Chapter 26
Cecelia was making her way back down the aisle, this time delivering drinks.
“Thank you, ma'am,” Buddy kindly stated as she returned to their row.
Cecelia set the coffee down gruffly and said nothing.
As she was once more out of earshot, Jon stated, “Again, wow. That is one angry individual.”
“Hmmm.” Buddy started. Jon waited.
“She appears that way,” Buddy agreed, surprising Jon. “However, I'd bet dollars to dumplings that if you asked her if she was angry, she'd say, ‘no.'”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, our friend there, bless her heart, seems pretty low in self‐awareness as I said earlier. Unaware of her backpack, you might say. Along with all of the other stuff we've talked about, other signs of low self‐awareness include holding a grudge—she apparently was still annoyed with me for what she interpreted as prying—and denying your anger altogether. I'd wager that if you asked her, she would say she is not angry because she does not get angry because she interprets anger as bad.”
Jon thought about that, and the times he would declare to others, including Grace, that he most certainly was not angry . . . as his voice raised and his teeth clenched.
“A few minutes ago,” Buddy continued, “I asked if you would say you were angry if I called you early this morning. You enthusiastically said . . .” Buddy looked at Jon and paused.
“Dang right!” Jon said proudly, but with a smile.
“As we discussed, handling your anger wrong and blaming others for it is a problem. But ...
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