“Everything inside me says yes, but what if he doesn’t love me enough?”
“Oh, I’d say he loves you more than enough.”
“How do you know?” Her heart started to pound.
“I just do.”
Before she could think anymore, the door blew open and Penelope whipped around, hoping it was Evan, only to be crushed with disappointment to find Sophie standing there.
“You’re not Evan,” she said, then burst into tears.
Sophie sighed and walked over and gathered Penelope up in her arms. “At least I know you’re not entirely an idiot.”
“Not entirely,” she wailed. She tried to pull herself together but couldn’t. She was just all logic-ed out.
Sophie patted her on the back. “There, there. I’ve been waiting for this for years. So this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to enjoy our first breakdown over a boy, then you’re going to pick yourself up, stop being an idiot, and go make up with that poor man you’re torturing. I mean, geez, Penelope, I always knew you were a ballbuster, but this is going too far.”
The Scotch turned on her, swinging her emotions all over the place. Sobbing, Penelope hiccupped. “H-he’s t-t-tortured?”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Of course he is, he loves you. I mean, he said you didn’t believe him, so tell me, what’s it going to take to talk some sense into you? Do I need to slap you?”
Sam rubbed his jaw. “That could get interesting.”
Penelope laughed, then burst into tears again.
“See, this is what you get when you don’t talk to anyone,” Sophie said, handing her a napkin. “You get all sorts of fucked-up thoughts and nobody knows you’ve gone straight off the deep end into crazy, so they can’t talk you out of them.”
“I’m supposed to be immune,” Penelope wailed, wobbled and fell off the bar stool, landing in a heap on the floor.
Sophie sighed down at her, shaking her head. “When they fall, they fall hard.”
Sam laughed, leaning over the bar. “You need help there?”
“I’ve got her.” Sophie grabbed Penelope’s arm and yanked her up from the floor. “Up you go.”
Penelope stumbled, then held out her hands. “I’m okay.”
Sophie cocked a brow at Sam. “How much did you give her?”
Sam eyed Penelope. “I thought she needed a good meltdown.”
“Well done,” Sophie said, helping Penelope back onto the stool. She turned to Sam. “Would you mind excusing us for a moment? I think we need some girl time that will need to be vaulted forever.”
Sam grinned. “Sure. I have some paperwork to do, just give me a call if anyone wanders in.”
“Deal.”
Sam took his leave and Sophie glared at her. “All right, let’s hear it. What happened? ’Cause you’ve been dodging me for weeks, and that’s never a good sign. So spill, and don’t leave anything out.”
Penelope meant to regain some composure but she cried out, “I’m not pregnant.”
Sophie blinked before her eyes went wide with shock. “Okay, honey, you’re going to have to start this story before that.”
And Penelope did. In between sobbing, hiccups, blowing her nose, and about five hundred tissues, she told Sophie every single detail of her Evan saga.
Every. Single. Detail.
The dirty parts. The sad parts. The humiliating parts. And every other part in between.
She spilled all her secrets, leaving no stone unturned.
Through it all Sophie nodded, sighed, oohed and aahed, and even shed a few tears of her own when Penelope told her about that night she’d lost her virginity.
They talked for three hours. People came and left. Sam wandered in and out, an unobtrusive shadow who took care of their every need without asking.
When she was through, Sophie nodded and said, “Okay, first things first. One, from this day forward you are not allowed to keep secrets like this. You’ve been carrying this around for a million years and if I’d known I would have set you straight a long time ago. Two, if you want the guy’s babies, have them. He’s clearly amenable. Three, what is your problem? Are you going to throw away the love of a lifetime because of some stupid issues you have?”
Penelope blinked, her head snapping back.
“I’m going to tell you something and I trust you will never repeat it. But do you honestly think you were the only friend of Maddie’s that had a crush on Evan Donovan?”
“Ummm . . .” The alcohol had made her a bit dim-witted. “Yes?”
Sophie waved a hand. “Please. Every single girl who ever went over to Maddie’s house had a crush on him, including me. But you’re the only one he ever touched.”
“You don’t like Evan.”
“Well, sure, not now, but as a boy-crazed teenager I did. Only he never gave me the time of day. He never paid attention to me like he did to you.”
“Evan never paid attention to me. Everyone knows that.”
Sophie shook her head. “You have so much to learn about men. Um, yes, he did. He used to look at you all the time. And pull your ponytail. And tease you. I was soooo jealous. If I had any idea he was taking you down to the infamous Donovan basement and violating you, well, we probably wouldn’t be friends today.”
“I didn’t know.”
Sophie let out a screech. “Why do you think Kim Rossi hated you so much?”
“I didn’t know she hated me until Evan told me.”
“I’m ninety percent sure she was actively plotting your murder.”
Penelope wiped the tears away. “I don’t know why this matters.”
“I’m trying to give you that proof you’re looking for. Evan has always had a thing for you. He’s never treated you the way he treated other women. And it’s so obvious after watching him that he loves you, Pen. I’d kill for a guy to look at me that way.”
Penelope’s breath caught. “What way?”
