Page 69 of Restorations

I know I can be honest with Penelope, and she won’t judge me. “We’ve started sleeping together again.”

She grins but doesn’t throw it in my face and isn’t cruel. “And?”

I shrug. “And nothing has really changed. I’m still the fool in love with the broken boy, and he’s still, well . . . broken.”

I see the anguish on her beautiful face as she gulps and then takes a deep breath, her fingers gripping the steering wheel. “I know. God, I wish I could help him move forward.” She shrugs her shoulders again, brushing away her strength and making it seem small. “Not that I'm one to talk.”

“You’ve come a long way.” Even if we haven’t been close for long, I know that.

“I still feel guilt from it all. We all do. I’m not sure it’ll ever go away completely.”

I nod. My time with Colt was minimal, but it had an enormous impact. “I don’t think so.”

She looks over at me quickly as she takes the exit toward our homes. “Vivienne, you do not need to feel guilty.”

My throat feels dry, but I decide to go for it. “Is that because you and Lincoln had an affair too?”

I keep my tone neutral. I’ll never judge them either. “Yes.”

My jaw nearly drops as I stare at her. “You did?”

She smiles sadly, turning toward our road. “Not the way everyone thinks, but yes, I loved them both since I met them.”

I don’t want to dig any deeper. It’s none of my business.

She looks pained as she parks her car in Lola’s driveway and turns toward me. “This is about Ash?”

I nod, feeling guilty for bringing this up to her and pulling her pain up to the surface. “You don’t have to talk about this, Penelope. I want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy.”

“He doesn’t know the whole story.” That much I had figured out. She faces straight ahead, looking out the windshield. “For so long, I wished he would come to me and let me tell him my side of things.”

“He never did?”

Her head moves from side to side in a no. “I don’t think he really wanted to know the whole truth.”

Sounds like Asher.

She turns back to me, giving me a small, very sad smile. “Now I think Linc is right—that it’s best to just leave the past in the past. Nothing good can come from dredging all this up again.”

I shrink back, again feeling guilty, but hating that Asher is still very much there, in the past, with his grief. “You don’t deserve his wrath, do you?”

“I’m not innocent in all of this, Viv.”

“None of us are innocent.”

“It feels like a lifetime ago.”

“For the record . . .” I owe her something even if I sound weak. “I think you’re an amazing human being. You didn’t have to be nice to me, but you’ve become one of my best friends.”

“You’re not hard to love, Viv.” Her smile turns bright. “And neither is that beautiful kid you made.”

With her boyfriend.

“I think you and Asher need to have a real conversation.”

She takes a deep breath, full of nerves. “He can’t be forced. Colt is held up high for all of us. And I’m okay with him being there, with Asher hating me.”

“But you don’t deserve it.”

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