know – that I did? Time be damned. When you knew, you knew.
I did love Anne Johnson.
I would not lose her.
I would protect her day and night.
But what are you protecting her from, Penn? You still don’t know.
I may not have known exactly yet, but I’d gathered from our conversation on the trail that at the very least, I’d been right in what I sensed. She hadn’t denied anything.
She simply hadn’t wanted to talk about it.
People didn’t want to talk about things when they hurt, when they made them sad, or... when they made them scared.
Anne tapped me lightly on the arm. “Hey. Me and Murph should probably get headed home.”
“And this is why I should have insisted on driving you myself. I could hold you hostage,” I told her, grinning.
“Ha, ha. Well, you didn’t. I need to get Kate’s truck back to her.” Anne’s dimple was making a huge appearance and longing need shot through my body.
“Okay, first of all, let’s stop pretending that Kate goes anywhere ever. She doesn’t. There’s a reason why she lets you take her truck all the time. And second of all, she seems more than pleased with whatever’s goin’ on right here.” I pointed back forth between us.
Anne giggled, but I knew she was still struggling to keep herself in whatever godforsaken line she thought was necessary.
“I leaned in until my mouth was right at her ear, “Last of all, wouldn’t it make more sense to get Murphy to bed all safe and sound and... maybe get some more quality time in together?”
Anne had goosebumps, and I could tell she was caving.
She likes me. She likes me a lot.
And thus far, my family seems to like her. Aside from the fact that I still want to kick Preston in the balls, this is going well. The Hardick world isn’t an easy one to enter, but Anne seems to be slipping in just like she’s always belonged here to begin with.
“I’ll need to call Kate,” she said, as if that was an obstacle.
“Here’s my phone.” I handed it to her, and she grinned.
“You’re impossible.”
“You mean irresistible,” I corrected, earning myself a dramatic eye roll.
Fifteen minutes later, and Anne was getting Murphy to sleep in the guest room. He, for one, had been more than thrilled to stay overnight again. It’d been early enough this time that I managed to borrow some of Braden’s pajamas. They were a little big, as he is a year older than Murphy, and Murphy is quite small for his age.
But they did the trick.
Anne had ordered me out of the guest room. Apparently, Murphy would never be able to fall asleep with his cool, new friend Penn in the room.
Or at least, that was how I had interpreted it.
I decided to go check in with Dad, even though he was more than likely passed out and snoring by now. Sometimes he randomly stayed up to all hours of the morning, if he was “in the grips of inspiration.” His words. Not mine.
Lucky for me, this was one of his more unpredictable nights.
I saw the light coming from under the door of his office and knocked lightly.
“Come in,” came his calm voice while the tap, tap, tapping of computer keys continued.
I opened the door and stepped in, immediately flopping myself down in his napping chair. “Hey, Dad,” I began meekly.
He abruptly stopped typing and turned his full attention to me. “Yes, Penn?” Smiling wide and kind, as per usual.
“I’ve been kind of a jerk. I know I have. Just thought I’d tell you I’m sorry.” I waited while he processed the words. Dad always liked to overthink everything that was said to him before responding.
Sometimes that was a good thing, and other times, not so much.
“Penn, my son. You haven’t been a jerk. You’ve been busy,” he said, looking alarmingly mischievous for an old man.
“Busy?” I briefly thought of the activities that had occurred on Mom’s favorite bench earlier and hoped with my entire body that he hadn’t heard or – dear God – seen, any of it.
That wasn’t exactly what the bench had been built for. Although, it had worked out quite well for me.
“You’ve been busy falling in love,” he clarified pleasantly.
“Whoa. Say what?” Why would my father think I was in love? I hadn’t said that or anything even remotely close to it to anyone... aside from myself.
“Anne. You’re falling in love with her.” He steadily held my gaze, still smiling, still pleasant.
“Um. I don’t know if