He covers the hand I have clenched around the door handle with his. “Aria, wait.”
I pull away and cross my arms over my chest. All I can do is stare at him and wait.
When he doesn’t say anything, I lift my shoulders. “Well? I’m waiting. You want to do this here, Penn?” I gesture toward the doors we just walked out of. “I’m sure if we wait much longer, your family will come out here, and we can air all our dirty laundry.”
He lets out a breath. “Are you going home?”
I just stare at him.
Penn touches my chin, trying to get me to look at him. “I’ll follow you home, and we’ll talk about it there.”
I pull away from his touch. “Are you going to tell me what you’re hiding from me?”
He goes still. For a second, I think he’s going to deny it. I almost wish he would. Or that he would tell me that I’m wrong or making something out of nothing.
Instead, he takes a step back and folds his arms over his chest. “No,” he says, his voice rough. “I can’t.”
My mouth drops open, but nothing comes out. There it is. This thing I’ve felt for months isn’t my imagination.
He shakes his head, pain on his face. “Aria, please.”
There’s so much hurt in my voice I can’t even hide it. “So you admit it? You are hiding something from me?”
“Please,” he says again, and this time it sounds like he’s begging. But he isn’t begging me to understand, he’s begging me not to ask.
I move back and sit down in the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel with both hands because I need something solid to hold on to. Penn leans down, one hand braced on the open door, and I turn my face away as I wipe a tear from my cheek.
“Leave me alone, Penn. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“Aria.” His voice drops. “You’re in no shape to drive.”
I stare through the windshield because if I look at him, I’m afraid I’ll break all over again.
He reaches for me, his hand touching my shoulder gently, and I tense beneath his touch.“Let me take you home,” he says. “I won’t say a word. You don’t have to talk to me. You don’t even have to look at me. But I can’t let you drive like this.”
Another tear slips free, and I swipe at it angrily. “Leave me alone, Penn. I’ll sit here until I’m okay, but I…” My breath catches. “I don’t want to be around you right now.”
He exhales, and I hear the frustration in it.
Penn Brody is not a man used to being told no, but for once, he doesn’t push. He steps back from the door. “I’m going to followyou home,” he says quietly. “Take your time. Sit here as long as you need to.”
I don’t answer.
He grips the edge of the door, and for a second, I think he might say something else or maybe even admit what he’s hiding from me.
But all he says is, “I love you, Aria.” His voice is barely a whisper.
And for the first time since the day Penn Brody told me he loved me, I don’t say it back. I can’t.
My mind is spinning through every what-if and why. My husband just admitted there is something standing between us and he refuses to tell me what it is. I have a terrible feeling it’s going to tear us apart.
CHAPTER 3
PENN
There’s a knock on the door, and before I can answer, it opens. “They’re ready for you, Dr. Brody.”
I tighten my grip on the folder in my hand and keep staring out the window at the street below. “Thanks. I’ll be right there.”
