Page 6 of Somebody To Love

A knock on the door shook her out of old, hurtful memories. She opened the door, eyes going wide with shock.

“BJ. What are you doing here?”

He glanced at her like she was two cans short of a six-pack—lately she felt like she was missing the entire half dozen—and held up a bag of chips and a glass bowl filled with orange and red gooey heaven in the form of queso dip.

“It’s Things That Go Bump in the Night night.”

Right, their weekly TV night where they watched the world’s most ridiculous and hilarious reality ghost hunting show. How could she have forgotten?

Because her brain was currently filled with babies and coming up with the courage to ask the man standing in front of her for his help in that area.

Oh, that.

“Did you forget?”

The corner of his lips curled up. BJ knew she sometimes forgot things when she got immersed in work. Too bad she wasn’t working on anything particularly engaging right now. At least then she’d have something to blame her scattered brain on.

“No, I…yeah, I guess I did.” No use lying. He could always see through her. “Sorry. Come on in.”

He stepped into her apartment, handing over the queso and chips like he always did. Penny had a serious addiction to cheese. Anything dairy, really. Thank goodness she wasn’t lactose intolerant like her sister. She didn’t think she could survive without the smooth velvety tastes of a nice brie, or the cold, creamy heaven that was ice cream. And cookies would be out because without milk to dunk them in, what was the point?

“Beer?”

“In the fridge,” she said, opening the bag and digging into the warm melted nirvana that was BJ’s famous queso.

He returned a moment later with two longnecks. Popping the caps off, he took a swig of his while handing her the other.

She chuckled. “Isn’t it sacrilege to drink beer when you own and operate a distillery?”

Plopping down on the couch next to her, he grabbed the TV remote and turned it on. “It’s a local craft brew. I’m supporting my neighbors.”

“Your competition, you mean.”

“Gotta know the competition. Plus, we’re thinking of serving a few local brews in the restaurant along with our drinks.”

Sound business idea. Not surprising. The entire Jackson family seemed to make savvy business decisions. When she’d graduated from DU and opened her freelance website design business, Ace and BJ had given her plenty of tips and advice. She worked hard over the years, and it had paid off. She was far from a millionaire, but she had a nice retirement fund, a padded savings account, and even a few investments doing well for her.

Now all she needed was a child to share her home and love with.

And just like that, nerves bubbled up again. Clueless to her unease, BJ dipped a chip into the queso and popped it into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed before speaking.

“By the way, if Charlie calls you asking for a favor, tell her to buzz off.”

Yeah right, like she’d ever told anyone in her life to buzz off. That would take confidence and sass. Two things Penny very much lacked. Now, if someone was looking for useless facts and a groan worthy sense of humor, she had that in spades.

“She already texted me half an hour ago.”

“Dammit, Charlie!” He shook his head, turning to glance at her with apology. “I told her not to.”

“She said she was having computer problems.”

“I know, and I told her to turn her damn laptop off and on again.”

Ah, yes, the fix to seventy-five percent of all computer problems. Only five percent were genuine problems and the other twenty were PEBKAC; problem exists between keyboard and chair.

“I told her the same thing.”

“Did it work?”

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