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Twenty-Two
Pen stepped into her building and the woman positioned at the front desk waved her over. “This came for you, Ms. Brand.”
Oh, no. Not again.
Penelope pasted a smile on her face and accepted a padded envelope...and then another one.
“One more,” the woman said, handing over a small box. She eyed Pen’s rounded tummy. “I can carry these up if it’s too much for you.”
“No, I have them.” The packages were awkward, especially while juggling her purse and working the elevator, but they weren’t heavy.
Upstairs she dropped everything on a chair in her living room and stared at the packages in contemplation.
The return address was Love & Tumble. She’d received packages from there every day—several of them. So far, they’d been the items she’d had Zach’s assistant return to the store right after they’d purchased them. Zach had tried to talk her into keeping them but of course, she hadn’t. Now, one by one, or in this case three by three, those same items they’d returned had been showing up on her doorstep.
She opened the envelopes. One held a onesie, the other a baby blanket. The smaller box required scissors to cut the tape, so Penelope took the box to the countertop and grabbed her kitchen shears.
Inside the box, wrapped in Love & Tumble’s signature shimmer-green tissue paper, was a pair of shoes. But not just any pair of shoes. Blinged out, faux fur, rhinestone encrusted high-top tennies for a girl.
Pen batted her lashes, fighting tears. This wasn’t something she’d purchased prior. She and Zach had looked at this pair in the store and she’d mentioned if she had a girl, she’d never buy her six-hundred-dollar shoes. He’d argued that if they learned they were having a girl, those would be the first pair he’d buy her.
And he had.
A tear streaked Pen’s cheek as she thumbed the tiny soles. Zach had been trying to buy back her affection since she left with the movers. He was being very sweet. Very thoughtful.
As the father of her child, she couldn’t have picked a better man to love her baby more.
But he still didn’t love her.
She hated how right she’d been in saying no to his proposal. He’d proposed to keep their budding family together, which was honorable, and for some women might have been enough. Still, when she imagined Zach or her marrying other people, Pen’s heart ached with loss.
A swift knock at the door jolted her out of her thoughts. One glance at the clock reminded her what she already knew. This morning Stefanie had texted to ask if she could swing by tonight. Pen had texted back yes, then phoned the front desk telling them to send her up when she arrived.
She swiped the hollows of her eyes and shook off her somber attitude, then rushed to open the door. Stef stood at the entry, her bright smile fading as soon as she got one look at Pen.
“Oh, my gosh. What happened now?” Zach’s sister pushed her way into the apartment, her hands wrapping around Pen’s shoulders.
Rather than explain, Pen gestured around the apartment. At the pile of boxes she’d been meaning to break down for recycling. At another pile of their contents: baby clothes and toys and blankets, taking up the length of the sofa. She lost her battle holding back tears. “Your brother mails me gifts every day.”
“That jerk,” Stefanie said.
Pen let out a startled laugh, but Stef didn’t laugh with her.
“Has he come to see you?”
Pen shook her head. “No, but I wouldn’t want him to.”
“Has he called you?”
Pen shook her head again.
“Texted?” Stef asked, her voice small.
Pen confirmed with another head shake.
Stef clucked her tongue and proffered an envelope. “This came for you, and Zach handed it to me when I barged in on him at the office.”
Pen took the envelope. Her name was on the front in fanciful calligraphy, addressed to the house Zach had purchased.
