Penny glanced down at Betsy. Her eyes were round as she took in the boys, but then they danced. Penny knew only one thing that made Betsy’s eyes do that magical jig. “Betsy. Please don’t—”
Her hand instantly went in the air. “Hey, sweetheart!”
“Damn it, Betsy.” Penny gritted her teeth and glanced over her shoulder in time to watch Callen turn around as the other guys followed the hostess into the store.
His gaze immediately went to Penny. She jerked back around and moved behind Betsy’s chair, pretending to pick up that magazine she’d thrown over it.
“Hey, Betsy.”
Crap. His voice sounded closer. She shrank further behind the chair.
“Penny?”
She didn’t respond. It was ridiculous and futile, but she couldn’t make herself face him. Callen cleared his throat. “Are you hiding? Because, I have to be honest, you’re doing a pretty horrible job at it.”
“What? No. I—” Penny looked around and grabbed the magazine off the floor, “—was just getting this book for Betsy.”
Callen’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, really? And it has nothing to do with the fact that I gave you my number and you haven’t called me?”
Penny stood and rolled the magazine into a cylinder. “Look, Callen…I can explain.”
Callen opened his mouth to say something, but another voice interrupted him. “Hey, Cali, come on. The guys are waiting on you.” Magnolia paused as soon as she came around the corner. Her mouth parted slightly as she glanced back and forth between Callen and Penny. And then she smiled.
“Hello,” she said, her voice chipper and her smile wide. “It’s nice to see you again. I don’t believe I caught your name last time.”
She held out her hand to Penny, and Callen’s face paled. Penny didn’t have a choice this time. She took it. “I’m Penny Duchene.”
Lie. She might as well start a tally. It wouldn’t be the only one she’d have to come up with to explain herself. Magnolia’s smile only got bigger. “What brings you here today? Are you meeting Callen?”
“No,” Penny and Callen said simultaneously.
Penny shot him an odd look, but kept her attention on Magnolia. “I’m here with my friend Betsy. She’s looking for a dress for her daughter’s wedding.”
Betsy gave a slight wave from the corner where she ran off to hide and watch. Magnolia returned her wave. “How nice. I’m getting married this summer as well. My friends are getting fitted for their dresses today, while I attempt to help the guys find something they’re willing to wear.” She patted Callen on the arm. “Maybe you can help me convince him to wear a bowtie.”
Callen looked down at the ground. “It’s not like that. I told you we aren’t dating. Penny is—” He looked at Penny, his jaw clenching tight. He took a breath and then continued. “Penny is my relaxation therapist.”
Magnolia’s brow knotted together. “Your what?”
Callen glanced back her, and Penny had to clamp her mouth shut to keep it from gaping open. She knew why she didn’t want his friends to know about her, but why didn’t he want them to know about her?
Magnolia turned to her to confirm this story. Callen’s expression turned pleading. Penny took a deep breath. She’d lied for a lot less. She sort of owed Callen anyway. “Yes,” she said, smiling charmingly at Magnolia. “That’s why I was at the game the other night. I was there to evaluate Callen, to see if there was a way I could help him start to relax. You know, to help his game. He’s a mess.”
Magnolia crossed her arms over her chest. “That he is.”
She didn’t believe them. It was as if she could smell the lie lingering between them. “What are you doing for him? Is there any way we can help?”
Penny immediately started shaking her head. “Umm, no. It’s more one-on-one. Exercises and other relaxation type stuff.”
She was so horrible at this. Thankfully, Callen stepped up. “In fact, we have our first session scheduled for tomorrow morning. We’re going to jog Central Park.”
“Yes,” Penny said, shaking her head. “Jogging is a great stress reliever.”
“So is sex,” Betsy added from her corner.
Penny glared at her, but Callen caught her attention before she threatened her life. His gaze connected with hers and held it. “Eight a.m.? In front of the entrance?”
“Eight? That’s early.”
Callen looked meaningfully at her, and she quickly cleared her throat. “Um, yes. Eight is what we had scheduled. I’ll see you then.”
Callen nodded and started to move Magnolia back toward the hostess stand. “I’ll see you then,” Callen said.
Penny nodded. Once he was out of sight, Betsy came back over and stood behind Penny’s shoulder. “Did you just make a date with Callen Copley?”
Penny blinked a couple times, unsure if the interaction that happened was real. It felt real. But why did Callen lie about who she was? “Did I?”
“Sounded like it to me.”
Penny turned around, replaying the conversation in her head. “It was part of the lie. He made that up to fool his friend. I don’t think he actually expects me to meet him for a jog at eight o’clock in the morning at Central Park.”
Betsy raised a brow, her lips curving into a smirk. “Are you sure about that?”
Penny pursed her lips. No, she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Callen Copley was ruining everything. Her plan. Her heart. Her ability to have a thought that didn’t involve him.
Penny let out a soft sigh. “I don’t jog. I don’t even walk at a brisk pace. How am I supposed to keep up with him?”
Betsy laughed, slapping her hand over Penny’s shoulder. “I don’t jog either. But you’ve seen that boy on one of his runs with his shirt off. If he’s running away from me, you can guarantee I’d find a way to catch him, or die trying.”
