Page 58 of One Pucking Wish

I’m feeling good as we enter the store. She was able to pull out a piece of my past without making it a painful experience. The more time I spend with her, the more I realize that she may be the one person on this earth for me. I always thought that I was destined to live my life alone, but I’m seeing now that I don’t want that. Penny has been mine for such a small amount of time, yet I can’t imagine it any other way.

“We’ll get in and out. Okay?” She squeezes my hand.

“Yeah.”

It doesn’t take long for someone to notice me, and it’s a douche nonetheless. The guy exudes asshole and corners us in the canned soup aisle. “Gunner Dreven buying some tomato soup.” He eyes the can in my hand. “No shit. What a small world.”

The fact that I live, practice, and play a couple of miles from this store every day of my life doesn’t make it a small world at all. But I don’t bother to correct the guy. “Hey, man.” I give him a nod.

“My girlfriend is a huge fan of yours. She’s going to be so jealous.” He pulls out his phone and initiates some selfies. It’s awfully bold of him not to ask but I smile for his pictures anyway. “So we have to talk about your performance last week. Those last two should’ve been easy saves.”

There’s nothing I love more than listening to some idiot in a grocery store give me playing advice.

No doubt sensing my agitation, Penny steps between me and the guy. “Sorry, we have to go. It was nice meeting you.”

“Bitch, I’m not talking to you, and I’m not done talking to Dreven. Move.” He takes hold of Penny’s upper arm and pushes her to the side. She stumbles off-balance and falls into the cans of soup.

I see fucking red. Before I know it, my fist is hitting the man’s face.

“What the fuck?” he screeches from the ground, holding his nose. Blood drips from his fingers. “You are so done, asshole.”

I squat down and move my face an inch away from his. Through gritted teeth, I seethe, “Come after me, I don’t care. Don’t you ever lay a hand on a woman again. If I so much as hear a whisper from you, I will make sure everyone knows that you pushed my girl.”

“You’re a dick, and you play like shit!” he yells as I turn away from him.

“Are you okay?” I take Penny’s hand in mine, ignoring the insults spewing from the man.

She yanks her hand from mine, her face red and eyes wide. “Let’s go.”

We leave the store empty-handed. Penny doesn’t say a word as I drive the few blocks to her house. I pull into her drive and turn off the car.

She breaks her silence. “I can’t.”

I turn in my seat. “You can’t what?”

Her head moves from side to side. She presses her lips in a tight line. Her eyes fill with unshed tears as she says, “I can’t do this with you.”

“Do what?”

“A relationship, Gunner. It’s over. It was stupid to even try.”

Her words shock me, pulling the air from my lungs. “Wait. You’re ending us? Over that prick?”

She unbuckles her seat belt and wipes the palms of her hands over her pants before turning to face me. “I’m ending us because of you. I can’t be with someone who punches random guys in the soup aisle at a grocery store. That isn’t normal, Gunner! I get the guy was a jerk, but you can’t just punch everyone you don’t like. You have no control over yourself sometimes, and I need to be with someone in control. You’re…” She doesn’t finish that sentence, and I have a feeling I wouldn’t want to know what she was going to say anyway.

“He pushed you!” I roar. “He doesn’t get to put his hands on you!”

“I can take care of myself, Gunner! What I can’t do is deal with your outbursts.”

“You can’t end this.” I shake my head in disbelief.

She takes hold of the door handle and pulls. “I already did.” She steps out of the car. “I’ll bring your stuff to work tomorrow,” she says before slamming the door.

Mouth agape, I watch as she walks away from me and enters her house. I have no words. I’m often a man of few words, but Penny has taken them all.

I’m speechless. What just happened?

My hands ball into fists, and my head falls back against the headrest.

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