Twenty-Two
Pen stepped into her building and the woman positioned at the front desk waved her over. “This came for you, Ms. Brand.”
Oh, no. Not again.
Penelope pasted a smile on her face and accepted a padded envelope...and then another one.
“One more,” the woman said, handing over a small box. She eyed Pen’s rounded tummy. “I can carry these up if it’s too much for you.”
“No, I have them.” The packages were awkward, especially while juggling her purse and working the elevator, but they weren’t heavy.
Upstairs she dropped everything on a chair in her living room and stared at the packages in contemplation.
The return address was Love & Tumble. She’d received packages from there every day—several of them. So far, they’d been the items she’d had Zach’s assistant return to the store right after they’d purchased them. Zach had tried to talk her into keeping them but of course, she hadn’t. Now, one by one, or in this case three by three, those same items they’d returned had been showing up on her doorstep.
She opened the envelopes. One held a onesie, the other a baby blanket. The smaller box required scissors to cut the tape, so Penelope took the box to the countertop and grabbed her kitchen shears.
Inside the box, wrapped in Love & Tumble’s signature shimmer-green tissue paper, was a pair of shoes. But not just any pair of shoes. Blinged out, faux fur, rhinestone encrusted high-top tennies for a girl.
Pen batted her lashes, fighting tears. This wasn’t something she’d purchased prior. She and Zach had looked at this pair in the store and she’d mentioned if she had a girl, she’d never buy her six-hundred-dollar shoes. He’d argued that if they learned they were having a girl, those would be the first pair he’d buy her.
And he had.
A tear streaked Pen’s cheek as she thumbed the tiny soles. Zach had been trying to buy back her affection since she left with the movers. He was being very sweet. Very thoughtful.
As the father of her child, she couldn’t have picked a better man to love her baby more.
But he still didn’t love her.
She hated how right she’d been in saying no to his proposal. He’d proposed to keep their budding family together, which was honorable, and for some women might have been enough. Still, when she imagined Zach or her marrying other people, Pen’s heart ached with loss.
A swift knock at the door jolted her out of her thoughts. One glance at the clock reminded her what she already knew. This morning Stefanie had texted to ask if she could swing by tonight. Pen had texted back yes, then phoned the front desk telling them to send her up when she arrived.
She swiped the hollows of her eyes and shook off her somber attitude, then rushed to open the door. Stef stood at the entry, her bright smile fading as soon as she got one look at Pen.
“Oh, my gosh. What happened now?” Zach’s sister pushed her way into the apartment, her hands wrapping around Pen’s shoulders.
Rather than explain, Pen gestured around the apartment. At the pile of boxes she’d been meaning to break down for recycling. At another pile of their contents: baby clothes and toys and blankets, taking up the length of the sofa. She lost her battle holding back tears. “Your brother mails me gifts every day.”
“That jerk,” Stefanie said.
Pen let out a startled laugh, but Stef didn’t laugh with her.
“Has he come to see you?”
Pen shook her head. “No, but I wouldn’t want him to.”
“Has he called you?”
Pen shook her head again.
“Texted?” Stef asked, her voice small.
Pen confirmed with another head shake.
Stef clucked her tongue and proffered an envelope. “This came for you, and Zach handed it to me when I barged in on him at the office.”
Pen took the envelope. Her name was on the front in fanciful calligraphy, addressed to the house Zach had purchased.
“How...is he?” Pen hated herself for asking, but she couldn’t not ask.
“Stressed. He looks tired. Heartbroken. About like you do.” At Pen’s wan smile, Stef tapped the envelope. “Expensive card stock. What do you think it is?”
Pen flipped over the envelope where there was a return address in black block letters, but no name.
“Not sure.” Pen tore open the back and pulled out a sturdy white square with a vellum overlay. In gold lettering, two names stood out. Ashton Weaver and Serena Fern. “It’s a wedding invitation.”
Stef snatched it back and read the invite. “The actors?”
“Yep.”
“Wow. I don’t get starstruck often, but wow.”
