Page 62 of Unbreakable Love

Never had, actually, and my brows puckered with my own hesitation and worry, but I pushed through it as her blue eyes widened.

“No way.”

“Never.” I shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but maybe I’d missed out. I’d been so focused for so long on Josie, which was a good thing, and my career, also a good thing, outside my family, I’d essentially excluded myself.

“Really?” Penny asked and her voice went a little high-pitched.

I grabbed a couple glasses and was filling them with water when she met me in the kitchen. She slid onto the stool on the opposite side of the counter and waited. “You’ve never had a woman in your home?”

She’d already given me honesty, so much more than I deserved, it wouldn’t be fair to hide anything from her, even if I was at risk of embarrassing myself over it.

“There was one girl, a woman, when I was twenty. It lasted a summer, but I was still with my parents then, so no, Penny. I’ve never had a woman here, or anyone around Josie for that matter since then.”

“Wow,” she breathed, chest expanding and then falling with the weight of it. “That’s, well… okay.”

“Is that bad? I mean…”

“No.” She shook her head. Almost frantically. “It’s good. Or, well, it is what it is, but it’s not bad. Not at all.”

There was something there, hiding in her eyes, building a little ball of worry in my stomach as I watched her eyes dance all over the kitchen but not landing on anything.

“I didn’t want you to come over here tonight, and I didn’t show up on your porch today for some kind of one-night stand, you know.” If that was what she thought of me, this might be over before it could begin.

“What?” Her gaze jumped to me and landed. “I don’t. It’s not that, Gavin.” She finally sighed and chewed on her bottom lip. “I wasn’t thinking that, but I’m nervous. Okay? I’m just nervous.”

“Me too.”

I was. Desperately so. To not screw this up. To not end up hurt. To not have Josie end up hurt. There were so many directions this could go, both good and bad, but I’d spent far too long calculating the cost of only the potentially bad outcomes.

“Come here, Penny.” I held out my hand and when hers settled in mine, I tugged her off the stool and around to the couch. I avoided the longer section and took us to the corner where there was a chaise lounge. It was wide enough for two adults, with space, so we’d be close and touching but hopefully not uncomfortably so.

Fortunately for me, she fell easily down with me, me in the corner, slightly angled toward her so she could sit back, legs up.

I plucked at the sleeve of her short but fitted and hot pink shirt. It was also worn and had a white kitten on the front, meowing, with a thought bubble that said, Give me coffee or give me death. “Nice shirt.”

“Not my best look.” She leaned away to set her glass down on the coffee table. “Tell me about the woman, when you were twenty.”

There wasn’t much to tell, only more frustration with a bit of hilarity. Penny would like that part. “It was summer. Ella was home for the summer from college and a year younger than me. It was a rare night I was out with friends who were also back in town, and we hooked up at a Fourth of July bonfire. Spent a few weeks together. We had started talking about keeping things going when she went back to school and then it ended.”

“Why?”

“Josie threw up on her,” I deadpanned, but I wasn’t joking.

Penny barked out a laugh and covered her mouth. “What? She didn’t. How?”

“Josie and I were at the park and Ella met us there. But I’d also taken Josie to the county’s annual fair and carnival before, so she was loaded up on corn dogs and funnel cakes.”

“All the deep-fried fair necessities.” She nodded seriously.

“Exactly. So we were at the park, and I wanted her to meet Ella. I was pushing Josie on the swings, Ella in front and off to the side, and out of nowhere, Josie hurled.”

Penny started giggling and it was difficult not to follow. The rest of the story was jumbled over my own laugh at the memory. All that fried food vomit. It not only looked gross, but it smelled worse. “It landed right on Ella’s legs and feet, and she was in sandals. I thought she was going to throw up.”

“Oh my gosh,” Penny said through her laugh. “What’d she do?”

“Screamed and ran off and texted me later and said she wasn’t ready to be a mom or anything and we should call it off.”

Her smile wiped away. “I’m sorry. I mean, the story is funny and you can’t really blame her?—”

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