if that isn't enough

Garvin couldn't believe what he was seeing. He thought he might fall unconscious and flinch on the floor in the cold remedy isle of Wal-Mart.

Here was Martha. So unexpected. In town too. And she was alone. She was pushing a basket of soaps of other things one might need all on their own.  It was hygiene stuff for her little sister who was moving in with someone. But Martha was getting married.

Still, he was stunned with the information as they settled into the coffee place in the store. He bought them coffee along with some cookies. Naturally, she asked about his holidays. There really wasn't much to tell.

"So much is happening. I'm not sure I can even believe it." She let a smile slip. He knew she wasn't to be straight lipped and very much the Martha he knew. The one who kept all her emotions hidden, but then she started talking about Effy.

"I..I couldn't just stand by and act like..it was all bad, when..when I'm really happy for her." She sighed as she kept staring at her mug of coffee and not him.

"Well, I'm happy for you." Garvin smiled. There was no need for her to act as if she was in a bad way when he knew she wasn't.

"I..I never thought I..I was good enough for you." She finally told him.

"What?" Garvin winced hard. "No..don't say that..it was definitely the other way around." He stared at her, thinking she was possibly the most honest person he'd ever met. Except for Leo. "Look, I dunno who you think..I am. I don't really recall having a real date. I mean, when I started the University, I ended up moving in with one of my professors and..well, I stayed with her..until the very end. She always knew what she wanted. I didn't. And then her kids got the house and everything. It was..It was time to move on. And now, I have to wonder if I was deprived some how. Not making so many decisions on my own." He sighed.

He told her about the photography business. It wasn't so much at the moment with the weddings, but he'd done some nature photos, as of late. That meant getting out in the bitter cold. Scouting for wildlife, hours on end. But it gave him time to think.

"Anyway, I'm very happy for you." He offered to be her wedding photographer. He'd give her a major discount. He wished he could do it for free.

"So you haven't met anyone new?" Martha scrunched a concerned look on her very fresh face of happiness.

"Well," He couldn't help to make lite of it now. "Actually, I really..thought I did. But it turns out, just a figment of my imagination." He was even lipped then. Leo was no girl. Garvin still felt like an idiot that he'd been so smitten the day he met Leo in drag at the library. He wasn't even sure Leo's modeling would ever amount to much. Yes, Leo liked to talk and now Garvin was just a listener. He supposed that would suffice these brutal cold days of January.