25. Penny
25
Penny
W ard had been gone for almost three weeks. He still hadn’t called. Penny understood that some people spent more time with their books than others, and she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. But it wasn’t a big book. It wasn’t boring. There was no reason she could come up with as to why he couldn’t have gotten through it by now.
Unless, of course, he’d lost interest. In the book. In her. A DNF. “Did not finish,” she said aloud as she stood at her window staring over at the little blue house where Ted and Rachel St. James were likely sound asleep.
Ward did text her every few days, but it was never in a way to generate any kind of conversation. It felt almost like he was checking in with her, but in a slightly poetic way.
I met a woman selling used books at a corner stand today. I thought of how much fun you’d have perusing her table.
At the grocery store today, I picked up a bag of lemons that smelled exactly like that Italian lemon cake we got for Hazel. It took me right back to her porch with you.
I took a young man and his father out in my boat today for a private fishing trip. The kid is dying. He has a brain tumor. I blamed my tears on the wind.
He hadn’t sent a single I miss you.
Her mother was sleeping better than she had in years, waking up at a decent hour each morning in a good mood—most of the time—and ready to engage in whatever the day brought. Her favorite thing to do was to sit at the end of the dock in a lawn chair and wait for Hector. She’d take a notebook and a pencil with her, and she’d draw or make lists, both of which were completely indecipherable, or she’d help Hazel shell peas or snap beans. She was quite efficient at doing both of those chores.
Penny could hear soft snores coming through the baby monitor on her nightstand. Now that she was sleeping better, Judy was also sleeping deeper, and sometimes her snoring would wake Penny up in a panic. But for the most part, they were doing quite well.
Hazel, too, seemed to be blossoming under the knowledge that her future was a little better defined and a whole lot less alone. “You’ve brought my mojo back, Sweet Pea,” she liked to say, and Penny didn’t have the heart to tell her that the word usually referred to one’s sex appeal.
The Garden Variety Lovers Club now met every other Saturday morning in the garden out under the shade of the pink-blossomed ornamental cherry tree. Addison had been able to get her shift changed so that she now had Saturdays off, altogether. The big news was that she’d met someone during her new hours, and she’d promised that the next time the ladies all got together, she’d tell them more about him.
Penny and Hazel had decided that they would temporarily close down the guesthouse for the remainder of the year. They were hiring Candy to help them with updating the parts of the décor that were outdated while incorporating what was vintage. She’d also oversee a remodel that included installing two new bathrooms upstairs, so each room had its own en suite. “We’ll do a complete overhaul and when we open up next year, you’ll see, Hazel,” Penny promised, her anticipation contagious. “We’ll be turning people away.”
Penny had turned in her notice to the school, knowing she’d be leaving a position that wouldn’t be difficult for the school to fill. There were many wonderful teachers out there desperate for work, and she was confident they’d have her replacement lined up well before the school year started.
She’d also sold their condo, and it was part of that money they were using to do the renovations. Penny had insisted in a conversation that had nearly turned volatile, but Hazel had met her match in Penny. Neither woman seemed to mind, either.
Penny turned away from the window. She wasn’t very tired, but she knew she needed to try to sleep. She found herself often in a quandary with her mother. Now that she was sleeping better at night, Penny’s tendency was to stay up later and get things done after Judy was asleep. The problem was that Judy also woke up at almost exactly the same time every morning now, and once she was awake, it was a lot like having a child. She was up and raring to go, and no amount of telling her to go back to bed would do.
Penny headed into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. When she finished, she checked once more on her mother, who was fast asleep.
She changed into her pajamas and dug in her nightstand for a book from her To Be Read pile, a pile she was finding time to plow through, now that she had help with Mom and no job she had to show up for without Judy in tow. Then she crossed to the window one last time, where she stood at the end of every night and said a prayer for Ward. She didn’t bother turning off the lights; he wasn’t there to see her staring at the St. James' house. Although, she hoped Rachel, or worse, Ted, never saw her up there at night. “That wouldn’t be creepy at all,” she muttered with a roll of her eyes.
Just as she was about to turn away for the last time, she saw movement across the way, and the St. James’s front door opened. In the dark, it was hard to make out for sure, but she could have sworn it was Ward.
It had to be Ted, she thought. Who else could it be?
But it was almost eleven o’clock, and she knew they went to bed early over there.
And then the porch lights flicked on and off. Once, twice, and then a third time. She waited, breath held, for any other sign of life over there.
Then she saw it. Not on the porch, but on the walkway leading toward the driveway, a flashlight beam bouncing along to illuminate the path in front of whoever it was carrying it.
It was Ward. She recognized him in the breadth of his shoulders. She knew him in the curve of his neck, the way he held his head, chin up, when he walked. She saw him in the long, sure strides he took, past the van in the carport, down the driveway, and out onto Shoreline Drive.
“He’s coming over here,” she murmured under her breath. Her heart just about jumped out of her mouth. “He’s coming over here,” she said again, letting the curtain fall back into place and hurrying around the end of the bed to the closet. “He’s coming over here.” She said it one more time for good measure, pulled out a full-skirted, knit maxi dress, and slipped into it, leaving her pajamas strewn in a messy heap across her bed.
In moments, Penny was out on the front porch, waiting for him in the dark. She didn’t want to worry Hazel by turning things on. She had the baby monitor with her, and she prayed fiercely that her mother would not need anything from her within at least the next hour.
Ward St. James had circled the inlet and was now coming up the lane toward Hazel’s driveway. Penny sat down on the top step and wrapped her arms around her knees.
