Page 77 of Loved

"What does that mean exactly?"

"He lives off my parents' money. He's never held a job for more than a few weeks." I pulled out of the parking lot.

"Oh. So is he close with your parents?"

Closer than I am, that’s for sure."It's funny. I felt like I was the only one of my siblings who ever listened to them. And they like me the least."

"I'm sure that isn't true."

No, it was true. My parents hated me for selling my company. For leaving Isabella. For living my life the way I wanted. Yet, Jen and Rob could do whatever they wanted and my parents didn’t say a word.

"Do your parents know about me?” Penny asked. “Do they know about your divorce?"

"They know I filed for divorce. I told them about it before I did it. They tried to talk me out of it." My mother thought I was an idiot. Her exact words. And I thought she was an over-botoxed bitch. I was pretty sure I’d said those exact words to her face.

"And what about me?"

"I haven't talked to them since I left New York."

"They haven't tried to talk to you at all? That was almost a year ago."

I glanced at her for a second before turning my attention back to the road. "I didn't say that." My mother had reached out. A few times. She’d left voicemails about how divorcing Isabella would be the biggest mistake of my life. I’d deleted them instead of calling her back. My motherpreferred when I was numb to the world. When she could control me. But I was done living my life that way.

"So they have tried to talk to you? And you haven't taken their calls or something? James, maybe..."

"Penny. It's better this way."

"I'll have to meet them eventually."

Unfortunately."I know. How about you meet Rob first. Then you can decide if you want to meet the rest of my family." That was actually a terrible way to decide. Penny would love Rob. And she’d get the wrong impression and want to meet my parents too. My parents couldn’t be more different than Rob though.

"I think Rob sounds great. Does he know about me?"

"No, actually. He doesn't even know that my divorce is final." I wanted to surprise him.

"So he thinks that it's just going to be two single rich bachelors in a college town? He's going to hate me."

I laughed. "He's not going to hate you."

"He probably thinks you're going to go out every night and pick up girls."

"I'm sure he wishes that's what we would be doing. But he knows I wouldn't have done that whether I had a girlfriend or not."

"Why wouldn't you if you were single? Wasn't that kind of the point of inviting Rob to live with you in the first place? To get over me?"

"I don't go to bars and pick up women. I like to practice self-control, Penny." It was weird being so open with her about my issues. But also…good. Yeah, it was good. But my hands were gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. I didn’t like talking about my addiction problems with her. But I knew it was important. She needed to know every side of me. Even the bad.

"So what made you give in to temptation with me?"

That was an easier question. "You. I've never been so instantly attracted to someone in my life. You're different than other girls I've met. You chose option two."

She laughed. "Our day in New York was perfect. I'll always choose option two."

"I know. And I couldn't seem to control myself around you." I glanced at her again. "Not because I'm addicted to you." I’d been over and over that issue with Dr. Clark. And I wanted to believe that he was right about this.

"I don't care if you're addicted to me, you know. I'm addicted to you."

I pulled to a stop at a light. "That's different, Penny." It was cute when she said she was addicted to something. It was a lot more sinister when I said it.

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