I’m slightly uncomfortable at her words, but Nora holds a trance-like hold over me, as if she knows things others just don’t. “I’m glad she had your family.”
“We were lucky to have her.” She turns to Lola, shaking her head from side to side again, “How long did it take you to figure out he was related to Penelope?”
Lola’s cheeks heat. “Mom,” she laughs, “they aren’t twins.”
Nora only shakes her head again with a light, easy laugh that’s not unkind. “They might as well be.”
“That’s great, Lols. You found the dude version of Penelope. Essentially fucking your best friend.” Her brother Asher takes a drink from the beer bottle in front of him. “Seems to me you might want to switch therapists or start going a few times a week.”
Nora’s eyes shift to her son with a disapproving look but a small smile on her lips. My body tenses at his tone, but Lola just laughs it off. “If I wanted to screw Penelope, I’m pretty sure I could have.”
I turn to Lola, an uncertain smile on my lips, but her brother laughs into his beer as he takes another drink. “Probably.”
“Kids,” Nora scolds, laughingly.
I lean into Lola’s ear. “Are you telling me my sister swings both ways?”
Not that I give a fuck. Lola laughs, her face turning toward mine, her voice slightly low as she speaks only to me, “No. This is just what we do. We’re completely inappropriate. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me for that.”
She’s all smiles until the kitchen door slides open, and Penelope and a man bearing a striking resemblance to Asher walk inside.
“Lincoln. Penelope. You guys came.” Nora smiles over at them, and the pair looks stiff as they stay frozen by the door.
Yeah, this isn’t awkward at all.
I stare at Penelope, so happy to see her, but so nervous about what’s about to happen, because she doesn’t look like herself.
Lincoln looks stressed as they stay by the sliding door they know they’re welcome to enter anytime. My home is their home. But neither of them move.
Mom turns the burner off and starts toward them, the only one brave enough to approach them.
“Aren’t you two coming in?”
Lincoln freezes, and I hate that he looks more like the broody side of himself than the more carefree man he’s become since he came to California.
Penelope shakes her head, her long brown hair pulled up into a ponytail. From the dark circles under her eyes, it’s apparent she hasn’t slept much lately. “No.” Her voice softens as she turns to face my mother who she regards her as her own. “I can’t, Nora.” Her focus shifts toward Hayden as my mom stays put in her spot halfway to Linc and Penelope.
Her eyes are deadly serious, a look I don’t look on my best friend as they descend over Hayden, taking in his appearance. “I’m not sure what your game plan is. I have no idea, but you are not my brother.”
Hayden stands tall, but I can see the small fracture in his demeanor. “We didn’t grow up together, but we do share the same horrible, selfish....” His eyes slowly shift to my mother, and I think he rethinks the word he intended to use before he looks back to Penelope. “Mother.”
Tony walks to my mother, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and holding her body close to him. I momentarily smile because she finally has the man she deserves. Asher watches from his barstool, both arms slung back against the granite countertop, just taking in the show.
Penelope studies him as if she can’t believe he didn’t instantly fold, but what she doesn’t know yet is Hayden doesn’t back down. “She never mentioned a brother. The woman I knew . . .” Her feet don’t move, but she leans forward slightly. “She would have thrown that in my face somehow.”
Hayden swallows tightly, his throat bobbing with the motion, and even if I'm not touching him, I can feel his tension. “She didn’t think about me when I was there, so why would she think of me after I left?”
I hate their mother. My blood boils as my eyes subconsciously drift to my own mother. She isn’t perfect by any means, but she tried so hard to make us feel loved. I look at Asher, his face showing no emotion whatsoever as he watches.
Okay, maybe after Colt died, she didn’t do the best job showing him she loved him, but extraordinary circumstances, and she’s trying now.
But Penelope and Hayden, they never had a loving mother.
“She would have used that information to try to hurt me.”
“Robin Jones didn’t give a flying fuck about me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she forgot about me completely.”
Penelope winces at the mention of her mother’s name but quickly bounces back, her glare only hardening. “So you know her name. That’s public record.”
Hayden nods, his body rigid. “No one called her that though.”
Penelope’s hands ball at her sides as she shakes her head from side to side. “Don’t.”
My mother tries again, slowly leaving her safe cocoon with Tony and taking another step closer to her. “Penelope, honey . . .” She stops, giving Penelope space. “I can’t imagine what this is like, and I know trust is hard for you.”
I see tears form in Penelope’s eyes as she turns to my mother. “You all are my family.” She turns back to Hayden. “He is not.”
“Well, he certainly looks just like you.” Penelope turns back to look at my mother, who isn’t backing down. My mom has definitely found her own backbone over the years.
“Because we have the same hair color?”
With an easy dismissal, my mom laughs lightly. “No. Not just because of your hair color. The shape of your faces. The cheekbones. Your eyes.”
Penelope folds her arms, not chancing a look at Hayden. “Our eyes aren’t even the same color.”
“They have the same little golden flecks and the same pain in them, Penelope.” My mom’s voice is firm.
I see Baz and Vivienne standing in the doorway, but Viv is holding onto his little shoulders, keeping him in place.
Lincoln places one arm around Penelope’s waist. “Let’s just stay for dinner.”
She pushes him away, and I hate the rejection I see in Linc’s eyes. “No.” She turns back to Hayden. “I don’t know what your game is, but I won’t be a part of it.” She looks at Linc, remorse in her eyes. “I’ll see you at home.”
Her head dips as she turns toward the door, reaching for the handle, and as she’s opening it, Hayden’s voice is all that can be heard. “Slate was a tough mom to have. And if anyone knows that, it’s me. Because she was my mother too.”
Penelope freezes, her expression full of sorrow and confusion as she looks at Hayden over her shoulder before she jerks open the door and leaves.
Well that was brutal.
I place my hand on Hayden’s back, trying to soothe the tension, but he’s rigid as he watches her leave.
Asher stands from the stool, walking over to Baz and scooping him up. “You hungry?”
Baz giggles as he dangles upside down in Asher’s arms. “Yes!”
He carries him to the table, and everyone quickly grabs food from the stove and brings it to the table. I’m surprised to see Lincoln is staying, but he moves to a chair across from Baz and Ash.