By Saturday afternoon Penelope had remembered that it was Lewis's birthday and had anxiously paced the cabin, trying to think of something to get him. She had very little money to spare, as she was probably going to end up putting thousands into her god-forsaken farm, and she knew absolutely nothing about the man. She wouldn't have even thought twice about buying him a gift if it weren't for the fact that he had been friends with her grandfather, or that he had coordinated everything and helped her get set up on the farm in the first place.
Penelope tidied herself from the back-breaking gardening and land clearing she had been doing all day and threw on some shoes that weren't covered in mud. She had decided that the best option was probably to peruse Pierre's and see if anything stuck out at her, and she thought that she could maybe ask Pierre for help as well– surely, he knew the mayor better than she did. The day had warmed up magnificently and the sun was shining warmly onto the valley. Penelope couldn't help but admire the beauty of Pelican Town in the springtime as she walked the cobble path into town, stopping to pick a couple of dandelions that she could fidget with.
Penelope soon found herself absent-mindedly walking through the door to Pierre's, and suddenly she was jarred from a daydream by the bells over the door. Pierre gave her a quizzical look but smiled when she waved at him and headed over.
"Hello again! Glad to see you're making use of my shop," he bellowed. "What can I do for you today? Penelope, was it?"
"Yes, that's right. Um, I was hoping you could help me pick out a gift for Mayor Lewis. I know it's his birthday, but I have absolutely no idea what to get for him. I'm also not trying to break the bank, so keep that in mind!" she laughed.
"I see," said Pierre, scratching the side of his face. "Well, I know Lewis likes tea… But that's about all I've got. I'm not good at the whole gift-giving thing. I just have my wife, Caroline, take care of all that for me. Let me see if she's around and willing to help." Pierre left the counter and walked through a door to Penelope's right. She didn't want to seem like an idiot standing at the counter without anyone there, so she walked over to the aisle closest to the door Pierre had gone through and pretended to be deeply interested in some coffee beans.
"Excuse me," Penelope heard a male voice say to her left.
She looked up to see Harvey, who was also trying to look at coffee beans, though she surmised he was actually looking to make a purchase and not just looking like a weirdo who was loitering inside of a grocery store.
"Oh, sorry!" Penelope exclaimed and moved over so Harvey could get to whatever he was trying to grab.
"Have you tried that roast?" Harvey asked, gesturing to the bag of beans in Penelope's hands.
"What? No, uh, I honestly don't even have a coffee pot." she laughed.
Harvey looked at her with an eyebrow raised but laughed along with her. "Well, it's a good roast anyhow. I'm pretty sure it's the one that Gus uses at the Saloon if you ever want to give it a try," he smiled, hazel eyes crinkling at the corners.
"Gus sells coffee? At a bar?" Penelope asked, in genuine disbelief.
"I suppose it is a little weird when you think about it," Harvey added "But, it's not like we've got a coffee shop, and it would probably do poorly here anyway, considering there are only 28, well 29 residents now".
"Hey, maybe someone should do a little coffee cart," Penelope suggested.
"I think you're onto something. I, for one, would be the number one customer," Harvey chuckled.
"Maybe once my farm is up and running, I'll take a stab at it. Who knows what the future holds?"
Thankfully, before the conversation could turn awkward, Pierre came out with Caroline.
"Hey, Doc!" he boomed and slapped Harvey on the back.
Penelope inched away in surprise and made her way towards Caroline, who nodded at Penelope and side-eyed her boisterous husband. Caroline was an interesting woman; she was tall and thin and very pale with dyed green hair. Wondering how on earth she and Pierre were married, Penelope shot a look back at Pierre who was still chatting with the doctor. Poor Harvey looked scared half to death and was timidly replying to Pierre's questions about the clinic and other trivial small talk. Before walking away with Caroline, Penelope gave him a sympathetic smile and waved, to which Harvey's eyes screamed, "Please help me!" He quickly purchased his coffee and left.