Sophie sighed, her expression softening. “Like you’re everything he never knew he always wanted. Like he hasn’t eaten in a month and you’re a medium-rare steak. Like his whole world is better because you’re in it.”
“Evan looks at me that way?”
“Yes!” Sophie smiled. “You’re just too busy thinking about spreadsheets to pay attention.”
Sophie was right, she was so busy trying not to pay attention to Evan for fear someone would guess her deepest secret, that she never got to witness what was so clear to her friend. Penelope reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Penelope ran her finger over the ridge of her glass. “You really think I should have his babies?”
Sophie laughed. “I really do.”
The heavy weight that had been plaguing her for weeks lifted and her heart expanded and her eyes welled with tears. And just like that, after all the fight and struggle, she gave up the ghost of the past, that fateful night so long ago when they were just kids and too stupid to know what they meant to each other. She loved Evan and he loved her. She deserved that life with him, and was brave enough to take it.
She was ready.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Evan.” A soft whisper through his restless sleep. He shot awake, blinking into the darkness. He had no idea when he’d drifted off, but he’d felt like he’d been waiting for an eternity.
Penelope stood over the bed, the moonlight streaming over her, casting her dark hair in its eerie glow.
“You came back,” he said, his voice hoarse with sleep.
She nodded. “I’m ready to believe.”
He rolled over on his back. “You are?”
She climbed on top of him, straddling him. “I love you so much.”
Relief, swift and powerful, swept through him. He placed his palms on her bare skin, resisting the urge to turn her over and just drive into her. “I love you too, Penelope.”
She leaned down, that hair that had been driving him crazy for as long as
he could remember forming a curtain around his face. “I’m sorry, I was wrong. I’ve been running scared and I can only promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“I don’t blame you. You’re right—” She cut him off by brushing a kiss over his lips. She tasted like alcohol and her. “Are you drunk?”
“Not as much as I was. But enough to see how stupid I was being.” Her voice was soft in the darkness. “I want you to know, it wasn’t you. It was just hard for me to believe I landed the boy of my dreams. It was doubt in myself, not you.”
He trailed a path down her cheeks. “You’re the girl of my dreams too, you know?”
“I do,” she said, and he didn’t catch even a hint of doubt in her eyes.
“You believe?”
“I do.”
There was a new love and trust shining in her eyes and finally, after all these years, he relaxed. He was back where he’d been meant to be all along.
She leaned down. “From this day forward, the past stays where it belongs, in the past. You’re absolved of the sins committed by a seventeen-year-old boy who had lost his father. I should have forgiven you a long time ago.”
“I’m still sorry I hurt you.”
She scraped her teeth over his jaw, then sat up and swept off her tee and dropped it to the floor. “I’m sorry I hurt you too.” She leaned down and kissed him, her mouth hot and hungry on his.
He growled and flipped her over. “I need you so much, Penelope.”
“I need you too.” She lifted her hips and he slid her shorts and panties down her legs. She pulled him back down and kissed him like she was starving. “I just want you.”
He’d had this plan in his head, of how he’d woo and convince her, how he’d make it all up to her, but nothing between them happened the right way. And the truth was he needed to secure their future right now. He released her mouth. “Will you marry me?”
Her questing hands stilled. “You want to marry me?”
“I’d marry you right this second if it was legally possible. If I didn’t think you secretly wanted a big wedding, I’d whisk you off to Vegas and marry you in the first chapel we happened across.”
A smile flirted over her lips. “Why do you think I want a big wedding?”
He laughed. “Because I know you. And I know there’s this part of you that wants to have all eyes on you, even if it’s only temporary.”
Her expression turned curious. “Why would you think that?”
He chuckled. “You don’t think I’ve noticed how hot you get at the idea of being watched?”
She burst out laughing and covered her eyes. “You’re the worst.”
He pinched her. “I believe we have a question on the table.”
“Yes, I will marry you.” She pulled him close.
“We’ll get a ring as soon as we get back to Chicago.”
“All right.” She gave him the most seductive, most satisfied grin he’d ever seen. “I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“The first time I laid eyes on you, I knew I was going to marry you.”
He laughed. “You were six.”
“I know.” She clutched at his back, her nails raking down his skin. “Take me.”
He rocked against her. “How do you want it?”
She moaned and then opened her eyes to meet his gaze. “Mark me.”
He’d been marking her since that first time so many years ago, and he had no intention of stopping now. “Always.”
“Make me yours.”
He slid a hand around her neck and gripped her throat. “You are mine. You always have been and you always will be.”
She pressed her hips into his. “And don’t you ever forget it.”
“Not in a million years.”
* * *
Penelope walked through the little local bar, Lucky’s, on her way from the restroom to Evan, nodding and stopping to say hello to the people she recognized. It was Evan’s reunion, but she ended up knowing more people than she realized.
It had only been a month since that night in Revival, but things were moving at lightning speed. Evan had put his condo up for sale, had started his job, and couldn’t be happier with his new career choice.
