Page 85 of The Complete Truth Duet
His arms looped around me, pulling me into his chest. His heart was pounding, but his body remained slack. “I should have asked you. The very first day. But, as much as I hated to admit it, I was in awe of you from the moment I saw you. You were this gorgeous woman staring up at me, so filled with fear that it made you fearless. I was jealous, baby. Because fear and anger and resentment had been dictating my life since the day I watched her die.”
A chill prickled my skin. He was making no sense, but it sounded like a confession flowing from his soul.
I rested my chin on his chest and peered up at him. “What are you talking about right now?”
He didn’t answer my question as much as he just continued. “But then I would have missed having you. It was worth it.” He smiled, his forehead crinkling with pain. “You’re a good woman, Cora. A good mom. A good person.” For the first time since I’d been with Penn, he reached up and tapped the star hanging around my neck. “One in. One out. No matter how hard it gets. You keep breathing.”
My eyes filled with tears as Nic’s words from the past came back at me from Penn’s mouth. As far as I could remember, I’d never told him that story.
But Penn fell asleep under those stars every night too. Maybe it was a given.
He dipped low and touched my lips. “It’s been a crazy day, baby. Lie down with me?”
I nodded, ready for nothing more.
Penn and I climbed into bed that night. He assumed his position on his back. I assumed mine with my head on his chest. I didn’t think I’d ever fall asleep that night. I spent at least an hour staring at River in the bed beside us, watching her chest rise and fall while stressing about if Savannah’s was doing the same thing.
Was she okay? How was she feeling? Was she scared?
Could Penn really get her back for me?
Sleep eventually devoured me.
So much so that I didn’t feel him climb out of bed.
I didn’t hear him whisper, “I love you,” when he kissed me on the forehead.
And I completely missed the door clicking behind Penn Walker as he walked out of my life for the very last time.
Penn
One week before I lost her…
“Hey! There’s my hunk of a husband,” she cooed through the speaker of my phone, but the screen remained black.
I fought with my suit coat, trying to shake it off with one arm while keeping the phone steady with the other. “I can’t see you.”
“Hang on. The internet is shit here.”
I set the phone on the granite island in the middle of our closet and turned my fight on my cufflinks.
“What about now?” she asked.
I leaned over to see the screen. “Nope. Still black.”
“What about”—her beautiful, smiling face suddenly appeared on the screen—“now.”
“Nope,” I lied, biting my bottom lip to suppress a laugh.
“Ughhh!” she groaned, bringing it to her face. Her nose scrunched adorably as she squinted, clearly not wearing her contacts.
“You out of contacts?” I asked, starting on my button-down, the promise of a T-shirt calling my name.
“Huh?”
I could see straight up her nose as she flipped the phone in every which direction. I wasn’t able to hide that laugh. “Lisa, stop. I was kidding. I can see you.”
Her toffee-brown eyes perked as she stretched her arm out, allowing the rest of her face to fill the screen. “Is it working?”
After tugging on the soft, washed-out cotton of whatever vintage band T-shirt my hand had hit first, I picked the phone up and shot her a smile. “Yeah, crazy. It’s working. How’s it—what the hell are you wearing?”
She glanced down at the skintight scrap of black leather that was wrapped around her midsection and replied, “A dress.”
“Absolutely,” I replied, walking back to our bedroom and settling on the bed, “if you were Catwoman. But, seeing as how you are a mere human with no feline reflexes or expert combative skills, I’m going to ask again: What the hell are you wearing?”
She huffed. “You forgot the whip.”
“You have a whip!”
She laughed wildly. “No, Shane. Catwoman has a whip. I was just correcting your seriously lackluster comic book knowledge.”
I glared at her.
She smiled back.
“The dress, Lisa. Explain.”
She walked across the room, propping the phone against her computer, tilting and angling until I could see most of the room. She backed toward her suitcase which was opened across the foot of the bed, clothes hanging out on every side. “I’m supposed to be seducing a man. You caught me before I had the chance to change.”
“Oh wow,” I deadpanned. “Exactly what every man wants to hear from his wife.” I leaned in close as she peeled the dress over her head to reveal a sexy-as-sin pair of black lace panties and no bra. I sucked in a sharp breath through my teeth. She’d been gone for over a month this time, and I’d missed more than just her dinner company. “Whoa, slow down,” I objected as she pulled a pale-pink nightgown on.