Away from the noise, Caroline introduced herself and gave Penelope some good pointers, which left her feeling confident. She ended up leaving with a little picnic basket filled with scones, blueberry jam, and some loose-leaf green tea, freshly dried from Caroline's plants. Now the only issue was locating Lewis and, while the town was small, there were endless possibilities of where he could be. Who knows what Mayors get up to? Penelope decided to head east, along the cobbled paths towards the river, at the very least she would enjoy this beautiful spring day and get some exercise as a bonus. It was just after three, so there was still plenty of time to figure out where Lewis was and there was no reason to hurry.
As Penelope came closer to the bridge, she noticed a familiar figure headed towards her from the library. It was Harvey, again, but this time he was carrying an armful of books. Penelope smiled to herself, thinking how nice it was to have a library in such a small town and one that people utilized at that. As he came within hearing distance, she waved at him.
"Hello again!' she beamed.
"Hello," Harvey replied, returning her smile.
"You're busy today, huh? Reading anything good?" she asked, eyeing his stack of books.
"Well, if you find old medical journals exciting, I have some particularly great reads here," Harvey laughed. "Gunther was able to get them mailed in from the Zuzu City Public Library, which I'm so excited about! But I, uh, I'll spare you the boring details."
Penelope chuckled to herself at Harvey geeking out over old medical journals. "You know, I'm sure there are some interesting things in those books. I've always found medical history to be interesting," Penelope shrugged. "But I won't keep you, you've got a lot of heavy books there… Um, I was out here looking for Mayor Lewis. Do you know where I might find him? I've got a little gift here for him." she queried, swinging the basket in Harvey's direction.
"He just headed into the Museum as I was leaving, he should still be there! I'll see you around then?" he asked, smiling at Penelope. A little blush crept across his face, which made Penelope's pulse quicken.
You're kidding.
Penelope nodded, feeling a little nervous and self-conscious now. "I'll see ya! Enjoy your reading," she said, flashing a shy smile.
Harvey carried on past her over the bridge with a nod of his head, but she stayed for a moment, collecting herself before she was affronted with another awkward encounter with Lewis. The sounds of the water trickling over the stones underneath the bridge and the far-off sound of surf calmed her, gulls were crying overhead and the smell of flowers hung heavy in the air. She took in lungful after lungful of the clean, fresh air to the point where her head was swimming with nostalgia for her childhood on her grandfather's farm. That sense of nostalgia was the only thing that was carrying her through the difficulties she was facing here, and she wanted to do her grandpa proud.
When Penelope finally made her way to the library, she carefully stepped inside, not sure of who or what to expect– it seemed at every turn that she was being bombarded by new people. However, there wasn't anyone inside, besides a younger red-haired woman sitting at a table who appeared to be lost in a book, and then Lewis, who was standing at the front counter with a man who Penelope assumed to be the librarian and/or museum attendant, though there didn't seem to be much on display. Upon seeing her walk through the door, Lewis waved and beckoned Penelope over to the counter.
"Hello, Penelope! How are things on the farm?" he asked, way too cheerfully for her liking.
"Good, good. Just finished clearing some more land today,' she replied, trying to focus on his forehead instead of his eyes to avoid his soul-piercing stare.
"Oh, wonderful!" he bellowed and turned to the man behind the counter. "This here is Gunther, he's the museum attendant. The valley has a rich historical past and Gunther would be more than happy to take any artifacts off your hands that you might find while you're farming!"
"That's right, I remember my grandfather telling me some stories when I was younger." she smiled.
"So, what brings you out this way, Penelope?" Lewis asked.
Ugh, here we go. If I could never give another birthday gift to anyone ever again that would be great.
"I was looking for you, actually! I knew that it was your birthday and I just wanted to give you a little something." She tried to remain unwaveringly cheerful to hide the fact that she wanted to bolt. Penelope suddenly thrust the basket into Lewis' hands, causing him to almost drop it.
"A little excited, are we?" he laughed. Penelope nervously laughed back and started fidgeting with her hands, trying to look anywhere but at Lewis. He began to unwrap the contents of the basket and his face lit up.
"Wow! These are all of my favorite things! Thank you, Penelope!" he gasped. Penelope's face grew red, and she desperately wished she could hide.
"I just wanted to say happy birthday and thank you for everything you've done thus far…" she trailed off, smiling weakly at Lewis, who gave her a firm pat on the back.
