Page 152 of The Troublemaker

“I do want to hear about it.”

She looked behind Denver and saw Arizona leaning in the doorway.

“I’ll give you details,” Penny said.

“Excellent,” Arizona said grinning. “I might be old and married, but I want to hear the juicy details.”

“I’m out,” Denver said, walking into the house.

“So what you just...met some guy at the store?”

“I knew him,” she said to Arizona, suddenly feeling bashful. “He was an old friend. And...he wanted to show me the place that he just bought, and one thing led to another. I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“Good for you. You deserve a little bit of a wild time.”

“Yeah.”

“Why do you look sad? Was his dick disappointing?”

“Oh no,” she said. “Not at all. It was great. It was amazing. I just... You can’t be in love with somebody after one time. But... I’ve known him for half my life. We just got so out of touch. And I missed him. And I really didn’t realize how much.”

“Where do you know him from?”

“From before. My old life. The one I tried so hard to leave behind. He was my best friend.”

“I actually think you can be in love like that,” Arizona said. “It was like that for me. I fell in love with Micah that summer he was here at the ranch. We didn’t even kiss. And still, all those years later, he was the only man that I could ever imagine being with. The only man that I really loved.”

“That’s how I feel. It was supposed to just be for the afternoon, and then I stayed the night. I just kind of want to stay forever.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“Well, he has his own opinions. I don’t know for sure if he actually wants to be with me like that. It’s probably a little bit sudden.”

“You haven’t seen the guy in how long?”

“Seven years.”

“Seven years. And you saw him and it was like nothing had changed.”

“Sort of. But also everything had changed. I thought he was cute back then. But I was desperate for him today. I love him. I... I think I always have.”

“You need to go to him then. And you don’t have to tell them that you love him yet. You can’t say that.”

“Yeah. I guess I can’t.”

Except she felt like those kids that ran barefoot through the grass would never have held it back. She wanted that. With him.

She had gotten his number before she left. And she picked up the phone and texted him.

Meet me at our spot.

“I actually have to go.”

“You weren’t going to come inside and tell everybody about his wonderful dick?”

“No,” she said. “I’m just going to go off and tell the man that I love him.”

“Well, okay.”

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