Chapter 20
Monty
A crack of thunder interrupts one of the best moments of my life. Penny’s eyes dart up to the sky and she frowns. “Is it supposed to rain?”
I snag my phone from my pocket, cursing myself when I see the forecast—a thunderstorm is supposed to be hitting in just a few minutes. Shit, it definitely didn’t say that when I checked last night.
“Ah fuck. We should probably head for the car.”
I step back, releasing a pinned Penny from the brick wall, and immediately hate the distance I’ve created between us.
Her cheeks are flushed, and her lips are swollen from our kiss. My pulse races at the memory—I’d like a repeat of every single second of that experience, but right now, it will have to wait. Grabbing her hand, I head for the car.
I text Vovo to let her know that plans have changed—Penny and I are going to have our picnic back at the house. Not exactly the afternoon in the park I’d planned, but we’ll work with it.
As old-school as Vovo is, she’s surprisingly good with texts and my phone lights up in the console a few seconds after we pull onto the road.
“Can you check that?” I say to Penny.
She glances at the phone and then eyes me again. “What if it’s something you don’t want me to see?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Richard never liked when I looked at his phone.”
“One, I’m not Dick,” I say for what feels like the thousandth time—though this might be the first time I’ve voiced it out loud. “And two, I asked you to look. I’m not hiding anything from you.”
“Sorry, you’re right.” She snorts. “Old scars and all.”
I soften at her words, reaching across to squeeze her thigh. “No apology necessary. Now read it to me.”
She smiles as she lifts my phone, and then giggles at whatever it is she sees on the screen.
“Out loud,” I remind her.
She’s still smiling when she angles herself toward me and reads.
“From Vovo. ‘Okay amor, I’ll leave a tray in the fridge. Forget the sandwiches, this is better. Put oven on for 350 and cook for thirty minutes. I have plans tonight at the senior center. Don’t wait up.’ ”
I laugh. “Plans at the senior center, huh?”
“Apparently.”
“So weird she didn’t mention them earlier.”
Penny glances at me. “You think she’s trying to make it so we’re alone tonight?”
I settle my hand back on her thigh and hum. “Maybe, Xuxuzinho. Maybe.”
And I’m not upset about it in the least.
***
I’m not sure where my father has disappeared to but when we open the door to my house, we find it empty. The weather completely turned during our drive home—the sky is practically black in anger and the trees sway perilously.
“I’ll start a fire,” I tell Penny.
“I’ll turn on the oven.”
I smile at the ease with which we both go about our activities. No one else would be comfortable enough in my home to do this. But it’s more than that—not many people would think to offer.
Once I get the fire going in the hearth, I walk over to the record player and get one of my grandfather’s favorite records out. It’s just crackling with the familiar tune when Penny walks back in.
“Oh, I love this song,” she chirps, those copper eyes dazzling with delight.
“It was always your favorite.”
“Who doesn’t love this song?” she says of the Billie Holiday classic “I’ll Be Seeing You.” “It’s from The Notebook.”
“The amount of times you read that book in high school.”
“And watched the movie,” she reminds me.
“How could I forget. Want to dance?” I hold out a hand to her and she smiles as she walks into my arms.
“You really are going for the jugular,” she murmurs, and I chuckle as she settles her head against my chest.
I revel in the feel of her against me—soft and warm in all the right places, the smell of something sweet like vanilla frosting drifting from her hair. Unable to stop myself, I press my lips to the top of her head. “So I’m doing good, then?”
A crack of lightning lights up the entire room and she jolts in my arms. “It’s really raining dogs and cats, huh?”
I laugh. “You always get those wrong.”
“Huh?”
“Idioms. You always say them wrong. It’s adorable.”
She glances up at me, cheeks flushed. “I do not.”
“You do. Senior year you told Mr. Pershing you were going to take the bull by the balls.”
“I knew that one was wrong the second it came out of my mouth.”
I laugh again and stare down at her, pausing our swaying. “And what’s the right saying?”
She twists her lips. “Ummm.”
I chuckle harder before starting to move again.
“Fine, give me another one.” She huffs.
“Okay, tell me what happens when something doesn’t matter anymore. The point is—”
She rolls her eyes dramatically. “I actually know that’s a mute point.”
I smirk. “It’s definitely not. But that’s not what you said in high school.”
“Listen, Joey Tribbiani told us it was a moo point, and now that we have a cow living in town, I’d agree with him. The point is moo. Like a cow’s opinion. It doesn’t matter.”
I burst out laughing. Penny was obsessed with the show Friends when we were kids.
Old rom-coms, Friends reruns, and reading—those were her favorite things. I forgot how much I enjoyed all of that with her, too. She’s grinning at me—her pretty eyes watching with affection—when my laughter wanes.
“God, I’ve missed hanging out with you.”
“Me, too,” she says with a smile. “Today has been fun. Thank you.”
“It’s been my pleasure. Truly.”
“So are you going to use any of this in your book?”
Fuck, I’d been so distracted by Penny I’d forgotten that was what this was all for. “Maybe.”
She nibbles on her lip. “Well, I hope today wasn’t a waste.”
As if time with her would ever be a waste. “Shhh, Xuxuzinho. Dance with me for a bit more.”
One song turns into three, and by the time the oven buzzes, we’ve made it through one side of the record. We eat dinner in the kitchen—the view of the storm retreating over the harbor turns the deep navy sky into a deep amethyst, making for quite the beautiful sight.
