Walking out of the store with the promise everything would arrive tomorrow morning and be unpacked, Penny stood next to Jay, who closed his tablet the second she did. Not the first time he’d done that. “What kind of business did you start?”
“It’s online mostly, but I’m financing businesses and taking over failing ones if I can turn them around.”
“Turning sinking ships around. Sounds good. Financial stability has always been on my list of accomplishments in life. You have no idea what it’s like growing up with a fiscally irresponsible mother. I don’t want to subject any child of mine to having to become the adult.”
“You won’t.” He put his tablet in his briefcase.
Living with him for a month meant she wouldn’t get too attached, but spending time with Jay sounded tempting. They’d never work out as a couple, and her little crush would be one-sided. He had options way beyond an old friend, and she had a new life to begin. “With getting a new place in a month, buying a car this weekend, and paying off my student loans, I’ll be on a budget for the rest of my life.”
“Not tonight.”
“Every night.”
Reaching out, he touched her shoulder, reminding her of a friend. Her muscles relaxed. She needed friends more than anything else anyhow, and needed to set her head right for the next month. Glancing away, she hid her shiver when he said, “Look, you did most of the work today. Let’s drop off the sleeping bags, then head out to someplace near our new home for dinner, where we can talk. I’m buying.”
She had to set boundaries. “I don’t want to put you out.”
“Relax. I’m hungry and I owe you. Today has been a long day for both of us.”
She shrugged, then he walked her to the parking lot. “Okay. Tomorrow will be busy too. Furniture moves in, and I need to go car shopping. I’m afraid that will take forever.”
Looking at her bag, she fidgeted to find her keys when he told her, “I’ll go with you. It’s mostly the financial deal that holds everything up.”
He stared right at her and she couldn’t meet his gaze. “You’re busy.”
“Free Wi-Fi is available everywhere. I’ll talk to them to speed up the deal while you shop. Shouldn’t take long.”
Pulling away, she gazed out the window, “You don’t have to. I already need to ask you a favor.”
“What?”
Friends helped, and she’d do this for anyone. Looking back at his blue eyes, she lowered her voice. “Do you think you can follow me to the airport to return the car? Moving home from college, the post-college part-time work started to take a toll on me. I haven’t stopped moving in days.”
“I can see you’re on overdrive, cutie, and I’ve been working. Don’t worry about it. We’re friends. And tonight, we should relax, talk, and get to know what happened in the five years since we spent time together.”
“Cutie” had been what he called her all the time. It hadn’t been a big deal, so why did her pulse race? She forced herself to walk slow and not let him see how he affected her when they walked out of the store. “Perfect. Plus we should lay down a few ground rules and signals. I don’t want to interrupt any important date you have. Meet you at the condo?”
Leaving her at her car door, he told her, “See you there.”
Gripping the wheel of the car, she shook off her desires. She’d never be his and needed to stop this train of thought. She’d set up a few house rules to make transitioning easier, but her heart racing had to be from excitement. Her first job. She’d moved home in a day. She’d accomplished her goals without her mother. Everything was falling into place now, but then, getting good grades all her life had meant she always had to stay focused on what she wanted.
Jay would be who her mother would choose for her. She’d never turn into her mother, though the fear of ending up becoming a gold-digging wannabe socialite slowed down her driving and her pulse. What if living with Jay meant she’d fall at his feet, begging him to love her, and she’d lose all her honor and hopes of becoming a solid, independent person?
Pulling into the garage, she shook off the thought.
She refused to let that happen. Jay was her friend, not the love of her life. She knew the score.
She glimpsed his motorcycle parking next to her before she opened her door. Stretching her legs, she caught him staring at them when she brushed off her jeans. Did he notice she had worn them yesterday? She opened the trunk and took out a bag. He came beside her and took one of her two boxes. “Leave me the key and I’ll get the second one once I put this down.”
Nodding, she accepted that friends helped each other. She handed over the keys. “Thank you. I want to shower fast before we head out. I have toiletries in my bag. The second box is mostly housewares I took when I moved out of my ex-boyfriend’s place. It’s not much, but we can use a pot or something if we need it.”
“Ex. I still need to ask about this guy.” They walked to the elevator. “We graduated last year, and you didn’t come back right away. Is he the reason you stayed away?”
“No. Yes.”
“Which one? What happened to you?”
Telling him this meant she stayed real and didn’t hide her issues. “I couldn’t get a job. I didn’t want to come home without one. And, er, I was living with a boyfriend who didn’t have internet or much of anything.”
“What? Why would you date someone who can’t afford the internet, Pen?”
He sounded like her mother. Rolling her eyes up to the metallic ceiling, she told him, “It’s who the person is on the inside that counts, not his bank account. I don’t hold you having more against you, Jay. You’re a sweet guy.”
“I’m not sweet, Pen. Only you think that.”
She met his glance again. “Untrue. Sandra sings your praises.”
“She’s my cousin. What happened to this boyfriend?”
