by Melissa Hill
And who was the guy? He looked familiar but she couldn’t place him.
“Penny, you remember Mike - Ian’s best friend?” Kate noted the blank look she received and elaborated. “He was the best man at our wedding. You remember Penny don’t you Mike?”
Him!
For Penny, the memory came rushing straight back.
Ian and Kate were married only a few months after Tim’s death, and she’d spent the entire ceremony and reception trying to keep it together for Kate’s sake.
She’d tried to avoid people but weddings weren’t exactly a time to be recluse. People found you whether you wanted to be found or not, especially men.
Weddings were magnets for needy singles trying to score. Mike had been one of them.
He’d pestered Penny until she’d finally blown up, promptly telling him how little she cared for his callous advances. That was the first and last time they’d spoken.
“Yeah, I think I do,” she replied noncommittally.
“Yeah, she’s the woman who bit my head off for asking her to dance,” Mike chuckled as he flopped down on the couch.
“You deserved it,” she snapped, the unpleasant feelings resurfacing.
“Excuse me?” he continued, leaning forward, the corners of his eyes squinting. “I was being perfectly civil. You were the one having a tantrum.”
“You call that civil? What - were you raised in a barn? I told you to leave me alone and you kept harassing me –”
“Asking someone if they’d like a drink and for a dance isn’t harassing behaviour last time I checked. And yes, I was raised in a barn actually. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota; barns were something we had plenty of.”
“Well that explains a lot.” Penny was raging ahead full steam, blood rising to her cheeks as her hands clenched at her sides.
How dare he act all innocent and try to make her look like a petulant child?
“Okay you two, time out,” Kate interjected, stepping between them, her hands in a makeshift T.
She looked at the equally annoyed faces, “Both of you please keep your voices down,” she scolded, as she stifled her own. “Toby is asleep in the other room and I’d like it to stay that way for a while longer.”
As if on cue the toddler’s voice erupted in a scream and Kate settled a scathing look upon each of them before marching towards the nursery. “Don’t let me hear another word from you two,” she warned before going to tend to her son.
Penny and Mike exchanged curt looks.
Insufferable.
Annoying.
By the time she rejoined them, Penny had found a spot in an armchair, a magazine occupying her attention, while Mike was flipping through sports channels for something good to watch.
The buzzer rang.
“Great, dinner’s here!” Ian stated as he stepped out of the bedroom, smoothing down the front of his polo. “What did I miss?”
Three pairs of annoyed eyes settled on him, but no one answered.
Chapter 4
Dinner had been far from spectacular.
Penny and Mike refused to say more than the basic necessities to one another.
Pass the rice. Where’s the wontons?
Everyone felt the tension until Penny finally excused herself, citing fatigue from the flight as the culprit.
It wasn’t true of course. She just needed space.
She had come to New York with expectations of a dream weekend away from normal life, but so far it was a nightmare.
She loved Kate and Ian and adored their relationship, but being in their home and seeing their family and how easily Mike seemed to fit into the picture, made her realize just how alone her own existence was.
She didn’t have anyone to greet her when she got home. Not even a cat. There was no child to cuddle or friend who was part of the family. She was alone. Her entire world was her work, but it didn’t keep her warm at night.
When she woke the next day a delicious aroma welcomed her. She would have wandered out in search of the morsels that were waiting, but the fact that she’d slept in her clothes from the day before was a problem.
She made quick work of a shower, slipping into a pair of red leggings and a cream cashmere sweater before making her way to the kitchen.
“Good morning,” she greeted, feeling a bit better after her rest.
“You mean good afternoon,” Kate replied as she bounced Toby on her hip. The toddler’s face was smeared with some kind of green goo. There were flecks of it in Kate’s hair. “It’s after one,” she added.
“You’re kidding? I slept that long? I never sleep that long.”
“You never sleep, that’s why you needed the rest.” Kate wrinkled her nose in Penny’s direction. “Lunch is over there,” she pointed with her head as she tried to give Toby another spoonful of peas. “I ordered Italian. Thought you’d like it.”
Penny chuckled as she poked at the containers of food. “Do you ever think you’ll learn to cook?”
“Never. Ian cooks, the maid cleans and I make the place look spectacular. Match made in heaven,” she mused.
Penny returned to the comfort of the armchair she’d occupied the night before, folding her leg beneath her. “Where’s Ian this morning?” It was Saturday so hardly at work.
“He and Mike went to get the tree. They should be back soon.”
Penny huffed. “Is Mike coming over again?” she asked between forkfuls.
“More than likely. He lives one floor down. Why?”
“Nothing,” she pouted. A moment later Kate’s chuckle got her attention. “What?”
“I was just thinking about you and Mike.” She gave Toby another spoon of baby food.
“What about Mike and me?” Penny asked, sitting up.
“Just that you two are so much alike –”
“I am nothing like that guy. He’s pigheaded and opinionated. Can you imagine him suggesting that I was acting childish at the wedding? He was the one being an opportunist. Trying to hit on me like that after…”
Kate looked over. “After Tim?” she finished, her voice gentle. “Pen, he couldn’t have known that.”
