Page 14 of Love, Untangled

He met Penelope at the gate, her cheeks pink and her lips parted. “I’m so sorry—”

Carlo raised his hand. “You don’t need to apologize. I told you, he’s helpful.” Her expression turned dubious. Carlo felt a tug in his gut. “That’s why you’ve kept him home. You thought I was just being nice.”

She tucked some stray hairs behind her ear. “Well, yeah.” Her big brown eyes met his. “We’re new here, Carlo. I haven’t had a chance to make friends this past week, and I really don’t want my closest neighbor to think I’m taking advantage of him.”

Carlo rocked back on his heels. “I looked up alpacas and apples. He shouldn’t have too many, but not that many are falling because it’s so early in the season. Your guy seems to like attention more than he likes the apples, and it can get a bit lonely out here all day. So, for now, I think we’re good with him having the run of the orchard. If he starts eating off the trees, we’ll talk.”

Penelope nodded. “Seems fair. Do you sell them?”

“The apples?” Carlo shook his head. “I haven’t before. This is only my second season. Last year I had to learn how to care for the trees—there was a late frost and June was too dry for the trees to bear much fruit. This year I plan to harvest some of them to make hard cider.” He didn’t tell her why; his reasons were his own.

“That’s become a popular drink, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

She bit her lip. “I was about to make a sandwich. Do you want one?”

Longing filled Carlo’s chest. When was the last time he ate with another person? Such a simple pleasure. “Yeah, that’d be great.” His voice was hoarse from the emotion clogging his throat.

Penelope shot him a shy look. “Um, and maybe you could tell me what you know about leaky faucets.”

Carlo chuckled. “I would have helped you with the faucet whether you made me lunch or not.”

Penelope’s smile dazzled. Or maybe it was the sudden step into the sunshine from the cooler darkness of the trees that pushed close to her house. That made sense.

“Well, how else was I going to lure you in?”

His body relaxed fully. The banter between them was fun. Easy. Just what he needed, really. “I guess you’ll never know.”

She climbed the steps to the porch and Carlo forced himself to keep his eyes on the back of her head, not her cute butt.

“How old are you, Penelope?”

She turned, her cheeks pink and eyes wide. “Oh, um. Twenty.”

Shock hit him like a sledgehammer. “Just…”

“I didn’t go to college.” She shrugged but her cheeks bloomed darker.

“Neither did I. I always knew I wanted to be a firefighter. No point doing more schooling I’d never like.”

“You didn’t like school?” She held open the screen door. Alpaca Man settled on the porch. Penelope must have made him a bed because the animal rested in a large papasan-shaped chair—without the legs.

“Not really. I prefer to do other things than sit in a classroom.”

“Oh.” Her brows puckered.

“You don’t agree?” He kept his tone light but his stomach now filled with an anchor that was slowly cutting through his guts. Not only was this girl more than a decade too young for him, but she also looked down on him for not wanting to take college classes. Cora never treated him as lesser just because he didn’t have a degree.

“I wouldn’t know.” Pen moved to the fridge and began to pull out sandwich fixings. “I just assumed everyone liked school—it always seemed magical to me.”

Carlo snagged another chair and settled into it. He should offer to help, but her comment—what kind of childhood had she experienced? Not to go to school… Her look hadn’t been disdain; it was disappointment. “Does that mean you didn’t attend school, Penelope?”

She kept her back to him—she was slender, graceful, delicate. Smaller-boned and just overall smaller than Cora. With her cap of bright blonde hair, she appeared more of a pixie than a woman. Another reason Carlo shouldn’t be attracted to her. Not that he needed another reason. He’d loved his wife—that was reason enough.

“Not really. My mother moved around a lot. She’s…eccentric.”

“In what way?”

---