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“Sorry. Um. Can we just do the happy hour and forget the rest?” she muttered, not even bothering to feign enthusiasm about the party.
“Come on. A birthday party will be fun. You can invite that hot guy across the hall,” Jess added.
“Hot guy?” Rhys asked.
“I have a new neighbor,” Penny said, recalling the way her jaw had dropped the first time she’d seen him on his move-in day. The clean-cut man reminded her of a younger Brad Pitt, with his dirty-blond hair, dazzling blue eyes, and deep, sexy dimples she could get lost inside for days. Something she’d shared with Jess a few weeks ago. “But I’m not inviting him. I haven’t even introduced myself to the guy.”
Every time Penny ran into the new neighbor in the hallway outside their apartments or on the elevator, her brain cells evaporated, and she wound up just staring at him and grinning like a goofball. The guy probably thought she was touched in the head because the last couple of times he’d seen her, he’d avoided making actual eye contact.
“We’ll make you a cake,” Jasper chimed in. “And there will be presents and games and everybody will sing to you. And pizza!” he added, clearly all in on the birthday party plan.
Penny grinned. Jasper basically owned the keys to her soul, so the chances of her bailing on the party idea were nil at this point. “Sounds awesome.”
Jasper wiggled with what she thought was glee until he said, “I need to go to the bathroom.”
Aunt Berta and Rhys both started to rise, but Penny beat them to the punch, waving them back down. “I’ll take him.” She was anxious to escape all talk of birthday parties. She’d go through with it, but she wasn’t looking forward to it.
Jasper hopped up and grabbed her hand, leading her through the restaurant. She glanced over at Gage’s table. He was sitting very close to Marjorie, his arm draped around her shoulders as he leaned close to whisper something into her ear. Marjorie laughed, turning her face to his as he nuzzled her cheek.
The whole thing looked…nice, and Penny felt the same pang of loneliness that kept sneaking in and sucker punching her lately. They entered a small alcove where the bathrooms were.
“I can go in by myself,” Jasper said, pointing to the men’s room door. It was a single stall, so she opened the door, did a quick scan, then nodded.
“I’ll be just out here.”
Jasper walked into the bathroom and locked the door. Penny leaned against the wall and sighed.
“Tired, Beaumont?”
She looked up, surprised to discover Gage had followed her.
She shrugged. Her sigh had nothing to do with exhaustion, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. “Hot date?”
“Always,” he said with a shameless grin.
“You better pace yourself,” she joked. “You don’t want to run out of single women at work to date too quickly.”
Gage leaned his shoulder on the small wall she was currently holding up. “Yeah. Matt’s gonna be pissed when he finds out I’ve been dating women from work, but it’s not like I’m purposely seeking them out. The truth is, Marjorie asked me out tonight.”
“And the word no isn’t in your vocabulary?”
He frowned, as if puzzled. “Say the word again. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that one. No, you said?”
She snorted. “You’re an ass, and I should let you hang, but I’m worried about you.”
“Me?”
She shrugged casually. “I’m worried you’re going to mess with the wrong woman at work, someone vindictive who might decide to label your advances harassment if you break her heart.”
Gage scowled. “I don’t come on to women at the office, Beaumont. Don’t touch them or say inappropriate things. You know that. The women I’ve dated from there have approachedme.”
“Fine, but still…be careful. Okay?”
“I will.” Then he looked her over, taking in her outfit. “New shirt?”
She glanced down, shocked that he would notice something like that. She had stopped by Goodwill on the way home, wanting to find something decent to wear tonight. Her wardrobe was in bad need of a freshening up, most of her stuff worn out or faded. She’d grabbed this striped patch shirt because she loved the vivid colors. She was aware it was probably a bit in-your-face loud, but it was easy to partner with her best pair of jeans. She hated trying to put outfits together, figuring out if shit matched.
“Yeah. Well,oldnew. I found it at Goodwill. Can you believe someone got rid of this? Still had the original tags on it.”
