Fia reaches for her sister’s arm. “Penny, please go home. I’ll be okay.”
She slowly reaches for her purse on the chair next to me.
“Hey, how was Danny?” Fia asks, her breathing shallow as she fights to stay awake.
Penny’s eyes go wide, and she turns away from her sister. “Oh, fine, it was good.” She waves, avoiding eye contact with both me and Fia. “We’ll talk later. Get rest and call me if you need anything, okay? Anything at all, I’m here. I’ll see you at 7 a.m. sharp, okay?”
“Okay.” Fia nods, and we both take turns hugging her goodbye for the night.
“Thanks for saving my life. You’re a hero, Jesse,” she whispers to me.
I shake my head. “Just the right place, right time. Love you, kid.” I ruffle her hair, and Penny stares at me blankly.
I have a feeling we have a lot to talk about, but it will have to wait till we’re home.
“Get some rest.” I place a hand on Penny’s back, gently guiding her out of the room and down the corridor. People walk by us, busy with their own purposes, but my eyes stay on the back of her head.
She doesn’t walk in a straight line, digging in her purse, clearly shaken, and I wish I could reach out and steady her, tell her to breathe. But something stops me.
Something happened at the prison, I can feel it in my bones. And I need her to talk to me about it, because I can handle a lot, but being shut out by Penny is something I don’t think I can live with.
Not again.
40
Penny
NOW
The sun is setting in the evening sky as we leave the hospital in silence. We don’t speak during the ten-minute drive home—music plays low through the speakers, and I stare at the lines on the road, grateful Jesse remains quiet.
As we pull in the driveway, my stomach rumbles, and I clutch it. My last meal was brunch, but I can’t even think about making food right now.
I’m stuck in a whirlwind of fuckery.
One moment, I’m flooded with relief that Fia’s okay, and the next, I’m back in that visitation room hearing Danny spill the truth. Then I remember how Jesse held me in the ER waiting room. It’s too much.
“You’re a good boy, you know that?” I squat down, scratching Tank’s ears as we silently go inside. He was waiting just on the other side of the back door.
Jesse watches me with his dog, and it takes everything in me to stand and face him. I’m a shell right now, and I desperately want to scrub this day off me.
My stomach gurgles in protest, my head starting to get a dull ache.
“Hey, can we talk a moment?” Jesse breaks the silence, and I look away from his gaze.
I’m not ready to tell him I know everything. I’m not ready to tell him how wrong I was, howfucked upeverything that happened was.
Because after we have that conversation, everything is going to change between us. Everything is going to change within myself.
There’s going to be an after.
And I haven’t decided what that means yet for us.
Whatever semblance ofusthere is.
“Can it wait?” I exhale, and he bites his lip but nods. “I desperately need a bath and to get food.”
Jesse steps up, his brow lowered, but when his hand swoops under my chin, lifting my face to his, my heart does that little flutter thing it does every time he touches me. Without fail.