Penny ran a hand through her hair as she debated it. Nothing about this so-called meet up—because she refused to call it a date—sounded like it could work. She should have called him. Confessed it all and left New York with nothing but the same loneliness that brought her there. It was past that point now. They’d seen her. They would continue to ask questions she couldn’t answer. It was what she wanted—to fool them. She needed information, but now that information was attached to Callen. The more she saw him, talked to him, she only became more convinced that maybe, just maybe, he was worth more to her than a couple answered questions.
Penny turned back to Betsy. “Would you mind if I cash in a raincheck on the dress shopping?”
“Sure,” Betsy said, smiling. “I’ll make my daughter come with me this weekend. What do you want to do now?”
Penny looked at her strappy sandals. “I need shoes you can run in.”
Betsy’s smile covered her entire face. “I know just the place.”
Chapter Nine
CALLEN’S THERAPY SESSION
The numbers on Callen’s watch flipped to 8:02 a.m. Penny was officially late. Actually, she was late one minute ago, but during that minute he’d been in complete denial about it. Now that number two stared at him mockingly. He was certain she understood the fake meeting they scheduled wasn’t really fake at all. They obviously needed to talk.
He’d given her his number and she didn’t use it. He wanted an explanation. He needed one. At this point he’d take a very blatant no if it meant he could stop carrying his phone around with him like it was a ticking bomb. Callen sat on the side of the wall that outlined a long row of flower beds inside the park’s entrance. He watched the street, sighing as more people he didn’t recognize hurried along the path. He stood up, resigning to the facts of the matter.
Penny didn’t call him. She wouldn’t show up for their meeting. She wasn’t interested in him.
Callen started to stretch. As soon as he bent over, he spotted a pair of neon orange sneakers behind him. He jumped up and turned around. “Penny. You came.”
She looked like a florescent rainbow. Ora
nge shoes. Purple shorts. Pink shirt. And curves. The girl had curves he hadn’t even known existed under that black blanket she wore at work. Now he knew. His gaze raked up her body from her colorful shoes to the intricate braids that created her ponytail.
She gave him a small wave and a smile. “You look surprised. I was supposed to show up, right?”
“Yeah,” he said, stumbling over the word. “It’s after eight. I thought maybe you’d decided to bail.”
She reached her hands over her head, stretching her arms out. It caused the stretchy material of her shirt to jerk up, revealing soft, silky skin at her waistline. “I told you eight was early. I’m not exactly a morning person.” Then she looked down at her spotless, obviously new shoes. “I’m also not a jogging person either, just FYI.”
“It’ll be okay, we’ll take it slow.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Look at you. You’re like a running machine. I’ve seen you jog by the Bistro. Your version of slow would still put me in the hospital.”
Callen cocked a brow. “You’ve seen me jog by the Bistro?”
Her face told it all. Yes. She’d seen him. A shy smile spread across her lips. “Every so often. You’re sort of hard to miss.”
Suddenly, Callen didn’t want to jog. There were hundreds of other things he wanted to do…all of them with Penny, but none of them included jogging.
He took in a steadying breath. “How about we walk, then? It could give us a chance to talk.”
Penny pursed her lips, and that same guilty expression she had at the bridal salon yesterday captured her face. “I would have called you,” she said then bit the edge of her lip, “eventually.”
He nodded for her to follow him and started walking along one of his favorite jogging routes. “Eventually, huh? Wanted to make me squirm for a while?”
Her smile. It was brighter than her clothes. “No. I’m not a mind games girl.” Her finger came up and twisted the end of her long ponytail into a knot. “I guess…I was nervous.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better…the feeling is mutual.”
Penny glanced over at him. “You’re nervous? Why?”
Callen laughed. He couldn’t believe he was about to admit his issue to an actual girl he liked. “I’m not exactly Mr. Smooth when it comes to talking to women.”
“Sure, you’re not.” Penny laughed out loud. “Because that slipping me your number thing you did the other night wasn’t Mr. Smooth, like, at all.”
“That was an exception.”
She eyed him like she totally didn’t believe him. “It’s true,” he said, smiling at her expression. “Normally, it would take several shots of something strong for me to get the nerve to do something like that.”
She studied him suspiciously. “You’re serious.”
“Like a heart attack.”
“Hmm,” she said, suddenly very contemplative. “Does that have anything to do with how I suddenly became your relaxation therapist?”
Callen chuckled nervously. “Yeah…about that.”
Penny paused in front of him, turning to wait for her explanation. Callen ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry about yesterday. It’s just that Magnolia and Leila can be a little overbearing. They’ve been trying to help me with my talking to women issue. I didn’t want her to get her hopes up since—”
“Since I hadn’t called you.”
“Pretty much.”
Penny touched his arm, her fingers soft as they were gentle. “I meant it before when I said I would have called you…eventually.”
He smiled because she did. “I’m still sorry about putting you in that position.”
Penny shrugged. “It’s okay. It wasn’t a total lie. I did observe you during your game, and you did seem pretty stressed.”
“I did?”
