Chapter 34
PENN
“That wasthe most exciting thing I think I have ever witnessed.” We were walking from the town square after a theatrical performance from the two men fighting over their yards. There were pictures for evidence and finally a survey of the land, which proved that it was Mr. Ashford’s property, and he was now responsible for mowing it. “I thought they were going to hit each other!”
Darcy chuckled. “Yeah, they can get a little intense. I knew it was going to be Ashford’s property. He is probably the one who started the entire thing too, only to be shot down. He’s kind of a grump, so it’s a little funny.”
We walked a little way, and then Darcy looked at me, her arms crossed, hands cupping her elbows. “If you want to come over you can. It’s still early, and I have Uno.”
I smiled, thankful she had asked because I was hoping to have something to do tonight that didn’t involve the DVD player at the inn with only a collection of movies from the 1950’s...and The Notebook. “Yeah, I love Uno.”
“Cool.”
We walked to Darcy’s house, and she began asking me questions about myself. It was odd, answering the questions considering none of my dates for the past decade had ever gotten personal enough to ask them. When you’re simply sleeping with women and then they were gone before the sun came up, there was a mutual understanding that it was to go no further than that.
“Do you have any siblings?” she asked.
“I have a sister, Freya, and a brother, Finn. I’m the youngest.”
“Freya, Finn, and Penn.” She emphasized the P sound in my name. “Did your parents run out of F names or something? Because I could come up with, like, a thousand that just scream you.”
I let out a low chuckle. “Yeah, like what?”
She held her hand up as she counted each name. “Fernando, Franklin, Fabio, Freddie...”
“Really?” I asked curiously. “Those just scream me?”
She nodded slowly, “Mm-hmm...and I have you figured out now. You’re the baby of the family. So, I bet you got whatever you wanted as a child.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“That explains the arrogance,” she said back, a smile on her face to let me know she was being playful.
“Arrogance, huh?”
She raised her eyebrows, “Yeah,” she started. “Me, Penn. Me want store. Me get store.” She had deepened her voice while mocking me.
I laughed. “Oh, come on. I don’t sound like that. I just happen to think I’m right about Aveline needing a restaurant.”
“Mm-hmm, there it is again, the arrogance. Thinking you know best for a place you don’t even know.” She kept walking, our steps in stride, a smile spread across her face.
When we got to her house, I sat in the living room, and she pulled a couple of beers from the fridge. She took a big drink of hers and sat down, shuffling a deck of UNO cards.
“Your mom and dad around?” she asked.
Another personal question. She was firing them one right after another, and I began to wonder if we were going to play UNO or twenty questions.
“Yeah, they are great parents,” I answered, knowing it was the truth. My parents had always been incredibly involved and supportive. “They split up after I was born, so I only remember them being apart, but oddly enough, they are still best friends.”
“Really? You don’t see that every day,” Darcy said.
I chuckled. “No, you don’t. Most of my friends growing up whose parents had divorced were constantly talking about how bad it was. I couldn’t relate. My parents never fought.”
“That’s really good. I wish more people could do that. Especially when there are kids involved.” She dealt us each seven cards. “Do you want to get married?”
Her question caught me off guard. I could say with complete honesty that I had never really thought about it. And so that’s what I told her.
“Really?” She placed a green seven on the blue seven on the deck. “I mean, I think about it at least twelve times a day. How could you have never really thought about it?”
I laid down a WILD card. “Yellow,” I said, changing the color from green. “I don’t know. I’ve never really had any serious girlfriends or anything.”
“Well, I think I am here to change that...Remember what you said about fate? I’m starting to believe in it. Oh! And we could have six. I definitely want an even number because you don’t want any of them left out. Don’t you think six would be a good number to have?”
“Six what?” I asked, not sure when the conversation took such a drastic turn.
She laughed, boisterously. “Kids, goof! We would make the cutest kids.”
I watched her lay down a yellow six, and she peered up at me with a subtle smile. “Oh my gosh, a yellow six and six kids! It really is fate!”
I smiled back, nodding slightly and knowing that it did not reach my eyes as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on.