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"Hi, Parker. Penny has asked me to deliver a package to you," Sarah says in a serious and hurried voice.
"A package?" I ask, clueless. "What package?"
I’m curious as I take a sip of coffee.
"I haven't opened it. It's sealed, but Penny says the necklace and ring you gave her are inside."
Sarah's words are a punch to my gut, even if I haven’t actually seen the package yet to confirm. I stand up immediately and hurriedly try to think.
"Why is she giving them back to me?" I ask with unconcealed fear.
"I don't know. Penny hasn't said anything to me," Sarah says. "She just asked me to deliver it to you. If you tell me what hotel you're staying at, I can drop the package off at the front desk."
"Wait," I say to Sarah, shaking my head. "I don't want them back."
This is unheard of to me. These are gifts I had given Penny, gifts that matter to me. I thought they would matter to her.
I decide to go to Penny immediately. I want to know why she returned the gifts to me and why she hasn't said anything.
"Tell her I'm on my way to her hotel," I say to Sarah, in a determined tone, as I put the hospital forms aside and prepare to leave.
Sarah gives me the news then that completely fills me with dread.
"Parker, Penny is no longer here in New York," Sarah says sadly.
"What do you mean?" I say urgently.
"What I mean is that Penny got on a flight this morning. She's gone home," Sarah says.
"What? why didn't she say anything to me? Why did she leave?" I ask in desperation.
"I don't know, Parker. Penny hasn't told me anything. She's been very closed off about it," Sarah says.
I’m devastated; I can’t believe Penny has left without telling me anything. I feel betrayed and hurt. I don't understand why she has made this decision.
I can’t stop thinking about Penny, how much I love her and how I want to make things right with her. I know I should let her go if that is what she truly wants, but I can’t help but feel an emptiness in my heart.
Without thinking, I hang up the call and run, rushing out of the hospital and quickly getting into my car. I can’t stop thinking about her. I can’t let her go.
New York City has never seemed so terribly endless—crowded with cars, and screaming people. I need to somehow get past them all and get to Penny. I have to find her and tell her that whatever she thinks, she is making a mistake. The two of us are meant to be together.
We were perfect for each other, and she couldn't see that?
It is almost a mockery, that as soon as I have finally been able to see it, she would give up on us.
After an insufferable stretch of time, I finally make it to the airport. Skipping all the lines and leaving behind the rushing passengers, rolling their suitcases and clutching their tickets, I run, following the signs, until I find the plane to San Francisco on which Penny will be leaving.
On the way to the airport, I have already bought a plane ticket to who knows where so I can get through the checkpoint and I keep running desperately, until finally, at the end of a long line of luxury stores I see her, standing in front of huge windows overlooking the runways, with an absent look on her face, completely empty and full of sadness.
"Penny!" I call out to her, feeling the relief of being able to say her name, of having her in front of me, at my fingertips.
She looks at me as if I’m a hallucination.
"What are you doing here?" she asks me, taking a step back, completely bewildered.
"Same thing I could ask you," I say, deciding to play along and taking a step closer to her. Penny looks at me with a hint of nervousness at first but seems to steel herself immediately.
"I'm going home, Parker. I have nothing else to do in New York," she says despondently.