“They’ll probably make it.” Pen, shoulders rounded in defeat, trudged to the couch, shoved the baby stuff aside and collapsed onto a cushion. “And then I’ll have to go to their twenty-fifth anniversary party knowing that two unlikely souls made it at the same time my engagement ended.”
She pulled a pillow onto her lap and squeezed. Stef made room for herself and joined Pen on the couch. Pen had decided not to wallow. She’d decided to move on and pick up the pieces and focus on being the best mom ever. Her wounded heart had delayed those plans.
“I didn’t mean to,” Pen admitted around a sob.
“You didn’t mean to what?” Stef’s voice softened. She rubbed Pen’s back and Pen realized abruptly how badly she’d needed a girlfriend to confide in. Stefanie was the exact wrong person to lean on. As Zach’s sister, she shouldn’t be forced to choose sides.
And yet, when Pen opened her mouth to say “Never mind,” she said, “I fell in love with your stupid brother,” instead.
“Chase?”
Pen let out a surprised bleat. Stef smirked.
“Chase is stupid. Zach is the idiot.” But Stef’s smile was one of concern when she continued rubbing Pen’s back. “You love Zach. You’re having my niece. He proposed. What’s the problem?”
“Oh, you know. Just that he doesn’t love me.” Pen swiped her cheeks and sniffed. “He loves the idea of a family and us being together. We’re super-compatible in bed.” She sniffed. “Sorry if that’s too much information,” she mumbled when Stef wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“I’m trying to absorb it. I am.” Stef sighed. “How can he not love you? I love you.” After a brief pause, she added, “Do you want to marry me?”
Pen let out a watery laugh. “I’ll be fine. No, I’ll be great. It’s hormones, you know? And there have been a lot of big changes lately. I’m sure it’ll all shake out.”
Pen gave Stef a reassuring nod, but when Zach’s sister nodded back, it was obvious the youngest Ferguson was placating her. Pen could take the placation. What she couldn’t take another second of were the tears of regret.
“Enough of that.” Pen slapped her hands to her thighs. “Do you want to help me take the tags off my daughter’s clothes and sort them for the laundry?”
Stef’s face brightened. “That, I can gladly do.” With a quick clap of her hands, she leaped off the couch, baby clothes in hand.
Laundry was a lot better than wallowing.
* * *
The baby clothes weren’t working.
Zach sent package after package from Love & Tumble, and had yet to hear anything from Penelope. He’d have to move on to something else.
Something bigger.
He’d fill her apartment with flowers. Hire a skywriter. Buy an island...
He didn’t own an island yet.
iPad on his lap, he typed islands for sale into the search engine as a red sports car growled to a stop at the front of his house. Yeah, the house. He’d sworn he’d move back into his bachelor-pad apartment, but after Pen put the final nail in the coffin of their us status, leaving felt like giving up.
He wasn’t about to give up.
His sister stepped out of the car into morning sunshine and Zach met her at the door.
“You’re up early.”
A large pair of sunglasses suggested she was out late. She propped them on top of her head as she came into the house, but her eyes were clear and alert.
“I was up late,” she confirmed, “but pregnant ladies don’t drink, so Penelope and I indulged in cookies and tea instead.” She shrugged her mouth. “Not a bad way to spend a Friday night, actually.”
She was at Penelope’s apartment?
“How is she?” he asked without hesitation.
“Funny, she asked the same question about you.” Stefanie offered a Ferguson-family smirk. “Do you have coffee?”
“I’m working my way through a pot now.” He followed Stefanie into the kitchen where she poured herself a mug and offered him a refill. He set the iPad aside and retrieved his mug. When he walked back into the kitchen, Stef was frowning down at the tablet.
“You are not going to buy an island.”
“Why not?” He refilled his mug.
“Are you moving there?”
“No.” Although if Pen kept ignoring him, an island would be the ideal place to live. “Maybe. I don’t know. I was going to buy it for Penelope.”
Stefanie scowled. “Seriously, Zach.”
“Seriously, Stef.” He opened his mouth to argue until it belatedly occurred to him that his sister was a woman.
He didn’t have a lot of women at his disposal. He had yet to poll a woman about how to move forward with Mission: Get Pen Back. And God knew Chase hadn’t been a lot of help.
