Page 65 of Willowbrooke
“Penny.” Mina stopped me. “Acknowledge your accomplishments.” She reminded me of the mantra she had learned in therapy and passed along to me somewhere along the way.
“Thank you, Mina.” I smiled bashfully. “Lunch is ready, if you’re hungry.” I motioned to the takeout containers on the counter. “You said this was your favorite in the area.”
“You are so thoughtful.” She squeezed my arm as she passed me to make herself a plate. “And where is the dashing Leo West today?”
I shook my head, taking a seat at a barstool. “Said he had some business in town.”
Mina’s shoulders slumped. “I was ready to grill him about his intentions.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. If he happened to return before we finished lunch, he’d be in for quite the interrogation. “Another time, perhaps.”
“I’ll settle for you telling me every minute detail of whatyou’ve done to redesign this space.” She grinned from ear to ear, eager for me to complete the request.
“Twist my arm,” I joked sarcastically before launching into a full postmortem of the specifics of the process, planning, and execution for the entirety of the project.
There were, after all, only minor details left to complete, a delayed purchase here and there, or random bits, like a living room side table lamp which Leo had been picky about, wanting to wait until he found one he felt was perfect for the space.
“And what about you, Penny?” Mina hedged. “Now that you’re an action hero with a legit scar from an actual bullet…” She joked, but the question was serious.
“Better,” I simpered, unsure of how to share the full breadth of how I was feeling a month later.
After the police found Margot and me, things were still quite a blur. I remembered waking up in the hospital room, where Leo was waiting at my side, having recovered from the Rohypnol Quinn had slipped in his drink, leaving him half-conscious and practically paralyzed under its control.
He remembered nothing after his first cocktail at the gala and was beyond horrified when I recounted the events of the evening from my point of view.
“You have to know—I would never…” Leo had choked, holding my hand across the hospital bed.
“I do now—I’m sorry I didn’t then. Margot plied me with so much champagne—”
“I don’t care—just so long as you know now—sober, that I couldn’t do that to you,” he pleaded, as if it was somehow his fault for what Quinn and Margot had done to him.
“Leo—”
“I love you, Penny,” he blurted out, holding back tears from guilt over something he didn’t remember, something that hadn’t been his doing at all.
“I love you too,” I replied with a watery smile, squeezing his hand to let him know that we were okay.
After being discharged from the hospital the next day with dressings over the gash at my side and multiple doctors telling me how lucky I’d been that it hadn’t been a millimeter this way or that, Leo had doted on me back at the house, afraid to leave my side for more than a couple minutes at a time, before I had to gently let him know that I was okay, and while his smothering was sweet, that he didn’t need to hover.
Margot was behind bars while awaiting her trial, having been denied bail because she was not only a flight risk, but also a danger to the community, according to the appointed judge. Leo’s lawyer was worried she might try to plead insanity, but assured us that even if she succeeded, she’d still be under lock and key.
“There may be some benefits to a sentence at an institution versus a correctional facility for someone like Margot, but considering the lifestyle she’s used to, either will be just as bad,” the lawyer had commented.
Thankfully, the DA decided my quick thinking inrecording Margot’s unhinged villainous manifesto toward Leo was more than enough for a conviction. But Quinn had also turned on Margot and would be a witness for the prosecution, in exchange for a lesser sentence—likely only probation, according to Leo’s lawyer, because of her connections. Leo wasn’t nearly as worried about Quinn as he was about Margot, but he got a restraining order against her just to be safe.
Most of the time, it felt like a bad dream, but sometimes, a visceral memory would unleash itself, shaking me to my core for a split second. It would be enough to send me reeling for a while, having to focus on my breathing and remind myself I was safe.
Even my parents reached out after hearing what had happened. Of course they brushed off the lapse in communication like it was nothing and instead probed me about my relationship with Leo.
Once again, I found myself disappointed in them. But with Leo’s support and so much on the horizon, I found it hard to let that disappointment bring me down.
Things went quite differently with Sloan.
Over an emotional visit, she tearfully explained how the thought of coming so close to losing me had made her realize how bad she felt about the state of our relationship. It wasn’t just how we had been constantly pitted against each other, but how we’d both used that as an excuse to keep our distance, even as adults.
“Do you think we can start over? Is that even possible?” She’d held my hands across the kitchen counter. “I feel like we’ve wasted so much time, and I miss you.”
Her confession was sobering, but I found I felt the same way. “I’ll always be your sister,” I told her, squeezing her hands in mine.