He crossed Hazel’s lawn, then stepped into the narrow, flower-lined walkway that meandered up to the porch. In the dark, he hadn’t seen her until he was almost upon her, and she stood slowly, looking down at him to where he waited at the bottom of the steps.
Ward had his phone in his hand. He held it where she could see it. He tapped the two and a photo of Penny in her favorite green sundress appeared on his screen, the name Sweet Pea above her head. In her pocket, her phone began to ring.
Ward said nothing as he brought his phone to his ear and listened. Penny smiled and pulled hers out. She swiped open his call. “Hello?” she said.
“I promised I’d call when I was finished.” Then he hit the red “end” button and tucked his phone back into his pocket. “May I come up?” he asked.
When she nodded, he mounted the steps slowly until he stood before her. “Your book wasn’t the only thing I finished,” he said.
Penny wished he’d offer her his hand. She wished he’d say her name. She wished he’d open his arms and sweep her off her feet. “Oh, yeah?”
“Oh, yeah.” He nodded, and even in the shadows, she could see the corners of his mouth lifting with humor. “I waited to call until I finished it all. The book. The sale of my business. Lining up my work here. Moving back home. It’s all finished.”
“So you called me. Today. Just now,” she added.
“Just now. I got home from the airport about half an hour ago. I let my parents know I was home safe, and then I came straight over here to see you.” He pulled her book out from a deep thigh pocket in the cargo shorts he wore and handed it to her. “Thank you for sharing this amazing piece of you with me.”
“Did you like it?” she asked, desperately hoping he had.
He nodded slowly. “I laughed, and I cried a few tears, I have to admit. And I longed for the kind of relationship the two main characters end up with.”
“Oh,” she said, her throat tight with emotion. He’d remembered her words almost exactly.
Ward finally held out his hand, palm up, toward her, and she placed her hand in his. He threaded their fingers together and drew her a little closer to the edge of the top step so that they stood almost eye to eye. “Even more than that,” he said, his voice just barely above a whisper. “I’m longing for a relationship with you, one that I believe could be even greater than the one in that book.” He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. “What do you say, Penny? I’m home to stay. Will you have me?”
Penny pulled her hand free and wrapped both arms around his neck, arching her body into his. “Yes, Ward St. James, I’ll have you,” she murmured, and then she kissed him.
Ward sighed against her lips, then swept her up against him, lifting her right off her toes, as he kissed her back, one hand slipping up her spine to cup the back of her head.
From inside the house, the sound of scrabbling claws on wooden floors told them they were about to have company. They pulled apart just as Hazel pushed open the screen door. The dogs ran past her to sniff at Penny and Ward, then down the steps and out into the night to do their business.
“You kids decent out here? I’m turning on the light.”
“Hazel!” Penny put up a hand to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness overhead.
“What?” the older woman asked, acting all affronted. “I’m not the one kissy facing in the dark on the front porch.” To Ward, she said, “Welcome home, Ward St. James.”
Ward nodded and came up the last step to stand beside Penny. He put his arm around her and drew her up against his side. “I apologize if we woke you,” he began, but Hazel waved him off.
“You didn’t wake me. I was lying in bed praying about grand gestures.” She pointed at Penny. “You can explain that to him after I go back to bed.”
“I’ll do that,” she promised, smiling as the dogs came charging back up the steps and racing back inside, leaving the three of them standing in their wake. “Yikes, Hazel. Are they going to calm down enough to fall asleep?”
Hazel scoffed good-naturedly. “They’ll be out cold by the time I get down to that end of the hall. I guarantee it.” She started to head back inside herself, but stopped and let the screen door fall shut again. “I almost forgot. Tell me about this new job, Ward. But keep it short. I’m an old lady up past my bedtime.” She lowered herself into one of the patio chairs nearest the door.
Ward pulled Penny over to the loveseat where she usually sat with the dogs. “Just the bullets, then.” He held up one finger. “I sold my part of Blue Waters to Toby Trebler, my ex-girlfriend’s father.” He turned to Penny and added, “My ex-girlfriend, by the way, who is seriously dating my ex-business partner. She called that night to tell me herself so that I wouldn’t hear it through the grapevine.”
“Well, that sounds decent of her,” Hazel quipped.
“It was. It is. She’s a decent woman, but not the woman for me.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Penny told him. “All of it.”
Ward held up another finger. “I found a shop right on the lake that I’m going to see tomorrow. If it’s what I’m hoping it is, then St. James Mobile Boat Repair is going to have a storefront again. Which means no office at the house anymore.”
“How wonderful,” Hazel said. “Oh, your mother will be so thrilled to get all of Ted’s paper piles out of there.”
“Yes, indeed, she will,” Ward said, nodding emphatically. He held up a third finger. “And I made Carpe Diem a counteroffer by combining the two offers they made us. I will remain an independent contractor with St. James Mobile Boat Repair, but I now have a five-year maintenance contract with Carpe Diem, making them priority customers for me. My father can continue to tend to his loyal customers. The resort will have to find someone else to manage the employees, but I’m better with boats than people, anyway.”
“You are so clever, Ward St. James,” Penny said, poking him gently in the side. “My boyfriend is smart,” she told Hazel, reveling in the way it felt to claim him as hers. She wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled into him a little more, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Oh, my,” Hazel sighed, pushing herself to her feet. “You two are going to make us all a little squeamish with all your lovey-dovey stuff for the next several years, aren’t you? I’m going to bed so you can start practicing now.”
And that’s exactly what they did.