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The third knock of the morning was just as nerve wracking as the first two. Nerve wracking because I’d called Macie twice before deciding to just drive to her apartment. I couldn’t leave without knowing where I was going. I filled my truck with gas, even got an oil change and bought some food, trying to pass the time while I waited for her to return the call. I tried calling Penelope too, with no such luck. When Macie didn’t answer either time, I decided to just drive to her myself. Since she wasn’t answering my calls, and it was before noon on a Saturday, it was safe to assume she might still be sleeping. Macie did not like to be woken up abruptly, or by surprise.
A string of curses greeted me from the other side of the door as she threw it open. She wiped her eyes as she took me in. Her hair was flying in a thousand different directions. She had on a t-shirt that fell to her knees. A groggy, irritated look on her face told me my nerves were warranted.
“What the fuck–”
“Penelope left.”
Her hand dropped from the door and flew to her forehead, wiping itself down her tired face. She held the door open wider, motioning me to enter. I’d never been inside her apartment before. I’d only ever dropped her off here. It was small, but fitting for her. It was a whole mess, covered in empty cardboard boxes and strewn clothes. As if she was meaning to pack up her things but hadn’t started.
“What do you mean she left?”
I perched myself on the armrest of her couch. Sighing, I dove into all of the events of the previous twenty-four hours. From Easton’s outburst at family dinner, to Penelope and I’s fight, to the fact that she literally ran off in the early morning with her siblings and turned off her phone. I tried to dance around the details about what happened at Oxford, I wasn’t sure how much Macie knew. She watched me with a focus that I’d only describe as feline until I finished.
“If the bush you’re beating around is James, I already know all of that. Did she finally tell you the truth? Is that why you guys fought?”
“Why would she tell you and not me?” I snapped back, an unintentional edge to my voice.
Macie huffed. “You know, I thought about that a lot too. I think it’s because I never knew her before. I never saw who she was or what she was like before it happened. I couldn’t have known whether or not she changed. When she was hating herself, I still loved her. I didn’t love any old version of her, any hope of someone she’d someday become. I loved exactly who she was when I met her, and in her mind, that person was the worst version of herself she’d ever be.” Macie’s golden eyes were sparkling as she shrugged at me. “It doesn't mean she didn't trust you. She just didn’t have faith in herself. She should be forgiven for that.”
“I forgave her the minute she walked away from me.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, why the hell are you sitting on my couch then?”
I smirked. “I came over here because I don’t have the address to your new apartment. Once you provide me with the information, I’ll gladly be on my way.”
A grin overtook her face, spreading across her cheeks ear to ear. “You know, I liked you from the moment I met you. I had a feeling about you, and my intuition is never wrong.” I flicked my brow at her impatiently, but my face let her know I appreciated her words. “Right, I’ve got it written down on a notepad in the kitchen.”
She floated away on tiptoes before returning seconds later and handing me a post-it note with their address. She opened the door for me once again, wrapping her arms around my shoulders before I made it to the doorway. “Prove to her that she never has to run away again.” She stepped back, smiling. “I’ll see youbothnext week.”
I paused, drumming my thumbs on her door. Her brow furrowed as she wondered why I wasn’t moving. I found myself already contemplating all the things I’d say to Penelope once I made it there. As if I didn’t have a day’s drive to think it through. I thought I had spent the last two months making it clear to her there was nothing she could do that would make me lose faith in her– in us. Hell, I told Maddie I’d be the one to help Penelope bury bodies, and damn if I didn’t mean it. It was as if those ten minutes during our argument had taken back all the progress she had made. If my words couldn’t make it clear, there was one thing that might. I looked at Macie. “I need your Wi-Fi password.”
Before she could answer me, I bolted out her door and to my truck, grabbing my laptop bag before stepping back into her apartment and sitting down at her dining table. She stared at me with confusion as she hesitantly let me connect to her internet.
“What the hell is going on?” she asked as she leaned against her kitchen counter, arms crossed, watching me.
Ignoring her, I opened my computer and found the file I was working on. There were some touches I had meant to add to it, but it’d have to do as it was. I emailed the file to Dom and closed my computer.
I thanked Macie, hugging her again. She blinked at me with puzzled surprise as I shut the door behind me without explaining to her what I was doing in the first place.
As I climbed into my truck, I called Dom. He picked up on the third ring. “I just sent a file to your email. I need you to go get it printed on a forty-by-sixty canvas. It’ll be expensive but I’ll pay you back. Leave it at the studio and hide the key somewhere so I can get in.”
He yawned into the phone. “Whoa. Dude, you are talking a thousand miles a minute.”
I grumbled as I repeated myself a second time, slower. “No questions asked, okay? I’ll be in L.A. tomorrow. Hopefully not at your place, but maybe, if I need to be. I’ll let you know.”
“What the hell are you–”
“Dom, promise me you’ll get the canvas printed. That you’ll leave it at the studio with the key. I need it before tomorrow night.”
“Alright, man. Yeah, yeah. I’ll go order it right now.”
I hung up as I turned on the engine of my truck. Pulling out of Macie’s complex, I made a left onto Highway 101.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Penelope
