Page 16 of Loved

But it was from Mason: “I’m good, man. Excited to see you in a couple weeks.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. So the strange invitationwasfrom him. I held up my phone for Ian to see. “The invitation was from Mason after all.”

“I thought you already knew that?”

“Last night when you called, I couldn’t get the invitation out of my head. I thought Isabella had maybe sent it. That she was fucking with my friends or something.”

“Ah. That explains why you asked me if your friends were okay. I would have asked you more about that last night but…I was preoccupied with the imminent shit show.”

“Well, one less thing to worry about.” I slid my phone back into my pocket. “I’m excited to catch up with them.”

“So will you just go to New York for the day?”

“Probably. Penny still wants to go to school here I think.”

“You think?”

“She was freaking out about possibly losing her scholarship this morning. She was happy she just got two strikes on her record instead of being expelled. And she seemed eager to get back to class and out of that meeting.”

“James Hunter,” Ellen said firmly as she walked out of my bedroom with a load of laundry. “What on earth are you doing?”

I glanced at Ian.

“You’re in so much trouble,” he said.

I turned back to Ellen. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“You’re bulldozing that girl. You’re not putting her feelings first. You’re making all the decisions without consulting her.”

“That’s what I was saying,” Ian said.

Jesus, why were my employees acting like my therapist right now? One therapist was plenty. “I resignedforher. That is putting her feelings first.”

“How was it for her if she didn’t tell you she wanted that?”

“Because it was the only way for us to stay together. And I was going to talk to her about all this. There wasn’t time. But we’ll talk about it all now.”

“When?” Ellen set the laundry basket down and put her hands on her hips. “Tell me when.”

“Penny’s coming back for lunch.”

“She’s in the lion’s den and you’re planning lunch? And you didn’t even tell me! What am I supposed to make? I might need to head to the store because Ian’s just finished the lasagna.” She gestured angrily to Ian.

“Sorry,” Ian said around his last forkful.

“We need a team meeting,” Ellen said. She walked over to us and sat down at the kitchen counter too. “Penny is the best thing that’s happened to you in a long time, and you’re going to ruin it. And of course she went to class this morning because she was mad at you. Obviously.”

“So you were eavesdropping on the whole conversation then?”

“Yes,” she said. “Grabbing laundry isn’t loud. But you two are with your gabbing.”

Ian laughed.

“And what is this about cameras?”

Ian’s laughter died in his throat.

“It’s…security,” I said.

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