Page 47 of One Breath After Another

He could handle a seventeen-year-old.

Right?

“Call me if anything changes,” Naz said.

“Will do.”

Discarding the phone to the cup holder after he ended the call, Luca tipped his head Penny’s way, asking her, “Anything you want to do or is it up to me?”

“Well, what did you want to do?”

He stared at the girl, taking her in and realizing ... his mother had been right. Penny was a young woman struggling between what once was and what would be. She was at a strange time in her life, too, a place between childhood and growing into an adult where nothing would be the same as it used to be. And all of that was on top of the shit she already had to deal with. While some of it merged, because that was inevitable, not all of it did. They were separate issues.

Did she even realize that?

“Do you talk to anybody?” he asked.

Penny’s brow dipped. “Like my therapist?”

“More like ... someone who knows, Penny. Somebody that gets you and what’s happened. Do you have anybody like that? A friend, even.”

“Not really.”

Good to know.

Luca planned on fixing that.

Putting the car in drive, he shot Penny a smile when he said, “We’re gonna go see my mom. I think you should spend some time with her.”

“I ... have?”

Luca scoffed. “Nah, not like you should. I mean, without other people around. Not sitting down for a family dinner when everyone is on their best behavior. No, you need to really meet my mom and spend some time with her. Just you and her. She’s kind of amazing.”

“You said ... someone who knows. Does she? Know, I mean?”

His smile drifted away, then. “Unfortunately, she knows what you’re dealing with better than most. Nobody should know these kinds of things—if the world was perfect, no one would. But she does.”

“Oh.”

Yeah.

What else needed to be said?

• • •

“SHOULD I JUST STAY in the car until—”

“No,” Luca said, laughing under his breath as he pushed open the driver’s door. “Family is welcome at this house anytime. All you need to do is show up and walk through the front door.”

“But I’m not ...” Penny’s words trailed off when Luca glanced over his shoulder at her. Maybe it was the way he raised his eyebrow that quieted her, but either way, he saw the acceptance flash in her eyes when she muttered, “Okay, I’m coming.”

Good.

Penny stayed behind Luca as he climbed the front steps to his childhood home. He didn’t bother to knock on the door before he opened it up and headed inside. As Penny kicked off her shoes, and he did the same, he yelled down the quiet hall.

“Ma?”

He expected his mother to pop out of the kitchen where she liked to spend most of her afternoon cooking and prepping for dinner. Despite the fact she no longer had a whole house to feed, his mother still managed to cook for a small army every single day. If he ever wanted leftovers, the only thing he needed to do was show up.