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She leans her head against my shoulder and hugs me. I wrap my arm around hers and hold her tight against me.
“We’ll talk to my dad, Penny. I promise.”
Just like in a scene from a movie, Alex strolls into the room at that exact moment with an energy drink in one hand and his favorite sandwich—roast beef, cheddar, and horseradish on a wrap—in the other. When he sees us, he stops short, his work boots scrunching up the faded throw rug. Suspicion narrows his eye and creases his brow. “Talk to me about what?” he asks warily.
A fluttery buzzing starts in my heart. It slowly accelerates into rapid beats with the question of how Alex will react to Lily’s wanting me to live here. Suddenly, I just seem to know that the ever-mysterious thing that has always drawn me to Alex is also the very same thing that abruptly made him push me away years ago.
Chapter 16
ALEX
I’ve just been launched into my first experience of parental dread and suspense at the hands of my teenager.
I can almost hear the Jaws theme song playing in my head, warning me to avoid eye contact at all costs and get the hell out of here as fast as possible.
But, as usual, I ignore all warning signs.
“Why do you two look like you’re auditioning for Drama Teens Gone Wild?”
Lily shakes her head at me. “Dad, this is serious.”
I can’t seem to get this father gig right. I’m either too strict or too laid back.
“Sorry. Ten minutes before Penny got here, you were dancing around the kitchen. What’s going on?”
“Penny’s leaving!”
Confused, I take a bite of my sandwich. “Okay…I’m sure she’ll be back tomorrow. No reason to get all upset—”
Lily blows out a breath and looks up at the ceiling like she’s either praying for help or hoping something will come down and swallow her up.
“She’s moving. To California! It’s like a million miles away, and I’ll probably never see her again.” My daughter sniffles and wipes black smears of mascara from beneath her eyes.
I shift my gaze to Penny, whose puffy eyes and tearstained cheeks match Lily’s, sans the mascara. I’m reminded of that day four years ago when I made her cry, and I don’t like it one bit.
“What’s going on?” I ask her.
Penny’s voice wavers with emotion. “My father is being relocated to California for a year or two to start up a new branch. My mom just told me this morning. We’re leaving within the month.”
“Shit,” I say. “That sucks.”
My voice is level, but my heart has inexplicably taken a nosedive straight into the pit of my stomach. After I took Kelley’s advice years ago and stopped letting Penny come around, my days were filled with an odd emptiness that I knew I had no right to feel. I wore her absence like a second layer of grief until she unexpectedly reentered my life again. The notion of Penny not being here all the time, not hearing her laugh, not seeing her smile, or not having our witty banter and art discussions brings the old familiar burn back to my gut. I’ll miss the hell out of her.
“Can Penny move in with us?”
Seasoned parents probably know better than to eat while having conversations with their children, but I never got that memo—and nearly choke on my roast beef.
“Um,” I cough and swallow, torn between wanting to agree with Lily’s idea and saying the right parental thing. “I don’t know, Lily. She should really be with her parents.”
“Please?” Lily pleads, her eyes pooling with tears. “She’s my best friend. We do everything together! Do you have any idea how lonely and depressed I’ll be without her? Or how awful it will be for her to have to start a new school with no friends? It’ll be social murder for both of us.”
I’m being gutted right here in my living room.
“I’m not sure it’ll be murder…” I say.
“Yes, Dad, it will.”
“We can’t just keep her, Lily. It’s a lot more complicated than that.”
“How so?”
“Well, first off, her parents would have to agree to it, and I’m sure they won’t. Mrs. Rose has never liked me. And even if they did agree to it, where would she sleep?”
“She could have that other little room upstairs.”
That room—with its one window and tiny, narrow closet—is so small we’ve been using it as a storage space since we moved in. A full-size bed would take up the entire room.
“It’s too small,” I say. “She’d barely be able to turn around in it.”
“I don’t mind,” Penny says quickly. “I can get a twin mattress. And I don’t need a dresser. I can use those organizational stacking cubes.”
“See?” Lily looks at me hopefully. “We’ll move the stuff out of there ourselves. You won’t have to do anything.”
I tilt my head doubtfully. “I dunno, girls…I’m not used to taking care of one teenager, let alone two.”
