I closed my front door and when I turned around, I almost ranstraight into someone. I grabbed the person before I knocked them down thefront steps.
“Sorry,” I said. And then my voice caught in my throat. Penny.I’d wanted fresh air this morning. Penny smelled just like fresh air. Like a bouquetof spring flowers. And for the first time all morning, it felt like I couldactually breathe.
“Hi,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I wasjust about to knock.”
I let my hands drop from her arms when I realized that shewas here. At the one place she should never, ever be. The one placewhere I didn’t want to hang out with her. “What are you doing here?”
“Tanner called me this morning. He mentioned that you weresad that no one threw you a housewarming party.” She raised both her eyebrowsat me. “Do you not remember when I asked you a dozen times about that verything?”
I remembered. I nodded.
“He made me feel like a monster. He said you were superinsulted that none of your friends had even come by. I’ve tried so many timesand you’ve always turned me down.”
“Penny…”
“And he hinted around that you’d be really happy if we hungout here for our matchmaking session today.”
Fucking Tanner. So this was my surprise? Penny showingup on my doorstep? “Oh…um…”
“You know I would have thrown you one. We’ve all been dyingto see your place. What does a girl have to do to get an invitation? Get downon my hands and knees and beg you?”
I could picture her doing a lot of things on her knees. Stop.“Great. You can throw me a housewarming party at my new place. I’mselling this one. So there’s no reason to warm it. You said you loved thatcoffee shop, though. Let’s hang out there like we’d planned.”
“You’re seriously not going to invite me in?”
“Nope.” I tried to step around her but she blocked me on thesteps.
“But I had Ian drive me all the way here. I can’t just callhim and make him drive me back across town. That would be so rude.”
“Penny, it’s his job to drive you wherever you want to go.”
She waved her hand through the air. “Ian’s family.”
“Hardly.”
“What do you mean hardly? He’s engaged to Jen. He’sgoing to be my brother-in-law.”
Jen was James and Rob’s sister. And one of the many women inNew York whose body I’d used to try to numb my pain. It hadn’t worked. I stillwasn’t sure how James and Rob had forgiven me for that one. I guess I had a getout of jail free card for everything after Brooklyn died. “Well, it’s Ian’sfault for being awkward and insisting he still works for you when he’s shackingup with Jen.”
Penny raised her eyebrows. “Are you jealous?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh my God, Matt. You’re jealous. That Ian’s with Jen. Isthat it?”
What? “No.”
“Don’t even pretend to deny it. I know that the two of youhooked up years ago. Jen told me.”
“Then Jen also told you that it was just a casual summerfling that meant nothing.”
“To her.”
“To either of us.”
Penny stared up at me. “You sound awfully defensive.”
“Come on, I could really use a cup of coffee.”
“I can do you one better.” She lifted up a wrapped box that Ihadn’t seen in her arms. “A housewarming present.”
“You bought me a present?”
“Mhm.”
I reached for it but she pulled it away. “It’s a present thatsomeone gives to someone while touring their new house.”
“You’re not going to move from this step, are you?”
She smiled. “I’m really not. At least not for another twohours when Ian’s supposed to pick me up.”
I didn’t really have a choice. It wasn’t like I was going to makeher sit out here. We both knew it. I sighed and grabbed the box. “Fine.” Mymind was filled with everything that could go wrong as I turned around andunlocked my front door. We could accidentally fuck on the couch. She could findthe room filled with paintings of Brooklyn. There could be something besidescoffee in the stupid box.
But it was easy to forget about all the reasons why sheshouldn’t come in when I saw her face light up.
“Wow.” She spun in a circle in the small foyer, her skirtlifting higher on her thighs, as she took in the family room and kitchen. “Matt,this place is so…” she looked up at me.
“So what?”
“So not what I expected.” Her smile grew as she stared at me.
I laughed. “What did you expect?”
“A bachelor pad of course.” She walked into the kitchen.
“And that’s not what this is?”
She shook her head as she looked at the dishes in the dryingrack. “Nope.” She turned back around. “It’s a home.”
Something twisted in my gut. “Well, not a home for me.”
“Really? I can’t understand why you’d want to sell it. Thestreet is so peaceful. It almost feels like you’re not even in the city. It’slike an escape from all the chaos.”
Is that why she was here? To escape from the chaos? FromJames? I made myself stay on the opposite side of the kitchen island from her. “Ilike the chaos.”
She rolled her eyes. “What is it with you guys? I love NewYork, but only because it’s where everyone I care about is. If we could allpick up and move literally anywhere else together, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Thesuburbs are…”
“Boring.”
She laughed. “Fair point. Here.” She slid the present acrossthe counter at me.
I caught it and just stared back at her.
“Open it.”
I pulled the bow on the top and ripped the paper. The boxstaring back at me was absolutely not coffee. “You brought me a teapot?”
“It’s a kettle. I figured you didn’t have one.”
“Yeah,
