“Leave him one.”
“Ziggy, this is Dalton Croft. I’m trying to get in touch with Penny. If you see her, please have her call me.” I hesitate as I read the sign on the door again. “I see you’ve closed the business. I’m sorry to hear that.” I disconnect the line abruptly, not accustomed to offering that kind of sympathy for something that doesn’t directly affect me.
“Heartfelt,” Ben quips, and I shoot him a nasty look.
“Where is she?”
“Maybe Millie is back from her delivery? You know where their apartment is? I’m sure they weren’t put out on the street already.”
Ben is being helpful, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to punch him. If he had kept his mouth shut, I could have squashed the problem without upsetting Penny.
I fire off a couple of threatening messages to Randy before we hop back in the car. “This is a fucking mess.”
“It is,” Ben agrees with a sigh. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I snap. “I’m no one’s hero. I just don’t want to see Penny get hurt.”
“You could—”
“You know what you could do? You could shut the fuck up.”
“I’d be more offended if I didn’t feel so bad for you,” Ben says, raising his brows up and eyeing me. “You’re in love with her.”
What the fuck?
Oh, shit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dalton
“Millie? Penny?” Ben calls, knocking on the worn door of their studio apartment. We both agreed they’d be more likely to open the door for him than for me.
“Who is it?” Millie asks reluctantly.
“My name is Ben, I’m here with Dalton. I’m one of Penny’s friends. Is she here?”
“Oh Dalton,” Millie says, and I take comfort in her light tone. That evaporates as she opens the door and launches a book straight at my head. I duck just in time.
“You’ve talked to Penny,” Ben says, raising his hands disarmingly. “There’s been a misunderstanding. I have information she wants. If you let me show you I’ll explain everything. Maybe then you can call Penny, and she’ll listen to you.”
“No.”
“But it’s proof.” Ben makes a sudden move for his phone but Millie has another heavy book in her hand ready to launch.
“You don’t get it. I am team Penny. I don’t care what happened, who was at fault, or what logical information you want to share with me.” She points to herself with both thumbs. “TEAM PENNY.”
“I can completely understand that,” Ben begins.
“She was falling for you.” Her eyes are like daggers now, fixed on me. “She trusted you. You knew exactly how important it was to her to help Kylie out. It was going to give them a place, some common ground to finally stand on. You did more than just get her kicked out of here, you wrecked her shot at having something real with her sister. You know her father’s business closed today too. You have anything to do with that?”
“No,” I grind out. “I didn’t have anything to do with any of it.”
“You didn’t steal her lease?”
“I took her lease to have it looked at by my team so they could help head off any issues. I wanted to know what might be coming.” Explaining myself has never been part of my MO, but if the truth will help lessen Penny’s pain. “I’m not here to prove I’m innocent. I’m here to make sure she’s safe. She left the building upset, and now she’s not answering her phone. I need to know she’s okay.”
“She’s not ready to talk to anyone yet,” Millie says.
“Where is she?”
Millie threw another book at my head. I dodged it easily.
“He loves her,” Ben said as if he’s now my fucking spokesperson.
“Really?” Millie asks, ignoring Ben and staring straight at me. “Let me hear you say it.”
I’m not the kind of man to jump when someone tells me to, but I respect her motivation. “I love her.”
Millie’s anger dissolves, and she sighs. “There’s only one place left that makes any sense to her in the world right now. If you don’t know where that is, you don’t deserve to find her.”
“Sorry about your apartment,” Ben says, breaking up the blooming tension. “I told Penny I would try to find out who bought it and what recourse you might have.”
“Man,” she folds her arms in front of her chest. “I really want to hate the two of you. Randy told her you were gloating over your victory.”
Randy had better run the next time he sees me.
My concern turns back to Penny. She’s out there somewhere—upset and thinking I betrayed her.
Ben walks down the hallway first, and Millie leans out her door, grabbing my arm. “Don’t fuck this up. Find her, and tell her the truth.”
I nod. I can’t promise the first, but I can do the latter.
I’m wracking my brain thinking of every spot Penny told me she loved. I’m breaking down every conversation.
“Well, you know she’s safe,” Ben says, clearly antagonizing me.
“Shut up, Ben.”
“So where is she?”
I walk away from Ben and hail a cab. He’s smart enough to not follow me. It’s a long shot, but there is a chance I know where Penny is. The question changes from can I find her to what will I say once I do.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Penny
I arrange and rearrange the flowers on Aunt Julie’s grave before I stand and ready myself to go. The cemetery is quiet, just a lawn mower somewhere in the distance and a few birds chirping in the large oak tree overhead.
Like a hundred times before when I’ve needed her, Aunt Julie has listened to me cry and talk for over an hour and a half. Sometimes I’m here to share happy stories, sometimes I just need to sit in the peace and quiet. I’ve asked her so many questions over the years, and though the answers don’t come as quick as I like, I do like to think she guides where I’m supposed to be. I wonder now if I’ve gotten myself too far off the right track for even her to help me.
