1. SOMEBODY FOR SOMEONE
1
SOMEBODY FOR SOMEONE
PENNY
F ive years later
As the old saying went, if it wasn’t for bad luck, Penny Mayfield wouldn’t have any luck at all. It didn’t help that she was also a master of the fine art of procrastination. Add to that a penchant for making impulsive decisions, and those traits usually ended up spelling disaster .
The deadline for her article was looming within the hour and as usual, Penny had waited until this morning to finish it. She’d barely typed out the last words “… and that’s what makes Carter Stillwell one of the most exciting bluegrass artists to pop up on the scene in the last ten years…” when her laptop blinked, winked, and crashed. Before she could hit save, of course.
“No, motherfucker, no! ” she cried to the dark screen.
With her heart pounding, Penny restarted the machine and found the document. There it was, everything but the last paragraph. Thank goodness. While the closing was still fresh in her mind, she retyped it and managed to add some touches that were probably better than the original. This time, she hit save four times then uploaded it to her cloud storage.
After she ran the article through the spellchecker, she listened to it play aloud in that stilted, amusingly serious computer voice. It was ready for one more read-through from a trusted source. She attached the article to an email and took a last critical look at the photos she’d taken of Carter Stillwell the night before at his show. He looked like a modern-day Elvis, except he was wearing a stupid fedora with a turkey feather in it. He did play a mean banjo, but he was also an insufferable asshole.
Penny was leaving that last part out. Only the good stuff went into her freelance entertainment pieces. One snarky or disparaging article, and she’d be cut off from access to other musicians in the future. And since she was writing a whole damned book about them, that wouldn’t be the best course of action.
“Goodbye, asshole,” Penny said in her best Arnold Schwarzenegger accent and emailed the article to her editor, Marla, whom she’d worked with over the last several years. More than just her word-polisher, Marla was a friend, one of the few people she missed back home in New York.
Notification of an incoming email popped up within fifteen minutes. “ Great article, as always. See my comments. But you left out the asshole part. XoXo, Marla. ” Apparently, Carter’s reputation proceeded him without any help from her.
Laughing and shaking her head, Penny wrote back, “ Gotta be nice! Smooches .” Just a few minor tweaks, and the article and photos were on their way through cyberspace to the magazine.
With a sigh of relief that it was off her plate, she picked up her favorite crochet creature, the first she’d ever made and arguably the ugly-cutest. It was a little Doberman pincher baring fangs that she’d lovingly named Toto.
Penny would’ve loved to finally have a dog of her own, but a life on the road wasn’t a good fit for a pet. She’d lived in hotels, hostels, and temporary house stays for the past ten years. A living creature would probably be better off with anyone but her, seeing as she could barely keep a cactus alive. These yarn critters were the next best thing.
She crossed the small living room from the tiny desk to the window and looked outside with satisfaction at the scene below, along with Toto and the other tiny animals arrayed on the windowsill.
“We’re definitely not in New York no mo’, Toto,” she murmured to him.
With its ancient architecture interspersed with pubs, cafes, and cute shops, Dublin was one of the prettiest cities she’d ever lived in. She loved this particular neighborhood away from the city center full of little families on the North side of the Liffey River. Maybe it wasn’t the trendiest like the neighborhood around the corner, but it was somewhat more affordable, for her budget anyway, and the people were cool and down to earth.
It wasn’t her first time in Ireland. There had even been a loose plan to live in Dublin someday, but…that plan had ended abruptly.
She sat in the wide window seat and contemplated the usual sights. The older lady who always waved to her was pottering around in her tiny front garden across the street with a cardigan over her house dress. The twenty-something girl with the messy bun and permanently smudged eyeliner was sitting on the steps of her rowhouse, arguing on the phone as she smoked her cigarette. And then came Penny’s new obsession, the huge muscle-bound guy with the dog.
Big Man, as she thought of him, always wore a hoodie pulled low over his face so she couldn’t see what he looked like. As of the last two weeks, he’d been taking his runs with a small, excitable brown cockapoo. It always made her smile to see huge men with little dogs. They looked odd together, but it still struck her as sweet.
After Big Man and Little Dog disappeared down the street, she roused herself. Time for her afternoon writing session at her favorite café. Penny put on a thick sweater from one of the Aran Islands, her new prized possession, along with a scruffy pair of corduroy pants and some short boots.
