6. Penny #2
Behind her closed eyes, a warm, knowing smile touched Penny's lips.
She figured she knew exactly where this was going.
These teenage girls and pre-teen boys were hovering on the edge of growing up, and they obviously wanted to talk about dating, crushes, and romance.
She felt a serene sense of maternal pride swell in her chest. She might not have kids of her own, but she could certainly play the part of the cool, trustworthy aunt who could guide them through the messy waters of teenage love.
Of course, she was hardly a world-class expert on the subject. She'd only ever had two real boyfriends in her entire life. There was her first high school sweetheart, a sweet boy who had enlisted in the military right after graduation and ultimately left her with a broken heart.
And then... there was Stan Davies.
Stan had been the most selfish, self-obsessed man she had ever known.
She reined her thoughts in before she could spiral down that painful path, but she couldn't help but think of her mother's stern warning.
Never marry a man named Stan, Penny, her mother had said with absolute certainty.
But Stan had been devastatingly handsome, impossibly charming, and he had ticked every single box on her youthful checklist. He had also taught Penny the hard way that her mother, as much as Penny had hated to admit it back then, had been mostly right about everything when Penny was growing up.
If she could go back in time, she would make sure she actually listened.
"Penny?" Emma asked cautiously, leaning forward. "Did you fall asleep?"
"Oh, no, sweetheart, sorry," Penny said, her voice soft as she pulled herself out of the old memories. "I'm just so relaxed and enjoying myself."
"So... does that mean we can really ask you anything?" Lily persisted, her eyes sparkling with hidden mischief as she leaned in closer.
"Sure," Penny said, unaware that she had just taken her very first step directly into their trap.
"Anything, anything?" Sophia clarified, her voice practically vibrating with anticipation.
"And do you pinky promise we can ask absolutely anything?" Emma threw Penny a final lifeline, a last chance to bail herself out before she locked herself into what was coming. "We might ask you some really embarrassing questions, Penny."
Penny, who had absolutely zero experience dealing with the combined, cunning intellect of three highly observant teenage girls backed by the equally sharp Toby and Jake, naively walked right past the warning.
She still firmly believed they were just nervous about typical boy-girl dynamics and wanted to know how to navigate their first real crushes.
It felt incredibly sweet that they trusted her enough to come to her with these private, teenage worries.
"Of course," Penny agreed. She reached up and pulled one of the cool cucumber slices from her left eye, peeping out at the semi-circle of angelic, smiling faces hovering over her. "I was your age once too, you know. I remember exactly how difficult and confusing this time of life can be."
The kids gave her perfectly innocent, wide-eyed, angelic smiles and chorused, "Thank you, Penny, you're the best!"
Satisfied, Penny placed the cucumber slice back over her eye and let her head sink back onto the soft cushion, feeling a deep, proud sense of accomplishment.
"Of course," Penny said, her smile broadening across her face. “I’m always here to answer whatever you want to ask and to help. Remember that.” Her smile grew even larger.
"Don't smile, Penny!" Emma warned quickly, gently tapping her shoulder. "Your face mask is going to crack."
"Oops, sorry," Penny chuckled, trying to relax her cheeks, though she couldn't help the warm, happy smile that remained tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"So, what is it you want to ask?" Penny inquired, her voice soft and thoroughly relaxed as she waited for whatever youthful dilemma they were about to throw her way.
A quiet, tentative pause stretched across the living room.
"Are you single now?" Emma asked quietly. Before Penny could even process the question, Emma’s words came tumbling out in a hurried, nervous rush.
"I know you were going through a divorce... I accidentally overheard you speaking to my gran about it the other day. And... well, I’m so sorry, Penny, but I might have told my friends here.
We've all gotten really close now, and we love you so much.
Sophia, Lily, Jake, and Toby just wanted to know more about you, too. "
Deeply touched by the sheer sweetness in the young girl's voice, Penny found that she couldn't possibly be mad at Emma for sharing her secret with the rest of the group. There wasn't a single ounce of malicious gossip in these kids; they were asking out of genuine, protective affection.
"It's okay, Em," Penny sighed softly, the tension fully leaving her shoulders. "I am divorced now. I guess I have to own up to it eventually."
"He didn't deserve you, Penny," Emma told her softly, a fierce, unwavering protectiveness vibrating in her young voice. "You deserve someone who actually treats you like the queen you are. That man was never truly present with you."
Penny found herself unable to answer. Emma's fierce, instinctive loyalty tugged so hard at her heartstrings that it made her throat ache with a sudden, overwhelming wave of emotion.
It was true what people said—children really did have an extraordinary way of filling the quiet, hollow spaces inside a person.
The heavy, aching gap left behind by years of marital betrayal and the lonely absence of a true partner didn't seem nearly as empty when she was surrounded by this much light.
"Yes, Penny, Emma is right," Sophia agreed warmly, carefully tapping a damp cloth near Penny's temple. "You are so incredibly beautiful."
"And so elegant," Lily added with a sweet, admiring nod.
"And you have the most amazing figure," Emma told her, looking up from her stool with a bright smile.
"Plus, you are incredibly intelligent, Penny," Jake chimed in, his face turning a little pink as he spoke up shyly from the edge of the coffee table.
"Yeah, and even if girls our age don't always realize it yet," Toby added, trying his absolute best to sound mature and supportive, "men who really value the women they love want someone strong and smart. Just like you, Penny."
A thick lump was rapidly forming in Penny's throat now.
It was one thing to be physically pampered with mud masks and foot massages, but to be emotionally lifted up and cherished by these five sweet angels was something else entirely.
It was a level of uncomplicated comfort she hadn't realized she was starving for.
"Thank you, all of you," Penny whispered.
She reached up, pulling the cool cucumber slices off both of her eyes so she could look directly at their earnest, beautiful faces in the warm evening light of the living room.
"You're making me feel like a real queen," she told them, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she offered them a watery, grateful grin. "But if you kids keep this up, my head isn't going to be able to fit through the front doorway when I leave tonight."
That earned her a bright, collective burst of laughter from the entire circle, the warm sound echoing cozily off the walls of Heart House.
"We're not trying to inflate your ego, Penny," Emma told her, her eyes shining with affection as she reached out to gently squeeze her hand. "We are just speaking the absolute truth."
There was a flurry of activity as Sophia and Lily carefully wiped the last of the clay mask from Penny's face. The pampering session was officially over, and the living room soon emptied out as everyone gravitated toward the warm, brightly lit kitchen.
To thank them for the wonderful treatment, Penny helped the kids whip up a batch of decadent hot chocolate.
It became a group effort at the stove, with the teens eagerly helping to pour the rich milk, stir in the chocolate, and heap giant mountain-like toppings of whipped cream, marshmallows, and chocolate shavings onto each mug.
A few minutes later, the six of them were sitting comfortably around the kitchen island, happily wrapping their hands around the warm ceramic mugs and sipping the sweet cocoa.
Penny watched them over the rim of her cup, a quiet thought drifting through her mind.
She found herself wondering if her relationship status and her messy divorce were truly all they had wanted to ask her about.
She hated to admit it, but a tiny, unexpected twinge of disappointment hit her chest. Was her own quiet, lonely history the only thing that had captured their curiosity?
But before she could even begin to analyze that feeling, Sophia leaned her elbows on the marble counter, looked Penny dead in the eye, and dropped a complete bombshell.
"Penny, is my gran dating Darius?"