Page 61 of The Girl and the Cobra

It’s always something with Penny. Makes me wonder if that’s how it is with most people and I just live a boring life—which I’m fine with, of course. I don’t think I could deal with a constant barrage of life-changing events or social obligations.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

Now it’s her turn to shrug. “It is what it is. Can’t really be mad when someone’s sick.” She wrinkles her nose as she stares at me. “You know, it suddenly occurs to me that I have some free time this weekend. I know you mentioned you were new in town. We could hang out, if you want. I could show you all the cool, happening places. Take you to some of my favorite hiking trails.”

Hiking sounds like the worst thing ever, so I don’t know why I say, “Sure.”

Wait. What?

Penny squeals. “Yay! Let’s do it. I could pick you up or we could meet up—”

“I don’t have a car,” I say lamely.

“Oh, no problem. I’ll come get you. It’ll be fun!” She’s about three seconds from saying something else when someone strolls up to the counter to place an order. Just like that, she turns serious and morphs into someone else. “Hello, sir, welcome to The Drip. What can I get for you today?”

I get ready to either make some coffee or grab a pastry out of the counter, but then I see who it is standing on the opposite side, with his hands awkwardly stuck in his jacket’s pockets.

“Hello, uh—” There’s a pause as he glances at her nametag. “—Penny. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I was hoping she could help me.” He flashes a grin in my direction.

Before Penny can get the wrong idea, I say, “Dad. What are you doing here?” I stop myself from saying something along the lines ofI specifically told you not to visit me at work yet. The whole reason, besides the fact that I don’t quite know what I’m doing yet, is because, as a dad, he’s kind ofembarrassing.

The moment Penny hears it’s my dad, she starts to grin, and my dad shrugs, acting all innocent. “I just came here to see my daughter at work. Is that so wrong?”

I open my mouth to tell him that yes, it is wrong, but Penny answers him quicker than I can, “Not at all, sir. Come on, Mabel. Ring your dad out.” She steps away from the cash register, doing a mock bow as she lets me take the reins.

I want to roll my eyes at her dramatics, but all I can do is stare at my dad and give him a look that saysI hope you’re happy. “What do you want?”

My dad pulls a hand out of his pocket and acts like I hurt him. “Wow. Is that any way to treat a paying customer?” When I arch my eyebrows at him, he chuckles and leans back, angling his head up to look at the menus overhead. “What’s good?”

Penny has a response ready: “Any and everything, sir.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “I like you,” he says, and then to me he adds, “Can’t really have coffee since I’ll be in bed in a few hours, but I’m curious about the chocolate muffin. How chocolate-y we talking here?”

I stand there cringing, wondering why parents have to be so darn embarrassing, but it’s a good thing Penny doesn’t care, because she’s doing most of the talking here. “Let’s just say it’ll fill your chocolate quota for the month.”

“Quite the statement. Alright, let’s give it a shot. Give me one of those.” As I ring him out, he pulls out some cash. The man pays me in exact change. Penny has his chocolate muffin ready to go in a bag by the time we’re done, and before he grabs it he stuffs a ten-dollar bill into the tip jar and gives us a wink. “For the exemplary service, ladies.” With a nod and a smile, he leaves.

Penny waits until he’s out of the shop before leaning in closer to me and saying, “He’s your dad? Damn. He’s cute. How old is he?”

I want to vomit. The look I give her asks if she’s crazy. “He’s fifty.”

“Fifty? Wow. Doesn’t look like it. The man must’ve taken care of himself when he was younger, because hot damn.” The more she says, the more I want to peel off my own ears. Somehow, I can tell my dad is going to become a hot topic of conversation for Penny.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?”

“Uh, yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do with your dad’s hotness.”

The only thing I can do is stare at her like she’s grown a third eye. Actually, the third eye thing makes more sense than her finding my dad hot—becauseew. I’d take third eyes, fourth eyes, any number of extra eyes really, over that.

Penny finds my uncomfortableness amusing, because she laughs a certain kind of belly laugh I haven’t heard before.

I’m so caught up in the whole Penny-finds-my-dad-hot thing that I neglect to notice someone else came in and walked up to the register, someone who now waits patiently for his turn, glancing between Penny and me, though his gaze mostly lingers on me.

Another middle-aged man. Totally average as middle-aged men go as far as I’m concerned, but who knows? Maybe Penny will want to marry him.

Penny scoots me off the register and flashes the customer a wide, toothy grin. “Sorry for the wait, sir. How can we help you?” Her good mood beams out, infectious to most people, but the man on the other side of the counter doesn’t so much as crack a smile.

“A large black coffee,” he says, glancing at me.

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