AN: Thanks for the reviews, everyone. You make my day!...As for the story, someone is finally figuring things out...

Chapter 6

Penelope was sitting on a mesh lawn chair on JJ's deck with some of JJ's family, watching the children hitting a rocking horse style piñata in the backyard. JJ was helping Henry take a swing, while Will was lowering the piñata to the appropriate height for the kids as they took their turns.

"Yay, Henry!" Penelope exclaimed, clapping and cheering for him as he made contact with the horse.

Henry took off his blindfold and grinned up at her. He wiggled away from his mommy, and then scampered away, laughing.

JJ was all smiles as she made her way up to the deck and reached for a soda. She then sat down in the mesh chair next to Penelope, beaming with pride.

"That's one happy little birthday boy," Penelope said. "Good job, Momma JJ."

She gave a pleased, but exhausted, sigh. "Makes this all worthwhile."

Will and JJ had gone all out for their son's third birthday, including having a large inflatable bouncy palace the kids could jump in. They'd invited multiple kids, including Henry's entire Preschool class and some neighborhood kids, along with their family from out of town. It was a massive get together.

"Next year, you need pony rides," Penelope drawled teasingly.

"Don't give us any ideas," JJ quipped, which caused them both to giggle. They sat and chatted about the party, talked with JJ's family, and got some birthday cake, before they were left alone to talk.

"How is everything with Kevin?" JJ asked as she took a forkful of her cake.

"Everything's good," Penelope answered.

Penelope must've made a face, because JJ paused before putting the bite in her mouth. "But…?"

She sighed. "Maybe too good."

JJ pulled a face this time and asked, "How can things be too good?"

Penelope hadn't been looking forward to this conversation at all; she really was thinking irrationally. Things were fine. She should be happy about it. Every girl wanted a boyfriend that treated them well, showered them with gifts, and wanted to spend time with them. Still, she couldn't get rid of this niggling thought that something was off.

How could she explain this without sounding like a nut?

Taking a deep breath, she began cautiously, "Kevin has been buying me gifts—lots of nice gifts—the past three weeks."

"Finally!"

That wasn't unexpected; JJ was well aware of the kind of gifts she usually got from Kevin!

"Yeah..."

JJ frowned. "What's the problem, then?"

Penelope huffed in frustration. "I don't know. It's weird."

"What's weird?"

"Why all of a sudden?" she asked, tossing her hands up and dropping her cake on the deck. She bent to pick it up and continued, "I'd think he was cheating if he wasn't so dedicated lately."

"Kevin isn't the cheating kind," JJ replied.

"I know," she said, plopping herself back in the chair. "Even if I didn't, he spends so much time with me, there's no possible way he could cheat. There's no available opportunity."

"That's wonderful," JJ said with a smile, and when Penelope didn't return the smile, she added, "Isn't it?"

That was Penelope's other problem. In truth, she should be happy that her boyfriend was suddenly more attentive, but…she wasn't.

Over the past four years, she was rather used to Kevin having his own sort of separate life from hers. They weren't attached at the hip like other couples. Now, he was bringing her coffee in the morning, taking her to new dinner places, going out on walks. It had been a welcome change...for about two days.

The problem was that Kevin was still Kevin. His conversation remained the same. It was all about technology, coding, binary numbers. She could only talk about that for so long before she got a headache. Instead of being happy, she was irritated. She'd thought she wanted to spend more time with him, but...

Instead, he was kind of…annoying. And she felt hideously guilty thinking that.

JJ gave her those earnest blue eyes, the kind that saw into her soul and helped her think, and said, "Garcie..."

"It is good," she said, feeling like she'd just lied. "It's just that...Kevin has been hanging on me mercilessly. Before, he couldn't care less about the things I liked to do or see."

"Maybe he wants to expand his tastes?" JJ commented helpfully.

"Kevin?" she replied, squishing up her nose. "He winces at Thai food, grits his teeth over sushi, and looks in pain over the theater."

"Oh..."

"He even bought strawberry Twizzlers for me at the movie, JJ...and he's allergic to artificial strawberry flavoring."

JJ made a pained face. "Oh, dear."

"Now, he wants to do the things I want to do, but it seems…" She threw her hands up in the air, at a loss for words.

"Off?" JJ added helpfully.

"Yes!" Penelope exclaimed, and then settled back in her chair, relieved that JJ understood. "Thank you."

"Penelope…why is that a bad thing?" JJ asked calmly. "He's making an effort."

"But it isn't him!" Penelope exclaimed. "It's nothing like him."

JJ shrugged. "At least you're seeing him now."

"Arggh!" she cried, and then tried settling herself down so she could put this in plain words. "JJ…I love Kevin, I really do, but I don't want to be with him all the time. We have our own interests, our own separate lives."

JJ gave her an off-putting look. "Okay…"

"We see each other when we need to, have fun and date," she added, trying to explain, "but we don't encroach on each other. This isn't right. I just want it back the way it was."

"Where you spend a little time together, but not much?"

"Yes!" Penelope said, smiling happily. Now it made sense.

JJ took a sip of her punch, pausing in thought. She looked back at Penelope. "Not much of a relationship, is it?"

Penelope frowned. That wasn't what she wanted JJ to think; her relationship with Kevin was good. "We do love each other. We're just not…best friends. I don't want to hang with him like I do with a buddy."

"Like you do with Morgan," JJ murmured, like she was in thought.

"Exactly!"

"Hmm," JJ said, sitting back with that quizzical look on her face.

Penelope was almost afraid to ask. "What?"

"Nothing!" JJ added with a smile. "It's just that Will and I are best friends, so your relationship is hard for me to understand."

"Well, you have Henry, so that probably makes it different. When Kevin and I have children…"

Penelope paused in her thinking. If she didn't like having him around now, what would change after adding a child in the mix? She felt the blood drain from her face. Her stomach hurt, and her mind was reeling.

She didn't like having him around.

A long moment passed, before she heard JJ say, "Oh, Garcie, I'm sorry."

"What am I going to do, Jayje?" she asked. "I've been with him for so long, and I do love him."

JJ shook her head sadly. "Do you love him enough?"

She couldn't speak, but she shook her head.

"Good," JJ said, placing her hand on her arm and squeezing reassuringly. "You both deserve better than that."

"Yeah, I know," she said sadly, and then laughed. "God, it took him behaving like a real boyfriend to get me to dump him!"

"Some irony!" JJ said with a grin.

Penelope frowned, still thinking. "I still don't know why he was doing all that."

"Maybe he learned too late to appreciate you?"

She gave a sad little chuckle. "No…Like I said, Kevin wasn't exactly thrilled to be with me, either."

JJ shook her head with sympathy. "Something must've done it, then!"

"Yes, something," Penelope questioned, more for herself than JJ. "But what?"