“Is skywriting a better idea?”
“Man. This is bad.” Stef gave him a pitying shake of her head.
“I can buy out every flower shop downtown. Hell, I can buy every flower shop downtown. Is that...a better idea?” He palmed the back of his neck and leaned a hip on the counter. He was completely out of his element. “She didn’t respond to the baby clothes.”
“I’m not sure this is a situation you can buy yourself out of, Zach. If you didn’t have billions in the bank, what would you do?”
He drank his coffee. Partially to buy time and partially because the caffeine might help him think.
“If you couldn’t name a planet after her, what would you do?”
“A planet. Hand me that iPad.”
Stef narrowed her eyes in warning.
“I’m kidding. I feel like you’re dancing around a point.”
“Why are you doing all of this?”
“I’m winning her back.” Duh. Wasn’t that obvious? “We’re good together and as soon as I can get her to stop ignoring the truth...”
“Which is?”
He blinked at his sister. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“Why are you good together, Zach?” she pressed.
He frowned. “What do you mean why?”
“How do you feel about her?”
He let out an uncomfortable laugh and pushed away from the counter. “How do I feel... That’s obvious, isn’t it? I want her around. I want to raise our daughter together.”
Stefanie sat down at the breakfast bar and pilfered a cookie from an open bag. “Why?” she asked around a bite.
“Pen’s fun. She gets me.” And in the bedroom? Forget it. There wasn’t a high enough rating for how explosive they were when they came together.
“What else?” Stef cocked her head.
“I...miss her.” That hurt to admit.
“And?”
“And what?” He put down his mug before he sloshed hot coffee on his arm. Flattening both hands on the bar, he bent to look his sister in the eyes. “Spell it out.”
“Sorry.” Stef polished off her cookie and dusted her hands together, not the least bit sorry. “Can’t. This is heart stuff not head stuff, and Lord only knows what you’re feeling in there. Do you have feelings?”
She pretended to study the ceiling as she contemplatively chewed.
“I have too many feelings. I’m drowning in feelings! Can’t you see that? I’m willing to turn over my entire life. To get married!”
“You were married to a crazy person last year. Why is Pen different?”
“That was...” He swallowed thickly, on the verge of admitting the truth for the first time ever. “That was a test.”
“A test marriage?”
“A test to make sure I could marry and it could mean nothing.” Damn. He hadn’t meant to be that honest.
“So marrying Pen would be nothing?” his sister asked gently.
“Marrying Pen would mean everything.” That same jittery fear he felt when he spoke to Chase about her returned, spreading through his chest like wildfire.
Stef waited for him to say more. Could he? Could he admit what was quaking in his gut? What was making his head spin?
“She’s...the mother of my child,” he started. Lamely. “There’s more.”
Chin propped in hand, Stef waited.
“She’s...” He closed his eyes and then reopened them. Screw it. The truth was obvious to Stef, so he might as well tell her what she already knew. “I’m in love with her.”
Stef burst off the stool and thrust both arms into the air.
“Yesssss!” She strangled him with a hug.
He smiled against her hair, and embraced his sister. His chest filled to the brim with a feeling of right. That ball-zinging surety that had been eluding him—or maybe he’d been denying it for some time now.
He just as quickly deflated.
The sad reality was that he was in love with Penelope and she wanted nothing to do with him.
“She’ll never come back to you if you keep showering her with gifts. You have to make a big statement,” Stef said. “And trust me, I want her back almost as much as you do.” Stef was on the move, her hand lashed around Zach’s wrist. “There has to be some clue in this house as to how to go about getting her back.”
“She took everything that was hers out of this house,” he said as he allowed Stef to drag him room to room. He followed her up the stairs where she made the same sad assessment he had for days in a row.
There was no sign of Penelope here.
Other than the baby’s room, it was like she hadn’t been here at all.
Stef turned from the Dallas Cowboys decorations Zach hadn’t bothered taking down. He’d meant to, but again, that felt like giving up.
He expected his sister to shrug and state that he was a lost cause, but instead a slow grin spread across her lips.
She grabbed his arm and gave him a shake. “I figured it out. I know how you can win her back.”