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“He’s a nice guy.”
/> “You said he was different,” she counters, pointing at me with her index finger. “Your words: he’s different.”
She’s got me there, and I know it. Maybe this is all a big mistake. Maybe this is too impetuous. Or maybe somehow I’m letting the fantasy get ahead of me. I have to remember that he is different. The fantasy is gone. There’s no pact. There’s nothing.
He is different.
I hear a sound behind me and turn around to see Ethan shuffling into the foyer, knuckling his eyes sleepily.
“Oh, hey baby! I was hoping to see you!” I coo happily as he slowly comes forward to give me a hug.
Breathing deeply, I absorb his scent, thirsty for it like I haven’t seen him in years. I kiss the top of his head and brush his hair back, wincing when I see the bruise on his forehead. It has grown somehow, gotten dark purple, almost the size of an orange. I stare at Wanda in alarm.
She pulls a face. “Yeah, I think that looks worse than it is. But… Yeah. That looks bad, huh.”
Plastering a smile on my face, I dip my head down to kiss his cheeks and chuck him softly on the chin. He smiles up at me and gently pulls away, returning to his room without even a word.
“We’re going to Beaumont,” I tell her in a serious, hurried whisper. “Right away. We are not going to wait. We are definitely going. This week.”
She nods, understanding. I know she loves Ethan too. I know she gets it.
“Well, if you’re going, I’m going too. I will help you get this place onto AirBnB, how about that?”
“Yes,” I answer immediately. “That would be awesome. Thank you. But you don’t have to come, Wanda.”
“Pssssht, yeah right,” she rolls her eyes. “I need to check out this douche for myself, don’t I? You can’t get rid of me, Pen.”
It may be a ridiculous plan, one that I thought of on the spot, one that sort of feels like I strapped myself to a paper airplane and threw myself off the top of a building, but for just a moment I feel like it is all going to work out okay.
Chapter 13
Clay
I see the headlights swing around the driveway, and my chest instantly gets tight. It’s not like I’ve been waiting for them all day. It’s not like I’m intensely curious what this will be like. And I certainly haven’t been walking through my house, looking at it through their eyes.
No. This is just a business arrangement. She has made that very clear.
When I open the front door, she smiles, pulling the young man closer to her by his shoulders. He looks up at me with those same almond-shaped eyes, so direct. So intense.
I hold out my hand to him and he shakes it, nice and firm.
“Clay Corwin,” I tell him. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” he says in a voice that seems right on the edge of dropping. It’s got a little bit of kid in it, and a little bit of teenager too.
Penny just beams. She reaches around to grab the handle of her rolling suitcase and I wave her off.
“Let me get that for you,” I offer. “You’re probably tired of hauling your stuff around.”
“Just the basics, really,” she shrugs. “I’m still keeping my place back home so…”
“Sure, of course,” I agree quickly. “Smart.”
Ethan stands there, his head going back and forth like he’s watching a tennis match. Suddenly I realize we are just standing in the foyer.
“Well, come in! Where are my manners? Let me show you around!”
Penny and Ethan follow me from room to room as I give them a brief, slightly embarrassed tour. I mean I feel silly saying this is the living room when it is obvious it is a living room. And the kitchen, and the dining room. But what else am I going to say?