She checked herself in the mirror, leaning in to examine her hairline. So far, at forty-two, there was a lone silver strand making its appearance among the dark brown of her textured fro. She didn’t mind the “persistent little gray bastard,” as her mother’s hairdresser would say. Unlike the other women in her family, she was determined not to have a meltdown every time she saw a sign of maturing. Determined…but she still checked the progression, nonetheless.
Outside, the air was cool and crisp, with sunlight peeking through the cloudy skies. The streets buzzed with activity as kids were being released from school, the loners quietly trudging along with their eyes glued to their phones and the others laughing in groups. Everywhere she looked, there were hallmarks of autumn, which reminded her of home. Orange and red falling leaves, that scent of woodsmoke, but here, there was the added smell of toasted malt from the Guinness factory. Best of all were the pretty black, orange, and purple Halloween decorations, or “Samhain” décor, as she’d been corrected.
Penny entered the café, said hello to about five people, including the owner and the baristas, and sat down near the window with a steaming mug and a scone. She adored this little place, with its worn, sturdy tables and chairs and subdued mint green walls. There were even cozy armchairs near a fireplace where two old gentlemen sat playing chess and arguing in accents so thick she couldn’t pretend to understand them. She still loved listening to them talk.
Comfortably in her spot, she wrapped her chilled fingers around the mug and settled in to people-watch and daydream before she cracked open the laptop. It was one of her favorite ways to pass the time. After a while, she spotted them, one of the…okay, the reason she always chose this table near the window right at this time of day. It had become a creepy little habit, she had to admit, but she wasn’t harming anyone, so she indulged.
The object of her afternoon coffee watch was a family. A cute family made up of a Black woman with a colorful headwrap and a fuzzy brown coat, with her light-haired Irish husband. She pushed the stroller with their toddler, the little cutie’s hair done up in several adorable brown braids that stuck out everywhere. The husband (maybe a boyfriend?) wore the infant wrapped up snug and warm against his chest. Sometimes, they were silent, just walking side by side with contentment. Today was one of their chattier days. They laughed as they talked animatedly. The husband reached over to adjust his wife’s collar to cover her exposed throat from the cold, and she kissed him for his kindness.
Penny watched them with a smile, happy for them and also, well…a little melancholy.
She wished…
Never mind wishing. That led nowhere. But she had to admit to herself that even though she very much enjoyed her own company, sometimes it got lonely, even among the friendliest of people. A little companionship, maybe a little bit of touching and kissing, maybe more…
Fuck it, she wanted a lot more.
Lately, there’d been a desire growing inside her to be touched naked, to be stroked and deep-kissed and fucked. By a human, not a toy. A man. That desire was only growing harder to ignore or appease on her own. She didn’t want or need anything permanent, not even a full-on friends-with-benefits situation. That always got weird in the end, the one or two times she’d tried. But why not find a one-time buddy? Someone to scratch the itch and be on his way.
Trouble was, it wasn’t happening organically, and she’d never been good with apps. Every time she’d tried them the results had been abysmal, to say the least. But she had to do something before she dried up and blew away.
Penny sipped her coffee, which was delicious as usual and put the cup down on the dark wood table to pull out her phone. Checking the time, she calculated it was about eight-thirty in the morning in New York. Good timing. Her cousin Jade should definitely be up then.
“Hey, girl. What’s up?” Jade asked in a hushed voice when she answered.
“Why are you whispering?” Penny looked up at the clock on the wall. “Damn, are you actually at work early?”
Jade worked for a travel agency in Manhattan. Penny loved her cousin’s job. Jade always gave her the hook-up for steep discounts whenever she needed a flight or hotel reservations. There was a ten-year age gap or so between them, so they hadn’t been all that close growing up in Owenville, but as adults, the gap seemed less significant, and they got along like a house on fire.
“Girl... My manager’s been on one lately because her boyfriend broke up with her,” Jade whispered. “She says if I’m late one more time, I’m getting written up. I am on my best behavior around here, so, unfortunately, I’ve gotta make personal calls quick. Do you need a flight? Are you finally finished with your book and coming home? Please, please, please don’t let me face them people alone at Christmas.”
