Chapter five
Penn
“Here you go, Mrs. Owens.” I hand her the receipt from the register and watch her shove it in her purse. “Do you want help out to your car?”
“Yes, that would be lovely, Penn.” She smiles warmly at me as I come around the counter to grab her cart.
Mrs. Owens is in her seventies and the last thing I want to do is watch her hurt herself on my watch.
I push the cart with one hand and hold her up with the other, leading her out the front door of the store and to her car.
“Where’s Baron today?” I ask as I load the bags into her trunk. Harriet Owens is married to Baron, one of the old men who play darts at Catch & Release every Friday night.
“Oh, he’s supposed to be cleaning out his side of the closet so you can start on those shelves next week for us.” She waggles her finger in the air. “And if he’s not, he’s going to be in for an ass kicking when I get home.”
My eyes drop to her cane and I find myself wondering if it’s just a prop she uses to keep her husband in line. If so, I’m impressed. “Should I text him and let him know you’re on your way?”
She swats at me with the cane. “Don’t you dare!”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “Don’t worry. I know who’s in charge.”
“That’s right. I’m the one that writes the checks too, Penn. Don’t forget that.” Laughing, I help her settle into the driver’s seat. “So, when are you gonna find a woman to boss you around?”
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“What about Astrid? I assume you two have been bumping uglies this entire time, but…” She shrugs and I nearly choke on my tongue.
“Bumping uglies?”
“I don’t know what you young people call it these days, but you’re always together.”
“Yeah, well, in case you forgot, she was married to my best friend,” I say, lowering my voice.
Harriet shrugs. “So what? Life’s short, Penn.
I met Baron through Harold, who was both his best friend and my boyfriend at the time,” she admits, surprising me even further.
Harold is one of Baron’s darts buddies. I know they were all in the Marines together, but this piece of information is news to me.
“Really?”
“Yep. And Janet and I were friends before that,” she says, referring to Harold’s wife. “Love can be messy sometimes, but it’s worth it. When you find the right person, you figure it out together and it all just becomes part of your story.”
I nod in response, processing what she said.
She pulls her door shut and starts backing out of her parking space. “See you next week, Penn!” she calls through the open window and takes off like she didn’t just spill some sixty-year-old drama to me, leaving me standing there reeling.
When I make my way back inside the hardware store, I find Elizabeth Hansen, my boss, behind the counter, emptying the drawer next to the register that’s filled with boxes of screws. “Hey, you’re back.”
“Yeah, what are you up to?”
“These need to be stocked on the shelves, but they’re all mixed up.” Dumping box on top of box, she scatters the screws all over the counter, making an even bigger mess than they were.
“I can see that,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Can you organize these and put them where they go, please?” she asks before walking away. And as much as I want to just throw them all in the trash, I do what’s asked of me while reminding myself that I only have to follow someone else’s orders for a little while longer.
***
“Damn it!” I shout as the whipped cream smashes into my face.
Tonight, Bentley got to choose the game for game night, and he chose Pie Face. That little bastard.
Astrid hands me a wet washcloth with a delighted smirk on her lips.
“I hate this game,” I grumble, wiping the sticky, sugary goop from my face.
“Me too,” Lilly whines. She’s already been pied three times, so she’s done for the night.
But her brother is still sitting across the table, beaming from ear to ear with a perfectly clean face.
That’s about to change here in a minute, and Astrid probably isn’t going to be happy with me when it does.
“We’ve played this before when you wanted to, Lilly,” Astrid reminds her.
Lilly’s arms are folded across her chest as I slide the plastic catapult in front of Astrid for her last turn.
When she makes it through unscathed, cranking the knob but avoiding the cream being thrown into her face, we all let out a sigh of relief.
“You sure you don’t want some whipped cream, Bentley?” I pick up the bottle and shake it up before squirting it into my mouth.
“I want some!” Lilly shouts, pushing herself up in her chair to her knees. I lean over and give her a quick shot in her mouth.
“Astrid?” I arch a brow at her.
“Why not?” She licks her lips and opens her mouth, her perfect pink lips glistening. When she darts her tongue out to catch the whipped cream, I feel my dick twitch in my jeans. There are so many scenarios I’ve envisioned of her, me, and a can of whipped cream…
Fuck, maybe this was a bad idea.