“I should probably head home soon,” she says as the moon settles in the sky.
“I’ll drive you home, I promise, but maybe we could take a walk first?”
I’m not ready for tonight to end. Not ready to go back to the boundaries we had in place before today. That’s what we should do, though. I absolutely shouldn’t kiss her again. It would be selfish. Utterly gluttonous of me.
“It really is a pretty night,” she says as we step onto the dewy grass. “Today was amazing, Monty. Like something I couldn’t even dream up. Then again, I’m realizing that about a lot of things.”
“Oh yeah. Like what?”
We walk toward the dock, the glittering water of Hope Harbor calling to us.
There’s a chill in the air now that it’s officially fall.
Soon the trees will turn those beautiful shades of burgundy, burnt orange, and marigold Penny loves so much.
But tonight, they’re the deepest of green and shaking in the dark night, a reminder of the recent storm.
She sighs. “Everything. I’m trying to get to know myself more. Figure out what I like—outside of fall and books—”
I glance at her. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Even with sex.” She flushes brilliantly red at the words that slip out of her mouth. “God, why do I keep saying these ridiculous things to you?!”
“It’s just me, remember, your best friend.” I’m dying to know what she wants to say but I don’t push her.
“It’s just…I’ve come to realize I don’t really know what I like in that department. My experience with Dick didn’t exactly turn my world upside down, not like the way they describe it in books.”
“Did you like our kiss?”
“Um, yes,” she says awkwardly. “Why? Was I bad at it? Was it awful for you? I told you we should have stuck to the notes. My notebook has everything in it we should do.”
I grab her arm, stopping her in her tracks. “I read your notes. And the kiss was definitely not bad.”
“Oh.” Her eyes drop to our feet in the wet grass.
“I was thinking…”
Her eyes lift to mine.
“Maybe we should practice it…again.”
“I can grab my notebook.”
I huff out a laugh. “Forget about the notebook, Penny.”
She seems to sag with disappointment. “But it’s not just about the kiss. It’s about the setting, the buildup, the tension.”
I shake my head and reach for her hands, pulling her toward the dock. I don’t stop until we reach the edge—right beside the angry water that thrashes against the weathered wood. The harbor is glowing from the moon above, beautiful and radiant now that the storm has passed.
“Look up.”
Penny does what I say and, as her eyes land on the glittering tapestry above us, her lips fall open on an ah. The sound is soft and slightly breathy, as if she’s savoring the view as much as I’m savoring the one right in front of me.
“Is this the right setting?” I coax.
She hums. “It’s pretty perfect.”
“And the tension, do you feel it, Xuxuzinho?” I thread our fingers together and bring them to my chest.
She nods as my heart pounds against her hand.
“It reminds me of the last night we spent together before leaving for college.”
“We sat out here for hours,” she whispers.
“I didn’t want to say good night.” I consider my next words carefully. Consider what they mean, and how she’ll react. If I’ll regret saying them. But being back here with her makes me realize I’m tired of living with regrets when it comes to Penny. “I wanted to kiss you so damn bad.”
Penny jolts in surprise, but I keep my hand on hers. “What?”
“Yup. Talked myself in and out of it about a dozen times under that August moon.”
“Hm.” She practically preens under my palm. “What were the pros and cons?”
“You were my very best friend,” I croak. “I didn’t want to ruin it.”
“Because you don’t believe in love?” she asks, her voice so hopeful it makes me ache to deny it.
Still, I shake my head. It’s not that I don’t believe in love. I don’t believe that love lasts. Though if there was anyone who could make me wish I did, it would be her. “And you deserve an epic one, Penny Darling.”
“Well, you’re certainly teaching me what I want in a relationship.” She offers me a soft, almost sad smile. “I guess we’re both learning something.”
I raise a brow. “Yeah?”
She nods.
“Can I kiss you, Penny?”
Her teeth roll over her bottom lip as she stares into my eyes. “For practice?”
I press my thumb into her bottom lip, freeing it from her teeth, “Yeah, for practice.” My voice comes out all gravelly. “Pretend for me a little while longer.”
Pretend we’re those two kids with their whole lives ahead of them. Pretend that I wasn’t so broken up about my grandfather’s death and my parents’ divorce that I closed my heart to anyone, including you. Pretend that there’s a world where you could really be mine.
Of course, I don’t say any of that to her.
Still, Penny tilts her head just so, offering up those perfect lips to me once more. And I don’t hesitate tonight to crash mine to hers.
I kiss her like I wanted to all those years ago, like I wanted to at the brewery. I kiss her like a man who needs her lips to breathe and, if I’m honest with myself, tonight I just might. I kiss her like she might be the love of my life even though I’ll never be selfish enough to tell her.
Then I pull back and drag in a long breath as I stroke my thumb against her soft lips.
“Oh my God,” she murmurs. “Re-create that in your book and you’ll have written magic.”
I force a smile and huff out a laugh.
She licks her lips. “But, um, if you need more practice…”
“I think I’m good.” I’m not sure if I can do that again—not if I want to keep us both from getting hurt.
She steps back and nods, her fingers resting on her lips. “Okay, well, I think you’ve mastered the perfect first date.”
I clear my throat. “So what’s next on the agenda?”
She smirks, all that shyness seeming to fade into the cool autumn air.
“Well, Montgomery, how’s your dirty talk?”