Page 18 of Loved

The class was quickly emptying out. Everyone was whispering and I didn’t need to hear it to know what they were talking about. But Penny was nowhere in sight. I frowned and stared at the door until she finally emerged. It looked like she was seconds away from bursting into tears.

Fuck.Her arms were wrapped around herself like she was trying to make herself smaller. The whispering grew louder. People were staring.

I waited until she was a step away from the closet before I opened the door. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the closet next to me. The door closed and it was pitch-black, but I’d already seen how she was feeling.

"Are you okay?" I asked as my eyes slowly adjusted.

She immediately burst into tears.

"Penny?" I pulled her face against my chest and ran my fingers through her hair. I didn’t know what to do to make this better other than holding her. "I don't like seeing you cry. Tell me what you need."

She didn't respond. She just continued to cry.

"Penny, please talk to me," I said.

"I told you I'd give up everything for you," she sobbed. "I said I didn't care about finishing school here. I said we could run away together. I'll do whatever you want. Please don't do this."

I put my hands on her shoulders. "Do what? What are you talking about?" I’d already resigned. I couldn’t just undo that.

"Please. I can't lose you. I know what living is like when we aren't together. I don't want to feel that way again. I can't feel that way again."

"You're not losing me. Hey." I grabbed her chin and tilted her head up so that I could see her eyes. "I love you. Where is this coming from?"

"You're not breaking up with me?"

"No." I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The thought was preposterous. What had even given her that idea? I’d just quit my job to ensure that we could stay together. "Penny, no."

"Well don't say things like we need to talk then," she said through her tears. "When people say that, it means they want to break up."

I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t laugh again. "You really do watch too much T.V." I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. "Please stop crying."

She took a deep breath. There were still tears on her cheeks, but she looked a little pissed off now. "We're supposed to be a team."

"We are a team."

"No, we're not. You made the decision to quit without even discussing it with me first."

"I listened to what Joe had to say. There wasn't even a decision that needed to be made. There was only one option."

"But you had already decided,” she said. “You had a resignation letter with you."

"I like to be prepared..."

"You knew what you were going to do.”

Yeah, fair.I didn’t really know what to say. I’d wanted to talk to her about it. We didn’t get a chance. But I did all this to protect her. I did it for her. For us.

“You knew and you didn't tell me. I felt blindsided in there."

"I told you to let me go alone. I asked you to let me handle it. And it was my choice to make. Not yours."

"What? It was a decision that affects both of us. Why do you want to do everything alone? I gave up everything to be with you. Stop pushing me away."

"Please stop crying. I don't know what you want me to do.” I couldn’t take back what had happened this morning. It was done. And I just wanted to move past it. “I want to give you what you need. Please just tell me what you want. Let me reassure you about how I feel." I wiped away more of her tears with my thumbs.

She grabbed the back of my neck and kissed me hard.

I had not been expecting that. But I liked this turn of events. I grabbed her waist and pulled her against me. My hands slid to her ass. Yeah, I definitely liked this turn of events. If there was one thing I knew we were good at, itwas makeup sex. But I didn’t want to do it in this lemon scented closet.

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