My heart hammers in my chest like a room full of hostages trying to get out.
She narrows her eyes and squares off, holding the pose for a few seconds before her shoulders slump slightly. Gradually her demeanor changes to something more like shyness. Embarrassment, maybe?
“Do you happen to remember the last time we slept together?” she finally says, her voice barely above a whisper.
Like magic, I instantly do. The images come crashing through me like wave after wave of storm surge. That night Ryan dumped her. She burned dinner. She ended up in my arms, fulfilling a wish I hadn’t even really dared to express to myself. It was long before anybody ever even thought about calling me a ladies’ man. She really opened my eyes, tested my heart, and showed me how our connection made all the difference in the world.
And then, the next morning, we agreed it wasn’t such a great idea to continue. I remember now. She was graduating early. I was surprised, because I was comfortable with the idea that we would to be together for who knows how long. But no, she already had a job lined up. After she told me that, we decided that we couldn’t be together, but if life didn’t work out for us…
Oh, wait.
Oh, no.
“Penny, I just thought you were blowing me off,” I explain. “I didn’t think you meant it.”
Her mouth pops open in surprise. “You didn’t think I meant it? You didn’t think we meant it? Because we agreed.”
I walk over to hold her. She must be so upset right now. But she flinches away stubbornly. I let my hands fall uselessly to my sides.
“We were just kids, though,” I continue. “There would’ve been no way I could have held you to it, you know?”
She glares at me, her lips pressed tightly together to hold back whatever it is that she wants to say. I realize suddenly that I might have forgotten about it, but she didn’t. And now here she is. And here I am.
“Well it doesn’t matter,” she continues in a hard voice. “I just canceled it. It’s done. We are just business partners okay? Roommates? Maybe even friends with benefits, how about that?”
“Really, we can just—”
“— I just thought we should talk about it, okay? So there wouldn’t be any expectations. Everything is fine.”
We stand there uncomfortably for a few moments until she finally focuses on the table and the food that is swiftly cooling down.
“I need to get Ethan up. I need to go register him for school,” she murmurs.
“Actually, I should jump in the shower,” I finish, eager to give her some space. “I’ll clean up here. You guys eat and do whatever you need to do. We can talk more about this later if you want to, okay?”
But she doesn’t answer. She just heads off to Ethan’s room, and I go upstairs, more confused than ever.
Ron is already at the development when I arrive. He is standing in front of the concrete and brick entry arch, his hands on his hips. Today his tracksuit is light blue. Powder blue, some might say.
“What are we staring at?” I ask as I walk up, trudging through knee-high weeds.
“I hate this sign,” Ron announces, gesturing dismissively with his hairy knuckles. “And it faces the wrong way, anyway. The name should face people coming from the highway, shouldn’t it? Why is this aimed at fifteen miles of cornfields, I ask you? Who’s going to see it from that direction?”
“They were probably going to put the same thing on the other side of the entry,” I suggest reasonably, which only seems to aggravate him further. “Never got around to it, I guess.”
Ron sucks his teeth and shoots me a scowl before marching back toward the model homes.
“You really got your work cut out for you,” he growls. “Did you even see these? You know what’s going on inside there?”
“No,” I admit, following him at a safe distance while keeping one eye on the ground for snakes. “Are the plans around somewhere? How far along are they? They look pretty much done.”
“Yeah! That’s what you would think!” Ron scoffs. “Who knows what they were thinking. But these are not completed models. These are just shells, maybe to get investors or something. They’re not finished, not at all.”
“Okay, so I’ll get some investors and Penny will get the crews together. No big deal. Why are you so pissed?”
“Because I totally overspent just to show Penny who was boss, that’s why!” he blurts out, cursing when he almost rolls his ankle on a rock hidden under some long grass.
I start laughing, ignoring the evil look he’s giving me.