Page 57 of One Breath After Another

Naz ticked two fingers back, replying, “Good—head out. See you later.”

As he backed out of the driveway, Luca was still trying to figure out whether or not he made the right choice.

Nothing was ever simple.

12.

Penny

THE baby boutique Roz seemed to favor to buy all the things for her unborn son was so boujee that the place didn’t even have a sign over the door with a name. Instead, they entered the business through a red front door with baskets of roses hanging on either side. The small gold plaque beside a doorbell—in case someone called ahead of time to ask that the store be closed to the general public while they shopped, Roz explained when Penny asked—spelled out the boutique’s name in a scripted font.

The Bebe Palace.

Cute.

Or something like that.

Penny wasn’t one who could spend hours upon hours shopping at any place—never mind one that was so fancy the women waiting inside already had two cups of caffeine-free tea ready in-hand for their newest patrons. Like they had seen them talking just outside the doors and rushed to have everything ready.

She sipped on the fruity flavored hot tea while the women—both in black dresses and matching heels—greeted Roz and fawned over her baby bump. The same thing everyone did whenever Roz was in their presence. It seemed like people couldn’t help but be excited over the very idea of a baby.

Maybe ... Penny understood that.

She wasn’t any better. At least, when it came to Roz’s baby. She didn’t know anyone else that was pregnant, and she really didn’t care to. But there was definitely something about Roz’s pregnancy that excited her, especially now that they were reaching the end.

Because soon, he would be here.

Baby Cross, that was.

Penny couldn’t wait to meet the little guy she had watched grow through sonogram pictures and doctor updates. And as Roz broke away from the smiling women in the entrance of the boutique to head for a nearby rack of baby clothes, she knew exactly why that was, too.

For once, she felt ... involved. Welcomed, even. A part of something that was bigger than her, if that made any sense at all. It wasn’t like she asked for a family—of sorts—when Naz and Roz took her in after everything that happened, but they did and they gave her a home in the process.

Maybe without meaning to.

What did it matter?

It happened.

Penny was terrified someone might try to take it away from her, too. These people ... she loved them, and she didn’t want to be forced to leave them, either.

“Look at this,” Roz squealed, snatching the item off the rack that must have caught her attention enough to pull her in that direction. She spun around, holding the black leather jacket—sized appropriately for a small infant—high for everyone to see. And despite the women who preened over the item, telling Roz it was one of the cutest they had in the shop, she only looked to Penny for a reply. “What do you think?”

She knew what Roz thought about it, and she wasn’t wrong. “It’s perfect. Looks just like the one Naz walks around wearing most of the time.”

And it did.

Right down to the silver buttons and hardware. She was sure the unborn baby’s father would be over the moon when he saw it. Other than tiny Doc Marten boots, Naz hadn’t brought home very much for the baby saying, They’re all gonna buy too much like they always do.

He wasn’t wrong. The baby shower was weeks away, and people were already sending gifts in lieu of their ability to attend the party. Which meant the entry to the house was full of boxes and gift bags constantly. They changed every day, too.

Penny had finally decided on her gift for Roz, but it was more like a gift for both. She still needed to get something specific to finish the gift, so now it was one less thing for Penny to obsess over, anyway. She wasn’t going to be able to find the thing she needed here, though.

Roz nodded, peering down at the item while she still held it out in front of her. “Right? I’m getting it for sure.”

That was all the women needed to hear. One stepped forward to take the jacket from Roz with a promise of having it ready at the front when she was ready to leave. The other woman slinked off when Roz said they were fine to shop alone. And that was how Penny and Roz found themselves wandering through the baby boutique.

Rack after rack of expensive baby clothes—and other items—stared back at Penny. It was kind of overwhelming, if only because she couldn’t figure out how people justified paying a hundred dollars for nothing more than swaddling wrap when the baby was only going to grow out of it within a couple of months.