“No,” he said as he walked away.
She looked at me and smirked. “Twenty bucks for five minutes—in the off-season, no less! I win and I don’t even get to keep the checkered flag.”
“Your hair looks really good right now.”
She socked me in the arm. “Come on, I have to get home and help Milo with some stupid project.”
“Okay.”
I tried to hold her hand on the way to the car, but she pulled out of my grasp.
“Not in front of Milo.”
“That stuff doesn’t even faze him.”
“Yes, it does.”
She drove home like a maniac and I had to remind her we weren’t in go-carts anymore.
Leaving me in the driveway of my dad’s house, she pulled away and then stopped and rolled down the passenger-side window.
“Good day today, huh?”
“Yep,” I said, nodding. “Thanks, you guys.”
I threw up a peace sign at her and she cruised down the street to her house.
My dad’s house was dark and deafeningly quiet. I grabbed a thicker jacket, a beer from the fridge, and my guitar and went out onto the porch. I messed around on the guitar all night, drinking to hopefully pass out later. On my fourth beer, I heard the unmistakable sound of Penny’s ankles cracking and Buckley’s leash jingling.
“Hey,” she said from the curb as Buckley took a shit on my dad’s front lawn.
“Really, Buckley? You fucker!”
“He likes this lawn,” Penny said, laughing. “He shits on it every morning.”
I huffed. “I know. I can’t believe you leave it.”
“I thought it would give you something to do.”
“You’re helping your grieving friend by making him pick up moist dog poop every day?”
“Well, does it make you mad?”
“Yeah, it does.” She came walking up to the porch and sat down next to me while Buckley stayed on the icy lawn.
“Perfect, then I have successfully redirected your anger. Now, tell me why you’re sitting out here in the cold.” It was the end of February so it was still pretty chilly.
“It’s hard to be in there sometimes.”
“I can understand that. But it will go away, trust me.”
“I’m not staying here, Penny. I’ll rent it out or sell it, but I’m not staying—it’s too hard. We’ve already talked about this. As soon as I go through all my dad’s stuff, I’m going back to Denver.”
“Okay, okay. I won’t bug you about it anymore. Let’s talk about something less loaded. How was your date with Briel?” She grinned devilishly.
“Ha! As if she didn’t tell you herself. It was two dates, actually. We got coffee the first time and then I saw her band play the other night. She’s a great singer.”
Penny was nodding. “She is. But do you like her?”
