Page 39 of Breathe
Penny gave a reluctant half-smile. “A wanker.”
“That’s right. He’s a total effing wanker.” Ellen pulled another tissue from the center console and gave it to Penny. “Don’t give him another thought. That floozy he chose over you probably says ‘irregardless.’”
Penny laughed, hiccupped, and blew her nose. By the time they got into the gym she had repaired the damage to her makeup and was ready to beam at the male receptionist.
“Okay,” she said after they’d signed in, “what are you going to teach me today? The thumb-in-the-eyes trick? The old faithful knee to the groin?”
Ellen winced. “No, why don’t we just get on the ellipticals today, since I was here yesterday for my sparring class, and you’re feeling delicate?”
“Oh, thank God for that.” Penny put her machine at a pace that looked like graceful, slow swimming.
They talked about work for a few minutes, but now that Penny had had her pep talk, Ellen was beginning to settle back into a melancholy of her own.
Finally, Penny said, “Okay, who left the sugar out of your coffee?”
“What?”
“You’ve been frowning for the last five minutes. And I’ve been very funny, despite my heartache. So come on, what’s going on?”
Ellen tried to marshal her thoughts, to tell Penny just one of the army of worries she had. She went for the safest one first. “Well, it’s the fires, of course.”
“Did he call you today?” This morning’s papers had the fire in New Hampshire on the front page.
Ellen shook her head. “I wouldn’t expect to hear from him until late. He beats himself up so much, he has to go over every inch of every Fielding building within reach. He only came back from New Jersey on Saturday because his sister had gone into labor.”
“Did you get to see the baby? I’ll bet it’s gorgeous. Probably already has chiseled cheekbones.”
Ellen smiled briefly but said, “I told you, I haven’t seen him or anyone else since Friday. He’s either been at work or with his family.”
“Okay, well, that’s understandable. So you miss him.”
Ellen snorted. “How could I miss him?” she said tartly. “All I have to do is turn to the pages of the Herald. Or go on Boston.com. Oh, and who’s that next to him? Yes, there she is, ‘current flame, Ellen Hunter,’ a.k.a. deer-in-headlights girl.” She grabbed at her water bottle and fumbled it, sending it flying down between the other machines.
“You do not look like a deer in headlights,” Penny said, happy to stop her lazy pulls on the handles and get it. She gave the bottle back to Ellen and leaned on her machine. “You look rocking, thanks to me.”
Penny had let out a squee of joy when Ellen had asked her to take her to buy “a couple of new suits.” One Saturday afternoon, two thousand dollars that made Ellen’s credit card groan, and a very happy Nordstrom assistant later, Ellen had a waist and legs again.
“That’s not the point. Well, all right, it is, but how would you like being looked at every minute you’re out in public?”
Stupid question. Penny dressed to be noticed. Her fearlessness was one of the things that had drawn Ellen to her.
She took a slightly more controlled sip of her water. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”
“What, date the hottest man in the state? Uh, I think you could hold on a little.”
“It’s not funny, Pen. The media are obsessed with him, and I told him before that I couldn’t handle it.” She sped up her pace. “And I can’t not handle it, because the fires are tearing him up.”
“They’re obsessing because of the fires. When they catch whoever it is, they’ll stop.”
“Will they? They’ve got my cell phone number; did you know? And are you gonna get back on that thing or not?”
With an exaggerated grimace, Penny climbed back on and half-heartedly pulled on the handles. “Sweetie, I think all this is a moot point. You and Kane are together, you do care about him, you’re not about to leave him, no matter how many pictures there are of the two of you—and, I’d like to point out, there have only been three—”
“Because I’ve hardly bloody seen him!”
“Yes, okay, and not for lack of trying on the photographers’ part, I’m sure. So look,” Penny went on, slowing down again so she could lean a little closer, “the media aren’t the threat to your relationship, and you know it. Your visa status is.”
“Oh God.” Ellen stopped moving. “Do we have to talk about this?”
