CHAPTER TWENTY – PENNY

I spent the rest of the day pacing around the living room anxiously. There’d been no word from Gabriel and no word from my mother. I wondered if she had actually greeted him at the hotel door with a gun in hand. It was something my mother would do, just to make a statement. Clutching my phone tightly, I kept checking to see if Gabriel had read my text messages yet. It remained unread in his inbox.

No one was picking up the phone in my mother’s hotel room, either.

I tapped a finger against the side of my phone impatiently before Googling the hotel number to check with the front desk.

“It says that Ms. Lewis checked out about thirty minutes ago,” the clerk told me.

The pit of my stomach dropped at that. She had gone back to New York City upset. I sank down to sit on the edge of the couch while tears filled my eyes.

Maybe this wasn’t going to work out after all. It thrilled me to know that Gabriel had developed feelings for me, the way I had for him. But it didn’t feel right if my mother was upset over the two of us being together. She might not be perfect, but she was still my mother. I didn’t want to hurt her.

And even if she ended up accepting my relationship with Gabriel, I knew for a fact that Alyssa would be upset when she found out, too. I didn’t want to hurt her, either. All of that weighed heavily on my shoulders as I sat there numbly for what felt like hours.

After another hour passed with no reply, I called Gabriel’s office. Maybe he had gotten tied up in a meeting somewhere and didn’t have a chance to reply back. I didn’t like the panicked feeling in the pit of my stomach. I needed to hear his voice, to reassure me that everything was indeed all right.

“Mr. Bradley left a few hours ago,” the receptionist told me. “I can take your name and number down to deliver a message the next time he is in the office.”

“That’s okay,” I said, clutching the phone tightly to my ear. “Did he say when he would be back in this afternoon?”

The receptionist sighed into the phone in obvious irritation. “He said that he would not be back in today at all. Are you sure there isn’t a message you’d like to leave? Someone in the office can try to get ahold of him if you need us to.”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you for your time.”

She hung up quickly after bidding me goodbye. I stared out along the city skyline while I played absently with the corners of my phone. The last thing I wanted to do was call Alyssa to see if she could get ahold of Gabriel. I didn’t want to cause alarm, but sheer panic was starting to build in me, given what had happened the past few days.

The front door opened, and I jumped to my feet. My mother followed Gabriel inside with her suitcases in tow. I let out a relieved breath when I saw them. Not caring that there were tears streaming down my cheeks, I rushed forward to wrap my arms around my mother in a tight hug. She returned it, a bit startled.

“I couldn’t get ahold of either one of you,” I said. “Do you have any idea how panicked I was, trying to get in touch with you?”

Gabriel fished through his pockets with a guilty expression. “I left my phone on silent when I took off from my office.”

“My phone needs to be charged,” my mother said, glancing at her own phone. “Sweetheart, you look like awful.”

I wiped away the tears from my eyes. “I was worried about the both of you. Gabriel was confident that you were going to put a bullet between his eyes.”

“Don’t think the thought didn’t cross my mind,” she said wryly. “And I still might, depending on how things go from here. But no, Gabriel and I have been at lunch to talk about everything.”

“You have?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said, closing the front door. “I figured it would be a good idea for your mother and me to talk in private without anyone around.”

“I see.” I scanned the suitcases in the foyer—a subtle sign that indicated she planned on staying for a few more days. “Does that mean you’re okay with this?”

My mother shrugged out of her coat to place it on the coatrack. She strode across the foyer to cup my cheeks in her cold, soft hands. Her eyes burned into mine.

“You are my child,” she said firmly. “I will always love you, even when you make decisions that I don’t agree with.”

Tears burned my eyes again as she pressed a kiss against my forehead. I clutched at her elbows in sheer relief.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“It’s going to take a bit of adjusting to the idea, but if this is what you want, then I will support you. We still need to talk, though.”

“I’m going to change,” Gabriel said. “I’ll give you both some time.”

I glanced over to find him smiling at me in wordless encouragement. He left the two of us alone in the foyer before my mother took my hand to pull me into the living room. We sat together on the edge of the couch, facing the fireplace. Silence stretched on between us while I played with the end of my braid nervously. I didn’t know what they had talked about for the past few hours, but it made me uneasy to think about it.

“You’re killing me with the suspense,” I burst out, bouncing my legs anxiously.

“It’s just hard to even comprehend it, Penny. You can’t expect me to just be fully, one hundred percent on board with everything.”

“I don’t expect that at all, Mom. I don’t know what you want me to say, aside from what I already told you.” I swiped a hand over my eyes in agitation. “Things just happened between him and me. I don’t know how it started or why I feel the way that I do, but I just want to be with him. That’s all I know.”

“The feelings that Gabriel made clear to me tonight are serious ones. You haven’t dealt with this type of relationship before.”

I tilted my head up to meet my mother’s eyes bravely. “I haven’t. You’re right about that. Don’t you think it’s time to let me experience it for myself though?”

“I’m trying to protect you from a broken heart,” she replied, shaking her head at me. “That’s all I’m trying to do here, Penny.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. Frustration brimmed in me. “You said that you were going to be supportive, and that you and Gabriel talked about everything. Why are you drilling me about this?”

“Because I want to make sure that you are capable of understanding the consequences of this type of relationship. Being in love with an older man is going to put you in some awkward positions, Penny. Not to mention that you have to finish college still. What are you going to do when you have to return back to school?”

“I don’t know,” I said. That thought hadn’t occurred to me yet, but I didn’t want to concentrate on it at the moment. “All I know is that I love him. I love Gabriel, and I didn’t intend for any of this happen, but it did. I want to be with him.”

“What the fuck?”

I jumped in surprise to hear Alyssa’s voice. She stood at the end of the hallway leading into the living room, staring at the both of us with a shocked expression. A cold fear rose into the back of my throat while I rose from the couch on unsteady legs.

“Alyssa,” I started.

She backed away from me with a shake of her head. Her eyes glittered angrily as she stared at me with disgust.

“Did I really just hear you say that you’re in love with my dad?”

I glanced over at my mother who sat rigidly on the edge of the couch. I didn’t know what to say, but I watched as the realization spread across Alyssa’s face. She took another step back from me in disbelief.

“What the fuck is going on?”