Page 55 of While the Sun Shines

Penny lets out a soft laugh. “Tempting.”

“And you know my family. You can imagine how much beer there’ll be.”

“On top of a hangover? Great.”

“Food, too, so much of it. I won’t—I promise I won’t apologize again. For anything, at all.”

“Your idea of making me feel better is to drag me to a family party?”

“Yes. No. I—” Behind her, Abelardo’s nodding. Keep going, he mouths. “I want to spend time with you.” Though it comes out sounding like a question. Do better, he tells himself. “If you want,” Drew adds weakly. “Uh, and if you can. I know Abelardo’s here, so maybe another time, or we can—”

“Go,” Abelardo says.

“No farm stuff all day, I promise,” Drew says.

“I’m still mad at you,” Penny says.

“I know.”

“You should go,” Abelardo says. “This is my big chance to play farmer.”

“Pen, please come,” Drew says. “You know they’ll have that shitty grocery store cake you love, and I’ll play old-school Sega in Aunt Lucy’s basement with you all afternoon.”

Penny wipes the napkin under her nose. “I’m more of a Nintendo girl.”

“They’ve got that too. You can watch Julie kick my ass.”

“What about all your work?” she asks.

The farm, he thinks, that old, familiar worry clenching his throat. The cheese, the house, the damn sheep.

No.

Penny. Who’s wiping her knuckle under her eye.

“It’ll—” Drew swallows. “It’ll still be there.”

God, it will. Waiting for him. Everything piling up if he takes even just this afternoon off. Snaring his list into a mess all the harder to untangle.

But Penny unbuckles her seatbelt. Slowly, she opens her door.

Drew skips back a step, making room for her to slip down from the truck.

“Okay,” she says. “But we’re stopping for ibuprofen and Gatorade.”

“Anything you want,” Drew says.

“In that case, more donuts too.”

“Coming right up,” he says.

Abelardo waves to them as Drew shuts the farm truck door behind her. “Have fun,” he calls.

Don’t fuck it up, Drew is pretty sure he can hear in those words.

He won’t. Quickly, he hits the fob to unlock his Jeep so Penny won’t have to stand in the rain any longer, and when she looks up at him, he takes a breath and lets his hand touch her shoulder gently, lightly, pressing her forward.

CHAPTER NINE