I sighed. “All Penny’s idea.”
“That woman is relentless,” he said with a smile.
Yes, yes she is.“If you’ll excuse me for a second.” Penny had just gone into the kitchen and I needed a word with her. In freaking private. I followed her through the archway. She was laughing quietly again as she texted. She was completely oblivious to the world around her. For just a few seconds I watched her smiling down at her phone. Her red hair fell like a curtain over one of her eyes. God she was beautiful.
And I shouldn’t be staring at her like this.“Penny.”
She jumped and slammed her phone down on the counter. “Hi, Matt. What’s up?” She pressed her lips together like she was about to burst out laughing.
“What’s up? What are you doing?”
She pressed her lips harder together.
“Give me your phone.”
“What? No.” She pulled it away from me.
I tried to grab it but she ducked under my arm. “I’m talking to Ashley, okay?” She held the phone tightly to her chest.
“The girl from my date last night?”
“Yeah, she rated your date and I needed to know why it was such a low number.”
“Sheratedmepoorly?”
“Mhm.”
“I didn’t even realize you could rate a date. Give her a zero then.” I tried to reach for Penny’s phone again but she sidestepped me.
“I’m not giving her a zero, Matt. That’s not very nice.”
“If anything, she wasn’t very nice. She literally ran away halfway through the date.”
“Probably because of something you did.”
Wow. Okay.“Did she not tell you what happened?”
“We were just getting to that. She said she was late and things were a little awkward the whole night. I don’t get it. You’re great at small talk. Why was your date so awkward?”
“Because she was freaking awkward.” How dare Ash callmeawkward? I wasn’t awkward in the slightest.
“I’m just trying to figure out what happened,” Penny said. “This low rating is going to make finding a good candidate for your next date super hard. Unless you’re planning on going out with Ash again.”
“I am definitely not planning on doing that.”
“Why?”
“Because it was a train wreck.”
“But she’s exactly what you’re looking for.” She smiled because she knew I’d just been messing with her. “You requested a petite redhead, so…”
“It’s not just about looks, Penny.”
“I know that. So tell me what happened. Regardless of her appearance, I thought she was perfect for you. She seemed funny and sweet.”
“It was just a bad date.”
“I need more than that,” Penny said. “We can file a request to get this one-star rating removed.”