"Did Marnie help you pick these out? I see you've grown close with that family already, well Shane anyhow," he said, with an accusatory tone, peering over his glasses at her.
"Um, no… It was Caroline. I'm not that close with Shane, I just met–" Penelope started to defend herself but then shut her mouth. What was his point here anyway?
"You know," Lewis began, lowering his voice as if there was anyone around to hear, "You really shouldn't get involved with that guy, Penelope. People have already been talking. Word is you left the bar together last night. I'm telling you, he's no good. He's drunk every night, and Marnie says she has to pretty much scoop him off the floor and–" As soon as the words left his mouth Penelope's blood started to boil and her face burned hot
"You know," Penelope began, more snarkily than she had wanted to, "it's none of anyone's fucking business what Shane, or I, or anyone does!" Mayor Lewis looked taken aback.
"Penelope! I just want what's best for you. I- I'm just thinking about what your grandfather would say about you hanging around some loser like that," he pleaded, trying to backpedal.
"Loser?!" Penelope raised her voice.
For fuck's sake, I am going to lose it on this man.
"We're done here." she huffed and stomped out of the library. She didn't want to go home, and she didn't want to walk into the town square looking as angry as she felt, so she crossed the bridge and turned south, toward the beach. At the very least she could sit in the warm sand and try to calm down, or maybe she could head down to the fisherman's shop when she cooled down. It had been days since had sent her a letter saying he had something for her whenever she had time to stop by. By the time she made it to the beach, warm tears were blurring her vision, and a few escaped down her cheeks.
Penelope was sick of being the new person in town and she was even more sick of feeling like her every move was being scrutinized. Everyone seemed nice to her face, but Lewis had just proved that was not the case and, if he–as someone who had known her family for years, was judging her, then everyone else most certainly was too. She just wanted to disappear. Making her way down the beach, Penelope trudged through the loose, warm sand to the eastern half and plopped herself down, drawing her knees to her chest. She placed her forehead on her knees, making herself a little impromptu cave, and tried to breathe, sniffling now and again, until she was interrupted by someone clearing their throat, which caused her to freeze.
Shit. I didn't even realize anyone was on the beach.
"Penelope?" asked a familiar voice.
She looked up to see Shane, silhouetted by the sun behind him. He wasn't wearing his hoodie as usual, but just a Tunnelers jersey, shorts, and sunglasses. If she wasn't so upset, she probably would have laughed.
"You okay?" He said, searching her tear-stained face. His usual scowl was replaced by a neutral, almost peaceful expression, edging on worry. For supposedly being a terrible person and an asshole, this guy was shaping up to be the nicest person in town– to Penelope anyway.
"Yeah," she replied weakly, wiping her tears away with her hands and sniffling.
"What happened?" He dropped into the sand beside her. Scanning the beach, Penelope suddenly remembered that Shane said he was coming here with Jas. She spotted a little girl with dark brown poofs in her hair, building a sandcastle with a red-haired little boy. Sam stood over them, watching them play.
"I'm fine, I'm sorry I didn't mean to ruin your beach outing. I forgot you said you were coming here," she said, panicking and ready to leave at a moment's notice.
"I've got time, we ran into Vincent and Sam, and I've got him watching Jas, it's not an issue," he said, his voice turning serious. "What's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Penelope, I know we just met, but you don't seem like the type of person to be crying on the beach in the middle of the day." He looked at her with a lop-sided smile.
"Fine… You're right. Um, Lewis was just rude to me at the library when I gave him his birthday gift. I mean, he wasn't rude about the gift, but he–he said some hurtful things about…" she trailed off, wondering if this was the right moment to tell Shane that the mayor was shit-talking him just moments ago in the library.
"About?" He waited patiently for her to answer.
"I don't want to ruin anyone's afternoon" she replied quietly, looking Shane in the eye.
"It was me, wasn't it?" Shane rolled his eyes. "I know he hates me, judgmental prick."
"Yeah, it was more than that though. He specifically told me that everyone saw us leave the bar together last night and that they've been talking– and he said to stay away from you, and all this shit. I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt your feelings. I–"
"I did warn you, Penelope," Shane said in a low voice. His brows knit together and his face hardened.
