushes play.
I watch the movie. But I also find myself turning to watch her, especially toward the point in the movie when they’re supposed to meet at the top of the Empire State Building and she doesn’t show. I pivot my head just in time to catch Winona wiping a tear off her cheek.
She smiles over at me. The family room has grown dark over the course of the movie. I turn the overhead dimmer lights on low with a control on my phone so I can see her better without fully eliminating the darkness.
“He thinks she changed her mind,” Winona says softly to me. “It’s so sad.”
“How many times have you watched this?” I ask.
Winona pauses the movie. “I don’t even know. Maybe twenty? But it gets me every time.”
I smile. She’s so raw. What you see is what you get. No pretense. No agenda.
I don’t say anything else, so she clicks play.
“Nickie held up his end,” I say when the leading man waits and then walks off, resuming his life as a painter.
“He did,” she says softly. “She’s just embarrassed.”
“I get that,” I tell her.
Is it sheer irony that Winona picked a film where the leading lady is paralyzed and unable to face life with her injury? I wonder.
When the main characters bump into one another again, I want to scream at the screen.
I end up shouting, “Tell him!”
Winona laughs softly. “I know, right?”
“She needs to tell him.”
“Hang in there,” she says to me, not even pausing the film.
We both go quiet through the credits. The ending is a gut punch. I have no words.
“Good, huh?” Winona asks, grabbing a napkin and dabbing her eyes.
“Great,” I admit.
“Now you’re ready for Sleepless. Next time.”
“What about the cookies?” I ask, not wanting her to leave, and feeling immediately selfish.
“The cookies!” she shouts, bounding out of her chair. “Oh my gosh. I forgot. At least I didn’t put them in the oven yet.”
“Want to stay for cookies?” I offer.
“Is that even a question?” she asks, already heading into the kitchen with a familiarity that makes my chest tighten around a strange warmth.
She comes back, carrying her phone and holding it up in the air. “Timer. No burnt cookies on my watch.”
I study her. “Why aren't you out with someone tonight? Your friends? … A guy?”
She shuts the pizza boxes, stacking them off to the side. Then she plops back down into her chair.
“My friends are all ... well, basically attached. You know. Daisy's with your brother now. Emberleigh and Dustin are together ... Cass and I are the only single ones, and she has a work thing tonight.”
“So, no boyfriend?” I ask.
“Nope.” She pops the P. “Just me and Cass.
Not that she's my boyfriend, obviously. She's my sister. So, not a boy. Not even a friend. Well, she is a friend. My best friend, actually ... you know what? I'll just ... queue Sleepless in Seattle. Unless you’re sleepy. In Waterford.” She laughs at her own joke.
“I’m not.” I chuckle softly.
No boyfriend. Hmm. I stare at her, not meaning to stare, but I’m curious. She’s not like anyone I’ve met before. Where will she be in a year? I'll be back on the field. My life will snap back into place. Will our paths cross again once I’m healed?
We start the movie and fall into a comfortable silence again. When the timer goes off on Winona’s phone, she grabs the pizza boxes and disappears into the kitchen. She comes back with a plate of warm cookies.
“You need milk,” she says, turning back to the kitchen and returning with two glasses.
“You think of everything,” I tell her.
“You think so?” she asks, seeming baffled by my compliment.
“I do.”
I can’t tell if she’s blushing in the low light, but she averts her eyes, grabs a cookie and bites into it with a soft moan of appreciation.
“These are perfect,” she says, hitting the remote and curling back into her chair.
“Yeah.” I say, not even grabbing one yet. “Pretty perfect.”