Page 224 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
My dad nodded. He put his hands together on the table and looked down at them for a second. "I'm sorry. It's just...Penny's our baby." My dad didn't look angry anymore. He just seemed sad. He looked older than I remembered. As if this conversation had aged him. I had never meant to hurt him.
"I know," James said. "I understand that you're just trying to protect her. And I truly am sorry about how this happened."
"You can't really understand until you've had children of your own."
They were both silent for a second. Both their apologies seemed to be enough. The tension was slowly seeping out of the room.
"So, your relationship was written about in the paper?" my mom asked.
"Yes, there was an article in the paper this morning," said James. "If you read it, you should know that it is not accurate."
"What do you mean?"
"It's mostly from my ex wife's point of view. And it implies that there will be charges of sexual misconduct from other students I've had. And from Penny. That's not the case."
"Okay." My mom took a deep breath. "What happens now?"
James ran his hand through his hair. "It's really up to Penny. I've advised her to drop Comm. Unfortunately, the way that the information was leaked about our relationship does not make it easy going forward."
"I think it'll all die down if I ignore it. I just want things to go back to normal," I said.
"This whole thing has been blown out of proportion because of my name. Under other circumstances, it would not have gotten as much press as it has already. Normalcy is a long way off."
"So you resigned because of the allegations?" my dad said.
"They gave me the option to stay if I was willing to terminate my relationship with Penny. I wasn't willing to do that. Resigning was the only option."
"That's very romantic," my mom said.
I smiled to myself. It was romantic. Everything James did was romantic. Even dragging me here to tell my parents about the situation. He did it because he cared about me. He wanted us to have a future together. And he didn't want our future to involve keeping secrets from my parents.
James squeezed my hand and then pulled my chair back out for me. I felt so relieved. My parents seemed to understand. Love was love. All the messy details didn't really matter. And I felt so relieved, like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest. I sat back down and so did James.
"And if things can't proceed as normal, what then?" my dad asked.
"Honestly, I'm not sure what the backlash is going to be like," James said. "The blame for this lies on me, not Penny. It is my understanding that the University of New Castle will make that clear. If things don't go smoothly, she can always apply for different schools next semester."
No.I didn't want to change schools. Everything was going to be okay. "Mom, Dad, it's going to be fine. I went to class this morning and it wasn't even that bad." I thought about Raymond Asher's harsh comments. If Tyler hadn't shown up to defend me, would everything have been fine? I shook away the thought. That was Comm. My other classes would be different.
"Unfortunately we both need to get to work. Are you sure we can't get you to stay for dinner?" my mom asked.
"No, we need to get back." I just wanted to be alone with James. This day couldn't be over soon enough.
"Okay." My mom looked over at my dad.
"Do you mind if we talk to Penny alone for a second?" my dad asked.
"Of course." James stood up. "I'll be outside." He put his hand on my shoulder for a second and then walked out of the kitchen.
When the front door closed, my parents still didn't say anything.
"Mom, Dad, thank you for understanding. I know that you're probably disappointed in me. And I'm so sorry that..."
My dad held up his hand to stop me from talking.
I swallowed hard. I wished James was still sitting beside me.
"We just want you to be happy, Penny," my mom said.