"I know, and it's not even that being judged bothered me, which it does because I'm only human. But it's worse than that, he said that my grandfather wouldn't have wanted me to get involved with someone like you. Why did he have to bring my grandpa into this? He has no fucking idea what my grandfather would have wanted for me, and…" Penelope felt like she was going to burst into tears again, but she couldn't stop herself. "How could he bring that up? What a cruel thing to do. Lewis knows how close we were," she sobbed and place her head back on her knees.
Shane awkwardly shuffled closer to Penelope and hesitantly wrapped an arm around her, as she sat silently crying. Penelope was too upset to register the normal shock she would have felt from Shane being that close to her for the first time, but instead, she just appreciated the warmth and comfort of his body next to hers. He smelled like the ocean, pine, and fresh laundry and she couldn't remember the last time she had felt that comforted by another person. They sat that way for a few minutes until she stopped crying and replaced her sobs with deep breaths.
"Thank you," she said softly, barely loud enough for him to hear. "This week has been a lot."
Shane responded by gently squeezing her closer to him for a moment, and then he shuffled himself back where he had been sitting before. His face was solemn now, but there was also a hint of something Penelope couldn't quite describe when his dark green eyes met hers. She cleared her throat.
"You should get back to Jas." she croaked and nodded towards the girl. "Don't let me take up too much of your time."
"It's okay. Don't let Lewis get to you, alright? I can sick Marnie on him if you'd like," he said and smirked at her.
"I'll just make myself scarce around him, what an absolute asshole." she shook her head. Penelope had finally calmed down and was now drawing a line in the sand with a stick as she and Shane sat quietly for a few moments.
"Did you, um, did you want to meet Jas? I know you're trying to meet everyone and–" he asked, breaking the silence but trailed off. He suddenly looked very shy, like he'd regretted asking her.
Penelope smiled at him and nodded her head. "Of course," she replied, and watched the worry melt off his face.
As they made their way toward the trio, she could see that Jas was arguing with the little boy, her arms crossed defiantly over her chest.
"I don't want a moat around our castle! Alligators are scary," she huffed.
"Aw, come on Jas. They'll eat any bad guys!" the boy wailed.
"Guys, come on. Maybe we can put something else in the moat. What about sharks?!" Sam beamed. He showed his teeth and made chomping motions, causing both children to screech and laugh.
Penelope found herself smiling and she glanced over at Shane, who was smiling too. He must have felt her staring at him because his eyes suddenly met hers and he swallowed but jerked his eyes back towards the kids.
What is with the guys in this town?
Penelope thought to herself, but she couldn't help but feel that her immediate connection with Shane was different than the little crush she had on Harvey. It had been less than twenty-four hours since they had properly met, but it felt like she had known him for years. Penelope was intrigued, to say the least, and she was also grateful that someone in town was taking her under their wing. Lord knows she needed it.
"Hey guys," Shane interjected, using a more authoritative tone. "I wanted you to meet the new farmer. Her name is Penelope." Sam waved at her, waiting for the children to introduce themselves.
"Hello," Penelope beamed, trying to put on the happiest face she could muster, and waved at the kids.
"Hello!" the little boy yelled, waving back. "I'm Vincent!"
Jas immediately ran behind Shane and was clinging to his leg and eyeing Penelope suspiciously, which was fair because Penelope felt like hiding too.
"Jas, say hello," Shane coaxed, gently pushing her out from behind him.
"Hi," she replied, looking at the ground. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she said, eyeing Penelope. "But you seem alright." Shane laughed out loud at that and squeezed one of her ponytail poofs.
"It's okay if I'm introducing a stranger to you Jas. Okay?" He laughed again.
"Okay," she replied, eyes still on Penelope. "Hey, Uncle Shane? Can we get ice cream?" she suddenly asked.
"No, Jas. The ice cream stand isn't open yet, we have to wait for summer. Besides, you haven't had any dinner yet," Shane explained.
"Well, I'm going to spend the night at Vincent's, so maybe miss Jodi will let us have ice cream!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, is your mom okay with that?" Shane asked, directing his attention toward Sam.
"Sorry, I was going to ask you first, but you were busy, and I didn't think you'd mind," he shrugged. "It was my mom's idea actually."
