She could only imagine how she must look. T-shirt, brazenly pronouncing that Pilots do it with Thrust, boxers with little airplanes all over them, and her hair twice its normal size and littered with dust bunnies.
Kent didn’t bother trying to hide his disgust. “Penny.” He’d been sitting on the step and rose as she approached. He wore his usual weekend clothes, casual shorts and a shirt with some brand name for golf clubs. His hair had been cut recently, and he looked like he may have put on a few pounds.
“Kent.” She had no idea what to say, so she simply followed his lead.
“I must admit, I’m a little disappointed. At first, I thought you were ignoring me. I thought you were still angry and didn’t want to let me in. That was the first hour I waited. After that, I started to worry, since your car is parked out front. Where could she have gone? I thought. I was getting ready to call the cops.”
Penny reached under the planter and pulled out her spare key. “You know I always hide a spare.” She winced as she stepped on a pebble. Damn, she wondered how she’d ever get those shoes back.
And her dress!
“Where the hell have you been? I think I deserve some sort of an explanation!” He ground out the demand between clenched teeth.
Did he?
Did she owe him anything?
He followed her into the house, bringing his dark cloud of disgust with him. “Have you turned into a crazy lady since we broke up? Penny?” Now he sounded less angry. More concerned. “Do you need help, sweetheart?” Without waiting for an answer, he stalked across the room and pulled her into his arms. “I’m here for you, Pen. I know this has been a rough year but we can work this out. I know we can.”
He smelled… so familiar. He hugged her just a little too tightly, and then his lips sought hers clumsily. He tasted like wintergreen gum. He always tasted like wintergreen gum. There could be worse things, she supposed.
His lips felt cold. A little too demanding.
It took her a minute to realize that she didn’t need to pretend. She turned her head to the side and pushed him away. “No, Kent, you can’t do this.” And then the thought struck her. “What happened to butt-pillow girl?”
“What?” He looked both hurt and confused.
“Megan. What happened to Megan?”
Now it was his turn to look sheepish. He glanced around the room, shoved his hand in his pockets, and then shrugged. “We broke up. It was never all that serious. I think she just liked the fact that I was a doctor. When she realized I was gonna have to keep sending you a crap load of money, she took off.”
What was this about, anyway?
“Only for five years,” Penny reminded him.
He shrugged again. “It was five years too many.”
“Look, Kent–”
“Your mom came to visit me. She says you haven’t called her since the divorce.”
Her mom had insisted Penny should fight to keep Kent. She’d told her that sometimes a woman needed to look beyond these little indiscretions. Especially when such indiscretions were made by a husband who was a doctor.
Would pilots be even worse?
And out of nowhere, she suddenly felt all-over, bone-deep tired. “Can we talk about this later?”
She’d not had any coffee yet today and had participated in more physical activity last night than she had in years.
And in an odd way, she felt sorry for Kent.
His mid-life crisis woman had been using him.
Kent ran a hand through his thinning blond hair. He had a few strands left on top but not much. They wouldn’t be there much longer.
“I can stay here, can’t I? This godforsaken town doesn’t have a hotel, not a motel either, for that matter.”
“There’s an extra bedroom at the back of the house.” She didn’t want him going upstairs. Somehow, she wanted to keep that private. It was hers.
