Page 114 of Santa Has a Six-Pack
“Well, are you at least pissed at Keira then?”
“I don’t know what I am at Keira,” he says and stares off into the distance.
Something tells me we’ll have to unpack that one later.
“You know what will really piss me off, though?” Gene continues. “If you mess up your own relationship with some misguided attempt to defend my honor. I don’t need a punk ass prince charming like you coming to my rescue here.”
“But—”
“Matt? I’m serious. If you cut her out of your life because of this, I will never forgive you.” He leans closer to me. “For the record? I’ve never seen you happier than you’ve been this past month with her.”
“I’m always happy,” I argue.
“Eh,” Gene shrugs.
“Dude, stop shrugging! And what’s ‘eh?’ Don’t ‘eh’ me.”
“My ‘eh’ is because… yes, you’re always upbeat, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re happy.”
Well, damn.
Having friends who call you on your shit isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
When I don’t say anything, Eugene pats me on the shoulder and stands, heading to the door.
“What? Now you’re just gonna leave?”
He turns and flashes me a cheesy grin. “I was trying that thing people do in TV shows. You know, where they drop a truth bomb on someone, then just… let it burn?”
“You’re an idiot.” I laugh.
“So are you if you let Penny go,” he says, more serious now. He leans against the doorframe, waiting, I suppose, for my reaction to another “truth bomb.”
I scrub a hand over my face. “I hear you. But you’re forgetting one very important detail in this whole mess.”
“What’s that?”
“I looked right into that woman’s gorgeous brown eyes and told her that I love her. And do you know what she said?”
“What?”
“‘It doesn’t matter.’”
“Of course it matters!” Gene gets all fired up. “Tell me what she said!”
“No, that’s what she said, Gene. I told her I love her, and she said, ‘It doesn’t matter.’”
I flashback to that moment, replaying the look on her face when she said it.
Broke my fucking heart.
“People say a lot of things they don’t mean when they’re scared.”
“And I don’t know, man. Penny is one of the strongest, most confident people I know. What could she possibly be afraid of?”
Gene shrugs one last time, exaggerating it for comic relief, his shoulders almost touching his ears. “Maybe it’s time you ask her that.”
Chapter 31
