Page 63 of The Complete Truth Duet
I loved my girls. I’d claw my way out of a grave before I ever left them behind.
But every word out of Penn’s mouth had been a bald-faced lie.
And the gratitude I felt inside made my knees weak. Penn had used things he knew or had observed to make them feel loved in ways simple words never could have properly conveyed.
I’d always hated lies. I’d spent most of my life having them fed to me. As far as I was concerned, they only lulled a person into a state of false security.
But right then, I’d never been so grateful for anything in my life.
My damn eyes started to water again as Penn revealed just how bright his light truly was. He’d been protecting us from day one.
Pulling the shower curtain.
Cleaning Angela’s apartment.
Sitting outside my door.
And he’d been waiting. Maybe not seven hundred years. But he’d been there every night, talking and spending time getting to know me with little to no expectations.
And he understood that I’d never turn my back on River and Savannah. So much so that he’d lied to them to make sure they knew it, too.
No matter how much I tried to forget about it, I still had that distorted spotlight of my own. And for the first time since Nic died, I felt a cool shadow on my face as Penn blocked it out.
I blinked. Like, a lot. Penn had already declared that he was taking care of me. But this was different.
This was a promise.
A vow.
An undeniable truth.
And, worst of all, it gave me hope.
Nothing in the world had ever disappointed me, broken me, or destroyed me quite like hope.
And feeling that with Penn? Well, it scared the hell out of me.
I turned into his chest to hide my face from the girls.
His strong arms folded around me as I burst into tears.
“So, as you can see, I’m here. You’re all safe. No matter what. Now, if you could head out and say a prayer for me, Cora’s about to chew my ass for telling you all the things we talk about in private,” Penn said, curling me close.
River coughed, like maybe she had a few emotions of her own that she didn’t want to reveal. “Yeah. Okay. I, uh…I think we should go to bed now.”
“Sure,” Savannah whispered, all the fight gone from her voice. “Bed. Sounds good.”
I heard their feet on the wood as they hurried down the hall, pausing only for a few mumbled goodnights.
Drew was next. “I’m gonna head out, too. You good to set up that frame on your own?”
“Yeah, man. Thanks for helping.”
“Not a problem.” Drew patted my back. “Night, Cor.”
“Night, Drew,” I replied into Penn’s chest.
When the door finally shut, Penn dipped his head and put his lips to my ear. “You okay?”
I shook my head.
“Good not-okay or bad not-okay?” he asked.
“I’m not sure yet.” A wave of tears clogged my throat until I was barely able to get a word out. “You…you lied to them.”
He kissed the side of my face. “Not all lies are bad, babe. Sometimes, they’re necessary. We’ve been spending a lot of time together. They’re kids. They just needed to hear that they’re still the most important thing in your life.”
My breathing shuddered and I brought a hand up between us to cover my mouth, talking around it as I replied, “They are. They so are.”
“I know. And, now, they know it, too.”
I couldn’t get close enough as I wiggled into his arms. “God, Penn. How are you so incredible?”
“Finally, she asks a how instead of a why.”
I peeked up at him. “Huh?”
He grinned. “Few weeks ago, you’d have been asking me why I helped you. Tonight, you asked how I was so incredible. That’s a big step, Cora.”
He wasn’t wrong. It was a huge step for me.
And it had happened so effortlessly.
Kinda like falling in love.
Blink.
Blink.
Blink.
“Shit, you’re gonna cry again,” he mumbled.
I face-planted in his chest again. “But I think it’s a good not-okay this time.”
“You want to figure it out while I put your new bed together?”
“You’re handy with a screwdriver, so I’m not sure that’s going to be enough time.”
He chuckled. “Right, but at least, this way, when you’re done thinking and I try to kiss you into being better than good not-okay, we’ll have a comfortable surface.”
I choked a laugh. “You’re a really sweet guy, Penn. Saying all that to the girls. Doing nice things like getting me a bed. Promising to take care of me.”
“Making you cry all the time,” he added to my list.
“No. Not that. I told you that was medical.”
He laughed, sliding his arms around my waist and pulling me flush with his front. “Then what is it, baby? Because, from where I’m standing, none of those things seem bad.”
“They’re not bad. They’re really amazing.”
And they were. But nothing in my life stayed amazing for long.
