“When?What years?”
He returns the bag of peas used on his chest to the freezer before stalking back to his side of the island.
“Right after she got her master’s.No one would hire her.She was overqualified and undervalued with too much academic success and not enough workplace experience, so she shut herself away and focused on freelancing.For a few days, I thought she was just working really hard, but then she just… never took the towel out from under the door.”
He wipes a tear from his lashes and shakes his head like a dog flipping water out of its fur.Water droplets from his hair sprinkle the counter.He curses, adjusts the frozen peas on his face, and pulls a paper towel off the roll.
“What about food?Supplies?Exercise?What if she gets sick?”I ask.
He answers as he wipes the counter with meticulous care.
“Delivery.She has mini appliances and everything she needs to survive in there.Sometimes she’d be so quiet for so long, I’d worry she was dead, but she’d always reply to my texts right before I knocked down her door, then she’d ghost me again.”
The weight of his words settles over me like six feet of dirt on a grave.He squats to wipe the floor.I aim my face toward the wall.Only a few feet separate me from Penelope, but she may as well be on Mars for how much emotional distance is between us.
“How did you get her back?”I grit through my sorrow.
I didn’t know her demons were so powerful, but I’m the only one to blame for my ignorance.
He rises and tosses the paper towel in the garbage.As he responds, I note the cleanliness of the entire apartment versus the glimpse of his room I caught while we battled in the hallway.
He isn’t a neat freak, but for Penelope, he ensures the shared living spaces are spotless.
“Slowly.I encouraged her to go out when I wasn’t home.I took the pressure off her and let her work through it herself.I was there for her when she was ready, not when I wanted or needed her.So if you aren’t in this for the long haul, then get the fuck out right now.”
The resolution in his eyes ends the last of my animosity toward him.I approve of his loyalty.
Penelope deserves all the friends and support in the world.He was there for her when I wasn’t.I’ll never be able to repay him for loving her like family.
“I’m not leaving,” I rumble.
“And if she doesn’t come out for days?Weeks?Months?Years?”he challenges.
I rip several paper towels off the roll and wipe the counter in front of me, but the popsicle left a sticky residue behind.
“I swore I’d always be by her side, no matter what.”I turn and dip the paper towel under the faucet before facing Penelope’s roommate and best friend.“If she needs a door between us, so be it.I’ll be here when she’s ready to come back to me.”
His unimpressed huff and once-over raise the hairs on my nape, but I don my cutthroat business persona and pull my emotions into the dampening chamber I retain for high-dollar negotiations as I wipe the counter.
When I move to the sink and clean the water I splashed everywhere when I washed my face, he sighs and says, “My name is Peter.You’re Sebastian.Don’t expect a warm welcome from me unless Penelope forgives you.My room is off limits.If I see you so much as brush against her door, I’m calling the police.I had a fling with the local chief not long ago.He’ll happily let you hang out in a cell for a few nights.”
“He wouldn’t if I bribed him.I could throw around enough money to tempt a saint,” I say without looking up from my tasks.
Peter’s low chuckle lifts the hair on my nape.
“You know what’s more powerful than cash?Blackmail,” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“The chief is married to a judge’s daughter.She doesn’t know he likes men.”
A chuckle rumbles up from my depths.I shake my head and smirk.
“Good to see you can be fierce, Peter,” I say.
“I can be anything for Pen… except straight.I won’t be that for anyone,” he concedes.
Even though he doesn’t need it, I nod my approval and toss the paper towel in the garbage.
