Page 51 of Double Trouble
Tea kettle in hand now, I froze. The rumor had spread to my work too?
“It’s totally unprofessional of Viola,” Penelope was blabbing on. “And none of anyone’s business.”
I didn’t hear the rest. Instead, I carefully set down the kettle and leaned against the kitchen counter. Now my work too? What more could go wrong?
Bracing myself against the counter, I got the tea kettle and carried it over to Penelope with two tea cups. I sat down and poured the tea. I carefully steered the conversation to other topics. And then, when the tea was done and my energy almost entirely gone, I rose.
“I’m tired, actually. Would you mind if we went for coffee or something tomorrow?”
“Of course.” Penelope jumped up, and I realized she’d been lingering because she’d felt sorry for me. Great. “Let’s say Dunkin’ Donuts?”
“Sounds great,” I told her, giving her a light hug.
Only once she was gone did I release the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding. Then, my body sunk into the couch and I closed my eyes, willing sleep to come.
Instead, what I got a few minutes later, was the sound of more knocking on my door. I groaned. Had Penelope forgotten something?
Instead, opening the door, I found myself face to face with Owen and Jake.
38
Owen
Don’t think, just talk, I told myself.
Luckily, Jake was on it. Sweeping into Cin’s apartment, he declared, “Get dressed. We’re taking you out.”
Cin blinked at him, stunned.
“Were you sleeping?” I asked.
“Trying to,” she said.
It was only six PM, but then again, Cin had had a rough few days.
“We just want to take you to dinner,” I finally said. “To sort things out, let you know where we stand and find out where you do.”
“And no,” Jake added quickly, before she could protest. “I refuse to do this here on an empty stomach.”
A ghost of a smile crept across Cin’s lips. “Getting out of here wouldn’t be the worst thing.” She paused. “But where?”
“We were thinking Vincenzo’s.”
“No,” Cin said suddenly. “I want to go to Pickle Barrel.”
“But that’s where you and that Paul guy went,” I said.
“Exactly.” She nodded. “I want to rewrite that experience with a nice one.”
“Ok,” we said.
She had just turned to leave, when Jake stopped her. “One more thing. It’s something I picked up a few days ago, that Owen agreed would look great on you.”
He held out a bag. As soon as Cin caught sight of what was inside, she exhaled. Lifting up the shimmery silver dress, she said, “It’s gorgeous.”
“Put it on,” Jake urged her.
A few minutes later, all I could do was gape. ‘Gorgeous’ was too weak a word to describe just how incredible Cin looked in that dress. It made me want to kiss her and rip it off and throw my arms around her and declare to the world she was mine all at once.
“So?” she asked, clearly uncomfortable under our stares.
“It looks good,” Jake sputtered. “Crazy good.”
“Really really crazy good,” I added.
A pause, then Cin giggled. “I guess we’re good to go, then.”
No sooner had Jake and I walked into Pickle Barrel, then was Mary Belle squealing, “My favorite guys.”
As we both grabbed Cin’s hands, her bubbly smile wilted a bit and became cautious. “The usual booth?”
“Please,” I told her.
As we walked through, I kept my grip tight on Cin’s hand. I wanted her to know that I didn’t care what any of these people thought. In fact, I wanted them to know that she was mine. I wanted them to all know.
“New friend?” another waitress regular, Sue, asked with a wink as she laid out the menus.
“New girlfriend,” Jake corrected her.
I could feel Cin shifting uneasily between us in the round booth. She wouldn’t have agreed to come here if she didn’t see a future with us, would she have?
The dinner – spaghetti bolognaise, in a huge cauldron of a bowl with enough for three – was delicious. The wine was even better. Only once the dessert came did Jake catch my eye and nod. This was it.
We took her hands.
“We have something to say,” I told her.
39
Cin
My heart beat was a scrape at my chest walls.
“We’ve decided,” Owen said, in words quiet but powerful. “We don’t care about the cost or about what people say. We want you – us. We want to be with you.”
Part of me was trembling with happiness, but I couldn’t let it land. Not yet.
“What about your dad?” I asked. “Are you willing to be judged for the rest of your lives? It’ll be other people too.”
“I’d rather be judged for being with the girl we want, then be accepted for being with ones we don’t,” Jake said simply.
God, they made it sound so easy.
“Won’t it be hard, though?” I said, feeling a bit stupid as I said it.
“Probably,” Owen said with a shrug.
