Chapter 14 Jesse
Jesse
NOW
The timing of my life is just...classic.
I glance at myself in the mirror, almost laughing. Is the universe playing a joke on me?
Penny’s reaction keeps looping in my head while I move around my room, attempting to get dressed. She gawked at me like she’d never seen a half-naked guy before.
Nope. Don’t like that thought.
Imagining her seeing anyone else like that makes my neck pulse. I’m not a jealous guy, but when it comes to Penny, I’m like the territorial alpha male dogs I train. Absolutely feral.
Either way, it can’t be true.
Penny’s laugh is contagious, her smile is borderline criminal, and her body…
Not that I’ve been witness to any of those things since she got here.
She’s serving me up fire only.
I have promises to uphold to both Danny and Fia regardless, and thinking with anything but my head won’t get me far.
Several minutes have ticked by since Penny nearly slammed into my freshly showered body, but it’s still dead quiet across the hall. I’m beginning to question if she’ll ever come out of there.
I glance at my phone—it’s barely 6 p.m.—and I’m not about to sit here in my room and rot. I dig through the dresser until I find a plain black t-shirt and throw it on, then step into gray sweats.
Right before I step out of the room, my phone buzzes on my nightstand. I kneel on the bed, leaning over to grab it, but accidentally knock the phone clean off the surface. It lands between the nightstand and the wall with a thud.
“Shit,” I mumble, lying flat on the bed so I can push the nightstand back and reach around behind it.
My fingertips graze something small and round. I grab it along with my phone.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I blow the dust off the silver ring in my palm and rub my thumb across the green stone. Sea glass, to be exact.
I haven’t seen this ring in ten years.
Right before our high school graduation, I took Penny and Fia to the mall one Saturday.
Fia wanted to buy a pretzel with her chore money, and Penny needed a dress for all the graduation parties we were invited to.
I didn’t know why she couldn’t wear any in her closet, but there was a very specific one she had in mind.
We were walking around when she saw a ring in a display cabinet at a fancy boutique and came to a dead stop, eyes glued to it.
She dragged us into the store, drumming her fingers across the racks of expensive clothing and smiling wistfully, announcing that one day she’d be able to buy anything she wanted from that store.
I didn’t doubt her for a minute; Penny worked harder than anyone I knew.
She’s the only one out of the three of us who was able to save up and buy a car senior year, for fuck’s sake.
But she kept coming back to admire that ring. I pretended not to notice, but when she and Fia walked out, I quickly stole a peek, committing it to memory.
The next week, I came back to the mall and used all the money I’d made that month to buy it for her.
I slipped it on her finger, telling her it was the first step to her getting everything she ever wanted.
What a stupid thing to promise, but what did I know back then?
The sea glass ring is still stunning, and a piece of my heart warms knowing she didn’t toss it in the trash. If I had to guess, she probably threw it across this room in a blind rage that summer.
After I was gone.
Movement sounds in the hallway, and light footsteps tap down the stairs.
That’s my cue. Maybe the night is still on. Maybe I can get her in a good enough mood to bring up Danny and entice her to visit her estranged brother.
I place the ring in the nightstand drawer and wish myself luck.
“Need help with something?” I clear my throat as I walk into the kitchen.
Penny jumps, cracking her head against the cabinet. “Fuck,” she mutters, rubbing her forehead before turning to grace me with a scornful glare.
“You’re freakishly quiet for someone your size. I didn’t even know you were down here.” She turns back around, standing on her tiptoes, reaching for a bottle atop the refrigerator.
Before I can think twice, I step behind her and easily wrap my fingers around the glass neck, my chest brushing her back in the process.
She snatches it from my grip like I burned her.
“Thanks,” she says quickly, ducking under my arm.
I watch silently as she unscrews the top with one hand while moving around the kitchen like she’s on a very important mission. A smirk pulls on my lips, and I lean back against the counter.
Penny grabs a lime, seltzer, and a glass. She approaches me, waving her hand. “Can you please move, you’re blocking the utensil drawer.”
Hey, at least I got a please out of her.
“What do you think will happen if you touch me?” I ask, tilting my head.
Her amber eyes snap to mine. “Excuse me?”
I lean down. “You heard me, Penny.” Her lips part, but I don’t allow her time to think up a wise-ass comeback. “With the way you’ve skirted around me the last forty-eight hours, you’d think I’m a dangerous man. You afraid of what will happen if you accidentally touch me?”