The emphasis on “finally” wasn’t lost on Penny.
“Nope,” Penny said succinctly, making Jade laugh. Their mothers were sisters, married to brothers. Even for a small upstate town, everybody was way too tight, and, in each other’s business, which is why Jade wasn’t living in Owenville either. “I’ve got another festival to cover, and I need to write the last few chapters. Maybe another two months? I’ll be stankin’ up your doorstep before you know it.”
“At least be here in time to ring in the New Year with me. Anyway, what did you need?”
“I was thinking about your friend, Dani…”
“Yeah, what about her?”
“Well…I remember you saying you found her fiancé for her. You said it was on an app? Was it Black Mature Singles or something like that?”
“Nico is neither Black nor mature.” Jade burst into laughter despite saying she had to be discreet on personal calls. As though she suddenly remembered that, she lowered her voice again. “I’m just kidding. Nico’s amazing, and he is hot ! It was the Holidates app.” Jade paused. “Are you saying you’re finally going to go online and find you a man to settle down with? Halleluyer!” That was delivered in her best Madea impression. Then she whispered, “That was too loud. You’re gonna get me fired. But I am so excited! You’re finally gonna crack that seal. No more born-again virgin. You’ll get married again, have your babies real fast…”
“Slow down. I don’t know about all that. I just want to get a shot of Vitamin D and keep it movin’,” Penny whispered with a short laugh. “Anyway, tell me about the app. Does it go by common interests? Can you say upfront if you want permanent or something short n’ sweet?”
Jade was probably the only person that she even remotely would share anything about her sex life with, or lack thereof. Their family had never been very open about such matters. The good Judge and Mrs. Mayfield were upper-crust, strait-laced “pillars of the community” who frowned on anything openly erotic. One did not admit to having desires, especially not if those desires included a single night getting pounded into the mattress by a hot stranger.
“A temporary? Hmm, I see your point. I don’t want you hookin’ up with some Irish guy and never coming home. The whole point of the app is temporary. It’s for holiday dates. Like if you need a date for a Christmas party or New Year’s. And it doesn’t have to be a holiday, just any occasion where you don’t want to show up alone. Dani’s date was a festival in Italy. That was also supposed to be temporary and look what happened. That could be you!” Jade concluded in a confident voice, kinda like an infomercial selling something at one in the morning.
“Well, it is almost Halloween. That’s a legit holiday, especially around here. But it’s just for a hook-up, Jade. You’re only going to have to buy one ugly bridesmaid’s dress this year,” Penny warned. “Okay, I’m sold. I’ll go see if I can download it, if it works internationally.”
“Worth a try. Let me know if you find a match. Go get you a big, tall, redheaded devil with a big dick that’ll take you by those hips and —”
“Alright, alright. Gotta go. Love you. Bye.”
“Alright. Later. Love you, too. And good luck!”
Penny ate a bite of raspberry scone. Delicious. Then she whisked the crumbs off her fingers and picked up the phone again. She typed the name of the app in the search, and it popped up immediately. And yes, it did cover the British Isles as well as the US and continental Europe.
Downloading took a few minutes. It seemed to stall out on her, but then the “open” button appeared. Now she had to create a username and password and fill out her info. She kept it simple. Username: Rosie345. Rose was her middle name. She’d save the real name for an actual conversation. Age: forty-two. Location: Dublin, Ireland. Occasion: Halloween.
She’d explain later that it wasn’t for a Halloween party if she got that far with any matches. Adding a recent photo of herself taken in front of a tiny thatch-roofed pub in Ennistymon, the town with the best fish and chips she’d had in all of Ireland, she was done. It was a full-body shot. A man would know upfront she had more than her fair share of boobs and butt to hold on to if he was into it.
“Okay. Time to start scrollin’ and get this thing rollin’,” she murmured to herself. No time to waste. She fully expected it to take a few dates before she found one suitable for a bedroom encounter.
The first match popped up in her notifications, quickly followed by a “like” on her profile. He was decent-looking, but he’d ruined it with a “naked in mirror” shot.
Swipe left. Next two, same deal.
Penny muttered, “Does no one in this country own a shirt?”
