“I don’t know,” Jaxson answered honestly.
“You could stick around,” Sam suggested. “Sanctuary is a great place. It’s cathartic, you know? You could continue your rehab, maybe check out the hippotherapy place we partner with. We could take some time, get to know each other.”
“I’d like that.”
“Plus, Penny’s only a short drive away.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“It’s pretty subtle actually, but as your twin, I can sense these things.”
He chuckled. “What did you say to her anyway?”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked, her brows pulling together.
“Penny said you told her something that convinced her to follow me to Campbell’s Junction.”
“Oh, that. She was pretty bummed when she came up here and found out you’d left. I told her to give you some time to sort things out and then let you know how she felt. Guess she did, huh?”
“She did.” He hesitated and then said, “It was good advice.”
“It was,” she agreed. “It applies to you, too. You should let her know how you feel, in case you haven’t figured that out yet.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You do that.”
He smiled. He had a feeling he and Sam were going to get along just fine.
The truth was, he had been thinking about it. A lot. How he’d felt when he went back to the hollow, alone. How he’d felt when she showed up unexpectedly and laid claim. That would remain a fond memory for years to come.
After a week with Penny, one night without had been enough to make things crystal clear. All he had to do now was make it happen. The question was, how?
A thought suddenly occurred to him. “You worked in your grandparents’ bakery, right?”
“Our grandparents. And yes. Why?”
“Have you ever heard of something called bienenstich kuchen?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Penny
By the end of the week, Penny was exhausted. It had been a never-ending cycle of deliveries, transport, and setup. Between that and the late-night trysts with Jaxson, she was running on empty.
She wouldn’t change a thing though. She’d needed those fixes. She’d become like a junkie when it came to him. And when he did things like ask his sister to make bienenstich kuchen and then spoon-feed it to her after hot and sweaty sexy times, was it any wonder?
Those few stolen moments tided her over, but they weren’t enough. Spending an entire week with him had spoiled her. She missed being held in his arms and falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat beneath her ear. She missed sharing meals and discovering new things and the sense of rightness she felt around him. So much so in fact that when Jaxson eventually returned to Campbell’s Junction, she wanted to go with him.
Sumneyville was her home. She loved her job at the flower shop. Loved her family. She’d miss them terribly. But she also knew that she’d miss Jaxson more. Her priorities had changed. She was no longer content to be content. She wanted to be happy, and being with Jaxson made her happy.
He’d be leaving soon. He hadn’t come out and said so, but it was inevitable. He’d gotten what he had come for, and while he was getting on well at Sanctuary, it was only a temporary thing. He’d confided to Penny that while he enjoyed spending time with the guys and getting to know Sam, he preferred to do so slowly, allowing their relationship to build naturally over time instead of forcing the issue. Jaxson and Sam were a lot alike in that they were both private people and didn’t open themselves up to others easily.
He was also getting restless; she could sense it. He’d been down to see Zeb a couple of times over the past week, and they’d been working on some old bikes or something. Most of it went over her head, but there was no mistaking the pleasure in his eyes when he talked about it.
That was his thing. He loved old machines as much as she loved plants and flowers. He found his sanctuary in a garage, just as she found hers in a greenhouse. The problem was, his garage was five hundred miles away from her greenhouse.
But there was no reason it had to remain that way. She could do her thing anywhere.
The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced it was the right thing to do. All she had to do was convince him.
She smiled to herself, thinking of the ripples in the Sumneyville grapevine that her following him to Campbell’s Junction would cause. There would be a lot of speculation as to the why of it, of course. The Ladies Auxiliary would have a field day, and Great-Auntie Agnes would be mortified.
The tongues were already wagging. They had been from the moment Jaxson had first appeared in town, asking questions about Ilsa Appelhoff. There was plenty of supposition and no shortage of theories, but the gossipmongers didn’t know the details. Only a select few did, and they knew how to keep a secret.
As if that wasn’t enough, Penny’s sudden disappearance had added fuel to the fire. Penny had received her share of curious looks all week, and she’d heard the murmurs and whispers. Ultimately, it changed nothing, although it did provide a new perspective.
Dawn was on the horizon when Penny put the finishing touches on the final display. Like a mythical fairy, she’d worked her magic during the night while everyone else was sound asleep.
She dragged herself back to her apartment, tired but pleased, and crawled into bed. Now that her job was finally done, she could relax—at least until it was time to tear everything down again.
In the meantime, all she had to do was have fun.
And figure out how she was going to tell Jaxson she’d decided to go with him.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jaxson
“People take this pretty seriously, huh?” Jaxson asked, looking around at the community park.
It looked completely different than it had the night he and Penny had had the same idea and wandered in, seeking the solace it offered.
“That’s an understatement,” Cage said.
Jaxson had caught a ride with him and his wife, Bree, along with Smoke and Sam. The others—Heff and Sandy, Mad Dog and Kate, and Doc and Tina—had come earlier and would meet up with them later.
Food stands lined both sides of the main entry/exit path. Twinkle lights had been strung between the old-fashioned black lampposts. Each post had hanging baskets with cascades of flowers—Penny’s handiwork, no doubt.
The lamps weren’t the only things that bore her signature. Massive pots and displays were everywhere. Along the walkways. At each stand. Adorning the picnic tables, stage, and bingo tent. Every volunteer had a colorful red, white, or blue flower pinned to their clothing. Penny had been working her ass off all week, and it showed.
Jaxson scanned the crowd, hoping to spot her but found someone else instead. He stiffened at the sight of Lenny the Badge standing with two other guys where the path split.
Lenny wasn’t in uniform, but his shield was displayed prominently on his belt. The three men were glaring their way.
“I know the guy in the middle,” Jaxson said quietly, “but who are the other two?”
“Joe Eisenheiser and Pete Krueger,” Sam said.
The guys who had jumped him. One of them was a cop, but unlike Lenny, he didn’t feel compelled to remind everyone of that by keeping his badge on display.