Best Friends Forever

She turns to me suddenly, her eyes glossy and filled with meaning. She bites her lower lip, and I realize she’s not furious with me. She’s feeling something, but I dare not even try to figure out what it is.

“So, is it okay? Just to try it?”

“It’s... It’s really nice,” she says hoarsely. “Really, really nice. He’s a really lucky kid. Thank you.”

I know it’s not part of the deal, but I would love to get my arms around her right now. Right this moment, when she’s humid with emotion, when there’s so much raw feeling in her eyes. This is my favorite kind of experience with Penny—the moments where she is completely present.

But then I remember that’s not the deal. This is just business. Even if she’s a thousand times more beautiful than she ever

was.

I must keep that in mind.

“Okay! Back to the tour!” I announce, sounding at least twice as confident as I feel.

Back in the game room, Ethan has already fired up the PlayStation and is sitting in front of it, his back to the sofa, his butt on the carpet, his gangly legs drawn up at the knee.

“Hey… We are going back on the tour!” Penny calls out.

“Okay, have a good time!” he calls back.

She rolls her eyes and faces me. “Yeah, he’s pretty much fine where he is, right? Why don’t you show me the rest of the house?”

“Excellent. I’ll get dinner started real quick too.”

“Dinner? Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m serious,” I scoff. “Did you ever learn how to cook, by the way?”

I walk ahead of her back to the kitchen, afraid she’s going to pick up something and throw it at me, but instead I just listen to the sound of her throaty laugh as she follows me.

“Is that what this is going to be like?” she challenges me. “Are you going to be teasing me incessantly about what I used to know, or not know, or do, or not do?”

I shrug. “Well, I don’t know. Do you still throw your dirty clothes in a pile in the corner?”

She just narrows her eyes at me and doesn’t answer.

“Then, yes,” I nod as I start water to boil. “That is definitely what this is going to be like.”

She holds up a finger in warning. “I know things about you too,” she reminds me. “I have at least as much dirt on you as you have on me. You should take that into consideration.”

Shaking my head, I get the tray of vegetables out of the fridge. “Wait, Ethan isn’t allergic to peanuts or shellfish or anything is he? Cheese? Anything I should know?”

“No, he isn’t.”

“Okay, great,” I nod distractedly. “And for the record, you can try to make fun of me, but I don’t know why you would. As far as I can recall, I was a perfect gentleman. I even helped you with your homework.”

Her eyebrows go up. “Excuse me? I was a semester ahead of you, remember? Who helped you with your homework, mister?”

“Psssht,” is my clever response.

“And just because you’re all…” She holds her hands in the air gesturing in a way that I think refers to me, what I look like or something. “You know, ladies’ man and everything… All muscles and whatever… In this frickin’ mansion you built with your own two hands… Don’t go nuts.”

I stop what I’m doing and smile. “You like my muscles?”

She presses her lips together and flares her nostrils, blushing instantly.

Oh my God, this is going to be so hard.