Page 23 of Keeping Penny

Casper winked at Penny. “And I’ll take Bowie with me when I talk to the colonel. He won’t be able to resist her.”

Everyone kind of chuckled at that.

“I don’t know what to say,” Penny said.

“Say thank you!” Bowie exclaimed cheerfully.

Penny smiled. “Thank you,” she dutifully recited.

“Can we go now? Please please please?”

“Use your manners, Bowie,” her mom warned. “Be on your best behavior. I’ll be getting a full report from Casper when you return from your tour.”

“I’ll be good, Mommy. Promise.”

Everyone stood—and Pyro was suddenly nervous to be alone with Penny. He realized he’d only been around her when Bowie was there too. But he was nervous in a good way. He had questions, things he’d been dying to talk to her about but not with Bowie around, because he didn’t want to say something little ears shouldn’t hear. And Bowie’s ears heard everything.

“Bye, Mommy!”

“Bye, sweetheart. Have fun.”

Bowie skipped at Casper’s side, her little hand in his as he led them out of the mess hall.

“I’m gonna head out too, unless you need help?” Obi-Wan asked.

“I’ve got it, thanks,” Pyro said.

After dropping off their empty trays, everyone headed out of the mess hall and went their own ways. And then Pyro was alone with Penny for the first time. They stood in the hallway, staring at each other for a long moment.

“It feels weird to not have Bowie at my side. I mean, she’s super independent but, as you can imagine, the last couple of weeks have been stressful and we haven’t spent any time away from each other,” Penny said after a moment.

“She’s in good hands with Casper. It’ll give him practice for when his own child, or children, are born.”

“He’s having more than one?”

“Maybe. He’s a twin, and they run in his family.”

“Oh, that’s fun!”

“And stressful. He and Laryn are still trying to figure out childcare and what to do about their jobs when the baby is born,” Pyro admitted. He gestured down the hall, indicating that they should walk and talk.

She nodded and stepped in the direction he indicated as she said, “Oh, yeah, that would be hard, since she’s deployed at the same time you guys are.”

“Exactly. Anyway, Casper will tire Bowie out, so she’ll hopefully sleep well tonight.”

“She’s a great sleeper anyway, thank goodness. Always has been. But yeah, she’s been cooped up for a while. And she really likes all of you. I can tell in her voice. And she wouldn’t offer up her precious Twix bar to just anyone.”

“She’s a good kid. You’re obviously an amazing mom, Penny.”

“Thanks. It hasn’t been easy, and half the time I have no idea what I’m doing. I just know I want her childhood to be the polar opposite of what mine was. Sometimes I think I’m failing miserably. But then she goes and does something so sweet, like with the candy bar, and I think I have to be doing something right.”

It was a good opening to ask some of the questions Pyro had rolling around in his brain, after hearing some of the things she’d said. “I want to ask something, but I don’t want you to take it the wrong way.”

She stopped in the hall and looked up at him. “I’m not easily offended, Pyro. Ask.”

He so wanted to jump right in, but decided she needed some background first. Pyro wasn’t even sure why he was bringing this up. It wasn’t as if it made any difference in the grand scheme of things. He wouldn’t treat her any differently, but his curiosity had always been one of his biggest flaws…at least, that’s what all his foster parents had told him.

“Want to go sit in the library and talk? They have some private rooms people use for video calls with their loved ones back home. They’ve got comfortable chairs, and we can go there and chat. If you wanted. But if not, that’s okay too.”