Page 75 of Love, Untangled

“Because he’s not my hero,” Pen said. She rose. She was restless and the agitation required movement to abate.

“Of course he is,” Trixie insisted, her jaw set stubbornly. “He saved your life.”

“Heroes treat the people around them as…people,” Pen called over her shoulder. Then, for the first time in her life, she walked into her house without inviting her guests in.

Through the window, she heard the Hens discussing her behavior.

“More than likely, Carlo lashed out,” Hattie said. She heaved a sigh. “He does that when he’s off-kilter. It’s going to cause him heaps of trouble.”

“Us too,” Trixie griped. “I planned to have these two married by next spring.”

“You’re forgetting Penelope’s a person with real feelings,” Birdie said.

Pen’s lips curved up a little at Birdie’s defense, but she was still mad at the women for talking about her like that.

“Let’s go see if we can talk sense into Carlo,” Birdie suggested.

“No, he’s already made a grand gesture with that girl alpaca,” Hattie said. “We’re going to have to trust in the spice.”

“And their feelings for each other,” Birdie added.

Trixie grumbled but headed back to her golf cart.

* * *

The quiet after all the excitement proved oppressive. Painfully so. Pen felt it all around her, rubbing against her nerve endings.

She hated it.

Was this how Carlo felt each day?

Pen continued to ponder this as she drove the hour to the hospital. She greeted her great-uncle with a smile and settled into the hard, vinyl-covered chair in the corner. From her large tote, she pulled out a blanket she’d knitted, which she draped over his thin hospital bedding.

“Will you stop fussing over me, girl?” Leon growled. “I’m fine.”

“As fine as me?” Pen asked, gesturing toward her achy cheek and swollen eye. Even now, four days after the events that took place in front of her house, Pen’s bruises continued to darken.

Leon’s face softened. “Sorry about hitting you.”

“It’s fine. I ran into you.”

“I still feel bad.”

“Well, stop,” Pen said. “I’m just glad Mom…er, Serena admitted to her crimes.”

“Seems like she couldn’t but do so, what with the information Marvin unearthed.”

Pen smiled again—because she wanted to. She refused to let her mother take her happiness. “Yes, he pulled out all the stops.”

“That’s because Carlo hounded him.”

Pen narrowed her good eye at the older man.

He raised his hands, trying to look small and pitiful in his hospital bed. “You know I’m right.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to forgive him.”

“Who are you fighting, Penelope?” Leon asked. She studied his sober, intense expression. “Me? Carlo? Yourself?”

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