Page 117 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

"If something had happened to him, you never would have forgiven yourself. I couldn't live with th

at. Not when I knew I could stop it." He stood up and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Thank you." The words spilled out of my mouth before I could even stop them. I knew Tyler was tough. But I had been so worried too. And it seemed like he had enlisted for the wrong reasons, despite what he had said.

James smiled at me.

Penny shook her head but she still looked more unbelieving than angry. "Is that why you gave him the car? To make up for what you did?"

"I was being nice." He kissed her temple.

She sighed. "Well I'd say I hope he's happy, but clearly he's not since Hailey is here and not with him." They both turned back toward me.

"I know I messed everything up by sending him away. But I just thought...I assumed the worst. I shouldn't have. It's been a tough week for me and I wasn't exactly in a good place. He left a note explaining everything though. And I need to see him. I just...I love him so much and I need him to know. Please, you have to help me. I didn't know where else to go. There's hundreds of Tyler Stevens just in New York alone."

Penny smiled up at James. "Everyone deserves a second chance."

James nodded.

She grabbed a piece of paper and started writing down some information off her phone. "Here is his number, his mom's number, and a couple of his friends' numbers. Also, his address is on here, but I doubt he's there. It kind of seemed like he wanted to be as far away from New York as possible." She pressed her lips together again, like it pained her because she knew the reason why.

From everything Tyler had said about their relationship, I thought she was a tease. Maybe it had been that way between them before. But from what I could see, she just cared about him. She wanted him to be happy. And it physically hurt her that she was causing him pain. I respected her so much for that. I didn't have any friendships that were that strong. But I could see myself getting along really well with her.

"I hope you can find him, Hailey," said James. "Tyler and I have had our differences, but he's a good guy. I hope that you two can make each other happy. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I think I'm going to go lie down for a bit."

"Are you okay?" Penny said. "Did you need me to get you anything?"

"No, no." He kissed her temple again. "I just need to rest for a couple minutes." He nodded toward me and headed over to the beautiful staircase that twisted up to a second story. I hadn't even realized there was another story until that minute.

I noticed Penny watching him over her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I felt this weird need to make sure she was okay. Like maybe Tyler would have wanted me to ask.

"I'm fine." She smiled. But there was something sad in her eyes. She looked over her shoulder again as he disappeared into a room upstairs.

I could tell she wasn't. "Is he doing alright?

"I don't know. He should be taking pain killers, but he doesn't want to..." she let her voice trail off. "I mean, he's just trying to cope without them. For health reasons. He keeps saying he feels fine, but I can tell that he's not. I don't know why he's pushing himself. And I don't know why he feels the need to tell me he's fine when clearly he isn't. It's so hard to see him in pain. He's my rock, you know?"

"Yeah. I get that."

"And then I keep getting sick. So he's trying to take care of me. Which is the last thing he should be doing. I'm sorry that I'm going on and on. Really I'm just so sick of getting morning sickness." She smiled.

"Tell me about it." I hadn't even realized what I said before it was too late.

The worry was momentarily gone from her face. "You're pregnant?"

There was no point in lying about it. I smiled. "I just found out a few days ago."

"Tyler is going to be so excited."

"You think? I'm worried he's going to freak out."

"I mean, I don't know for sure, but he's a family guy. I think he's ready for that. Just give him a second to process it. He's definitely going to be an amazing dad."

"I just hope he's willing to give me another chance."

She smiled. "If there's one thing I know about Tyler, it's that he has the biggest heart. And he loves you. You should have seen the way he looked when he talked about you."

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