Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Penelope laughed. “I was the same way, except I had less of a choice. My dad didn’t understand why I didn’t move back to LA after I graduated. He kept saying I’d have less pressure if I stayed at home—I wouldn’t have to rush to find a job I wasn’t happy with—but…” She shrugged. “I’d found my home out here. And when you’re young, it’s okay to have two or three roommates and virtually no money because you’re free. Just…wait a few years, and you’ll start thinking it wouldn’t have been so bad to live with your parents.”
I snickered. Maybe she was right; maybe she wasn’t. It wasn’t like I enjoyed the no-money part, but yeah. I loved having my mother across town.
“I don’t know. I love my mom, and we have a great relationship, but it’s nice to have a Metro ride between us,” I said. “I hope…” Oh shit. I swallowed, and I accidentally forced down a piece of chip that was a size too large. Fuck. Ouch. Ohhh, the pain I put myself through in order not to say too much. I’d almost said I hoped Penelope wanted to meet my parents soon.
Yikes.
“Are you okay?” She was one part concerned and one part amused.
I coughed and guzzled my Sprite. “Dandy,” I croaked. And then I was always going to be me, and I found a way to say too much anyway. “I almost brought up meeting the parents with a woman who’s sworn off relationships, and now I’m paying for it.”
I rubbed my chest as the chip finally went down.
Penelope turned pensive, and the amusement softened in her eyes. “I’m going to try to be as honest as you are—because it’s very refreshing.” She paused, and I felt myself hold my breath. “I recently spent ten years with someone I thought I was going to grow old with,” she started by saying. “When that didn’t happen, I…I felt lost. And I still do, to a degree. I fell out of love with her, and it made me see all the flaws in our dynamic. I realized how the last few years had blinded me. I didn’t see my own unhappiness.”
I exhaled unsteadily.
“I’m not blind any longer, though.” She reached for my hand on the table again and linked our fingers together. “Even though it’s too soon for me to hope and have expectations, I recognize a forever-kind of girl when I see one, and I can’t be a for-the-night partner with her. I have to give her an honest chance. For her sake and mine.”
Herrejävlagud, jag tror jag älskar dig redan.
What did I say to that? How could I respond without it sounding super lame?
Heat bled onto my cheeks, and I swallowed hard.
“What, um…what makes you think I’m a forever-kind of girl?” I asked.
She smiled. “When I met Ella, I got swept away in a whirlwind that took me months to recover from—and in retrospect, I overlooked some things I shouldn’t have. With you, I don’t need or want the whirlwind. I think about you day and night, regardless. And I want to know everything about you. You’re stuck in my head like the most annoying song.”
She smirked to show she was teasing, and I felt so relieved. I needed that pressure release, mostly because I couldn’t form a coherent response, given the gravity of what she’d shared.
But man, did I light up like a Christmas tree. “You better learn the lyrics, Ma’am, ’cause I’m not going anywhere.”
She grinned and squeezed my hand. “Good. Just be patient with me. I’m not used to being rattled.”
“Do I rattle you?” I didn’t know why that made me smug.
“Girl, where do I begin,” she laughed.
Right here. This was our beginning. I could feel it. She was going to give us a chance.
A couple hours later, we were a world away, enjoying the last of the sunlight by the pool in Mclean. Penelope kept her hands to herself, for the most part, but she sure didn’t mind my going topless.
We shared a lounger, we shared a private little bubble, and we shared a drink.
“Gorgeous…” She dipped down and kissed my jaw, and I sighed contentedly and stretched out alongside her.
We didn’t have to talk much for me to know she was processing a lot. I caught her looking at me often, and I could tell she was living in her head tonight. And I couldn’t blame her. Maybe I wasn’t bringing a whirlwind into a future dynamic we might share, but I’d heard more than once that I could be a whirlwind all on my own.
“May I ask what you’re thinking about?” I asked.
She released a breath and caught a piece of my hair between her fingers. “Just…how you stormed into my life.”
Case in point. Storm, whirlwind, same thing.
“You’ve forced me to reconsider some things,” she murmured. “In a good way.”