It turned out Evan’s fears were unfounded and he’d taken to coaching like a duck to water. The job filled him with a renewed purpose, and with the gleam in his eyes when he watched game tapes, she didn’t doubt that he’d be a head coach someday. Hopefully here in Chicago, but they’d determined that night in Revival that they would do everything together, no matter what, and they’d cross that bridge when they came to it.
Everyone was thrilled they were getting married, and Maddie tried to convince Evan to wait until after she had the baby, but Evan said he’d been waiting for fifteen years, and he refused to wait any longer.
He’d given Penelope six months to plan the wedding, which wasn’t as difficult as she’d thought once she started throwing Evan’s name around. Turns out being a future NFL wife had some perks, and Penelope wasn’t above using them to her advantage.
They’d had a long talk about their pregnancy scare and she’d confessed all her mixed-up emotions about that time. And even though kids were high on the list, they decided after all the time they’d spent apart, they wanted to be married awhile before they tried.
It felt right.
So here she was, at Evan’s reunion, rocking the red dress she wore, a slinky number courtesy of Sophie. She looked damn good, if she did say so herself. Of course Evan had taken one look at her, started shaking his head, and ordered her to change.
She refused.
They fought. They fucked. She won.
As she made her way through the room she noticed the eyes of the men on her, skimming over her body in appreciation, only to stall when they saw her engagement ring, and she couldn’t help her tiny smile.
The ring had been a compromise. She’d picked the setting, a diamond infinity band, but Evan picked the stone—and what a stone it was. It was huge, and so brilliant she was in danger of blinding people, as her friends frequently complained. Shane had taken one look at it and grinned at his brother. “I guess you didn’t want to take any chances.”
Evan had winked at her. “Nope.”
She bemoaned the size and Evan, God bless him, pretended to believe her. He was even kind enough not to mention all the times he caught her gazing at it with astonished awe.
She’d never been one for flash, and she gave pretense to the modesty she was known for, but honestly, it was the most kick-ass ring ever.
She spotted Evan talking to a short, curvy woman with long, curly hair, and even from the back, Penelope knew who it was immediately.
The infamous Kim Rossi.
Evan’s head lifted as though he sensed Penelope on the air and he smiled in that way he reserved just for her.
She squared her shoulders and walked over to them.
Kim turned, her eyes going wide at the sight of Penelope.
As she sidled up to Evan, she prepared herself for the woman to say something scathing, but to her surprise the woman grinned and pointed at Evan. “For the love of God, man, will you finally admit it?”
Evan’s arm slid around Penelope and he shrugged, chagrined. “All right, I admit it.”
Penelope looked back and forth between them. “Admit what?”
Kim held out her hand and offered Penelope a warm smile. “Hi, I’m Kim Taldeski. I don’t think we ever met, but I did hate you from afar.”
Penelope laughed and shook the other woman’s hand. “Penelope Watkins, and yes, I remember you. I believe the animosity may have been mutual.”
A man walked over to them, a beefy, teddy bear of a guy who looked at Kim like she hung the moon. She grabbed his arm and beamed at him. “This is my husband, Hal.”
They all exchanged greetings and Kim pointed at Evan and Penelope. “Evan was my high school boyfriend, but he was secretly in love with Penelope, so, you know, it didn’t really work out th
at well.”
Evan chuckled and squeezed Penelope’s waist. “Sorry about that. Unfortunately, I’m guilty as charged.”
Kim waved. “Please, we were kids. Besides, you dumping me was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Hal and Kim looked at each other and their love was a palpable thing. Hal shrugged. “I met her the summer after senior year and haven’t let her out of my sight since.”
Evan nodded. “Sounds like a smart man.”
Kim smiled at Penelope. “So, Evan tells me congratulations are in order.”
It was Penelope’s turn to beam. “Yes, thank you.”
Kim picked up Penelope’s hand. “Damn, girl, now that’s a ring.”
Penelope’s cheeks heated, caught between embarrassment and the urge to gush over its sheer awesomeness. “Thanks. He picked it out.”
Evan rubbed a hand over her back. “And she pretends it annoys her.”
“Nice,” Hal said, clearly not really all that interested. He turned to Evan. “So I heard you took a job with the Bears.”
Evan nodded. “As the wide receiver coach.”
“What do you think their chances are this year?”
And then they were off, talking football, Super Bowls, passing patterns, and a bunch of other things that Penelope didn’t know about but made Evan extremely happy.
Kim ginned at her. “Men and their football.”
“Isn’t that the truth.”
Kim looked her up and down, but the maliciousness of the past was gone and there was nothing but friendly curiosity shining in Kim’s pretty face. “You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”
“Thank you, you too,” Penelope said, and meant it. Kim had a kind of warmth that had eluded her in high school.
The other woman laughed and waved her away. “Oh please, you always were a sweetie. There’s not a woman in the room who can hold a candle to you. Evan did always have great taste in women.”
Penelope grinned, and touched the other woman’s arm. “I agree.”
Kim tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “So I have to apologize about something. You remember that time when your clothes were stolen from the locker room and you had to wear your gym uniform the rest of the day? That was me. And, well, I might have messed with you some other ways too.”
As Good as New Page 30
