5. Gavin
FIVE
GAVIN
She was everywhere. On my street. In my daughter’s life. Penny Pesco would have been on my mind even if Josie hadn’t spent the last forty-eight hours chirping nonstop about how great her new teacher was, how pretty she was, and how much better she smelled than Mrs. Bonners.
Clearly, Miss Pesco had supernatural powers. Mrs. Bonners leaving hadn’t seemed to bother Josie at all and she always had a hard time letting go.
I rarely came out to Tom’s, but I’d spent the afternoon helping Dalton move cattle to a new field. Josie went with me and by the time Dalton and I were done, she and my mom decided they needed a girls’ spa night. It meant Josie would come home tomorrow with painted fingers and toes, smelling like lavender lotion and syrup from my mom’s waffles.
Bryce had shown up when I was getting ready to leave and begged me to come out with him demanding I could use the break and a night out.
Except there I was, standing at the bar, drinking a tequila on the rocks, completely aware of every move Penny made where she sat with Faye and Dolly.
“You’re grouchier than normal,” Bryce said and tapped his beer bottle against my glass. “Bad week at work?”
“No.” I took a drink and relished the burn as it slid down my throat. “Work is great. Busy, but things are moving along according to the schedule, so it’s fine.”
“You’ll get those houses wrapped before snow hits?”
“Yeah. Should have the siding up too.” Building this close to winter hitting always came with challenges, but as long as the foundations were poured before the frost, it was usually okay. Sucked to have to scoop snow out of basements and getting the wood framing dry, so it was always best if they were wrapped first. Siding and roofing was best, and it looked like we were going to reach those goals. Snow wasn’t predicted until Thanksgiving, which gave me a little bit of breathing room.
“So if it’s not work, what’s got you all pissed?” A tiny smirk curled the corner of his lips. “Can it be what Josie told me about today?”
I rolled my eyes. “It has nothing to do with that.”
“Really?” He leaned against the bar and turned his smirk into a shit-eating grin. “Because you sounded even pissier when I mentioned Josie talking to me like you know what she was saying, and I didn’t even tell you.”
“I know what she’s talking about.”
Miss Pesco this. Miss Pesco that. Miss Pesco sure is pretty. Miss Pesco has the prettiest eyes. And Miss Pesco is young.
“Is that why that vein is bulging on your forehead?”
He reached out to touch my temple and I swatted his hand away. “Knock it off. We were supposed to have fun tonight.”
Bryce let out a laugh that grabbed not only Regina’s attention behind the bar, but the guys on the other side of them. “Bullshit. You haven’t had fun in so long you’ve forgotten what it is.”
“Some of us don’t have the luxury of being able to not think about the consequences of their actions.”
It was a shitty comment, and I regretted it as soon as I said it.
Bryce’s laugh stopped and his lip curled. “That what you think I’m doing too?”
“No.” Shit. Everyone in the family knew our oldest brother took it hardest when Bryce wanted to open his brewery. I think Dalton assumed we’d all work the land with him, follow in our dad’s footsteps. Have some sort of family commune on the property where life never changed. He was constantly doubting Bryce. The rest of us were proud of him. “I didn’t mean it like that, Bryce. I really didn’t, and you know I support you.”
“Right,” he mumbled and drained his beer. He waved the empty bottle in the air and Regina nodded. A few seconds later, a fresh one was in front of him.
“You need anything else?” she asked me.
“Yeah. When you have a minute.”
She took off to help some women at the end of the bar and I turned back to Bryce. “That was shitty of me.”
“Yeah, but not nearly as shitty as I’m being, giving you shit about pretty Miss Pesco who Josie is now so excited is her teacher because she’s young like you and lives near you so when you get married, she won’t have to move far.”
My tequila burned my throat, and I choked it down before I spat it out all over the bar. “Are you serious? That’s what Josie was saying?”
“She wants to wear a purple dress to the wedding. And new purple cowgirl boots.”
“Damn it,” I cursed and squeezed my eyes closed, shaking my head. Obviously, Josie was half in love with her teacher, but I hadn’t realized her imagination had run that far away with her. “She’s known her for a day.”
“Josie thinks she’s special.”
“She’s becoming a special pain in my ass.”
“But is she right?”
“Is who right?”
“Josie. About Miss Pesco. Is she pretty?”
Preternaturally gorgeous was what she was. Pretty was far too common of a word to describe her and at that thought of her, my eyes drifted.
Bryce followed my gaze.
“Damn, brother.” He sighed. I glanced at him to catch his eyes all goofy hazy. “She is… that’s her?”
“That’s her.” I ground my teeth together and turned back to the bar. In one large swallow, I drained my tequila, remaining ice cubes and all.
They did nothing to quench the fire that lit in my veins at the sight of her, or the anger that made my blood boil as Bryce kept checking her out.
“Hey.” I slapped the side of his head and he flinched. “Don’t stare at my daughter’s teacher.”
He brought his beer to his mouth, unable to hide the smirk behind it. “You mean my future sister-in-law?”
It was late, nearing on midnight, and I might have only been close to turning twenty-four, but my back hurt, my bones ached, and if I had another drink, I wouldn’t be able to be a decent parent to Josie tomorrow.
