“I can look at it, if you want,” Penelope says.
I gather her hands in mine, turn us to face each other, and pour my hope and gratitude into my answer.
“There’s no one I can think of who I’d trust more than you.Yes, please, lend me your skills, sweet pea.I’ll feed you and be forever in your debt,” I vow.
Her uncomfortable half-smile and shrug tell me I’ve gone too far.
“A meal is good enough for now.Leave the debts for more important things,” she says.
Nana chuckles, winces, and smiles.
“There aren’t more important things, sweet pea.My entire world is in this room,” I say.
Wide, glittering hazel eyes peer into my soul.I welcome her into every corner of me, eager to have her any way she’ll take me.
“Go, you two,” my ma says with a shooing motion of her free hand.
I turn Penelope toward the door and slip my arm around her.With our height difference, her shoulder digs into my side, but I wrap my fingers around her upper arm and hold her tight against me.She reaches around my lower back and grabs a fistful of my shirt.
“Before you leave,” Nana calls out.I pivot us so my sweet pea can see the room without my body blocking her view.
Electricity zaps through me as the two women I’ve cherished my entire life smile at the girl who stole my heart.
“Welcome to the family, Penelope,” Nana says.
Penelope’s eyes widen, and her mouth opens in shock.When panic and tears fill her gorgeous hazel orbs, I admonish my nana the only way I dare—with a slitted glance—and usher my date out of the room.
Date.She chose it herself.Whether she was trying to save face for me or felt pressured doesn’t matter.I want her to be both my friend and my date.In fact, I want her to be so much more.
I never doubted my matriarch’s acceptance of her, but with my nana’s words echoing in my ears and Penelope’s shocked yearning replaying in my mind, I can’t help but imagine in vivid detail having Penelope in my home.She fits right into my family.
I want to marry Penelope Miles and make her mine forever.
Chapter 11
Penelope Miles
The entire world vibrates.My head buzzes as Sebastian’s grandmother’s words replay again and again.
Welcome to the family, Penelope.
It hurts.I want it to be true so badly.Even though I know she was just being courteous, my heart yearns for the perfect picture she painted with such pure, simple words.
Welcome to the family.
I want to belong to the Sterling family with every cell in my body.Some people are so easy to read even a socially inept person like me can see their true selves.Sebastian’s mother and nana have the same no-nonsense air about them.
It’s the sweetest yet cruelest thing anyone has ever said to me.
“Are you okay, sweet pea?”Sebastian asks.
“I should be asking you that.Medical scares are… not fun,” I finish lamely.
We step through the double glass sliding doors into the relative darkness of the parking lot.The bright pole lights leave little pockets for shadows between the cars, but not much else.
“I’m much better than I would be if you weren’t here.Thank you so much for staying by my side, Penelope,” he says.
Standing underneath the lamppost nearest his car, I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him as hard as I can.