There’s nothing more to say. I walk the long path back to my car and stare at the cloudless blue sky. I can’t blame Dalton any more than you can blame a bee for stinging you. Use your good judgement, leave it alone, and you’ll be fine. Trap it in your hand, and you’re asking for the pain.
Knowing the blame rests on my shoulders doesn’t really dull the pain of having to face my sister in a few days. The only thing worse than that will be facing my mother. She’s bilingual in passive-aggressive language of the I told you so tribe.
“Penny,” Dalton says, making me jump. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you’d be here.”
“Dalton.” I gulp, amazed he was able to find me. He was listening.
“I called your father and asked where she was buried. He was kind of stunned, but eventually he told me. I didn’t know if you’d be here.”
“You shouldn’t have come,” I say, brushing the tears off my cheeks. “I don’t want to see you.”
“I can help you, Penny,” Dalton says, looking like if he doesn’t save the day right now he’ll die. “I put a call into a lawyer who specializes in residential leases. He’s going to do what he—”
“Please stop,” I beg, blinking the tears away. “I can’t do this, Dalton. I get that you had a part to play, and you did it really well. I don’t even blame you. If the situations were reversed my sister would have probably done the same thing. You all focus on what you want, and you don’t let anything . . . or anyone get in your way. I knew it. I understood it. And I let this happen anyway. I’m not blaming you. I should have known better.” You win. You’ll always win.
“I never meant to hurt you. That’s not why I took the lease.” His brows knit together, and I can’t read his expression. My phone dings with a message from Ben. He’s proclaiming Dalton’s innocence. I don’t know what to believe.
“I will fix this, Penny. You can believe that.”
“Do whatever you
want, Dalton. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Dalton asks, as he leans against my car and eyes me nervously.
“There is this huge canyon between you and me. You’re over there on one side with people like my mom and my sister. You want success and money. You have no trouble sending your dad’s calls to voicemail. You have no problem kicking him out. Business comes first. People like me and my father are just fools in your eyes. Judging by how all this turned out, maybe you’re right.”
“Penny—”
“I’m glad you didn’t go out of your way to hurt me or my sister. That’s great. But it doesn’t change the fact that you and I have absolutely nothing in common. We wouldn’t stand a chance even under the best circumstance. And these are not the best circumstances. I get it, every man in that place wanted me out. You all had the perfect microcosm, and I disrupted it. It’s over.”
“This was not a game for me. I’m not them.”
“Great.” I shrug, feeling completely defeated. “But you aren’t who I thought you were either.” I meet his eyes. “That man would have told me.”
Dalton drops his eyes toward the gravel and draws in a deep breath as he pulls an envelope from his pocket. “This is for your father. He has something special where he is, and I came up with some ways to monetize not his clientele but the employers looking for his services. Digital companies that aggregate résumés charge a fee and don’t have nearly the success rate your father reports. If you can help him organize his files and run some data, he can turn things around.” His voice trails off for a moment. “The details don’t matter, but he can stay in business if he makes these changes. It shouldn’t affect the front end of his business at all.”
I take the envelope from his hand and stare at him in disbelief. I need him to be the jerk I convinced myself he was. That’s how this is supposed to work. Even if the canyon shrunk by half, we’d still be too far from each other to ever make this work.
“If you need something else, you know where to find me.”
I watch him walk away and feel my heart tug in that direction. Breaking into a full run and leaping into his arms would feel pretty damn good right now. But my words remain true. The equation of Dalton and me just doesn’t add up to happiness for either one of us.
“Thanks for the stuff for my dad.” My voice breaks with emotion and for the first time I see the profound impact my pain has on him. It’s written on his face.
“Have him call me with any questions.”
“I will.” I hesitate as my heart sinks. “I’m sorry for how much this screwed up your life. I know you were happy before me.”
Dalton turns only halfway around and I can see the pain in the creases of his expression.
“I was different, that’s for damn sure.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Penny
The airport is huge, and somehow it feels small enough to suffocate me. I didn’t need to pick Kylie up. She has a service for that. However, the idea that she might hear about the pending doom before I have the chance to tell her is too scary.
“What are you doing here?” Kylie asks, looking instantly uneasy as she drops her cell phone by her side. She’s giving me her full attention. That’s a bad sign.
“I wanted to pick you up so we could talk,” I edge out as I ring my hands and try to catch my breath.
“What happened?” she demands. Her steely blue eyes have locked onto me like a torpedo that’s found its target.
“It’s a long story,” I sigh, feeling like more than my hand is caught in the cookie jar. “I don’t know where to start.”
My sister’s arrow-straight back seems to tense even tighter. “The apartment?”
“Partly,” I groan. “Your apartment. My apartment. Dad’s business. I’ve managed to pretty much wreck everything that has anything to do with our family’s success. I really screwed this up.”
“Just tell me what happened,” Kylie says, pulling me out of the path of other passengers and leading me toward the VIP section of the frequent flyer room. She swipes a card and the light flashes green as a concierge waves us in.
