“It’s not what it looks like.”
“No? Because it looks like despite having been back home, you couldn’t be bothered to make an appearance, much less dial the damn phone. There was talk about new owners when it was closed down but—”
“We’ve only been there—”
“Six months. Six. Freaking. Months.” Penny couldn’t listen to any more. With a hasty good-bye to Charlie, she pushed her chair back, refusing to wait around and listen to Trey’s excuses.
Tears threatened to fall, more with every second it took for her to reach the penthouse balcony. She welcomed the warm, stagnant air of San Pedro Sula, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.
She should be used to this by now. Evasion. Disregard. Disappointment.
Her father had started her off in thinking those three things were the norm with families, but living in the Hanson house had shown her that it wasn’t like that at all. At least until Trey left for boot camp and the e-mails became more and more infrequent, first separated by weeks, then months. Although she knew he occasionally sent his mother a quick check-in, the last one Penny had gotten herself had been about two years ago.
Behind her, the sliding glass door opened and closed.
“Can we talk?” came Trey’s voice.
“Now you want to talk? Or do you just want to make sure that I don’t tell Sophie you’ve been skulking around the neighborhood for half a year without so much as a drop-in? Your secret’s safe. I won’t tell her, but only because I don’t want to break her heart.”
“Will you hear me out? Please?”
She was on the verge of saying no when her gaze drifted through the window. Four sets of curious gazes watched them through the balcony door, but Rafe’s was the one that snagged her attention. His expression was impossible to read: lips pressed tightly together, blue eyes narrowed on Trey.
As if sensing he was being watched, Rafe looked her way. Her head pounded, too overwhelmed with questions and feelings to add Rafael Ortega to the mix. Penny pulled her attention back to the street below.
“We have a lot of work to do before tomorrow,” she pointed out to Trey.
“I know.” He came up next to her by the railing. “Penn, I’m sorry. Christ, I know that sounds lame, but I fucked up. I fucked up when I left. I fucked up six months ago. Hell, I’m fucking up right the hell now.”
“If you’re waiting for me to disagree with you, you’re going to be waiting a really long time.”
“I wasn’t planning on keeping our move a secret. Why would I have done that when I was the one who suggested we use Frederick as our home base? I just wanted to give things time to settle. And before…” Trey scrubbed his whiskered face with the palms of his hands and sighed. “I actually have no excuse for my eighteen-year-old self except that he was a punk-ass kid who didn’t realize what he had and focused too much on the things he didn’t—and wanted. By the time I made it into the Rangers, I knew it would be awkward to try and make amends. And when I made Delta, I didn’t think it would be fair.”
“Fair?” Trey’s wording caught her by surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that any soldier takes risks. We know it before we even walk into the recruitment center. But Delta?” Trey’s throat worked to swallow. “Belonging to Delta requires a different breed. It’s dangerous. It’s secretive. I couldn’t imagine making things right with you, Mom, and Rachel when I’d have to lie about ninety percent of my life.”
Trey slid her a sideways glance. “Don’t look at me like that…Jesus Christ.”
“I don’t think Jesus wore black camo and carried an Uzi,” Penny quipped.
Trey chuckled, and for a minute Penny saw the boy she’d once cared about. He was buried way beneath the buzzed blond hair and tattoos, but he was there. And he was the reason she stood on the balcony and collected her thoughts. “Can I ask you something and get a truthful answer, not some negotiator response meant to keep people happy?”
“You can ask me anything.” He looked like he meant it.
“Do you anticipate acting stupid again? Or are you up for trying to make things right?”
A relieved smile bloomed on Trey’s face. “No to the first question, though I probably will. And hell yes to the second. Setting things right is the reason I fought so hard to bring Alpha to Pennsylvania.”
“I’m not going to make it easy on you,” she warned. “I’m still the girl who put cayenne pepper in your strawberry lemonade for ruining my date with Scooter Williams.”
Trey laughed. “He deserved that itching powder more than anyone I’ve ever known. I mean, his name’s fucking Scooter.”
“It’s his name.” Penny couldn’t help but chuckle.