Page 18 of One Breath After Another

Later, he could give Naz a heads up and apologize for whatever episode Penny might have because he was a dumbass. If she did ... Naz said it happened sometimes. Usually because of school or therapy, but apparently anything could bring it on if the situation was stressful enough. Luca didn’t know what those episodes entailed, but he hated the idea that he might cause one just by being there.

“The music,” he heard blurted behind him, “it’s mine.”

Luca’s shoulders tensed, his steps hesitating. “What?”

Softer, Penny explained, “The piano. You heard my music. But it’s ... mine. My composition.”

Glancing over his shoulder, but not wanting to give the girl the impression he planned to stay when she was already uncomfortable, he said, “Oh.”

Like a fool.

Just oh.

Quickly, he added, “The song is beautiful.”

It had already stopped playing. Just shortly after he first interrupted whatever she was reading in the file on her lap, actually, but he didn’t notice until then in the midst of everything.

The red tint in Penny’s cheeks became deeper at his praise, and her gaze dropped down to the file in her lap. It caused a wave of her hair to drop in front of her face at the same time, but he was pretty sure he had seen the hint of a smile curving her full, soft pink lips before it was gone from sight.

Then, he heard her whispered, “Thanks.”

He almost didn’t.

It was so low.

She did lift her head again, but that time she wouldn’t meet his gaze. Instead, opting to stare at anything else but him. The blush was still very present on her cheeks, and the smile was long gone, but at least, she wasn’t hiding from him. Wasn’t that a step forward?

He thought so.

Penny shrugged. The oversized, black hoodie that swallowed her body right down to her knees barely moved at all from the action. Her blue stare drifted to him, and only briefly met his gaze, before darting away just as fast. He could hear every awkward syllable when she told him, “Sorry—you probably think I’m a freak.”

“Why would I think that?”

“Because I don’t know how to talk to a gu—you. Anyone, really.” Penny sighed, closing the folder in her lap before she added, “But my therapist keeps telling me that I should try to start conversations more even if I don’t want to. It’s the only way I’ll learn how to ... talk?”

Why did that sound like a question?

Luca didn’t get the chance to ask.

“But I don’t really know how to,” she said, reverting back to the same soft tone as before that was quieter than a mouse skirting across the floor. “Talk, or start a conversation, I mean.”

That made him smile.

He couldn’t say that he didn’t pity the girl—her situation before she came to live with his sister and best friend kind of made that hard. If anyone deserved pity and time to get their life straight, it was Penny.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Luca said, winking her way when Penny’s head snapped up, and those wide eyes nailed into him. “You’re doing great—all things considered. One step at a time. One breath after another. Even if that’s all you can do, you’re doing it. You know?”

Penny blinked, but otherwise, offered nothing in reply.

Luca figured she deserved to know ... “I’m not going to pretend to know your life or the shit you’re going through, but from what I do know ... hell, you get out of bed, Penny. You’re alive. Trying. You know that’s all Naz and Roz ask of you, right? Just that you try. They’re willing to do whatever you need so that you can keep trying.”

It took her a second.

Eventually, she murmured, “Yeah, I know.”

“And that song—I think it would be awesome if you played it in a minor key, or at least the last stanza.” Luca grinned, waving a hand when he added, “But I don’t know shit about music. Not like Roz or you, anyway.”

That made her laugh.