Page 65 of This Is Love (The Light to My Darkness 3)

“Try again.”

I laughed. “They really don’t. And I feel like I’ve had these since college. Maybe I’m more like that lost 19-year-old girl than I realize.” I placed my forehead in my hand.

“Everything that’s lost can be found.”

“Even when it’s your future?”

“What have you lost, Penny? You just got everything back.”

I slid my legs out in front of me, not caring that I was in the way of anyone walking past. “Did James tell you about my surgery?”

“The C-section? No, he never mentioned it. We all assumed you had it.”

“No, not that one. I had…” I let my voice trail off. “The name doesn’t matter. I can’t have any more children. I wanted more children. There’s so much going on right here right now and I feel like what I was looking forward to most in the future isn’t there anymore. And I just feel like…like I’ve been robbed.”

“Robbed should be a good term don’t you think? Like,

damn girl, you just robbed the shit out of that.”

I laughed. “That’s not helping.”

“You literally just laughed.”

I laughed again.

“See!” He laughed too for a few seconds. And then the line went completely silent.

I didn’t have anything to fill the silence. I let it stretch between us.

“I’m sorry, Penny,” he finally said.

“Me too. I know James wanted more kids. He might say otherwise, but you should have seen his face when the doctor confirmed it.” I looked down at my naked ring finger. “What if he wants that more than he wants me?”

“Kids? Are you kidding? I mean, he loves Scarlett and Liam. But he lives for you, Penny. He was a mess when you were unconscious. And that day you ran out on all of us? It nearly killed him.”

“He hasn’t given me my rings back.”

“Oh.”

“I’m trying not to read into that. But…he gave me back my phone.”

“Well, like I said earlier, he wanted to do it in some grand way. He’s probably just planning something over the top romantic.”

“Or debating whether he wants to give them back to me at all. And it’s more than just the kids. He said my laughter is what calms him down. And I’ve been this huge stress…”

“Monster. You’ve been a stress monster.”

I laughed. “Is that what you’re calling it?”

“Absolutely. You’ve been in quite the mood ever since you started submitting your manuscript to agents.”

“I know. So add that on top of my inability to have children. And my fatness.”

“Penny, you are a beautiful goddess.”

“You’re inappropriate.”

“You’re sexy.”

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