Four hours and three cheeseburgers later, Penelope was ready to take action. Her mother had suggested that she wait a while before going inside the Filmont Inn, just in case Michael was in there alone waiting on some woman to show up. The last thing she wanted was to bust down the door and find him sitting there watching ESPN with his feet up.
But after four hours of nail-biting torture, she could wait no longer. She had called Angela on her cell phone to let the kids know she was okay, and she prompted them to go to bed. She explained her failure to come home by launching into a ridiculous story about an emergency at work that made no sense at all, even to her, but Angie did not seem concerned. Angela reassured Penelope that they had eaten, taken showers, and brushed their teeth. Penelope could hear Elijah laughing in the background, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread as she wondered what would happen next and how it would affect not only her and Michael, but also their children.
Penelope glanced at her reflection in the driver-side mirror and noticed the way the dim lights outside the hotel reflected the thin strips of gray in her hair. After tonight, I will probably go completely gray, she thought, leaning her back against the seat and squeezing her eyes shut. She wondered why the hell she was worried about how she looked at a time like this. If Michael was in there with some other woman, she did not give a damn what he thought of her anymore. But she knew that wasn’t true; the Jeanie in her was struggling to take over in order to preserve her fragile ego, but she knew how bad it would really hurt to lose Michael. She had wanted this to work so badly. She still wanted it to work. Having a family with security and normalcy was all she had ever wanted, and after Brian died…well, she did not want to think about that right now, either.
But the image of his face floated through her mind anyway, and she remembered what she had forgotten for so long, and that was that she loved Brian deeply. They met in nursing school as classmates, but their relationship rapidly developed into courtship. There were fewer men in their class than women; it was that way in almost every nursing program across the country, so, his immediate interest in Penelope sparked jealousy in many of her female counterparts, and thus, they often alienated her when it came to on-campus gatherings and functions. Penelope was so accustomed to concerning herself with public perception, but she was so in love with Brian that she just didn’t care; the less time she spent with her female colleagues was just that much more time she could devote to Brian. She discovered she was pregnant with Angela during the spring semester of their junior year. She considered taking a leave of absence, but her mother was so disappointed by her unplanned pregnancy that leaving school too was just not an option for Penelope. She and Brian got part-time jobs and rented a small cottage not far from campus; they completed their studies, and they raised their daughter all on their own, struggling through it together.
Brian brought out the best in her and she the best in him. Angela was merely a small girl of age eight when he fell over dead in the kitchen. The shock was more than either of them could bear, and instead of working through it with a counselor or seeking some type of aid, Penelope acted like her mother; she dove deeper into her work and had one short-lived romance after another. That was until she met Michael Sinclair, and all of the turmoil inside of her started to rest. Tonight, she felt it toiling inside her again, and she was ready to confront this bastard for causing her to feel this much anger and pain again.
Penelope opened the door and stepped out into the chilly night air. She grabbed her coat and bag from the seat and slipped it on slowly as she did a quick scan of the parking lot. Other than her quick trip down the road to McDonald’s, she had been parked outside the hotel all night. She had seen no more signs of Michael, and his Jeep was still as he left it. Other than several families and one lonely looking gentleman, she had not seen anyone else enter the hotel. What she had really been waiting for was some hussy to pull up and go in alone so she could at least identify her target. Penelope had no doubt in her mind that if Michael was meeting someone, that someone had arrived before him and was most likely his ex-wife and Elijah’s estranged mother, Lexi.
Penelope’s hands curled into fists as she imagined Michael and that stupid slut hooking up again. She had never had the pleasure of meeting the wench, but she had heard stories aplenty about Lexi Ambrose. Lexi had been pretty wild back in the day, and Penelope knew that Lexi and Michael had experimented with drugs and indulged in promiscuous sex. The fact that she would abandon her only son speaks volumes about her character, not only as a mother but also as a person, Penelope thought with a smirk.
Even though she did not know Michael before two years ago, she had done her homework on him as well. His reputation for wildness had scared her at first, but she had to admit that it was also what appealed to her most. He was mysterious and dark at times, and she loved going out with him and watching women drool over him. Not only that, but he was also a single father with an established career, and he was great with Elijah. He was great with Angela too, she reminded herself. Her heart ached at the thought of seeing Angie lose another father figure in her life.
Penelope sighed and took a deep breath before opening the door to the lobby of the Filmont Inn. She had never been here before, and she had to admit it was quite lovely. She headed for the check-in counter, trying to look confident and innocent of any wrongdoing. The receptionist greeted her with a smile and asked if she needed a room for the night. “No, thank you. I’m here to meet my fiancé, Michael Sinclair. He checked in around eight this evening, and I was supposed to meet him after work, but I was running late,” Penelope quickly improvised.
“Room number?” the receptionist asked, looking up at Penelope with a smile.
“Ugh…shit, I don’t remember. I think it was on the second floor, maybe. Damn…”
Penelope pulled out her Blackberry and pretended to dial Michael’s number. She held the phone to her ear and said, “I was hoping not to wake him, but I guess I’ll have to call up and see…”
A family of four walked up behind her, and Penelope cursed loudly as she hung up the phone and fake-dialed him again. The mother behind her gave her a disapproving glance and the next thing she knew, she was being handed a room key. “Enjoy your stay, ma’am,” the annoying receptionist told her, eager to get her out of there before she scared off any new customers.
Penelope gave a sigh of relief, as she pressed the button for the elevator. As she waited, she noticed the silver trash can that sat in the center of both doorways. She stole a glance down at the keycard in her hand.
“Room 206, here I come,” she boasted aloud, and then she pulled the model airplane and the box of Lexi and Michael memorabilia from her bag, tossing them in the trash just as the elevator doors opened wide for her grand entrance.