Page 53 of Keeping Penny

After the girls’ night, when Bowie had spent the night at his place, he’d gone out and bought a twin-size bed for his second bedroom. Bowie had seemed perfectly happy to sleep on his couch, but it struck him as wrong that she didn’t have a proper bed at his apartment.

The first time Penny had seen what he’d done, she’d cried, apparently overwhelmed with his generosity. Bowie had wanted to sleep in her new bed that night, but Penny said no, she had school in the morning, and they needed to go back to their apartment and prepare snacks for the class that Penny had volunteered to bring in the next day.

The other reason Pyro wanted his girls to spend the night—and yes, he totally saw them as his girls—was that he wasn’t sleeping well, worrying about them when they were apart. They weren’t always alone in the apartment, since Zita was there sometimes, and the complex had great security. But Zita worked odd hours, and she often stayed over at Obi-Wan’s, and security or no, Pyro still couldn’t help but worry. His sleep was plagued with nightmares about someone breaking in and hurting them. Of the faceless Colvin Jackson showing up and kidnapping Penny.

If they were in his apartment, he’d sleep better knowing he was there to protect them.

That morning, when he’d walked with Penny and Bowie to school, it wasn’t hard to see that Penny was also on edge. She looked frazzled, and she’d even snapped at Bowie to hurry up when they were running late, which wasn’t like her at all.

They all needed a break. And Pyro was eager to provide it. To spend time with his girls away from the everyday stresses that plagued him and Penny.

So later that afternoon, when they arrived back at her apartment after walking home from Bowie’s school, he talked to Penny about plans for the next day. Zita was at Obi-Wan’s for the night and they had the apartment to themselves. Tomorrow was a Saturday, the weather was supposed to be sunny, and he desperately wanted to give her a stress-free day.

“I was thinking,” he said, when Bowie went to her room to change out of her school clothes. “I want to take you and Bowie-Bear to the beach tomorrow. I know of a smallish beach that’s not too touristy. There aren’t usually any big waves, so Bowie would be safe playing in the water. We could pack a lunch and chill out for the day.”

“I thought you didn’t like the beach,” Penny said.

She didn’t immediately dismiss the idea, which Pyro took as a good sign.

“I don’t. Not when I’m working out on it and rolling around in the sand and having to swim in the freezing water in November. But being there with you and Bowie? Relaxing in a chair under an umbrella? Nothing sounds more perfect.”

She smiled at him. “I’d love to. Especially since Bowie’s never been to the beach. But she can’t swim. What if she gets sucked out to sea?”

Pyro couldn’t help but chuckle. “The waves at this place aren’t huge. Not even close. And I can’t believe she hasn’t been to the beach. We need to remedy that immediately. I can give her some basic lessons while we’re there. Besides, there’s nowhere better to learn how to float than the ocean, since the saltwater increases buoyancy.”

Penny bit her lip. “We don’t have swimsuits.”

“We can stop by the big box store on the way there. I know it’s not ideal, as you probably want something more fashionable than what they have. But when I stopped in the other day, I saw they’d put out their summer stuff, including racks and racks of suits.”

“You know I don’t care about that kind of thing. Labels and whatnot. But are you sure you want to waste one of your days off being somewhere you already have to spend way too much time?”

Pyro took her face in his hands and kissed her gently. “Any time I get to spend time with you and Bowie isn’t a waste. Not in any sense of the word.”

He liked the way Penny looked up at him. How she felt in his arms.

“Come ’ere. I need a hug,” Pyro said, pulling her fully into his arms.

“I want a hug too!”

Bowie’s excited voice interrupted whatever Penny was about to say. They’d been careful not to be too touchy-feely when Bowie was around, but it was becoming more and more obvious that the little girl had no problem whatsoever with her mom and Pyro getting closer.

Penny chuckled and stepped away, and he immediately missed her warmth. But happiness shot through his veins as Bowie threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around him. Pyro lifted the little girl off her feet and spun in a circle, making Bowie shriek with laughter.

When he put her down, he looked up at Penny, raised a brow, and gestured to Bowie with his head. Amazingly, she seemed to know what he was asking, and gave him a small nod.

It was awesome how he and Penny could communicate without words. He was able to do so with his fellow Night Stalkers, but being so close with a woman was a new experience, and one he liked very much.

He squatted down so he was at eye level with Bowie. “How’d you like to go to the beach tomorrow, Bowie-Bear?”

“With you?”

“No, with Bigfoot. Of course with me! Me and your mom. We can make a day of it. Have lunch there, play in the sand and the water, spend time with just the three of us.”

Instead of enthusiastically agreeing, Bowie bit her lip and looked in her mom’s direction before turning her face back toward Pyro. “I can’t swim,” she said in a low voice, sounding embarrassed.

He hated that she was ashamed of something that wasn’t her fault.

“I didn’t learn to swim until I was ten years old,” he told her.