"Yeah, that's great. I've got some barn chores to do tonight. I'll bring Jas' stuff by later if that's okay?"
"Sounds good," Sam said, nodding at Shane and giving Penelope a sympathetic glance before turning around to face Vincent and Jas. "Are you kiddies ready to have a slumber party?!" The kids screamed in unison and chased Sam, who was sprinting away from them, up the beach towards town.
Penelope smiled to herself and shook her head. "He's so good with kids."
Shane smiled back and nodded. "He is, and I'm grateful for it," he sighed. "I wish I could be like that; you know?"
Penelope nodded. "I never know how to act around kids, or like anyone, but especially kids," she chuckled.
Shane simply made a noise of agreement in his throat and picked his hoodie up off the ground and began to shake the sand out of it. Finding it sufficiently cleaned off, he shrugged himself into the hoodie and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Did you eat yet? I ordered a pizza from the saloon, but now that Jas isn't sharing it with me it seems like a whole lot of pizza for one person..." He eyed her, looking like he expected her to say no.
"Pizza sounds great" Penelope grinned, hiding the anxiety that was winding its way back into her mind. Going to the saloon meant people and she didn't know how much more socialization she could handle after the run-in with Lewis today. She followed Shane, but when they reached the bridge that led into town she stopped. "Um, the pizza, can we take it somewhere else? I'm just not in the mood for more people today."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Shane said without hesitation. Penelope felt like she could breathe again. Once they made it into the saloon Penelope waited nervously beside Shane, tapping her foot, and fidgeting with the strings on her grey hoodie.
When Gus brought the pizza to Shane, Penelope lurched forward. "I'll pay!" she yelped.
Shane cut her a confused glance and laughed, motioning for her to go ahead. "If you want."
"I just figured, since you bought me a drink last night, it was just the right thing to do. You know?" Penelope's face flushed and she used all her energy and focus to pay for the pizza without dropping her cash or losing her coins everywhere. She unceremoniously shoved her change in her pocket in a giant wad and waved goodbye to Gus as Shane grabbed the pizza.
Outside, Shane stalled and looked confusedly at Penelope. "Uh, where do you want to eat? We could go to the ranch, but Marnie's home, and she's been getting under my skin lately. We could eat at the park or something, or–"
"Or we can eat at my place!" Penelope announced, grinning at the thought of being safe at home.
Shane smirked at her, "You're really weird, you know that?"
"I'm well aware, thank you! Now, let's get going before this pizza gets cold."
Shane nodded in response, and they were off down the cobbled streets toward her farm. Penelope didn't want to seem too chatty, so she tried to refrain from asking him questions as they walked. She had so many things she wanted to say that she felt she might explode, and she wondered if Shane felt the same.
Breaking the silence, Shane cleared his throat. "So, how was your first week on the farm?"
"Ugh, it was challenging to say the least. My body is sore in places I didn't know could get sore and there's still so much shit to do. I think meeting half the town was worse though, at least manual labor is satisfying."
"Yeah, this town can be… a lot. Especially if you're not from here," he sighed.
"That's right, I remember you said you were an outsider too. If you don't mind me asking, where did you move here from?"
"Zuzu City, same as you," he replied, a little too morosely.
"No shit," she said, pausing briefly. "Can I ask what brought you here?"
"Suddenly had a kid to take care of, with no support system," he said matter-of-factly.
Penelope glanced at him, searching his face for emotion, but his expression was blank and refused to betray him. His eyes were set straight forward and not a muscle flinched as he answered her. Whatever had happened must have been pretty bad, considering he had custody of someone else's child. She was itching to know what happened but figured she would find out in due time— she wasn't one to pry anyway.
"Sorry, that must be tough. I feel like I can't even take care of myself sometimes, let alone a child…" Penelope said, frowning. "She seems like a good kid, though."
Shane briefly smiled at that, carefully stepping from the end of the cobbled path onto the dirt road that led to the farm. "She is," he started, running his free hand through his hair, and then smoothing it back down, "she can be a handful at times though."
Penelope nodded in response, not wanting to ask too many questions as this seemed a touchy subject. She didn't want to upset Shane or have him suddenly shut her out like he seemed to do to everyone else in town, though she now had her suspicions that no one else had even tried to befriend him, except maybe Sam. Now that was an interesting dynamic…
As they approached the farm, Shane piped up again, "Wow, you're not kidding that you've been busy. You cleared all of this after I left this morning?" He stood staring out onto the land south of the farm.
