Suddenly, Bonnie was up and across the room. She caught her friend’s hands and held them in her own, looking at her intently. “You have gorgeous brown hair, with just a hint of curl that makes it bouncy and playful. You have brown eyes so deep and soulful that even I could get lost in them. And you have worked so damn hard on your body, which again, I apologize forasking you to do; you are lithe and sexy. Although I have every intention of getting some curves back on you.”
“Stop it, Bonnie!” Penny shook her head, pulling her hands away. “I’m supposed to be the one boosting you up. Not the other way around.”
“Hello?” A voice called out as they heard the front door shut. “I knocked twice, but no one answered. Is it okay if I come in? Everyone decent?”
Penny remembered herself naked under a towel on the phone with this voice, then quickly pushed the thought out of her head.
“Yes,” the girls answered in unison.
“Hey, Finn,” Bonnie greeted energetically, her sorrow squashed down again.
“Sorry if I’m intruding,” Finn apologized, taking in Bonnie’s kneeling position in front of Penny, obviously aware of an intense moment.
“Not at all.” Bonnie hopped up, returning to her couch. “I’m just trying to convince Penny here how pretty she is.”
Penny felt Finn’s eyes on her and immediately knew she was blushing.
“Is that actually in question?” he asked, making eye contact with her long enough to wink before joining Bonnie.
“Exactly. But she seems to think it is.”
“Can we talk about something else?” Penny asked. “Anything else?”
“Sure,” Finn said, smoothly changing the subject. “I was actually stopping by to see if ye had plans for next weekend.”
Extremely grateful for this new topic, Penny looked at Bonnie, unsure if they had plans or not.
“Nothing’s pinned down yet. I just wanted to get Penny out to see some sights.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Well, both of ye,” he added quickly. “I’ve got some stuff on this weekend and throughthe week. But I’m pretty free after that. I thought I’d offer to drive ye around. Unless you’re feeling up to renting a car, Siobhán?”
Bonnie shivered at the idea. “Oh, no. I was thinking buses. I haven’t been back long enough for these roads. But if you’re offering, that would be amazing!”
“Grand. Because I am.”
“Excellent,” Bonnie said, clapping her hands.
“A friend of mine has a place we might even be able to borrow—small but nice. I’ll talk to him soon and figure out the details. In the meantime, I thought if ye were having a quiet one, we might do a show and popcorn. I wasn’t sure if ye’d tried out local TV yet. I thought Penny might get a kick out of it. Actually, I wasn’t even sure if the cable was hooked up to watch anything besides Netflix. I thought I’d come round and check.”
The girls looked at each other to determine if either of them had used any of the channels yet.
“Right, I’ll have a look,” Finn said when they both shook their heads.
“We’ll make the popcorn,” Penny offered. “Or I will once Bonnie shows me where everything is.”
“You’ve got to familiarize yourself with the place,” Finn called out over his shoulder as he headed in the other direction. “Make yourself at home.”
Something about the way he said it made Penny go all tingly. A quick glance at Bonnie showed she hadn’t noticed, so again, Penny tried to ignore the feeling, offering her thoughts an image of a smiling Seamus instead.
Her thoughts were rather belligerent on the topic, though. She couldn’t help smiling, a little more bounce to her step, as she listened to Finn swearing quietly to himself in the other room.
“Everything all right?” Bonnie called from her perch on the counter. She had hopped up to watch Penny do the work after delivering all the ingredients to her.
“Grand,” Finn yelled back. After which, the swearing stopped.
“You good with just oil and salt?” Penny asked.
“Oh, no,” Bonnie pointed to the butter she’d placed nearby. “I’m completely Americanized now when it comes to popcorn. Bring on the butter.”
