Page 56 of That Thing You Brew
She didn’t smile. Instead, she stood, adjusted the boy in her arms, and darted offstage.
My heart plummeted to the floor. I tightened my grip on the wiggly bunny as I reached the stairs at the side of the stage. I paused to let Gabby cut in front of me as she took off after Penny.
Bryce and Noel waited for me by the stairs while I returned Miss Cabunny to her basket behind the curtain. This time I made sure the latch was secure. Instead of following Penny to the green room, I went back down the steps and joined my teammates.
On stage, Penny’s harp was being carried off, and I could hear the band’s movements behind the middle curtain. I guessed she was done for the night.
“Nice job catching that thing.” Bryce tapped a finger on the basket. “You’ll be okay, little bunny-boo. Where did it come from, Swanny? I don’t remember a magician.”
“He never showed up.” I didn’t care that my voice had an edge to it. “He left Penny to bunny-sit, and she didn’t want to leave Abby here alone in the green room. I’m the dummy that didn’t latch the basket.”
“Ah. Well, if you don’t need me anymore, I guess I’ll take off. Good luck.” He clapped me on the back and bro-hugged Noel.
“Coming with me?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Noel followed me out of the ballroom and down the hall to the green room’s door.
I nodded to him to open it, and we entered. The magician was arguing with security, Gabby was securing the harp into its case, and Penny was in a corner with the boy, rubbing his back.
“We are going home! With the bunny!” The Great Whatshisnamedini shouted at the two police officers and fixed an angry glare on me. I set the basket down by the door and hurried over to Penny. She whispered something into the boy’s ear, and he left her lap to go check on the bunny.
I offered a hand to Penny to help her up, but she shook her head, using her fingers to comb out the knots in her hair. Her eyes were red and puffy.
I wanted—no, needed—to kiss all of that sadness away. I squatted beside her. “What can I do?”
“N-nothing, th-thank you,” she whispered. Her face contorted like she was going to cry again. She looked past me, and I turned to see Gabby standing above us, her hand extended toward Penny. Penny took it, and Gabby hoisted her to her feet.
The snub stung. No one in the ballroom could possibly know or think that Penny was at fault for what had transpired. From my view, it was all the magician’s doing.
“Pen?” I asked, pleading for her to let me comfort her or help.
“Xavier, p-please, I … have to g-go. I’m s-so em-emb…barrassed.”
“Penny, I’m so sorry. This isn’t your fault. I didn’t latch it, and the magician?—”
“I kn-know. B-b-but I—puh-please. All th-the ph-phones … re…cording. I … L-let me g-go. I … need … to b-be al-lone.”
“I got her, Xavier,” Gabby said from behind me. “Penny? Let me drive you home.”
Penny nodded and turned away. I wanted to fix this, make it better. She was stuttering again, and it was all on me. I’d taken a perfect day and turned it into a bad memory.
Noel got the harp, and I gathered up all her other stuff, plus my hat from the floor behind the chair. A heavy sense of dread descended upon me as we loaded it all into her car.
Penny avoided looking at me as Gabby backed out of the parking space. I lifted my hand to wave anyway and watched the car get smaller until the taillights vanished into the night.
“She’ll be okay.” Noel clamped his hand on my shoulder. “Just text her that you love her and give her time to respond.”
I turned to him in surprise. “Love her?” I was surprised to hear that from him. He’d known me well enough to know that Penny and I hadn’t been secretly dating like I might have implied when we announced our engagement to her family. Lucky for me—and I thank the emerald—he didn’t push me for an explanation.
Noel shook his head with a short laugh. “You two couldn’t hide it if you tried. I don’t know what your story is, but the feelings are there, on both sides.”
“Thanks. It’s quite a story and not one we’re ready to share.”
“No problem from me. I need to go get Gabby’s stuff. See you at morning skate.”
I shuffled to my car, feeling sorry for myself. We had a home game tomorrow. Would she show up to make my coffee?
If she didn’t, then I knew we were in real trouble.
