She wets her lip with her tongue, that smile dwindling a bit. Her eyes linger on me for a second, like she’s trying to figure out what happens if we stay. How she’d get home. How long we’d be here. What that means about the ‘us’ that doesn’t exist.
That’s enough for me. That’s a clear sign we should go.
“Do you want to stay?” she asks carefully.
I shrug, ignoring Declan, who is lingering between me and the door. “I’m good either way.”
“What time is it?” she asks, glancing around the patio for her phone. That little rat with the scraggly hair is sound asleep on her lap, so she refuses to go too far to find it.
I peek at my watch. “Eleven-thirty.”
She winces a bit. “Yeah, we should. I work in the morning.”
“All good.” I flash her a smile and move to stand. She runs her hand over the little dog’s fur, looking tormented that she’ll have to disturb her. I turn and hold my hand out to Declan,smacking my palm into his and giving him a quick hug. “Thanks for having us. Always a good time.”
“Thanks for the company,” he says, eyes flickering behind me.
“Oh, just move her. She’ll go right back to bed,” Penny says quietly.
I glance over my shoulder and sure enough, the little one cuddles into the pillow on the couch and falls right back asleep. The balcony is enclosed. They spent a shit ton of money to do that so they could have the dogs out here without any chance of an accident.
Penny wraps her blanket tighter around herself, eyes sliding to mine. “It was nice to meet you, Arden. I hope I’ll be seeing more of you?”
She says it like a question.
The life raft has been thrown by Mrs. (should be, anyway) Lowes herself.
“Yeah. We’ll see,” Arden murmurs with a tight smile.
She awkwardly shifts on her feet as if debating going for a hug, but then just nods and scurries over to me. She tucks herself into my side a bit, which sends my ego to the moon.
Good. We’re getting more comfortable with each other.
“Thank you. I had fun. I needed some puppy therapy,” she says, looking up at Declan.
“Ah,” he says with a shrug. His eyes meet mine, and with a smirk, he smacks a hand on my shoulder and shakes me. “Anytime.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
carter
Back in the G-Wagon,Arden is a bit more comfortable in my presence than she’s ever been. Probably the wine, but I’d like to think we broke down some barriers tonight. She glances at me a couple of times. I pretend not to notice. I just bob my head to the music and cruise through the dark streets, acting like silence doesn’t suffocate me.
“I think I’m in love with her.”
That’s the first thing she says.
I bark out a laugh, glancing at her. “Penny?”
She nods, eyes all wide, smile all pretty. “They look good together.”
“Theyaregood together,” I tell her, and it’s true. The best, probably. There was a lot of touch and go with them, but they got there in the end. Where they belong. “If you ever want to spend time with the dogs, since you can’t have your own, she’d love to have you over.”
I know that for a fact. I don’t have to ask Sweets.
“She barely knows me.”
I shake my head. “Nah, Penny isn’t like that. She knowswithin the first two minutes of meeting you if she likes you. I’m telling you, she likes you. You’re her friend now.”