Quickly giving her a shot of the sugary substance, I watch her throat bob as she swallows it down and all I can think about is how I wish it were my cock between her lips instead.
Yup, I’m going to hell.
“Fine, I’ll take some,” Bentley declares, reaching for the can, but I swipe it away before he can take it.
“Nope. I’ll do the honors for you too.”
He rolls his eyes but opens his mouth, trusting me far too easily. And before he can think otherwise, I shoot the whipped cream all over his face and everywhere but his mouth. He jumps up in surprise, whipped cream flying. “Uncle Penn! What the heck?” he shouts.
Lilly cackles and Astrid laughs until she realizes that I’m not stopping. “Oh my God, Penn! That’s enough!”
I stand and shoot the can in her direction now, getting whipped cream all over the table and her upper body. Lilly jumps to scoop it up and put it in her mouth, but not before I douse her with some and then spray it all over the three of them, laughter and screaming carrying over the chaos.
When the can finally empties, all four of us are breathless and then we break out in laughter again.
“You’re cleaning this up!” Astrid yells at me, even though there’s a smile on her lips.
“That was the best game ever!” Lilly shouts, licking her arms and fingers.
“Penn isn’t allowed to be in charge of the whipped cream ever again.” Bentley glares at me. “But that was kind of fun,” he admits before heading down the hall toward the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
Astrid points to the table. “Start cleaning this up while I hose Lilly down.” She grabs Lilly under her arms and carries her down the hall. “We’ll rinse off together, baby.”
After surveying the mess I made, I head for the laundry room, grab a few cleaning cloths, and get to work wiping down the table, chairs, and floor, and running the steam mop over the floor for good measure.
After about twenty minutes, the mess is gone and Bentley and Lilly are changed and ready for bed.
I sneak into both of their rooms to say goodnight, and when I enter the kitchen again, Astrid is standing at the sink washing a few dishes in her pajamas with her wet hair thrown up in a hair clip.
The short blue shorts she has on hit just below her butt cheeks, showcasing her long, lean legs that I can’t help but imagine wrapped around my waist. She has a matching tank top on that is lightweight and loose fitting too, but I can still see the outline of her chest under the fabric.
God, she’s so fucking gorgeous and has no idea what she does to me every time I see her this way.
Why does she have to be off limits?
When she hears me, she glances at me over her shoulder before focusing back on her task. “That was a bit extreme, don’t you think?”
“Oh, come on. The kids thought it was fun.”
“And did you enjoy cleaning up your mess?” She grins at me over her shoulder this time.
“Immensely.”
When she turns the faucet off, she reaches for a dish towel and dries her hands off. “The kids definitely had fun.”
“Good. That’s what these nights are all about, right?”
She showcases her brilliant smile as she stares at me, crossing her arms over her stomach. “Yeah.” But then her smile drops.
“What?”
“I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t enjoy these nights. I do. But life has been so crazy lately that I feel like my mind is always spinning. There’s so much going on and so many decisions to make sometimes I wish I could just have one night off with no practice and no errands to run, and…”
“Go on a date?” I finish for her causing her head to pop up so our gazes meet.
“What?” She places her hand over her heart.
“You told Grady that you were going out with Dick. I’m guessing that’s the kind of break you need?”
This isn’t how I wanted to broach this topic with her, but ever since Monday night when I overheard the conversation between her and her brother, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her going out with Dick Cockwell.
I mean, it was bad enough witnessing him putting his neck on the line, which is more than I can say for myself.
But then hearing her confirm that she wanted to accept his offer made a migraine manifest in record time.
My stomach has been in knots every time I realize we’re one day closer to Friday when he’s supposed to pop into the bakery and ask for her answer.
Her brow is furrowed as she debates her response. “I mean, not necessarily, but I think it might be good for me.”
“A date with Dick? How so?” Spreading my legs apart further, I cross my arms over my chest and steel my spine.
“Why are you acting this way?” she fires back at me.
“What way?”
“Like an older brother who doesn’t approve of me going out with a boy.” She mimics my stance. “Newsflash, Penn. I already have a protective older brother. I don’t need another.”
“Trust me, I have no desire to be your brother, Astrid. But I just don’t understand where your head is at. Dick is the last guy on Earth you should be going out with.”
She rolls her eyes. “Jesus, you and Grady must have talked.”