“Oh, but I did. I know this is early for you, and I wake up this early almost every day. It was no big deal. Come on in, I’ll be ready in just a second.”
She’s got her shoulder-length hair curled in beach waves and is wearing sand colored, wide-legged linen pants, a black t-shirt, and black and white checkered platform vans. She’s also wearing a ton of gold jewelry and no makeup.
She’s so fucking beautiful it hurts.
Once we pile into the truck and head towards the airport in downtown San Diego, I ask, “Are you going to miss Autumn?”
Penny lets out a deep breath. “I am. I did this last year, too, and missed her like crazy. But to be honest, it’s nice to have a couple of days just to myself. I have major mom guilt for thinking that, though.”
“Don’t. Trust me when I say, Autumn won’t even remember you being gone come a week from now. I would have killed to have parents who only took a few days off instead of my whole life off,” I tell her honestly. My parents were absent, whether they were in the house or not. Penny taking a few days off for herself is nothing in the grand scheme of things.
“That’s a good way of putting it. So, what are you going to do this weekend?”
“I was actually planning on going out with some guys and a girl I know.”
From the corner of my eye, I can see Penny’s hand clench as she looks out the passenger window. “Cool,” she says, saccharine sweet.
Is she… jealous?
Interesting.
“Yeah. I’m excited. It’s going to be fun.” Am I poking the bear? Maybe.
We sip our coffees in silence until we get close to the airport, and when I pull into a long-term parking area, Penny tells me, “You’re supposed to be taking me to departures.”
I go through the ticket booth, give the guy my reservation number, and drive through the lot to find my spot. “I know.”
“Declan. What the hell are you doing?”
I park the truck and turn to look at her. “You’re not the only person going to Las Vegas.”
Her eyes go wide. “What?”
I smile at her and open my door. “Let’s go. The shuttle should be here any minute.”
I grab both of our bags from the back, and she finally gets out of the truck. “I’m so confused right now. I don’t understand.”
We start to walk towards the shuttle pick-up area, and I tell her, “I booked this trip a few months ago and kind of forgot about it until this last week. When you told me the other day you were going to Vegas, I thought I would surprise you. Surprise!”
“Seriously?” She’s looking at me like I have two heads.
“Seriously.”
“Are we on the same flight?”
“I’m not sure. There are a few headed out pretty close together this morning.”
“I’m on the eight-ten flight through Spirit,” she tells me.
I smile wide. “Me too.”
Once we get through airport security and make it to our gate, I grab Penny’s hand and take her up to the counter with me.
“What are you doing?”
“Just go with it,” I tell her. I put a smirk on my face that pops the dimple on one side of my cheek. “Hi. I was wondering if you have any seats that are together. My fiancé and I got put in two separate seats, unfortunately.”
The gate attendant blushes and bites her bottom lip. “Um, I’m not sure, but let me check.” I throw a wink at the attendant for good measure, and she beams at me. Checkmate.