Penny’s poker face has gotten better, I’ll give her that. But I notice the subtle things; the way her chest rises rapidly, her eyes searching mine.
I oblige anyway, moving so she can grab a spoon from the drawer. She hip checks it shut.
“I’m not avoiding you,” she mutters. “Maybe I just don’t want to touch you.”
She doesn’t make eye contact with me as she stirs her drink—hard enough to chip the glass.
“See, I think you’re worried that it will bring up something. You won’t even look at me,” I add, my tone bordering on cocky.
I know I’m goading her.
It’s a risk, but if I’m going to keep my promise to Fia and Danny, I need her to talk to me again, and unless she’s willing to bring up the past, I don’t know if we’ll have any type of future.
And until I saw her again, I didn’t know how badly I wanted a future, of any kind, with her.
I’d settle for being civil.
She takes a long sip, so long I wince. That much vodka could strip paint. But she drinks like it’s water.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Mr. Rivers. Maybe I just don’t like what I see.”
I push back my hair and can’t help but smile. “So you didn’t like what you saw in the hallway?”
She glares at me like she wants to throw the glass at my face, but I don’t flinch.
“You’re insufferable,” Penny spits out.
“I think staying in the same house and avoiding the elephant in the room is insufferable,” I reply sharply.
If I learned anything over the last ten years, it’s to say what you really feel. I’m not going to lay it all out at once and overwhelm her, but shit, I have a lot to say.
“I’m not here for this.” She points between us. “I’m here for my sister. You’re just a leech who wandered in.”
Well shit, tell me how you really feel.
“Okay,” I say, pushing off the counter, hands raised. “You win. I’ll back off.”
She grabs a takeout container from the counter and shoves it toward me.
“What’s this?”
“Dinner,” she says flatly.
“I didn’t think we were on dinner terms.” I’m not complaining, just confused as hell.
“I’m not a complete bitch, believe it or not.” Penny snatches the other container. “Actually, I’m a pretty fun and upbeat person. But your presence has turned me into someone I hardly recognize.”
There’s exasperation in her voice, but underneath it is hurt she disguises with a lashing tongue. For a second, I feel like a complete asshole. I never meant to make this harder for her.
I just want to talk, to get it out. Because pretending we didn’t blow each other’s lives apart is slowly driving me insane. But I’ve learned how to wait.
Prison teaches you that.
So I’ll weather Penny’s storm...because sooner or later, she’s going to have to look our history in the face.
If she doesn’t murder me first.
“I appreciate it.” I hold up dinner. “Really.” I smile at her.
Kill her with kindness, right?
Penny silently exits the kitchen and heads upstairs, presumably to eat her food in peace, away from me. Sushi and vodka soda seem like a horrible mix, but I’m not about to give her any advice.
I slide onto the barstool, open the container, and laugh. Despite her bratty behavior, which isn’t totally unwarranted, she actually ordered my favorite meal. Sesame chicken with heaps of rice and broccoli.
As I dig in, I know that my chances of talking her into visiting Danny are off the table today. I’ll try again another day.
The food is good, better than the lunchmeat sandwiches I’ve been making for dinner every night. Tank seems to think so, too, because he’s watching me from his dog bed in front of the fireplace, drooling. He knows better than to beg, but he’ll certainly stare like he’s never eaten a day in his life.
“Do those eyes work on Fia?” I ask like he’ll respond, and his gray ears perk up at her name. His big brown eyes settle on the back door in anticipation of her return.
I’ve been replaced by a girl who wraps my dog in fleece blankets and kisses him goodnight. I’m pretty sure if I ever move out, she’s going to steal him with little resistance from Tank.
My phone buzzes on the counter.
“Speak of the devil,” I mutter.
Fia: How’s it going?? Penny promised me she’d chill out, so I hope y’all are having fun!
I look around the kitchen, the silence thick. The aftermath of being alone with Penny.
Jesse: She got me dinner…a peace offering I think? Penny can be…
Fia: ruthless?
She has her reasons. But I’m not giving up
Jesse: Nothing I can’t handle
Fia: I’m so sorry, I feel like this is my fault. Fingers crossed for you!
My chest cracks a little. I flip my phone face down, scrubbing my palm across my jaw.
Could it be possible that I’m not the reason Penny’s pissed?
Maybe she has a boyfriend and they’re going through a rough patch, and I’m just the easiest target to take it out on. Maybe someone else hurt her—though that thought doesn’t sit any better with me.
It would be insane if she’s gone ten years without a serious boyfriend, though, right?