They had a light, but delicious, lunch. BLT sandwiches and a lovely fruit salad which went well with the fresh lemonade and snickerdoodles cookies at the end. Penny only had a couple bites of everything but she seemed to enjoy it all. They were just finishing up when Neila came into the kitchen with an alarmed look on her face.
"Jasper, a word with you, please." He arched an eyebrow. "Now," she hissed.
A bit startled, he half-rose involuntarily before he realized who was talking to him. He sat back down and crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever you have to say with me can be said with Penny here as well."
"It really can't." She rolled her eyes but he didn't budge. As it sank in that he wasn't going to move, her facial expression slowly changed into one of anger and something he could only identify through seeing it on Penny's face so long after her parents had died. Hurt. Why she would be looking that way he had not a clue but the sooner she realized that he and Penny were a package deal, the better. "Fine," she snapped and turned heel and stalked from the room.
He looked at Penny apologetically. "I'm sorry she's not normally like this."
"Like what?" a light voice asked from the doorway. Startled, he turned and knocked the lemonade from the table. "Oh Jasper, really now. And in front of a guest?" He grabbed some napkins off the table and started mopping up the mess. Delicate hands joined him and he looked up into smiling hazel eyes. "You're always knocking things over, dear." He couldn't look at Penny. What on earth was his mother doing home? He cringed as the petite blonde stood back up and offered a hand over Jasper's bent figure. "Eliza Laurie, love. Lovely to meet you. I suppose you would be...well, color me silly, but I don't believe I know your name. It must be serious if Jasper has you over to the house though." Jasper thought he would die of shame. He had no preparation for this.
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