Page 81 of Your Last First Kiss

PENNY

“This place is disgusting.” Miller gags behind me.

Remy and Kai have all the kids at the TAC, even the baby, so we can’t be here long even if we wanted to be.

“Just grab anything you think the girls might want or need. I don’t have the money to replace everything.”

“Where the hell would Aster have gone to? She doesn’t have any family around here that I know of. And who walks away from their kids?” he rants, shoving crib bedding into a trash bag.

“She’s just a kid herself,” I defend, unsure of why I’m doing so.

“Maybe when she had Lia, but she’s twenty-two now, Pen. Time to grow the fuck up.”

“Lochlan said Dillon paid him a visit the other night,” I say to change the subject, but I’m also fishing for information. I haven’t heard from Dillon since he was arrested two days ago, and that pit of worry sits in my gut like a lead weight.

“Yeah? Remy said he showed up at the TAC at five this morning with a truckload of shit.”

My hand stills in the laundry basket I’m digging through, searching for the girls’ clothes. “He did?”

“Yup.” Miller looks at me with a grin that lights up his eyes.

“I think I like him,” I whisper. Knowing my face is heating from within, I start stuffing the bag I’m holding with Lia’s clothing again.

“I think you do too.”

“I haven’t been with anyone—anyone but Eddy.”

“Jee-zus,” Miller grumbles. “Are we about to have a sex talk?”

“I haven’t had sex with him, Miller. He just—” I pause and tug on my ear that suddenly feels sunburned. “He just did things to me.”

He lets out a groan of irritation, though he’s watching me closely.

“Penny, you know I love you, but you have got to get some damn girlfriends.”

“It’s not. I mean. It’s not that I don’t want them…”

His posture softens, and he nods before speaking. “Eddy isolated you when you were together—don’t let him do it to you now. You used to have a ton of friends. You used to love having people around. Find that girl again, Penny. She was a lot of fun, and I think you’d like her. Skylar is back in town. You should go visit her.”

Guilt makes my hands twitchy. It’s an emotion I know like the back of my hand these days. Sky and I were really close growing up, though I’m a few years older than she is. But in the end, I chose Eddy, and we lost touch.

“Maybe.” Even I’m not convinced by my tone.

“Ugh,” Miller groans, pressing his fingertips into his eye sockets. He’s such a drama queen. “Fine. Until then, I’ll be your Gilmore.”

“Gilmore?” I laugh.

“I want to be Lorelei though. You’re Rory, or Emily, just not Paris. Jesus, Pen.” He runs a hand roughly through his hair. I don’t even fight the smile. Who knew big bad Matty Miller was a closetGilmore Girlsfan? “Just don’t drag it out, okay?” he groans. “And for what it’s worth, I think Dillon is a good thing.”

“Yeah?” Heat spreads down my neck as I fight to control a grin. Even the tension in my back and shoulders starts to release.

How can Dillon do that to me when he isn’t even in the same building?

“Yeah. You deserve to be happy, and you deserve to have a partner. If he wants to be and do those things for you, I think you should let him try.”

“He said he wants to try.”

“What do you want?” he asks, studying me carefully.