Even though Murray was Bell’s biological father, it would be hard to tell for anyone who didn’t know from the way all three of the boys fussed around the baby, like she was their own.
“In thirty minutes, which should be enough time for Lowe to finish that mountain of fruit in front of her.”
My eyes shot back to Penn to see him grinning at me, which made my heart flipflop whether I wanted it to or not. He was an angel and a devil all rolled into one. I didn’t reply but dug my spoon in, and heaped a mouthful without dropping his gaze.
His eyes narrowed with a little glint. I’d become so fully attuned to him this week that I knew that glint, and I liked that glint. So did my vagina - given the heavy thud it made.
“Great.”
“Can I get you all anything else?” I looked up to find the waitress from before hovering right by Penn.
I assumed she was addressing the table, but she was only looking at him. In fact, the way her whole body was turned to him had me rage eating my granola.
“No, we’re good, thanks,” Lauren smiled at her, “but we’ll let you know if we do.”
The waitress gave a weak smile, looked once more at Penn, who was only paying attention to Bell, then walked off.
Lauren waited until she was barely out of earshot. “God, Penny, it must be so boring having women throw themselves at you all the time, and exhausting having to fight them off.”
“Not really, because it’s simple: I’m not interested in them.” He looked at his sister before his eyes roamed toward me and stayed there for a split second. “If I’m interested in a woman, she knows.”
I tried to swallow but it stuck in my throat. I grabbed the nearest thing I could find, which was an untouched, tepid cup of coffee and knocked it back like a tequila shot. Putting the cup back on the table, I noticed Lauren frown slightly.
“Okay, I’m going to the bathroom before we leave.” I stood up and walked off before anyone could follow.
I was washing my hands when the bathroom door opened and Lauren entered.
“God, I’m stuffed now. Going to need some coffee for the journey otherwise I’ll fall asleep.” She pushed open one of the stalls and started peeing. “Lowey, why’s Penny acting so weird with you this morning?”
My hands seized up under the faucet and I stared at my reflection in the mirror while I tried to figure out how to respond. I shut off the water.
“What did you say? I didn’t hear.”
The toilet flushed and she opened the stall, still zipping up her jeans. I pulled out my makeup bag and rummaged through it, avoiding her eyes looking at me through the mirror.
“Penn’s acting strangely this morning. Don’t you think?”
“What d’you mean? I haven’t noticed anything.” I ran a brush across my cheeks, touching up the pink, not that I needed it. I’d been flushed since we walked in.
She shrugged. “I dunno; he seemed very focused on you.”
“He was sitting opposite me, maybe that was it. Maybe he’s preoccupied with the game.”
I was going to Hell for my lies… Or at the bare minimum, I’d be kicked out of the best friend club.
“Maybe.”
I zipped up my makeup bag and passed it to her, just like I would have always done, because obviously I was trying to act as normal as possible, and not like the two-faced liar I actually was. “You need anything?”
She dried her hands then squeezed out some lotion from the bottle and massaged it thoroughly over her fists. “No, I’m good. Let’s go watch a ball game.”
I followed her out of the door and back to the table, each step filling me up with more guilt than the step before, until I was nothing but was a knotted ball of deceit and anxiety by the time we got there. I needed to do something before I had a nervous breakdown.
Penn was holding Bell and blowing bubbles into her neck, her giggle drowning out most of the restaurant chatter. It was almost too cute to disturb, but as everyone else was putting their coats on and too distracted to notice me, it created the perfect excuse to get this over with.
He smiled softly when he saw me approaching, his body turning away from the rest of the gang. “Hey.”
“I’m going to go home. I can’t do this.” I tried not to look at him, because I knew he’d put up a fight.