Penny started walking again. His gaze dropped down to the tight purple shorts. Those things were better than yoga pants. Penny glanced over her shoulder as he rushed to catch up with her. “There is such a thing as trying too hard,” she said.
“What else can I do but try hard?”
Penny quirked a smile in his direction. “Have fun?”
“I think I’ve passed the point of fun. My coach has been on my case.”
He thought about telling her the rest. It was no secret that his contract ended at the end of the season. It was information easily found on any sports news site. He didn’t bring it up, though. He didn’t want to give her another reason not to call him.
“When you’re out there on the ice and you’re focused on the game, is the game the only thing you’re thinking about?”
Callen stopped walking again. She knew. She must have read the look on his face, because she smiled sympathetically. “It’s that easy to tell?” he asked.
“No,” she said carefully. “I have a similar problem. I have certain memories and worries that creep into my thoughts when I least want to think about them. It takes a lot of effort to keep my mind blank and focused. You simply reminded me of myself. You looked as if you were putting a lot of effort into focusing on the game.”
Callen walked over to a bench in the distance and sat. He motioned for Penny to follow. “What do you do when that happens?”
She let out a small laugh. “It’s silly.”
“According to you, I could use a little silly in my life.”
Penny turned, looking out at the path in front of them. “I have a happy place. I close my eyes and imagine myself there until I can’t think of anything else. I relax my breathing, my muscles. I try to immerse myself in this place where everything is okay and all my problems don’t exist.”
“So, you really are a relaxation therapist.”
Penny laughed. “No. Definitely not. More like a troubled girl with too many problems she wants to forget.”
His brow furrowed, and she winced like she said too much. She looked away for a second, and when she turned back, she had a forced smile on her face. “We could try it sometime, if you wanted.”
Callen shook his head, confused now. “Try what?”
She touched his hand. “Finding your happy place.”
“Oh.” He stared down at his hand where her fingers grazed across his knuckles. “Sure.”
He would have agreed to just about anything she suggested. “When?”
“You have a game tonight, so what about tomorrow? My place.”
He finally looked up. “You’re inviting me over?”
She grinned. “For purely relaxation therapist reasons.”
He turned his hand over, allowing her fingers to trace across his palm. “So, it’s not a date?”
Penny stood, his eyes going back to her shorts. Damn, those things. He finally found her face again. “Oh, no. It’s a date. But I thought if we actually pretended we were meeting up again to help you relax, when you lie about me to your friends again, it might actually sound believable.”
Callen laughed, following her down the path. “Who said I was going to lie to them again?”
She smirked. Yeah, he was horrible at lying.
They started to jog, taking it slow. “First lesson,” she said. “Let’s try some distraction. Work on getting your mind to focus on one thought, and one thought alone.”
He eyed her again. The way her body moved next to him. He highly doubted he could think of anything except that small amount of flesh at her waistline. Penny picked up the pace, darting out ahead of him, and she started shouting random numbers.
He hurried to catch up to her. “What are you doing?”
She repeated the numbers. Ten digits. She said them slowly this time, emphasizing each one. His brows narrowed. “Is that your phone number?”
She grinned. “You don’t have a pen, so if you want it, you have to memorize it.”
“You want me to focus on remembering your number.”
She nodded. “And nothing else. No other thoughts.”
She repeated the number again and started running at a full on sprint. He foll
owed her, repeating the number in his head. The area code wasn’t from Midtown, so no part of it was familiar. He really did have to concentrate. He followed her for almost half a mile before she started to slow down. She stopped, bending over to catch her breath.
He stopped too, smiling and repeated the number back to her. “Good,” she said, standing straight. “Don’t write it down. Anytime tonight that you get stressed out, focus on the number. Repeat it. Over and over again.”
“Question.” He moved in front of her so she couldn’t see anything but him. “If I still remember it tomorrow, do I have permission to use it?”
Penny held her hand over her chest as she sucked in deep, panted breaths. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“Are you willing to piggyback me to the subway?”
Callen chuckled. “I have a better option. How about I piggyback you to my truck?”
She wiped the sweat from her brow. “You drove here?”
“I like driving. It really sucks here in the city, but I miss it enough to deal with the traffic at least one day a week.” He reached his hand out to her.
She took it, and he threw her up on his back with relative ease. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and his hands gripped tight around her thighs. Her breath eased across the exposed skin at the back of his neck. “No more jogging sessions,” she said, her breath still light.
“Oh come on. It gets easier. Besides, I have to figure out some way to get you back in these purple shorts.” He glanced over his shoulder to see her lips parted.
“Excuse me?”
He rolled his eyes. “Let’s not pretend you don’t know how good you look right now.”
Her smile was shy. He carried her back to the parking garage where he stowed his truck, and dropped her down to her feet at the edge of the row. “I’m the truck at the end,” he said, unhooking his keys from the loop he used to tie them to his shorts.
Penny laughed, glancing back and forth between him and the truck. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“What?”
Now she laughed harder, staring down the long row of vehicles. “That isn’t a truck.”
The Girl With Daisies (Midtown Brotherhood #3) Page 8
