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‘What’s the problem?’
Percy shrugged and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. ‘I want a friend. Not a boyfriend. Boyfriends hurt me.’
Luke’s face fell into pity again, and Percy didn’t love it, but a small part of him was almost grateful Luke cared enough. ‘I understand. Go to the bar. Drink. Have fun. Make a friend.’
It wasn’t exactly philosophical advice, but it was at least the confirmation Percy needed to take a step forward. Maybe Derek was flirting, but maybe Percy was just so unused to people wanting to be around him that he assumed they only wanted one thing.
And that was definitely something he wanted to change.
Lila was asleep on her massive bean bag chair by the time Penny came in, looking harried and, to his surprise, slightly angry. She dropped her keys and flopped down on the sofa, staring him down.
“What did I do?” he finally asked.
“Getting chummy with Lila’s case manager, are you?”
Percy rolled his eyes and groaned, flopping his head back on the sofa cushion. “I didn’t know who he was when I first met him, and it’s not like we’ve been dating. He’s engaged. We met because he was teaching my ASL class.” When he was brave enough to look at her, she hadn’t moved. “And if it helps, I dropped the class.”
Penny sat up straighter. “You what?”
“That class,” Percy said in a hurry. “Not all classes. I’m taking private lessons with another teacher. A Deaf teacher,” he stressed, signing Deaf along with the spoken word.
Penny’s shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry. I know I’m being an absolute beast about this, but I feel like if a single thing goes wrong, they’re going to take her from me.”
Percy couldn’t begin to imagine what Penny was going through. He didn’t want to. He damn well knew he wasn’t strong enough to handle the constant fear that he could lose his child. “It’s going to be fine. She’s happy. She’s thriving. Everyone in her life that doesn’t already know her language is learning now. They can’t fault you for that.”
Penny bit down on her thumbnail, then swiped it over the side of her trousers. “I’m afraid they’ll be furious I keep refusing the surgery.”
Percy bowed his head and offered his hand, which she took. He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I will pay for the world’s most expensive lawyer if that happens. I will mortgage every single one of my offices to do it.”
“Percy…”
“I’m serious,” he told her fiercely. “She’s not going anywhere. I will not let you lose her.”
Penny stared at him, then removed her hand the way she always did when things got a little too deep and heavy. They never had been and never would be affectionate, no matter how much they both wanted to be closer.
“Don’t you have a date?” she asked.
Percy laughed and dragged his hand down his face. “It’s not a date. It’s just a guy at a bar. A friend,” he emphasized.
“Sure,” she said, grinning. “It’s definitely not a hot dentist who is already about a billion times better than?—”
“Don’t,” Percy said, not able to hear his ex’s name right then. “Just…not now.”
Penny raised her hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. Live in denial about the dentist. I’ve heard Egypt is lovely in the spring.”
“It’s not spring,” he groused, shooting to his feet. “Tell Lila I’ll see her later.”
He didn’t give Penny a chance to take any more of the piss than she already had and quickly rushed out to his car. The moment he was behind the wheel, he just…sat. He checked his phone three times, then faffed around with the loose items in the console before finally pushing the start button and pulling out onto the main road.
Percy’s gut was a mess of worry and anxiety as he pulled into an empty space right out front of the bar, and he started laughing when he realized it was themed like an old English pub. There was a wooden sign hanging above the front door, moving gently in the breeze, and the lights were all dim.
He was still grinning when he walked inside, and after scanning the sparse crowd, he spotted Derek and two other people at a tall table near one of the windows. Derek waved him over with a huge grin, and Percy’s stomach swooped in a large circle, not because he wanted Derek but because he was afraid he’d be too weak to turn him down if he asked Percy to go home with him.
Still, he allowed himself to have hope that this could be fun. That he might make another friend or two. That maybe his life would stop being so…empty.
“Hey. This is my new best friend, Percy.”
“Oh, we know about Percy,” said the person leaning against the window in a raspy, rumbling voice. They were tall and lanky, with very dark, long hair pulled into a bun.