She kept scrolling, pausing to look when she received a “like.” It was funny. In public none of these men were approaching her but online, they were brave as hell. Penny was reading her fifth “Hey beautiful chocolate Nubian queen” comment and about to retch into her coffee, when another “like” popped up.
“JCarr. Forty-three. Dublin. Halloween. Huh.” Penny tilted her head and perused the attached picture of JCarr. “Damn, he looks mean.”
Mean and somehow familiar, although she couldn’t recall meeting him. Maybe she’d seen him around town? Dublin wasn’t the biggest city in the world.
He wasn’t a ginger like Jade had suggested she find, but he was big and muscular. He was wearing a shirt. Of all the guys she’d seen, of course, it was the one who should have been naked that had the fucking shirt on. Despite that, the skin of his tanned upper chest and bare arms were painted with tattoos. He had biceps and pecs for days, tapering down to a tight stomach and a trim waist she could imagine would fit perfectly between her legs.
Not that she was interested.
The light brown hair was swept back on top and clipped short on the sides. Brown eyes stared at the camera as if daring her to swipe right. He possessed a no-nonsense nose and a squared jaw. But the sensual, narrow mouth told a slightly different story from the serious demeanor. There was a slight pull at the corner of his lips, a mocking smile as if he took none of this seriously.
Did he look like he could pound someone into a mattress? Oh yes. Into the mattress, through the frame, and the floorboards under the bed. The thought of that made her shiver, made her wet and weak with sudden desire at what a powerfully built man like that could do to her.
“Nope.”
For her first and only time out of the gate, she couldn’t handle someone like that, someone with that intense stare who looked like he would do more than ravage her body. He’d come for her soul.
“Nope, nope, nope.”
She swiped left.
Penny shivered again and warmed herself up with more coffee. It was difficult for some reason to forget about the smirking brute JCarr, but she managed to find a decent candidate for her Halloween fun. This one was good-looking, with dark brown skin and soft chocolate eyes. He called himself “LatLover2.” Afro-Latino? His location was Dublin. He was thirty-nine. Thumbs up.
Having made her decision, Penny swiped right on LatLover2. He “liked” her right back.
Okay, time to grab her lady balls and go for it. Taking a deep breath, Penny sent a quick, “ Hello, how are you? ” in the chat. There was a beat of inactivity, then two, then three.
Maybe she’d jumped the gun. Some men still preferred to take the reins. She was finishing her scone when he responded, “ Hi. Good to meet u .”
Well, that was promising. Her last experiences with app conversations had been with men who wrote nothing more than “ WYD ” or “ U up ?” repeatedly.
“ Nice to meet you, too ,” she answered. “ What do you need a date for ?”
“ Halloween ball. Next Thursday night. Fancy. Costume. ”
A thrill chased up Penny’s spine. She’d been to Halloween costume parties before, but never an elegant ball. It would mean missing the opening night of the festival in Athboy she was covering, but she’d have the rest of the weekend and Monday to make up for it.
“ Sounds perfect! ” She hesitated for a moment. Being forward was hard for her. What to say, how to put it? “ We should meet first. ”
“ Tmr afternoon. ”
Grinning, she typed, “ Sure. Tomorrow afternoon for coffee? ”
“ Ok. 12. U know Tart with the Cart ?”
Her face was flaming, and she wondered if this was some sort of innuendo. Penny responded, “ Yes, I know where she is. See you there at 12. ”
“ Ok. ”
And that was it. Apparently, the Latin Lover was a man of few words. Fine with her. No need for Shakespeare for a hook-up.
Marveling at how easily this had gone and excited about the prospect of meeting up with the man in person, she slipped her phone back into her bag and finished her snack. Feeling someone staring at her, she looked up and out the window. A lone elderly black-haired woman with pale skin wearing a moss green dress under a tattered coat was grinning at her sweetly. She waved at Penny with mischievous dark eyes.
“Getting a head start on Halloween, I guess,” Penny said to the server who’d come to clean the next table. She gestured to the woman in green. For a crazy second, Penny wondered if she was the only person who would be able to see the old woman, but the server acknowledged her with a respectful head nod.
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug and went back to wiping the table. “But I’d be careful with that one. You always get more than you bargained for with her.”
When Penny looked back at the window, the old woman was still there, grinning. She winked then moved on up the street until she was out of sight.