“And her way of protecting you.”
Julia slid one hand up my chest and caressed my throat lightly, like she used to do all those years ago when we were lovers. I pressed my forehead to hers, not wanting to understand what she’d said, but remembering JT lying broken in that hospital bed and my need to take the burden of it from him, from Penelope. I hadn’t been a father for long, but I was learning what it meant to truly care for someone.
I still didn’t forgive my mother… but I could see Julia’s point of view.
“We probably won’t see each other again,” she said, her breath sweet as it washed over me. “But I want you to know that I never forgot you. And I still hold on to some of those what-might-have-beens.”
“Me too.”
She lifted her chin and our lips touched. It was a soft, sweet kiss that lingered a beat longer than it should have. Then she stepped back, wiping a few more tears from her cheeks, lifted a hand, and walked away. As I stepped out into the hallway to watch her go, I found myself staring into Penelope’s exhausted face.
And then she turned away.
Chapter 21
Penelope
The nurses told me JT would be in and out of consciousness all day. The pain medication they had him on was pretty powerful, and it would be another day before they began to reduce the dosage. So I should go get some sleep.
You won’t be much use to him if you don’t take care of yourself.
Harrison’s words played again and again in my head. I couldn’t believe how generous he’d been. A part of me expected him to ask me to leave the moment he arrived at the hospital. I no longer had any claim to JT. I had no right to be there. But he didn’t. Instead, he allowed me to take the lead with the doctors, allowed me to stay by JT’s side as long as I wanted. Not only that, but he stayed at my side and provided a hotel room for me to rest in so I wouldn’t have to drive the forty minutes back home.
He didn’t have to do all that.
And when I finally decided I should get some rest, I find out that he’s arranged for a taxi for me, too. Does his generosity never cease?
If I hadn’t already handed him custody of JT, I would think he had an alternative motive. But I no longer held any cards. I was no longer keeping him from anything he could possibly want.
I asked for his room number at the front desk of the hotel because I wanted to thank him. But then I stepped off the elevator and found him standing in the doorway of his room, kissing the birth mother.
I was rooted to the ground. I couldn’t move. Jealousy slammed through me so fast that I almost felt as though I’d been the one hit by a car. And when she turned, strolling quite proudly down the hallway toward me, a self-satisfied smile on her lips, I wanted to slap her.
I had no claim to Harrison. Just because we’d slept together twice, didn’t mean I had a right to determine who he could or could not spend the night with. But did he really have to rub it in my nose?
And then he leans around the corner of his door to watch her go. I’m sure it was quite a scene from his point of view, the way her skirt clung to her curves. I suddenly felt like a lump had settled deep in my stomach. I turned to go, a little groan of frustration slipping from between my lips as I watched the elevator doors close, Julia tucked safely inside.
I jabbed at the buttons, scrubbing at tears that were suddenly running down my cheeks.
“Penelope?”
I didn’t want to turn. I didn’t want to look at him. But the words just seemed to bubble up, aching to burst from my throat.
He touched my shoulder and I jerked back, spinning toward him.
“Is that what you do?” I demanded. “Do you just use whoever happens to be available in that moment? Flit from woman to woman like some sort of predatory insect?”
Confusion was so handsome on his face and I hated that that thought flew through my mind in that moment because I so wanted to slap him. I wanted to slap the handsome away and make him see what life was like from a homelier point of view.
“You think Julia and I…?”
“She’s seems more your type: the blond, ditzy type.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, annoyed that I’d put down his lover.
“Do you have no boundaries? I mean, come on! Your son is in the hospital, for God’s sake! And you rush out of there so you can spend the night with—“