Chapter 71
PENN
The more timeI spent back in the city, the more constricting it became. It felt like there was fog in the air making it hard to breathe, and I just wanted to run. I wanted to get away from all the noise and go back to my little room at Green Gables that felt more like home than my apartment ever had.
The sun was setting as I waited at the crosswalk on Michigan and 84th Street, the busiest intersection in the entire city, and watched the timer count down before I could cross. Ten, nine, eight... I was going to dinner with my brother and best friend from college, Mitch, trying to live my life as normally as possible, despite the gaping hole I felt where Aveline was.
“Penn? Penn Murphy?”
I turned around to see a tall woman with a high blonde ponytail approaching me. She was wearing a lethally short black dress with impossibly long, tanned legs, red lipstick, and dimples indented in both of her cheeks.
“Alexandra? Wow, hi.”
Alexandra had been Freya’s best friend growing up. I had been infatuated with her from the time I was ten—she was the first crush I’d ever had—until she graduated and went off to college. I hadn’t seen her since.
Until now.
“How are you? How is Freya?” Alexandra moved closer to me, and I could smell her perfume. Her blue eyes were as bright as her smile as she grabbed hold of my arm and tugged me across the street as the crosswalk began speaking out, “Walk. Walk. Walk.”
“Freya is good. What have you been up to? I haven’t seen you since...”
“I left for college,” she finished for me as she let go of my arm. “You still had pimples,” she teased. She eyed me and bit her bottom lip. “They are all gone now, though, aren’t they?”
“I would hope so. I’m thirty-three.”
Alexandra giggled and clasped her tiny black bag with both hands. “So, tell me, are you married? Kids?”
I shook my head. “No to both.”
“Oh my God, me either. This is just so crazy. I can’t believe I am standing here with you right now. You look so much like Finn, it’s crazy.”
I smiled subtly, remembering that Alexandra had never hesitated to go after what she wanted, but back in the day, it was never me. She’d always had her eye on Finn.
This is when the old Penn would have capitalized on Alexandra’s obvious interest. He would have jumped at the chance to take her out for a meal, to see if she had the same no-commitment idea he was so fond of.
But this new Penn wasn’t interested.
“I feel like this is fate or something. I’m only in town for two days, and I just so happen to run into you.” She smiled.
There it was.
The invitation.
Alexandra was only in town for two days. This was exactly what my life was made up of. One-night stands, beautiful women, and no commitments. My life was no overnights, no morning coffee, and no last names. My life was taking Alexandra back to her place and the two of us never exchanging numbers because we both knew it was only to scratch an itch for both of us. It was never meant to be anything more.
But now as I stood there, face to face with someone I had once believed was my dream girl, I realized one important thing.
It was fate.
But a much different fate than I could have ever imagined.
It was then I realized all of that was my life, and the girl who stood in front of me—despite her beauty—was no longer of any importance to me.
The girl of my dreams was a giant pain in the ass, and her name was Darcy Miller.
I pulled my hands from my pockets and ran them through my hair. “It was great to see you, Alexandra. I’ll tell Freya you said hi.”
And with that, I walked away.