My heart skipped at hearing those words. Gabriel cared about me, and not just in a platonic way. He cared about me in a way that could lead to something more. I reached out to grab hold of one of his hands resting on my shoulder, and I squeezed his fingers encouragingly. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, trying to convince my mom after everything that had happened with Dylan.
“I need some space to try and wrap my head around what is going on here. I don’t like it, though. Not one bit. I have to be honest with you, Penny. I don’t think you’re making the right decision here, no matter what Gabriel says or what you think is happening between you two.”
I resisted the urge to point out that she’d never agreed with any of my decisions after leaving to go to college. None of those decisions had ruined my life like she predicted they would. Her decisions were the ones that had fucked up every
thing in my life, not mine.
“The police called just before I got out of bed and let me know that they had Dylan in custody. I’m going back to my hotel room,” she said, sighing. “When you come to your senses, Penny, come talk to me.”
A tumult of emotions crashed over me. I knew that I was an adult and shouldn’t care about my mother’s opinions or approval, but I did.
She turned and walked away. I clutched Gabriel’s hand tightly, and we watched my mother stride out into the bright daylight and hail a cab.
“Are you okay, Penny?” Gabriel asked.
My eyes slipped closed at the gentle question. “I’m fine, Gabriel. It’s just going to take a lot of convincing to get her to calm down.”
“It was difficult for her to see us like that,” he said. “I know that it was. I would be very upset as a parent if I came home to find Neil kissing Alyssa.”
Gabriel rested the top of his chin on my head. “Don’t worry about a thing, Penny. Everything is going to work out in the end.”
The doors to the lobby opened again followed by an icy blast of frigid winter air. I pulled back from Gabriel’s arms just in time as Alyssa stepped inside. She stopped in surprise to see the two of us standing there. She swept a look over us before letting out a long groan.
“Please tell me nothing bad happened while I was gone,” she said.
“Nothing happened,” I said.
Liar.
That lone word lingered in the back of my mind as I followed Gabriel and Alyssa to the elevator. Now that my mother knew what was going on, God only knew how long it would be until Alyssa found out.
CHAPTER NINETEEN – GABRIEL
It had physically hurt to let go of Penny the night before, but I knew that she needed time alone to gather her thoughts. After parting ways and going to bed, I had stared up at the dark ceiling of my bedroom for a majority of the night while I mentally went over what I would say to Nikki to calm her fears. I did care about Penny, more than I ever had about another woman since Kelly.
There was just something about the connection between the two of us that I couldn’t put my finger on. I wanted our relationship to keep going forward. The realization hit me hard the next morning when I rose after a few hours of troubled sleep to shower and dress for the day. I wanted a relationship. Not just a fling, like Nikki firmly believed that I wanted from her daughter.
I padded my way down the hallway past Alyssa’s closed door. I sighed in relief to find Penny perched on her usual barstool near the kitchen island with a full cup of coffee in hand. She turned to look at me with puffy red eyes as I entered the kitchen.
“Morning,” she said. “I’m glad that I’m not the only who looks like shit after last night.”
“You aren’t the only who lost sleep,” I said, gladly pouring myself a cup of coffee. I sat down next to Penny on the other stool. “Did you talk to your mom anymore after she left last night?”
Penny shrugged her shoulders indifferently. “Nothing different than the conversation back in the lobby. She offered to come get me if I changed my mind about coming back to New York with her for Christmas. You know, ‘if I came to my senses’, as she put it.”
I grimaced at that. I didn’t like feeling like I was some sort of sick man for being attracted to a woman who was a consenting adult. The accusation that Nikki had tossed at me the night before didn’t sit well with me at all. None of her accusations were true, and I didn’t know how to show her she was wrong about me.
“It’s going to be difficult,” Penny continued, tracing the rim of her coffee cup. “You realize that, right? If you meant everything that you said last night, my mom was just the start of it.”
I set my cup down to wrap an arm around Penny’s shoulders. I drew her in and pressed a tender kiss to her temple. I savored the feeling of her sinking into me without hesitation. She felt so right in my arms, like she was always meant to be there.
“I meant every word of what I said,” I told her. “I care about you. We went about this in the wrong way, without a doubt, but we can still be together if that’s what you want too.”
“It is,” she said. “It’s what I want. More than anything in the world.”
My heart pounded with relief, hearing her say that. Penny leaned back to land a quick kiss on my lips with a small smile. She looked down at her lap for a long time before looking up at me with tired eyes.
“I have to go talk to my mom at some point today,” she said. “Try to smooth things over. I don’t think she’s going to leave without a fight if I don’t convince her that I’m okay.”