"Yeah, I'm trying to get things fully running by summer so I can maybe turn a profit, or at least break even. I don't know if I'll survive the winter if I don't," Penelope confided with a half-hearted laugh.
"It looks like you're more than on your way," Shane said approvingly. They had now made it to the porch and Penelope beckoned for Shane to follow her into the house. Mango immediately came running, meowing frantically the whole time, and began to climb Shane's shorts.
"Ow, ow! You little bugger. I thought we were past this!" He yelped.
Penelope started laughing, but quickly detached Mango from Shane's shorts and scratched the fuzzball's little chin. "You're a naughty floof!" She chided the cat and smiled. Meanwhile, Shane was still awkwardly standing in front of the door holding the pizza and watching her coo over the cat. Penelope noticed and immediately set Mango on her bed in the corner of the tiny one-room cabin.
"Here, you can set the pizza on the coffee table," she said, guiding him to her makeshift living room with her lumpy blue couch, rough wood coffee table, and an ancient television set that was probably from the late 90s. "Do you want something to drink? I've got some locally made hard cider, but I've also got water and some other stuff… There are more Sports Drink too if you need them."
"Would I be greedy if I asked for water and cider?" Shane gave her a sheepish grin and stuffed his hands in his hoodie pockets.
"No! That's totally fine. Whatever you want! I'm here to entertain." Penelope walked the three steps to her minifridge and grabbed some drinks, and then some napkins and paper plates which she deposited onto the coffee table before she flopped onto the couch with a sigh and patted the cushion next to her, waiting for Shane to do the same. "I won't bite, I promise. I'm not going to make you sit on the dusty-ass floor. Lewis said he tidied up before I moved in, but apparently, he's never heard of a broom," she said and popped open the box to reveal a greasy and delicious-looking pepperoni pizza.
Shane sat beside her, being careful not to overcrowd or invade her space, which made Penelope chuckle to herself since he had had his arm around her at the beach less than an hour ago. She had a feeling he wasn't exactly a prim and proper person, so seeing him act in such a careful way was amusing to her. They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the pizza and ciders, before Penelope threw the remote to Shane.
"You can put something on if you'd like. I have like three channels, not to brag or anything."
Shane smirked at her, mouth full of pizza, and wiped his hands on a paper towel. "Wow, three whole channels? That's insane!" He flipped on the TV and settled on Queen of Sauce, which wasn't the most exciting of shows, but at least it wasn't the weather channel. Shane made a noise of amusement and took a sip of his cider. "Jas makes me watch Queen of Sauce all the time, and then she wants to make everything we see."
Penelope smiled as she nibbled at a piece of crust, "She's cute, seems like a smart little lady."
"Way too smart. She's got me wrapped around her finger and she knows it. I– I wish I was a better parent," he suddenly admitted, looking like he was surprised he said it himself.
"How long have you been her guardian if you don't mind me asking? You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to; I can see that it's a sore subject…"
"It's okay. It's, uh, only been a little over a year."
"Oh, wow. Recently, huh? Well, you seem like you're doing well with her, and you care about her, that counts for something, right?" Penelope shot him a smile and took another slice of pizza.
"Yeah," he sighed, fixing his gaze on the television.
"I'm sorry, I'm nosy." Penelope started to panic internally, hoping she hadn't ruined everything. She eyed her slice of pizza, and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully and waiting for his response.
"No, no it's alright. It's kind of nice to talk to someone else about it, someone that isn't Marnie. She always means well, but she's not the easiest person to talk to and she blabs about everything to Lewis…" Shane ran a hand through his hair and then finished his cider in a couple of gulps. "And, well, you've seen how he is." He scowled and Penelope could see a muscle in his jaw twitch.
"He's such an asshole. I really couldn't believe him today, thinking he could have some heart-to-heart with me when I barely know him. Sure, he knows my family but he sure as shit doesn't know me. But enough about the negative stuff… This pizza is, like, really good. I'm honestly shocked." Penelope took another big bite and danced in her seat.