Bryce and I were swallowed up by his friends near the front of the bar. I typically didn’t like hanging out with them. They were too young, too na?ve. Still too much in the chasing women mode and not near close enough to slowing or settling down. They didn’t only make me feel too damn old, but far out of place. The only reason I stayed was because at this spot in the bar, I couldn’t see Penny and as soon as Bryce saw her, all he’d wanted to do was talk about her, too.
I was, however, able to see when Faye headed toward the door, Dolly next to her. I assumed Penny was right behind them, and for the second time when I saw her in as many days, I was moving before my brain reminded me it was probably a bad idea.
“I’m going to take off.”
“Already?” Bryce asked.
“You good to get home?”
“If not, I’ll stagger to your place. Key code still the same?”
“Yeah. But don’t fall over the dining table again and wake me up.”
He chuckled and swayed slightly on his feet. I resisted the urge to go into dad mode. He was twenty-one and responsible. He was old enough to take care of himself and if not, he had the money to pay bail and a phone to call Dad.
“See you later then.” I clapped him on the shoulder and said goodbye to his friends, and by the time I shoved through the doors, Faye was standing on the corner, huddled up with a coat and talking to Penny.
Her back was to me, but Faye caught my eye and smiled. “Hey, Gavin.”
“Hey, Faye. Have fun tonight?”
“Always. You?”
“Sure.”
It hadn’t been bad, but my idea of fun wasn’t falling on your ass wasted. Not when I had a daughter to take care of. No way in hell would that be how she remembered me.
Penny turned slowly, back straight, hesitation in her eyes. Probably my fault considering I hadn’t been all that nice to her. “Hi, Mr. Kelley.”
“Gavin is fine. Mr. Kelley makes me feel like my dad.”
“Your timing is perfect,” Faye chimed in. The smile on her face made me squirm.
“I am?”
“Yep. I was trying to convince Penny I can drive her home, but she’s insisting on walking.”
“It’s fine?—”
“I can walk her home.”
“You don’t have to.” There was a bite to her tone. So the sweet little Penny Pesco had some claws. When I glanced at her, she wore an adorable scowl. Both made her more attractive, and neither should have been things I noticed.
“I know.”
“See?” Faye clapped her hands together. “Perfect. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, you two! See you Monday, Penny!”
She skipped around the corner and was gone in a blink. I turned to Penny, who had her shoulders hunched up to her ears and was blowing on her hands.
“You’re good to walk?” I asked her.
“I don’t drink, so yeah.”
Huh. “Okay.”
I stepped to the corner and didn’t hear movement behind me. I turned back and Penny was still standing in the same spot, looking toward the gazebo and it’s twinkling lights.
“You coming?”
“You don’t have to walk me home, you know.”
I shrugged. This wasn’t a big deal. As long as I kept my hands to myself and kept our interaction respectful and distant, it’d be fine. Besides, I could do nice. Sometimes.
“I’m walking that way, anyway, Miss Pesco.”
Her face scrunched up. “Penny or Penelope. Please.”
Fine. I could call her Penny. It wasn’t like I went around calling Faye Mrs. Parker. “All right, Penny. Let’s get you home and out of the cold.”
She huffed, close to a laugh, but she walked my way and then met my slow strides as I crossed the street. “I always forget how cold it really gets when the summer is hot.”
“Tends to come out of nowhere, I know. You have a good first day?”
“Everyone’s been great. Especially the kids, and your daughter is adorable.”
“Adorably spoiled is probably closer to the truth,” I admitted, and who knows why I did it.
I never ragged on Josie. She was perfect. She was precocious and goofy and had a vivid imagination and was kind to everyone, especially animals. I’d seen our rotten, nasty donkey be kinder to her than anyone else in the family. Maybe I didn’t want Miss Pesco to get a crush on my daughter like Josie had on her.
“She doesn’t seem spoiled, but she does seem very smart and witty.”
“She’s spoiled.” Gah. I couldn’t quit. “She was the first and only grandchild in my family in a long time, and since I have a big family, she has loads of uncles and grandparents who are certain she can do no wrong.”
She was quiet then, and I glanced at her. I shook my head, not even surprised she knew everything. Hell, I’d told her more than I ever told anyone—although to my credit, I didn’t need to explain Monica to a lot of people. Everyone in town knew. “Faye told you, about my family.”
“It was mostly Dolly.”
A laugh escaped me, and I turned left past the square. At least she hadn’t denied it.
“Of course it was Dolly. Did you have fun with them?”
“It’s nice to meet new people.”
So maybe no, she didn’t have fun. Maybe she was like me; she went out because she had to but not because she enjoyed the scene.
Not that I needed to find any commonalities between us.
“They said you do construction?”
“I do. I started with helping renovating homes after high school, rebuilt my own from the ground up. Then I branched out. Town’s growing, slowly, but I’m currently working on a new neighborhood north of town.”
“That’s impressive, given how young you are.”
It wasn’t the first time I heard that, but tonight, it sounded like more. Better. Like it really was impressive and not a job where I’d scrambled and fought for every successful inch of it.
I also wasn’t sure if she was trying to figure out how old I was, how much Faye and Dolly had told her, but even then, we had to be around the same age.
“I’ll be twenty-four in January, but I can’t believe my success in construction is any more impressive than finishing college and starting a career.”
It was dark, but there were streetlights on as we passed the creamery and I swear there was a blush on her cheeks before I turned away.
“Maybe we’re both impressive then,” she said.
“Maybe.”
And suddenly, having something in common with Penny didn’t seem so terrifying.
Which was the scariest thought of all.