“Miss Fuller, welcome. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Bourbon,” Kylie barks out and then remembers I’m here. “Make it two.”
Normally I’d tell her I didn’t want a drink, but anything to take the sting out of this moment would be welcome. “Am I supposed to be in here?”
“You’re with me,” Kylie says, taking a seat in one of the plush leather chairs and waiting for me to join her. The contrast between us is vast. She’s in her favorite slate-gray power suit that fits her perfectly. Her hair is pinned back and her mascara is flawlessly applied, something I never mastered.
I, on the other hand, threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that I wish I could tear off and throw in the trash. It smells exactly like Dalton’s cologne. Every time I breathe in, it’s like he’s here with me. Just like the last few weeks, it knocks me off center in the worst way possible.
“Tell me what’s happening,” Kylie says, taking her drink and sipping it as she eyes me. I take a long swig of mine and try to stall. “Come on, Penny. I can’t fix this if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
I launch into the story with a flurry of explanations I’m certain she won’t be able to follow. It hardly makes any sense to me, and I’ve been living it for weeks. But as usual, Kylie picks it all up with ease.
“All right,” she says, leaning back in the plush chair as she considers all the drama I laid at her feet. “You have some legal recourse when it comes to your studio apartment, but I don’t think it’s worth what it’ll cost to fight them. Now I know you’re not going to want a loan or anything from me. That’s fine. I have a friend who is looking to sublet her two-bedroom while she takes on a job overseas for a year. I can put you in touch with her. The rent might be a couple hundred higher, but with the bedroom layout maybe you can bring in another roommate.”
“That could work.” My jaw is clenched so tight with nerves the words hardly come out. “But then there is still—”
“From what you tell me, the proposal that guy gave you about Dad’s business could really work. Not only work but be sustainable. I could put a week or so into getting him sorted out. I’m only pissed I didn’t think of it myself. It balances Dad’s nonsensical philosophies and profitability.”
“Kylie,” I whisper, leaning across to touch her leg. “They have your lease, and they’ve put lawyers on it. They’ve found multiple ways to exploit loopholes to get you out of there. I let them do it. I was careless and selfish and not paying attention. You get that, right?”
“Penny, I knew they wouldn’t take this lightly. I figured they’d pull all sorts of stunts. You and I are basically in open rebellion against patriarchy. That doesn’t come without resistance. That’s why I sent you there.”
“Me? I’m the worst person for the job. If you knew they were going to fight so hard, why not have someone more like you do it?”
“Do you know how many people like me?” She laughs and a couple of the bricks that are piled on my chest seem to fall away.
“No, but you must know someone who is better at this stuff than I am.”
“Penny, I needed someone in there who could get knocked down and not only get back up, but do it with a smile. You are so resilient and positive, I knew you could take whatever they threw at you. I can’t say I imagined you’d fall for my neighbor, but—”
“What?”
“I know how to win, but I don’t always know how to win people over. Maybe there was a part of me that thought you’d go in and warm the crowd up a bit. I had this image of you in the bar downstairs, holding court and having them all eating out of your hand.”
“That did not happen,” I say somberly.
“You made allies,” Kylie reminds me. “People who seem willing to go to bat for you, even when there is nothing in it for them. That’s impressive.”
?
??You heard the part where they have your lease and they’re going to use it to get you kicked out? My allies aren’t going to help with that.”
“They don’t need to.” Kylie chuckles. “I’m not worried about their lawyers or my lease. Christen Brockton owns the place now. She is going to change things at Bachelor Tower. It’s archaic and ridiculous. I had the lease gone over with a fine-tooth comb, and we knew about every single one of those loopholes. Hell, we put a few of them there on purpose. She and I have a separate contract with a nondisclosure agreement that details her plans for the place. I’m one piece on her chess board, and she has a lot of moves left.”
“But these guys are judges and politicians. They come from powerful families. They aren’t going to let things change.”
“The funny thing about change”—Kylie smirks—“is it never stops happening no matter how much people try to stop it. I want all the perks that come along with my new apartment, but more than that, I want to be part of the change. You’re right; these guys are powerful. They’re used to getting what they want when they want it. I’m not saying there won’t be resistance, but I’m not leaving.”
“What do we do now?” I ask, in complete awe of my sister’s confidence.
“We go rattle these bastards,” she says with a breezy shrug. “They owe my sister an apology.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Dalton
It’s been a busy couple of days for me. After an interesting conversation with Luther Green, I know exactly who the ringleaders are. It’s hard not to admire a man who is so rich he feels no alliance to anyone. Paul Winslow took the lead on the campaign to drive Penny out. He’s the one who produced her lease. He’s also the one who called Cannington.
I’ve never been the blackmail type, but with the help of Ben, I have compiled enough shit against Paul I can shut him down.
I haven’t seen Penny, but I’m okay with that. She needs time with her sister, and I need time to wake up a few of my neighbors. This was not Penny’s fault, and when I go to her I want to give her news that it has been resolved.