Chapter 76
PENN
It wasa little like déjà vu. I called Peyton an Uber, but instead of driving Darcy to Green Gables Inn, I drove her home. Then I displayed self-control in the most epic of proportions when I refused to have sex with her no matter how many times she threw herself at me, and no matter how badly I wanted to.
I did, however, sleep in bed with her, and I was the big spoon.
The next morning, I woke up before her, brewed a pot of coffee, and brought her a cup in bed. She rolled over, and I couldn’t help the cheesy smile spread across my face. I don’t think anyone would believe Penn Murphy spent the night with a woman...again...and liked it.
“Hey,” she said, her voice still raspy from sleep.
I handed her the cup. “Hey.”
We were quiet for a moment, the air thick between us. There were so many words I wanted to say, and yet I couldn’t find the proper way to string them together, so instead, I took a sip and said, “So, tell me. What’s new in Aveline?”
She leaned up in the bed, blowing on the coffee. “Oh, nothing much. It’s just the same ole Aveline. Tuck brought back his strawberry bread for the summer, which is always a big hit. It made it into the newsletter. Oh, and Noreen actually got a cat! It’s one of those hairless ones. Kind of gross actually, but she likes it.” She squinted her eyes in thought. “There was a town meeting, and someone anonymously put in a motion to have a town-wide curfew. It obviously wasn’t very hard to guess that it was—”
“Ms. Winslow,” I said, and we both started laughing. I had remembered Ms. Winslow was very particular about her sleeping habits.
“Yep, she thinks everyone should be in bed by nine thirty since that’s when she goes to sleep. I don’t know why she cares, though, because a train could pass right by her and she wouldn’t be disturbed.” Darcy chuckled. “Needless to say, it didn’t get the vote.”
“I can’t imagine anyone would have voted for that,” I replied.
“No, just Ms. Winslow. Well, and Mr. Ramos, who has been wanting to get with Ms. Winslow for years. Personally, it shocks me. I can’t see how anyone would want to be with that woman. She’s always terrified me.”
I scoffed. “I have to say, I can’t imagine why you’d be scared of her. I mean other than she looks like she would beat you with her cane.”
Darcy laughed. “Yes! I used to run past her house as a kid on the way home from school!”
Our laughter died down, and we sat in silence, both staring awkwardly at our mugs, until finally Darcy spoke. “I’m glad you came back.”
I blew on my coffee and watched the steam spread with my breath. “Me too. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
Darcy placed her hand on my knee. “You know I didn’t mean what I said. About you not belonging in Aveline. I was just mad. Sometimes I say things I don’t mean, and I know I need to work on it but—”
“No, Darcy, it’s okay. I’m sorry about everything, too. I should have told you from the beginning why I was there—the truth about why I was there—but I promise you, once I got to know you a little better and when I met your parents, I knew I would never do what Max wanted. I swear. I told him I wouldn’t do it. I quit my job. I would never betray Aveline or you in that way.”
“Wait, you quit your job?” she asked.
“Yeah. I mean, granted, Max told me if I didn’t get the sale to not worry about coming back, but I quit before he could fire me. I have some self-respect.”
Darcy huffed. “Oh my God. That guy is a total dick! Well, too bad for him he’ll never have a place in Aveline.” She paused. “But you will. You’ll always have a place here if you ever decide you want to come back.”
“You mean the whole town doesn’t hate me?” I was genuinely worried the word had spread about all the lies I had told. I couldn’t see how it wouldn’t have. You couldn’t hide anything from this town, and because of that, I was fearful that any kind of belonging I had in Aveline was gone.
“Meh, we can hold an emergency town meeting. Get you back in the good graces of the Avelinians.”
“Thanks. I might take you up on that sometime. I mean, as long as I don’t have to call you Pooky Bear in order to stay.”
She groaned, and we both chuckled. “I had you a little scared with that one, didn’t I?”
“I’m not sure what was worse, Pooky Bear or when you named my penis Cordelia.”
Darcy laughed so hard she almost spilled her coffee and had to sit it on the end table. “Oh, that was a good one. For the record, it’s not a teeny tiny weenie.”
I choked on my coffee, laughing. I had missed talking to her. “What do you say we start over? For the, what...third time?”
Darcy’s face was bright, but she shook her head. “I don’t really want to start over.”
I furrowed my eyebrows, feigning nonchalance. “Oh, yeah. That’s fine.”
“I just mean, I kind of liked us where we were...before everything blew up.”
I smiled, feeling a weight lifting off my shoulders. “Yeah, I liked us there, too.”