Page 116 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

I wish he didn't feel like he needed to do that for my benefit. But I also understood. I was a proud person too.

The elevator dinged open. James pulled out his key and unlocked the door.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside was the breathtaking view. All I could see was miles and miles of Central Park and tall buildings in the distance. The apartment was immaculate. It was all marble and glass and stainless steel. I turned in a circle. Penny was sitting at the kitchen island drinking a cup of tea. She was every bit as beautiful as she was in pictures and on TV. She slowly got up out of her chair with a big smile.

"You feeling better?" James asked and kissed her forehead.

"Yes, you were right, the tea helped." She peeped into the grocery bag James was holding and pulled out a bag of potato chips. "You're the best." She smiled up at him.

James cleared his throat. "This is Hailey Shaw," James said and gestured to me.

"Hi, Hailey." She walked over to me and stuck out her hand. "I'm Penny."

I shook her hand. "I know. I mean, I've seen you guys. Well, like, I've heard of you." Stop being awkward. I couldn't help myself. This was the closest I had ever really been to celebrities. Even if they didn't consider themselves as such, I sure did.

Penny smiled. "It's okay. I guess we've been on the news a lot recently with everything that's been going on. It's really nice to meet you. But I am surprised that you're here. The last time we saw Tyler, he was heading to you. Did you two miss each other?"

"No, not exactly."

She opened the bag of potato chips. "I promise I'm more excited to see you than a bag of chips. I'm just hungry. Did you want some?" She held it out for me.

"No, I'm okay."

"I'm sorry, I'm being rude. Come in and have a seat. Did you want something to drink?"

"I'm fine. I'm not trying to inconvenience you at all."

"It's no inconvenience."

Penny was probably the sweetest person I had ever met. She wasn't feeling well. James wasn't feeling well. Yet here they both were, being nice to a complete stranger.

"No, no, I'm really okay," I said. "Tyler and I had this fight. He might not even want you to give me his number, but I had to try. I thought he lied to me. When I called the San Diego Recruit Depot they said they had no record of him enlisting. I freaked out. It's hard to explain, but I was writing these letters and they all got returned and I just thought he had abandoned me."

"The San Diego Recruit Depot? Isn't that where the Marine Corps trains?" Penny asked.

"Yeah. He was reporting to basic training last Friday."

"Why would he do that?" She looked upset. Like she knew maybe her decisions had pushed him there.

"He had a lot of reasons." I didn't want her to feel bad. "He said he needed to start over."

She pressed her lips together and nodded. "So what happened? You said he's not there now, right?"

"They immediately un-enlisted him. They held him in a jail cell for a week while they closed your investigation. Something about him being a part of it."

"What? The case was closed last week. James, I thought..." her voice trailed off when she looked at him.

I turned toward him too. He hadn't said a word. He was just looking down at his hands.

"James, what did you do?" Penny asked.

"Nothing you wouldn't have." He looked up at her and gave her a small smile.

"I can't believe you." She shook her head, but she didn't actually look upset.

"He was going to get himself killed. He was making a rash decision because he was upset. There was no way he actually wanted to go through with it."

"And how would you know that without talking to him about it? You can't meddle in people's life decisions. We've already talked about this. A few times."

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