Page 54 of Keeping Penny

“Really?” she asked, sounding skeptical.

“Really. I was in one of the good foster homes then, and I got invited to a birthday party at a pool. I told my foster mom I didn’t want to go, and she pressed me as to why. I had to admit I was scared. That I didn’t know how to swim. She brought me to the pool the very next day, and she spent a whole month teaching me how to float and how to move through the water. It wasn’t pretty, and it took me many more years of practicing to be really good, but I did it. It’s never too late to learn something, pretty girl. And swimming will be a piece of cake for you. I’m sure of it.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re good at everything you do.”

“I’m not good at painting,” she protested. “Or coloring books.”

This girl. She was hilarious. “Okay, true. But you know what? You don’t need to see to swim.”

Bowie scrunched up her nose. “Yes, I do.”

“Nope. You just need to move your arms and legs through the water. You’re really good at counting steps to know where you’re going, and swimming is the same thing. You can count strokes to know how far it is to the wall.”

Pyro could tell she was really thinking about what he was saying. Then she said, “I want to learn how to swim.”

“Good girl. So you want to go to the beach tomorrow?”

“Yes!”

“Awesome. We’ll stop by the store on the way to get you a pretty suit to wear. You and your mom.”

Bowie perked up at that. She wasn’t materialistic, but she enjoyed shopping like a lot of other girls and women. “Cool! You wanna help Mommy and me make dinner? We’re having chicken nuggets!”

This girl and her chicken nuggets. “You’re going to turn into a chicken nugget one of these days if you don’t eat anything else.”

Bowie scrunched up her nose. “I like chicken nuggets.”

“I know you do, Bowie-Bear. And yes, I’d like to help you and your mom make dinner.”

With that, Bowie threw herself into his arms again, making Pyro almost fall backward on his ass, only Penny’s hand on his back preventing it. She’d inched behind him while he spoke to her daughter. He’d felt her there as he’d told Bowie about how he’d learned to swim.

Little did she know, he was always aware of Penny, wherever she was. He was more in tune with her than he’d ever been with another human.

Bowie tore out of his arms and ran to the refrigerator. It was one of those with the freezer on the bottom, so she could easily open the drawer and take out the bag of chicken nuggets.

“We’re having bacon ranch chicken,” Penny told him with a smile. “It’s been marinating all day in the fridge. I just need to pop it into the oven.”

“I mean, I like chicken nuggets,” Pyro told her. “But bacon ranch chicken sounds even better.”

Penny smiled at him, and Pyro decided right then and there that this woman’s smile could make even the worst day shine a little brighter.

That night, after dinner, and after practicing braille with Bowie, and after reading her two chapters of Little House on the Prairie, and after sitting on the couch making out with Penny while pretending to watch whatever was on the television, Pyro reluctantly walked with her to the apartment door.

The kisses they shared while standing there, procrastinating instead of saying goodbye, were more intense than even the make-out session they’d had earlier.

Pyro didn’t want to leave. He’d never felt this way before, desperate for every minute he could get with a woman. Usually he was the one hightailing it out of the hotel or apartment as fast as he could, so as not to give a woman the wrong idea. But now? He wanted to stay. Wanted the right and privilege to sleep next to Penny. To check on Bowie in the middle of the night. To start the coffee pot in the morning when he got up for PT, so it would be ready when Penny awoke.

With those feelings in his head, he took a risk by saying, “I’d love for you and Bowie to spend the night at my place tomorrow after the beach. She doesn’t have school the next day. I can sleep on the couch and you can have my bed. I just…I really hate saying good night to you at your door.”

He took a breath to continue to put her at ease, to try to convince her, but to his shock and delight, she simply said, “Yes.”

“Yes?” he questioned, wanting to make sure he’d heard her right.

She gave him a small smile. “Yes. I’ll be sure to pack overnight bags for both of us.”

“You could always leave some stuff over at my apartment. You know, to make things easier.” He was pushing his luck but couldn’t stop himself. He’d take whatever he could get.