Page 87 of Meet Me In Winterberry

“To be honest, I’m shocked. I’m not really sure why you lied,” she says softly. “Who you are and what you do for a living makes no difference to me or anyone else here. I wish you would’ve told us the truth. But it doesn’t change who you really are, in your heart, I hope you know that.”

“Thank you, Suzanne, you have no idea how much that means to me,” I whisper. “Once I got closer to you all, I knew that if anyone found out who I was, the paparazzi would swarm the town. Which is the next thing I need to tell you. The paparazzi did find me, and they’re outside the inn trying to get photos of me to sell to the tabloids.”

I cover my face with my hands. “I’m so sorry, you guys, I never intended for this to happen. I was hoping no one would recognize me while I was here so you didn’t have the paparazzi or flocks of people coming to the inn, snooping around.”

“Oh no. Are they outside right now?” Suzanne asks as she gets up and peeks out the window.

Sure enough, two more paparazzi have joined the original man, and they’re trying to peer into the windows from the sidewalk. I can’t believe this.

“What do we do?” Suzanne asks, looking directly at Brent. “Are we able to ask them to leave?”

“You can, but they don’t have to,” I say. “Not if they stay on the sidewalk. I’m so sorry, Suzanne. As soon as my car is ready, I’ll leave and they’ll be out of your hair, I promise.”

She comes back to the couch, wraps her arms around me and I rest my head on her shoulder. Her affection hits me deep in my core and I long to stay here, wrapped in the warm embrace of the town and these people. I sniffle, willing the tears to stop falling.

The truth is, the life I’ve found in Winterberry is everything I didn’t even know I wanted.

“It’s okay, Penelope, you didn’t mean for this to happen. It’s not your fault,” she says into my hair. “You don’t need to leave sweetheart.”

She pulls away and I turn around to look at Brent, to gauge how he’s feeling. The way his eyebrows pinch together tells me his feelings haven’t changed. When this realization hits, fresh tears threaten to fall.

“Penelope, are you okay?” Nora asks as she comes out of the office and hugs my leg. “You look so sad. It’s okay.”

“Sorry.” Tom grimaces. “I thought the coast was clear.”

“I’m fine, sweet girl,” I say as I wipe my face and hug her back.

“Well, the cameras aren’t leaving right now anyway, so let’s try and enjoy our evening,” Suzanne says. “Brent, that sound good to you?”

“Wait, what cameras?” Tom asks, clearly confused.

“I’ll fill you in later, dear,” Suzanne says, winking.

“Sure, sounds good, Mom,” Brent responds without lifting his eyes.

I stay in my seat and Nora climbs up on the couch to sit next to me. She nudges closer, so our shoulders touch. The warmth of her little body next to mine helps me relax a bit. But the knowledge that I’ve ruined what Brent and I had weighs on my mind.

Conversation flows, with Nora exuding excitement for the upcoming holiday, but I can’t focus on any of it. My mind wanders. I don’t want to leave Winterberry, butnowI have to.

And that crushes me.

Ring, ring.

The landline rings, interrupting the conversation. Suzanne gets up to answer it.

“Hi Ben,” she says. “Sure, she’s right here, hold on one second… Penelope! Ben is on the phone, he says he has news about your car,” she yells.

I look up, catching Brent’s eye before he averts his gaze.

Accepting the phone from Suzanne, I say, “Hi Ben, you have news?”

“I have the news you’ve been waiting for, Miss Smith,” Ben says. “Your car is all fixed and ready to head back to Manhattan. I even took it for a little ride to make sure it’s good to go. The keys will be in the safe box out front if you want to grab them tonight. The code is 112123.”

Wow. I don’t even know what to say.

This is what I wanted, right? Now, I can be out of everyone’s hair, and they won’t have to worry about the paparazzi snooping around.

So, why do I want to cry harder?

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