“It’s actually a husband thing.”
Tessa pressed her lips together. “Couch. Now. I’ll get the ice cream and wine, and you can tell me everything.”
Penny had bottled it up too long, and it came out in a rush over chocolate ice cream and white wine. Tessa already knew about the nanny job—they’d had enough yoga classes together to talk about that—but as Penny brought her friend up to speed on the fake marriage, she realized it had been a disaster waiting to happen.
“And a disaster did happen,” she finished finally. “Tonight. We kept getting our stories wrong, and I—” She drained the rest of her wine in one gulp. “I don’t know, Tessa. I think it’s really about the money with him. I think I’ve been an idiot, and none of the other stuff was real.”
“Does it feel real for you?” Tessa considered her from the other side of the sofa. “Because if you ask me, that’s where you should start.”
“When we’re alone, it feels real.” Penny stared down at the fabric of her custom-made gown, remembering how Drew’s eyes had shone in the boutique the day they’d gone shopping. The day after they’d had that amazing sex in his office. “But at the gala tonight, when everything was going off the rails, it felt like his main investment was in the lie. In landing the deal. Money turns men’s heads. You…you know about my dad.”
Early on in their friendship, just after Penny had moved to town, Tessa had taken her out to a bar. One too many drinks, and the story of her father’s company had spilled out.
“I know.” Tessa put her wine glass on the table and folded her arms around her legs.
“He wouldn’t listen to me, either.”
“Drew listens to you. Doesn’t he? You guys talk about Logan and all kinds of other stuff.”
Penny shook her head. “He does now, but what about later? I honestly can’t do it again. I felt like I was screaming into the void with my dad. And if Drew is really just like him…”
“He’s not just like him. He still has his company. But Penny, you don’t have to keep up with this, if you don’t want.” Penny dragged her eyes up from her lap to meet her friend’s gaze. “You can always make a different decision.”
The wine hit her all at once, weighing down her eyelids. “I hear you,” Penny said, and then yawned.
“You want to stay in my spare room tonight?” Tessa said.
Penny’s uncertainty felt like a bruise—one that would open into a wound if she went back to Drew’s house. “Yes. I would love that. You’re a good friend.”
“I try my best.”
Penny would have to keep trying her best, too.
Bottom line? Penny needed to talk to Drew.
He’d probably be pissed at her for staying the night at Tessa’s without a word to him, but who cared about that?
No. She exhaled as much of her anger as she could. She didn’t owe him an explanation. It wasn’t part of her job to be at the house all night. She just had to be home in time to get Logan up and ready to go to Susan’s.
It might have been her obligation if they’d ever made anything official. But they hadn’t. The only thing that seemed official right now was that she’d made her feelings known, and he had not liked it.
Anyway.
That wasn’t the most important item on her agenda. As the clock ticked over to six in the morning, she tiptoed out of Tessa’s apartment in borrowed yoga pants and a T-shirt and summoned a car with an app on her phone. It dropped her off at Drew’s not long after.
His door was tightly closed at the end of the hall when she crept to her suite. When she stepped back out of the room a half hour later, showered and dressed, it stood open—a sign for his cleaning staff to go in and make the bed.
A message from Mike popped up on her phone.
Mike: Mr. Preston is leaving for the office. Confirm availability for drop-off today?
Penny: Of course. I’ll wait for Logan to wake up, then proceed as usual.
Mike: Thank you.
Penny chewed on her options as she waited, and again as Logan hurtled out of his room, taking a flying leap into her arms. And she ruminated on them again as he got dressed. And again as he ate breakfast.
She did a series of breathing exercises on the way into the office.
Susan waited in the Preston lobby. “Hey, buddy,” she called across the space, and Logan went running over to her, Penny following close behind. Penny’s heart twisted. What if Drew had said something to her? “Hi, Penny. Was the drive in OK?”
“Oh, yes. Totally uneventful.”
Susan’s face held no sign of knowing anything was amiss. “Thanks for bringing him in.”
Then she was gone, and Penny was out of excuses. It was time for a chat.
A burst of laughter stopped her short just outside one of the conference rooms on the way to Drew’s office. It was instinctive, stopping in her tracks instead of walking by. The laughter had had a certain…tenor to it that filled her gut with unease.
“The most important thing today is to keep the debt under wraps. You’ve got that, right? Steven, it’s not a laughing matter.” But the man who was speaking laughed again anyway. “We’ll have to hope he doesn’t go digging around in our finances too deeply. Let’s not give him a reason. He’ll have time once he owns the company.”
Steven—whoever Steven was—asked a muffled question as Penny stared blindly at her phone screen. She hadn’t even unlocked it. Everything in her entire body was focused on listening.
Then Steven cleared his throat. “I’ve got it. Just remember, Michael, that you promised me a bonus when we close.”
“Yeah, well, we’ve got to close first.” The two of them laughed, quieter this time. “Now stop bringing up confidential business.” Michael dropped his voice then.
Penny exhaled and forced herself to keep moving forward. Her hands shook. She ducked into the women’s restroom a few doors down.
Okay. She played back the conversation in her mind. It hadn’t been a part of her imagination—she was sure of that. Penny unlocked her phone and jotted down a few of the phrases she could remember. Her heart beat so hard she could feel her pulse in her thumbs.
Drew had to know about this.
She took a look at herself in the mirror. The dark circles from the previous night were hardly noticeable. Head up. Chin up. They’d sort everything out in a matter of minutes.
But when she stepped into Drew’s outer office thirty seconds later, Britta glanced up at her. His secretary’s shoulders sagged. “Oh, shoot, Penny. You just missed him.”
Her heart sank. “The meeting with Michael?”
“Yes. Shouldn’t be too long, I don’t think. Do you want me to call you when he’s back?” Britta looked so hopeful. So helpful. But Penny couldn’t fathom leaving Preston Logistics to go sit in a coffee shop and wait. Drinking coffee wasn’t going to help the jitters she had now.
“I’ll wait here, if that’s okay.”
It seemed like forever until Drew came back into the office, whistling a merry tune that died on his lips the moment he saw her. His expression softened.
“Hey.” He inclined his head toward the office in the back. “Come in for a minute.”