“No, that won’t do. Can you tell her Penn Shepherd needs to see her, and I’ll wait all day if I have to?” I thumbed behind me, and prepared to hunker down. Knowing Lauren, she would make me wait all day. “I’ll be sitting down here.”
The chairs were so low and tiny I may as well have been on the floor. I took out my phone and began scrolling through my emails so I could concentrate on those instead of the circus clowns and animals painted all over the walls. I stopped at the first one which caught my attention - a reply from August Chase. I’d emailed him just before my ownership had been announced and asked if he would meet me, unfortunately it coincided witha long Yankees away stretch, so I’d neither heard back from him nor seen him. But The Yankees had lost their last two games, so I’d clearly piqued his interest. At least I assume that’s what I’d done because it was hard to tell when his response was one sentence long and only included a phone number and a time to call him tomorrow.
Still, it was better than nothing.
I’d managed to clear most of my inbox by the time I was finally called in to see Lauren. I pushed opened the door to find her sitting at her desk. In contrast to the reception area, Lauren’s office was tranquil and painted like a little forest with bunnies and butterflies, a stream and deer. In the corner, there was a playmat and a huge wicker basket filled with soft toys.
“Those clowns are fucking creepy,” I said, closing the door. “You should get whoever decorated in here to decorate out there too. Much more pleasant.”
She didn’t look up from whatever she was writing. “What are you doing here, Penny? I’m busy.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the door. “And apparently I’m working my way through the women of New York.”
Lauren put her pen down and finally looked at me. “Seems to be an accurate statement.”
“It fucking isn’t!”
“Fine. I stand corrected.” She went back to her notes. “You can go now.”
“I’m not going anywhere. You know exactly why I’m here. You need to apologize to Lowe.” I said in a tone that only someone with minimal brain cells would argue with.
“That’s exactly what I came to do this morning, but then I saw you two together,” she snapped.
“And?” I snapped back.
“And then I didn’t know what I was apologizing for.”
“Want me to remind you?”
“No,” she huffed, then her shoulders relaxed. “I mean, no, I don’t need you to. I know I was an asshole.”
“You nearly had her breaking up with me! I swear to God, Lauren, if you’ve ruined the only relationship I’ve ever wanted with the only woman I’ve ever loved, I will never forgive you. You’d better fucking apologize to her, and do it today. I mean it.”
Lauren’s eyes widened until her brows had disappeared in her hairline. “Love? Penn, seriously, why do you always have to be so dramatic? Doesn’t it ever get tiring? Just because you had sex with her more than once, doesn’t mean you love her. That’s not how it works in the real world.”
There probably wasn’t anyone on the planet who could wind me up quicker than my sister. And as my blood was already on a steady simmer from when I’d stormed over here, it took very little to turn up the temperature.
My fist slammed back into the door with a loud, frustrated thud. “LAUREN!”
“Shhhhh! Jesus, keep your voice down! This is a place of business. There are sick kids outside, all of them managing to behave better than you are!” she snarled. “But I’m serious. You can’t just decide you’re in love with her.”
I stared hard, then let out a deep sigh. I pushed off the door and sunk into one of the chairs set to the side near the toys. It was much less comfortable than it looked. “I haven’t just decided. I’ve been in love with her since the first time I saw her.”
“First time you saw her when? What does that mean?”
“Since the first time you brought her home.”
“What?” Her mouth dropped open slightly, then dropped further as she thought about what I said. “Wh… what? We were kids!”
“I know.”
“You’ve been in love with Lowe since you were… what?” she scoffed loudly. “Six?”
“Five. But yes.”
She rolled her eyes. “Gimme a break, Penny. You have not.”
“I have.”