Shane laughed out loud at her and shook his head. "Yep, weird."
"What, you've never had something so delicious it makes you do a little dance?" Penelope teased.
"No, I can't say that I have, and I'm not one to dance anyway."
Penelope shook her head in disgust. "Oh, no no. I do NOT dance, except for when I eat something delicious." She continued to eat her pizza as Shane laughed to himself and cracked open another cider.
"Well, if you hate dancing, you're really going to hate the Flower Dance."
"The what now?" Penelope squinted her eyes at him.
"It's just a festival that's coming up at the end of the month, but it's weird as fuck. The bachelors in town line up on one side and the bachelorettes line up on the other and they do some stupid dance. You have to ask someone to be your partner, it's all so fucking embarrassing. This is my first time participating and Marnie has been on me about it for weeks. She's forcing me to dance with Emily. I wish I could ditch the whole damn thing." Shane rolled his eyes exasperatedly and sipped his drink.
"The blue-haired girl at the bar? She's cute, but that sounds absolutely horrible." Penelope shook to rid herself of the heebie-jeebies. "Sounds like an even worse version of prom."
"Essentially, yes. You're so lucky you moved here when you did, I doubt anyone will force you to participate."
"Thank God," Penelope breathed. "They don't want me dancing anyway, I'd probably trip and knock my partner down. Plus, who the hell would want to dance with the weird new farmer? Absolutely no one!"
Shane laughed at that, his cheeks turning red. "Well, at least you're not the town drunk. I think that's a little more off-putting. And the fact that I'm dancing with the bartender? Christ, I want to crawl in a hole just thinking about it."
"Hey now, I'm sure it won't be that bad. Maybe you'll have fun." Penelope laughed and looked at him with sympathy.
"Buh, it's going to be terrible. At least there will be food. From what I've experienced, town functions are like all-you-can-eat buffets."
"Oh, well I like the sound of that. I'll have to bring some leftover containers," she joked.
They continued to banter back and forth for a little while longer until Shane looked at his watch. "Shit, it's already 6. When did that happen? I gotta go, I still have to bring Jas' stuff to Jodi's and do some barn chores," he groaned.
"Crap!"
They both shot to their feet and Shane was scrambling, making sure he had everything.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to keep you so long." Penelope began fumbling over an apology, but Shane waved his hand in dismissal.
"Don't be sorry." He stopped for a moment and smiled genuinely at Penelope. "It was nice to hang out with someone that isn't a child, or my aunt." He laughed and squeezed the back of his neck, and Penelope noticed a faint blush on his face.
Fuck. This isn't a fluke then. Damn it, he's so cute.
"I had a good time too; we'll have to do this again sometime."
They walked to the door and Penelope's heart beat faster with every step. She tried to calm down, telling herself that this was just pizza as friends and that she wasn't developing feelings for this supposed gruff asshole-of-a-man with a surprisingly soft center.
Friends, friends, friends.
"Penelope? Are you good? You kind of zoned out there." Shane was standing in the doorway now, with that worried look on his face that she recognized from earlier at the beach.
Shit.
"Sorry. It's just been a long day. But, um, like I was saying, we should do this again sometime. Lord knows I need the company. I tend to be in my head a little too much and it's nice to feel grounded." She tried to play off her awkwardness, although she wasn't so sure it was working.
Shane nodded and opened the door, and Penelope followed him out onto the porch, where they exchanged more pleasantries and said goodbye to one another. As soon as Shane was out of earshot Penelope let out a heavy sigh and slumped into one of the Adirondack chairs on her deck. She had been trying hard all day to not catch feelings, but this guy wasn't making it fucking easy. It felt like they had known each other for years and she found herself so comfortable with him that she felt she could be her weird self. People like that had been so few and far between in her life that she felt the need to cling to him at all costs. And then there was the issue with how fucking hot he was, which was all but distracting. If he was a little more put-together and would stay out of his ridiculous blue Joja hoodie he could probably have anyone he wanted with those hooded green eyes, broad shoulders, and muscular arms. Sure, he was the tiniest bit soft in the middle, but what normal person wasn't? Penelope sure as shit was, seeing as how she had been working a desk job for the last few years.