After all this time -- more than a month, really, now that he's thinking about it -- he thought he'd managed to work out what he felt. Sometimes, though, his head and his heart aren't quite in the same place and when he realizes it's Sookie he's waved to, there's a small, excited lurch in his chest that he has to quiet. They've had their time and he knows, better than most, the choices she had to make and why she had to make them. He's worked through it in his head, knowing it's for the best, knowing a part of him is still waiting for Veronica to come back, that it isn't fair to be with anyone when he's still caught up in someone who's been gone now for nearly ten months.

It isn't fair and yet, there's still that surge of excitement to see her.

"Hello," he answers as Hal gets up, her tail wagging, and goes to Sookie to sniff at the hem of her dress and around her feet. For a moment, he wishes he had Sam with him. Every so often she asks when Sookie is going to come back and colour with her, but Mathias has no answer for her. He knows that it's better she's not here, not right now, the first time seeing each other after New Year's Eve, but he also knows it would make her happy. Maybe in time, though, he'll be able to ask Sookie to come back and see the little girl. He remembers telling her that all he needed was a little time, that he thinks they could still be friends and he stands by that.