The elevator opened right into their apartment. Walking out, she answered, “Nothing. Turns out I shouldn’t have bothered with him, though he was nice enough. He tried hard, but I never once had that thrill. Breaking up was easy. How was the big breakup with Eva?”
“Take that shower. I’ll get the other box. We’ll discuss Eva at dinner.”
“Fair enough. If you didn’t love her, it’s best to end things.”
Her neck pinched backward before she forced herself to relax. She’d never be gorgeous like Eva. Jay would find someone in his league and she needed to keep her guard up.
“We’ll talk.” He stepped into the elevator and the doors closed behind him.
Eva must have broken part of Jay. She’d always been closer to him in school anyhow, and quiet around Eva. Penny had always intended to study mechanical engineering and never lived her life larger than the rest. She’d been the girl behind her glasses no one had noticed. Eva possessed that quality that made everyone who knew her love her, and Penny could never hate her.
Picking up her bag, she went to the empty bathroom in her room. The walk-in shower appeared to be designed to not need a shower curtain. The glass-plated doors would keep the water from splashing out. She sighed, then closed the door. She bit her lip to check out this luxury, then turned on the water.
She hadn’t expected rainfall on her head or the sounds of the rainforest to greet her ears. Grinning, she realized she had a spa going on in this bathroom.
When she stepped out who knows how long later, her shoulders had lost all their tension. She sighed. She’d packed a cotton dress in case she needed it and decided to put it on. Ten minutes after, she joined Jay in the empty living room. He was squatting with his tablet. “You work more than I expected you would.”
“I might never have earned your high grades, but I didn’t have to. My grades were always good, and I am good at my job. The potential for this project could make me richer than my parents without using one dime of their money.”
She met his eyes and understood something. “We’re both seeking freedom. You’ll get there sooner than me. Student loan drama. But I’m so happy for you. Dimples, that’s amazing.”
She pulled him into a hug, where he squeezed her hard for a split second, giving her a preview of his rock-hard body under his clothes, before he pushed her away fast. “Okay, no hugging. Let’s go to dinner.”
“I’m sorry, Penny. You surprised me. Hugging can stay. We’ve known each other forever.”
The elevator door opened right into his living room. She’d seen the setup in movies, but until now she’d never experienced such openness. She blinked and stared at the empty elevator. She’d have to get over the shock. Then he put his tablet on the counter and powered it off, and she gazed only at him. He walked over and joined her. She swallowed then whispered, “We’re friends. I trust you. Else I wouldn’t live here with you. Tonight, I’m buying you a drink.”
“Other way around. You did the work for me today. You get rewarded with dinner and drinks.”
He led her into a small, quaint oceanfront hidden restaurant in the Grove. She smiled. “This is one of the yacht people watering holes. I missed the ocean. You don’t get to see much of it in Gainesville.”
“We’ll plan a trip to the beach soon,” he promised when the waiter came to hand them menus. “Two mimosas, please.”
She raised her eyebrow. “You had one the last time we were all together in high school to say goodbye at Sandra’s house.”
“I missed you and the rest of the coffee-shop crew, as Sandy called us. Most people make the friends you miss in college, and I made friends. But not seeing you again, or Sandra, Eva, Michael, and Wyatt, hit me hard last year. I was happy with my computer contact, but I should have wanted more. My mother kept me away, and Wyatt’s in Kurdistan.”
“Wyatt’s serving overseas? No one’s heard from him.”
“What are you talking about? We talk on the phone once a month.”
His jaw dropped again. Funny. “Wyatt wasn’t the guy, was he?”
“No. He’s nice guy, and I collected stuff in college to send to his base or to his family.”
The waiter brought the mimosas. Penny smiled, raising her glass, and said, “To our new beginning. Jay and Pen’s new place.”
Clinking glasses with her, he nodded in agreement. “Cheers.”
In another life, she’d have hoped for something more. “And to our new jobs and future success.”
After clinking glasses again, they took another sip. Laughing, she told him, “We need to talk about rules. I have one. If you bring a date over, she goes to your room, avoiding the common areas. If I start dating anyone, I’ll do the same thing.”
“Let’s plan on at least once a week having a meal or a drink together. We need to stay current with each other.”
“Then spill. How did the breakup with Eva go?”
“She acted surprised when she shouldn’t have been. We never…er…she knew we weren’t getting along and I wasn’t happy. I told her. It’s done, and I don’t want to think about Eva anymore.”
“Why did you date her, then? You know she’s dramatic, and it wouldn’t be easy.”
“She reminded me of happier times in my life, but Eva could never pretend to be what I wanted.”
“Exes are that for a reason. Where did you live before today?”
“At my parents’. I had my own side to the house, but it was suffocating. I needed to get in this place. When I saw you the other day, I realized who would be perfect. You.”
She laughed. “Perfect, describing me? We’re friends for good reasons.”
Jay had a twinkle in his eye. She caught a glimpse of it and smiled.