Page 43 of Inside the Penalty Box

“What about breakfast?” I asked breathlessly as he kissed his way down my neck.

“The only breakfast I want right now is you,” he said, picking me up off the ground and carrying me inside.

* * *

I grabbed two coffees from Sip and Stir and headed out the front door, taking a seat on the bench just outside the coffeehouse. I glanced at my watch. I’d come to Vancouver to do a bunch of shopping, and about an hour ago my mother called, asking me to meet her. I hurried, and now I sat waiting; she was late, as usual. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did, since she was the one who’d called me.

I pulled my phone from my back pocket to see if Dylan had messaged, only to have a heavy feeling of disappointment follow when I saw there was nothing there.

“Aurora!” I heard my mother call.

I looked up and saw her walking toward me, waving. She was wearing a white pantsuit with a bright-green shirt underneath. She looked radiant, more so than I’d ever seen.

“Hey, Penelope,” I called, standing up. She wrapped her arms around me and then placed a kiss on my cheek.

“So good to see you, sweetie. Thanks for meeting me.”

“Of course, and I got you a coffee,” I said, holding up the cup for her to take.

She smiled. “Thanks, now let’s walk. Shall we?”

We headed across the street and into the park.

“How was the honeymoon?”

“Fantastic, Aurora. If you ever get a chance, you need to go to Europe. We ate in so many amazing places. We visited the Louvre, we dined in the Eiffel tower, we strolled through Luxembourg Gardens. Then we headed to Barcelona and finished the month in Prague.”

I’d never known my mother to be interested in travel, never mind to any of the places she’d just mentioned. It still shocked me that, almost overnight, Penelope had become an entirely different person. Never mind that she had called and asked to see me. I couldn’t in my entire life remember a time that she was interested in anything Walker, or I ever did.

“So, why did you want to see me?” I questioned.

“Can’t your mother want to spend time with you?”

“Of course,” I replied.

“Okay then. I just wanted to check in with you, see how school was going.”

I frowned, unsure of why she was even asking. I felt like I was living in some sort of alternate universe.

“Good, only a couple more months and I’ll have my degree.”

“How was your last exam? I ran into Lorelai’s mother. She said that you two are studying harder than ever.”

“Yep, we get our grades back for that exam tomorrow, but things are looking amazing.”

“Have I told you how proud I am of you? You wanted something, and you reached out and took control. Something that I’ve failed to do during my life.”

My mother was such a free spirit, it was strange to hear her talking like this. Maybe Lorelai was right and Joe had been a good choice for her, but this was still weird to me. Or was she sick? Panic flooded me for a moment, then quickly passed. She wasn’t sick, maybe lovesick, but not actually sick.

Just then I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I pulled it out in time to see Dylan’s name flash on the screen. I was still feeling confused about the other night and really wanted advice from someone. Then I caught my mother smiling at me.

“Mom, can I…talk to you about something?” I questioned.

My mom stopped walking and turned to me, an odd look coming over her face. I could recall one other time I’d actually called her Mom in the past few years. It was always Penelope to her face, except for when I’d panicked at Joe’s house because Dylan had been there. She was fine with it. Penelope said she actually preferred being called by her actual name instead of mom. She said it made her feel younger.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, taking a seat on a park bench and tapping the space beside her.

I sat down beside her and looked out over the park, not sure how to answer that. Was everything alright? I supposed so. I was more confused than anything.

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