Penny remained silent, her food momentarily forgotten.
“We didn’t tell anyone about Tim. I know you like your privacy, and I didn’t want people…I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable, so Ian and I agreed to keep that to ourselves. No one knew.”
Still, she remained silent.
“I’ve known Mike a long time and he’s isn’t that kind of guy. He’d never take advantage of someone who was vulnerable, especially if he knew. If he wanted to get you a drink or asked for a dance, it’s because he wanted to.”
She wiped Toby’s mouth. He’d had enough for the day. “I’m going to get him cleaned up. I’ll be right back.”
Penny watched as Kate and Toby went into the other room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
She’d never considered that Mike’s actions may have been anything but unscrupulous. The fact left her unsettled. She was still contemplating it when Ian, and the man himself, arrived with tree in hand – arm.
Chapter 5
He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Ever since their verbal tug-o-war Mike couldn’t get the thought of Penny from his mind.
The thoughts had escalated to guilt by the time he and Ian returned to the Easton. Ian had explained, though reluctantly, what had instigated Kate’s best friend’s caustic reaction three years earlier, and why it would have ignited her ire the night before.
Mike knew that pain all too well.
The moment his eyes settled upon her, seated the in same chair as the night before, he wanted to say something, to apologise.
If he had known, if he’d had even an inclining what Penny had been going through at the wedding three years ago, he would have left her alone.
He knew what it was like to have people hovering around you, wanting things from you, when all you wanted was to be alone. Hide.
“Where
’s Kate?” Ian asked as he and Mike shuffled into the living room with a huge spruce.
“She’s cleaning Toby up. Messy lunch.” She stood. “Need a hand with that?” she asked, already clearing a path for them, shifting the coffee table out of their way.
She surreptitiously glanced in Mike’s direction but said nothing.
“Hey,” he murmured as he passed her, helping Ian hoist the tree into place.
“Hi.” Her eyes shifted away from him. She returned to her seat.
The next half hour was spent making faces at Toby, while Kate, Ian and Mike tried to get the tree straight in the stand.
“No, it’s still leaning.” Kate said, tilting her head. “Shift it more your direction, Mike.”
“Penny, can you help us out here? Advise my wife that this isn’t a show house, it doesn’t have to be straight,” Ian called from beneath the bows of the blue spruce.
“Not me.” She tickled Toby’s nose with her finger. “I know better than to get in Kate’s way when she’s decorating.” Penny continued bouncing the toddler on her knee as Ian struck the table with a red plastic hammer.
“Thank you, Penny. Now…more to you Mike.”
By the time the decorations were brought out, both men were exhausted and Kate was slightly agitated. She liked things to be perfect and hated when it wasn’t.
The tree wasn’t. It bent to the right.
Ian had picked a faulty tree.
“Don’t fret Kate. You can’t really tell from the way we have it leaning back like that,” Penny tried to pacify her, but it was no use.
She would be put out for the rest of the evening. It was one of those things you either loved or hated about Kate; she was a perfectionist.
As they began hanging the finely crafted ornate balls from each of the willowy bows, Penny found herself transported to other Christmases.
There was her first real Christmas, with her foster family, O’Connells. They’d been nice to her while she was in their care. They treated her almost like their own, until it was time for her to go back.
You never got to settle when you were a foster child. You never really had a home.
It wasn’t until she met Kate in her last year of primary school, that Christmas began to have a whole new meaning.
She glanced at her friend as a wave of affection wafted over her. Kate had been her one constant in life, a true friend.
So was her family. They had welcomed her into their home and into their lives. Every Christmas, except before they left for New York, she’d spent with them in their Wimbledon home.
As she continued dressing the tree, the last thing Penny expected was to bump heads with Mike. Her forehead collided with his chin.
“Sorry…” they mumbled in harmony, holding each other’s gaze for the first time since he’d arrived.
She wanted to say something. She just couldn’t. How could she even begin?
Penny didn’t want to have to dredge up the past, to explain her behaviour that day – about Tim.
Thankfully she didn’t have to.
Mike’s eyes twinkled in the sparkling white lights of the tree. He smiled, making the dimples in his cheeks appear. “I …uh… I wanted to apologise for last night. I was a bit of a jerk,” he said, kneeling to retrieve the ball she’d let slip from her hand.
Thankfully the soft carpet underfoot had prevented it shattering.
“No, I was being stupid. I’m the one who should apologise –”
“No, I should.” Mike’s voice lowered. “I didn’t know about …” he faltered for the right words. “I didn’t know about your loss.”
Penny’s eyes grew wide. She glanced over Mike’s shoulder to where Kate and Ian were quietly discussing where to hang an ornament.
When her gaze returned to Mike’s, she found his hadn’t moved.
“Don’t be mad. Ian told me earlier. He thought I’d understand.”
“How could you understand?” Penny’s voice echoed the loneliness of the statement.
“Because I do. And I just want to say I’m sorry. For yesterday, and for three years ago.”
He handed her an ornament, but said nothing more.
On the other side of the tree, Kate sneezed.
Chapter 6
Kate was sick.
