AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Penny
I kickedopen the door to my apartment only to be greeted with the cloying scent of grease and egg rolls.
The lavender air fresheners had obviously masked the smell more than I realized. My feet shuffled through a summer’s worth of mail, and I dropped my bag on the floor by the counter.
Home sweet home.
I took in my apartment. Somehow, it looked worse since returning from Camp Chance.
What did that say about the place if a wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere was the nicer option?
The door knocked behind me, and Mr. Chen appeared. “Hello, Miss Penny. You return from good summer?”
Nodding, I smiled and motioned for him to come in. He shook his head. “Ahh, no. I just came to say hello. Welcome back.” He disappeared back down the stairwell, and I closed the door.
For as much as I hated this place, part of me was relieved when Mr. Chen agreed to let me pay half the rent for the weeks I was gone. He even said I could pay upon my return, but I had a small amount of money saved.
The thought of having to try to find another place to live was not something I wanted to deal with anytime soon.
Before I went in search of lavender air fresheners, I retrieved my cell phone from the drawer and turned it on. There had been no need for me to take it with me because only a handful of people had my number and none of them cared enough to check in.
The screen flashed to life, and it vibrated.
I miss your face already. M xo
I smiled at Marissa’s text, stored her number and typed out a reply. Then I set about making my apartment habitable again.
It didn’t take long to replace all of the dried-up air fresheners, and when I was satisfied the smell of fried food was almost unnoticeable, I carried my bag into my small bedroom and unzipped it.
My eyes fell straight to the small white envelope, and I slid out Blake’s note.
Penny, I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye.
I need to take care of some things.
Seeing you again was so much more than I expected.
It was everything.
Wait for me.
Please,
Blake x
There was a cell phone number with the letter. Tina confirmed it was Blake’s but said I should give him some time before trying to contact him.
She wouldn’t tell me anything else, I didn’t need her to.
He had told me there was someone else in his life, I just hadn’t been thinking clearly around him to care.
I stupidly assumed he pulled away because of his guilt over Derek but it made sense that he would feel guilty over betraying the special person in his life.
Girlfriend, fiancée… wife.
God, I didn’t want to think about it. But it didn’t matter now. The summer was over, and I couldn’t sit around waiting and hoping Blake would take care of things.
