Page 133 of Here and Now
“What?”
“I need to make a phone call.”
My brow lifts. “Okay? It’s almost two in the morning.”
She nods. “I know, but I decided that staying is worth it. You’re worth it. Even if I might have to leave, I want all the days I can have now.”
Penelope lifts up and kisses me, and I vow I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to keep her with me for as long as I can.
twenty-seven
Penelope
Last night was probably the longest of my life. I’m exhausted and eternally grateful that I have the day off today.
I got Kai off to school without issues, and now I plan to take a very long nap.
Until my phone—the burner—rings.
I quickly rush to it and answer. “Yes?”
“You’re sure you don’t want me to come get you?” Quinn asks again.
“I’m sure,” I say apologetically.
“Will you explain what happened now?”
My poor brother must hate me at this point. He was an hour into the drive, about halfway to me because he was driving like a lunatic, worried as I was sobbing, and then I told him to go back home when Miles came back.
He kept asking what the hell happened, and I gave half answers because I wasn’t really sure how to explain it all. However, he deserves an answer.
I relay most of the details of the evening, about how I told Miles some of the truth, his reaction, the fact that I love him and he told me he loved me. Quinn listens in silence as I prattle on and on, hearing how absolutely batshit I sound.
In that moment, though, it felt like the right decision.
To leave town before anyone got deeper or Miles’s life became at risk.
It’s bad enough carrying the guilt that my son suffers for it, I didn’t want to add another person on the list.
Quinn is quiet after I finish explaining how he came back and my feelings around what I want now.
“Hello?” I ask after another minute passes.
“I’m here. Just wondering if I should come get you anyway, because you’re clearly a mess.”
“You’re the one who told me to date him,” I remind him.
“Yes. You’re right. I was the dumbass who forgot that women are incapable of not flying off the handle.”
I grumble. “I’m not certifiable.”
“Penny, you called me at one in the morning and told me that you needed me to come move you. I had activated everything. We were already looking for a new town, names, plans to mobilize, while I frantically was on my way to you because I thought—somehow—they found you. Not that you were scared because you’ve fallen in love. You just cried and said you had to leave. Over and over.”
I huff, bristling at the fact that I was ... irrational. “Iamscared,” I admit.
“I bet. It’s fucking terrifying falling in love. It’s the single best and worst thing that ever happened to me. I couldn’t imagine my life without Ashton, and yet she drives me bonkers. At the same time, I know that I would quite literally die without her. I’ve felt the pain of losing her once, and I know that I could never do it again.”
Quinn and Ashton went through literal hell to get to where they are. I’d never seen my brother so broken, and when she left him, he fell apart.
