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He looked at her with almost desperate eyes. “Please don’t let me quit.”
“If you say so, I won’t give up. Today we are going to walk on the paths.”
His eyes darted around the dog park. The clouds had made for a cool day, and everyone and their dog was out—literally. “But they’re packed. What if I bump into someone?”
“Then I want you to do three things. Apologize to the person you accidentally bump into, keep walking, and count down the time in your head until the pain goes away. I want to see how long the pain lasts each time.”
She gave him a warm smile and took both of his hands. “In your entire life, how many times have you encountered someone as rough as that idiot at the movies?”
He knew the answer right away. Only the jerk in high school who threw a basketball at his back. Sure, a few people had brushed against him too rough in the hallway or tried to buddy up to him and throw their arms around him, but he had gotten so used to being alone, most people didn’t try anymore.
“Exactly. It’ll be rare. But the passing brushes happen all the time. And we should focus more on getting past that. So that’s what we’re going to do today. Measure how long it takes for the pain to pass. Ready?”
Gritting his teeth, he pulled himself from the car, determined not to let the guy from the theater, such an insignificant person, make a dark mark in his life. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to cling to Hannah, whose hand waited for his as soon as she was by his side. It had been a few hours since he’d allowed himself to enjoy her touches. He took a deep breath of fresh air and entwined his fingers with hers. “Let’s go.”
They started toward the mile loop that went around the park.
“Feels nice not to drag two dogs along with us,” she said.
Just as he was about to agree, a couple headed for them, taking up most of the sidewalk with three poodles as big as Ginger and Snaps. He edged to the side, but the lady stayed where she was on her half of the sidewalk, and eventually, the man brushed against him.
A wave of fire crossed over his hip.
“Apologize first,” she coached him under her breath.
“Sorry about that,” he called, turning back.
“We take up a lot of room,” the lady said with a smile. “Sorry.”
Jason had stopped, but Hannah prodded him forward. “Walk and count in your head.”
Jason started mumbling numbers and then he sighed.
“Is it gone?”
“Yeah, that wasn’t very long. Like eleven seconds.”
“Not bad. And the pain is gone.”
“Yeah. I guess it wasn’t so bad when I timed it, but I didn’t really touch much of him. Just my side brushed against him.”
“I see. Let’s try it again. I think it will get easier the more we do this.”
They brushed into several more dog walkers, and each time, Jason worked through the three steps. His time stayed consistently at ten seconds, but he seemed positive. “Brushing up to someone doesn’t hurt as much as eye contact.”
“Okay, let’s see what we can do.”
Just then, an older lady lost her dog’s leash. “Oh shoot,” she mumbled to herself. She looked around helplessly. The dog didn’t do anything to run away, but she didn’t look capable of bending down.
Just as she leaned over to Jason to ask him for help, he dropped Hannah’s hand and bent down to pick up the leash. His hand twitched as he handed it back to the woman.
“Thank you, young man,” she said.
“Not a problem.”
“What a beautiful couple you two are.”
Hannah took his hand again as he smiled down at her. “Thanks,” he said. “Have a good evening.”
