She wouldn’t work in her office anymore. It was too tempting. And now that she realized he’d been on to her all along, she didn’t want to even contemplate the thought of getting caught again.
So, she collected her laptop, some paperwork, and her cell phone and carried them down to the kitchen table. She had work to do, for heaven’s sake!
Of course, her phone would choose that moment to begin vibrating. Why did people have to call her? Why couldn’t they just text? Or better yet, email? She glanced at the name on the screen and froze.
Kent.
They had only spoken once since she’d moved. He’d needed her to fax some final documents from their divorce decree. The paperwork had seemed innocuous and yet it had represented her biggest failure.
She hoped there wasn’t more.
She disregarded the call and let it to go to voicemail. Ignoring the guilt and illogical desire to hide, she opened her laptop and brought up the file of her newest project. A binging sound signified Kent had left his message. She picked up the phone and touched the screen.
Not willing to listen to the sound of his voice, she read the automatic transcription instead. “Hey, Penny, babe, I really need to see you. Everything’s been crazy lately, and I can’t stop thinking that maybe we made a mistake. I’m driving down there tomorrow. Let’s talk, okay? Miss you. Bye.”
She about jumped out of her skin when the phone rang in her hand.
Oh, shit. It was Mrs. Wright.
Again, she didn’t want to answer but didn’t have the heart to send this one to voicemail. What if Chaz’s grandma had taken a bad turn, or worse? What if Mrs. Wright was worrying about her son and would be even more worried if she couldn’t get a hold of her?
“Hello.”
“Penny? Penny, is that you?” The connection wasn’t a good one. Common for these small mountain towns. Part of why Penny wished people would just text.
“This is Penny. How is everything up there? Is your mother-in-law doing okay?” She spoke loudly and clearly. The sooner she discovered what this was all about, the sooner she could hang up.
“It was a bad stroke, dear. She didn’t get to the hospital as quickly as she should have but we’ll have to wait to see her prognosis.” She paused a moment. “I wanted to call and thank you again for looking in on Chaz. I just tried calling him but there was no answer.”
“Er, um, well… He said he was gonna take one of his pain pills when I looked in on him. I imagine he’s sleeping.”
“That was what I thought, but I’m a mother, and even though he’s a grown man I worry about him. He’ll always be my baby boy.” Oh, good Lord. And Penny had done unmentionable things with said baby boy just a few hours ago.
“I’m sure he’s fine but I’ll check on him again later, if you’d like me to.” Except she’d locked herself out.
Intentionally.
“Oh, yes, I’d appreciate that. Again, so sorry to bother you. I’ll likely be coming back tomorrow, even if I have to leave Bob up here.”
“It’s no bother. I’ll call you if he’s having any trouble. I promise.”
After hanging up, Penny realized she’d promised to check on Chaz again tonight. She’d have to face him. Would he be annoyed with her for bothering him again?
And why was Kent coming here?
After reading through the same page three times, and not making a single edit, she realized she was not going to get anything done today.
She probably ought to take a shower. Only… glancing down at Chaz’s T-shirt, she realized she didn’t want to wash his scent away.
And she didn’t want to remove his shirt, either.
Pathetic! She was utterly pathetic.
Barely a few hours had passed since she’d left him, and she was wishing she’d stayed curled up beside him for the rest of the day.
If she’d done so, she wouldn’t have listened to Kent’s voicemail and she wouldn’t have taken his mother’s call. She could have tried cooking something for him, massaged his feet again. Massaged other places again.
Why’d she have to go and lock all the doors?
