Page 70 of One Breath After Another

Luca shrugged when he told his friend, “Hey, no hard feelings but I’m gonna sneak out of the way before they get started on the photo thing again, okay?”

“No worries, man.”

Naz went for Roz while Luca headed off to the side. It wasn’t just the photo thing that made him want to move away from the backdrop set up. He just happened to take note of Penny grabbing a gift box from the massive pile of presents at the other side of the ballroom before she darted out a rear entryway.

He wasn’t sure what that was about.

But he intended to find out.

• • •

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Penny swung around in the hallway, her shitty attempt to hide the gift box at her back doing nothing to help her case when she replied, too fast, “Nothing.”

“Oh?” Luca pointed at the bit of bow he could still see peeking out from behind her. “Then, what’s that right there?”

“Nothing.”

“Penny.”

Despite how mature her dress made her appear, she couldn’t hide her age when she rolled her eyes and made a face. “Fine. It’s ... my gift.”

She brought the gift box with the silky looking bow back around to her front for him to see.

“Your gift, or Roz’s?”

“My gift that I bought for Roz,” Penny clarified.

Then, she corrected that again with, “Bought and made, sort of.”

“What?”

“What?” she asked back.

Fuck.

Even Luca was confused.

“What are you doing?” he decided to ask, figuring going back to the beginning was a good starting point.

What could they lose?

Penny frowned, her grip on the box tightening as she glanced down at it. “Okay, don’t judge me but ... did you see some of the stuff out there for the gifts? A vintage carriage? There was even a diamond necklace for Roz, apparently a family heirloom. I don’t know. That Christening gown was designed by—”

“Yeah, people have money,” Luca said, “but so did you, and do ... with us. I guess.”

“No, it’s not that ... I just meant, my gift doesn’t really compare. To either the cost or the thoughtfulness and I—”

“Roz doesn’t care about that shit. What is it?”

Penny’s stare pleaded for him to stop talking.

Luca wouldn’t.

“Seriously, what did you get her? Or make ... you said both, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but—”