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“Yes, ma’am,” the valet replied with a hat-tip. Then he ran—yes, ran—to get the car.
Sadly, not fast enough.
This time when Penelope heard her name, it was Zach. He slowed his jog when he was close, brow pinched and fists bunched.
“I’m taking her home with me,” Stefanie stated.
“No, you’re not.”
Stef turned on him. “Yes. I am.”
“Pen.” In his eyes, Penelope saw the plea. A dab of pain that hadn’t been there before. But she couldn’t open up again, not after what it took to get to this point.
“I have nothing more to discuss, Zach,” Pen announced sadly. “You offered me everything and nothing at the same time.”
His mouth froze open for a moment before clacking shut. Baring his teeth, he said, “I offered you everything I could.”
She swallowed past a thick throat as the valet pulled Stef’s car to the curb. Through a watery, sad smile, she nodded. “I know. And it’s not enough.”
* * *
Zach, arms folded, watched one of the movers walk the last of Penelope’s boxes downstairs before loading the box into a moving truck.
He wasn’t one for admitting defeat, but with Penelope standing in the hallway, notebook in hand as she checked off a list, it was clear they were over.
“What about the baby stuff?” the other mover asked, pointing to the room behind Zach.
Pen turned, her white summer dress rounded at the front, her heeled sandals reasonably high for a change.
“Yes,” Zach answered at the same time Penelope said, “No.”
Their gazes clashed, and in her pale blue eyes, he saw both challenge and loss. Or maybe he felt it.
“Take it,” he told her.
“You’ll need it,” she said with a head-shake.
“I can buy more.” He could replace every single thing in this house with a phone call, save one. The blonde across from him on the landing.
He’d tried contacting her for the past few days, but after the one night she slept at Stef’s, he hadn’t been able to reach her. Even Pen’s office had been dark when he stopped by.
Then, this morning she’d texted him to ask if he’d be home. Foolishly, he’d believed she was coming by to reconcile. Instead, she’d shown up driving ahead of a moving truck.
So this was it.
She’d made up her mind. She was leaving.
“I can buy more, too, Zach. I have time before she’s born. And anyway, I’m not sure how much of the furniture I can fit in my apartment.”
His chest tightened as his eyes dipped to Pen’s stomach. He was losing...everything. And it flat-out pissed him off.
“Are we going to talk about this?” he all but shouted. A mover leaned on the wall outside the bedroom door to watch. Oh, hell no. Zach curled his lip when he addressed him. “Get the hell out of my house.”
He went, ambling down the stairs, and bitching to his friend who stood on the porch. But both men stayed outside.
Zach turned back to Pen. “Well?”
“Well, what? There’s nothing to talk about.” She gestured with her notebook. “I’ve decided. Luckily, my landlady loves me and ushered me into the first available two-bedroom she had.”