The cold she’d been so afraid Toby would get from the winter temperatures, had snuck up on her instead, leaving Ian to tend a very miserable wife and a mewling child who wanted his mother.
It was a little more than the stalwart businessman could handle, having to people vying for his attention.
Penny, seeing his plight, offered to take Toby to the children’s playroom downstairs in the building, while Ian tended to the bigger baby upstairs. Kate was never a person who took illness well. While she was the most organised and efficient of people, when sickness struck, she was equally demanding.
“Come on little guy,” Penny cooed as she took Toby by the hand and boarded the elevator, pressing the number for the play area.
She watched the numbers on the wall light up as they began to descend. It stopped on the floor below. She stepped aside, pulling Toby towards her, as she waited for the passenger to board. When the doors opened however, she got a surprise. “Mike.”
“Hey there!” he greeted with a smile as he boarded, the large doors closing behind him. He looked down at Toby, “Hey buddy. How’re you doing?” he asked, ruffling the little boy’s mop of brown curls.
Toby tried to grab his hand in response.
“Where are you two headed?”
He has a nice smile … Penny found herself thinking as she watched Mike play with her godson.
“Down to the play area,” she replied, a strange feeling tickling her insides. She hoped she wasn’t coming down with something too. “Kate isn’t feeling well this morning so I’m giving Ian some space. What about you? Where’re you headed?”
“I was just headed down the street for some coffee, but how about I join you two?” His eyes met Penny’s, a smile still tugging at the corners of his lips. “I can keep you company a while.”
Did she want company? She wasn’t sure. If she did, did she want Mike’s? They had somewhat buried the hatchet on their three-year-long misunderstanding, but that didn’t suddenly make them friends. Did it?
He wasn’t a bad guy, from what little she’d seen of him, and Kate assured her of his character – and her best friend was an excellent judge. However, it still didn’t dispel the strange feeling in her stomach. Something akin to a nervous flutter, but Penny didn’t get nervous flutters.
Not in a long time.
“Alright,” she finally answered, giving Mike the smallest of smiles. They rode the rest of the way in silence, except for Toby’s babblings.
The play area was surprisingly empty when they arrived, but Penny was thankful for it. “Where is everyone? I was expecting other children to be here. Schools are finished for the holidays,” she commented as she let go of Toby’s hand and allowed him to wander.
“There probably aren’t that many children in this building yet. Besides, the families that do have them usually travel for the Christmas break,” Mike replied as he joined Penny at a nearby table, turning his chair to face her.
He couldn’t help watching her. Though he tried to be subtle, his eyes kept wandering back to Penny’s face.
She was striking. Her oval face, though nondescript, was enhanced by her large almond-shaped eyes and long lashes.
He watched them flutter against her cheeks as she observed Toby playing in the submarine-shaped apparatus. She smiled effortlessly as she watched the child.
It was the first time he’d such a smile from her, so relaxed and unguarded. It was beautiful. He was glad she’d decided to wear her hair back in a ponytail, allowing him to see it.
He hadn’t entirely thought this plan through, but the moment he saw her he knew he couldn’t let the opportunity slip by him.
Ever since he saw her for the first time, there was something
about Penny that captured him. She’d smiled at all the right places, as Kate and Ian exchanged vows, as he watched her from behind Ian’s shoulder. She was stunning all dressed in aqua, with her hair swept up in a bun, tendrils framing her face.
He hadn’t gotten the chance to say much to her as they processed out of the church, but after, at the reception, he’d tried. He had believed, mistakenly, that her aloofness was due to the fact that she didn’t know anyone at the wedding, having only arrived the night before, missing the rehearsal.
He thought she just needed some prodding to help her relax. He hadn’t known then what he knew now.
“How’s your day been?” he asked gently.
“Good, if you leave out the sneezing and sniffling coming from Kate’s room all morning,” she joked.
He liked the sound of her laugh.
“Yeah, Kate can be a bit of a whiner when she’s sick,” he added. “I was there last year when she got a cold about this time. It was the worst. I don’t think I’m even that bad,” he chuckled.
“How long have you lived here? In the building I mean?” she glanced back at Toby, who was now trying to kiss the fish mural on the wall.
“Pretty much since it opened. The company took two apartments. I was fortunate to get one. Ian was offered, but having a family he opted to take a house outside of the city. Can’t say I blame him; I’d probably do the same.” He followed her gaze to Toby, but it was only a moment before it returned to her. “What about you?”
“What about me?” Penny asked perplexed.
“Are you the city type? Or more a suburban girl?”
She considered the question. It wasn’t something she’d ever been asked before.
“I guess I’m more of a suburban girl,” she smiled wistfully.
“What’s that about?” Mike asked, curious to find out what could make her smile.
“Oh, I was just remembering something from when I was young?” She looked at him, and after a while of him continuing to sit silently watching her, she continued, her gaze fixed on the distant memory. “I was raised in foster homes. This one family, the O’Connells, were really great.” She played with her cuticles as she spoke. “They had this really nice two storey house in the suburbs of London. It was the first time I’d ever been out of the city proper. It was really nice. No traffic and noise, just peaceful nights and a lawn. I’d never seen a lawn before then.”