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ChapterSeven
Penny took a sip of her Malbec and tried to listen as her girlfriends chatted at the table. She’d been surprised but pleased when Keeley called her up to invite her to happy hour with her, Gianna, Liza, and Jess this afternoon.
Apparently, Penny had opened the door to genuine friendship when she’d asked them to go to the club with her last weekend. She’d been nervous as hell making that call because their transition to girlfriends had still been pretty new, and restricted to times when Jess initiated the get-togethers.
But she hadn’t wanted to admit to Gage she didn’t have any girlfriends, so she’d gathered her courage and issued the invitation.
And now…she was at happy hour. With girls who really did feel like friends.
She would have been happier about that if this past week hadn’t sucked so much. She’d had a total blast the entire previous week, recreating herself with Gage’s help. She had foolishly anticipated that would continue.
After all, they hadn’t accomplished every aspect of the favor.
She was still reeling from that good-night kiss last Saturday, and she couldn’t wait to expand on that part of the lessons.
Unfortunately, it seemed she’d monopolized too much of Gage’s time—even though he’d planned all the outings—because this week had been one big fat bust. She’d fabricated a couple of work excuses so that she could drop by his office, but apart from answering her questions, he hadn’t mentioned getting together again.
Today, she’d finally gathered enough courage to ask him point blank if he wanted to come by her place this weekend to continue her lessons. He’d told her he had plans and wouldn’t be able to. She’d waited for a moment, hoping he’d give her some indication of when—or at this point, she was starting to wonder,if—they could meet again.
He’d said nothing. Worse than that, she got that stonewall expression she’d seen too many times when a guy she liked was trying to give her the brush-off. While she was a dating disaster, she was an expert when it came to picking up on “I’m not interested” vibes.
Not that Gage had ever been interested. He’d only been hanging out with her because he’d lost a bet.
Fuck, that was depressing.
She realized she’d fallen too deep into her thoughts when she heard Jess say her name and it occurred to her, it wasn’t the first time.
“Earth to Penny.” Jess waved a hand in front of her face.
“Sorry,” Penny said sheepishly.
“Where do you go when you drift away like that?” Jess asked.
Penny shrugged, dismissing the question. “What were you saying?”
“I was saying I absolutely love your hair like this.”
Penny smiled. Today was the first time she’d seen Jess since she’d basically changed everything about herself.
“And that shirt is so cute. Is it new?”
Penny nodded. “It is.” She was wearing the blue cat shirt Gage had bought for her. It was her favorite piece of clothing out of all the new things he’d purchased.
Jess took a sip of her wine. “You look absolutely stunning. By the way, the birthday party is still on. Three weeks from tomorrow. We’re going to have it at Divine, the restaurant Rafe’s grandfather left him.”
Rafe Baros was one of the seemingly countless hot guys who’d gone to high school and remained friends with the Moretti brothers. It had taken Penny quite a few years before she could string more than a couple words together anytime Rhys invited her along to Moretti outings, be they family celebrations or summer picnics, because she was too intimidated by the endless parade of sexy men.
Now, as was her forever curse, all of the hotties had placed her solidly in an untouchable category, although in this case, it was the “little sisters are off-limits” one, rather than the “just friends” one.
Rafe’s grandfather had owned several properties before his death a month or so earlier. Since then, Rafe had basically uprooted his life, quitting his job to take over running three different businesses. In addition to Divine, his grandfather left him a nightclub and a small pub famous for serving unique flavors of micro brewed beer.
“It’s nice of Rafe to let us hold it there,” Penny said.
“He’s been working too hard lately, trying to get his grandfather’s estate in order while moving into the old guy’s legit Gothic mansion. You should see that place. It’s like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story. He’s completely overwhelmed, even if the stubborn ass won’t admit it,” Keeley explained. “I told him I was giving him a few more weeks to get his shit together and then he was taking a night off. I promised to take care of everything for the party if he’d just supply the place and come. He needed a fun night and you needed a kick-ass birthday! Two stones and all that.”
Penny still wasn’t looking forward to the party, but she managed to give Keeley a fake “I’m so excited” smile. It was the least she could do after all the trouble everyone was going to on her behalf.
“Did you give more thought to inviting that hot neighbor?” Jess asked.
