Page 92 of Penny & Royce

River wasn’t talking about the wedding in Vegas. She was referring to Jason’s wedding.

“Yeah… I told him not to come, but…” She lifted a shoulder and turned until she could look out the window. Anywhere but at River, who seemed to be studying her too closely. “What can you do?”

River laughed quietly. “Yeah. That guy has it bad.”

Penny shot a quick look in her friend’s direction. “What?”

River grinned, pushing away from the door and moving through the office until she stood in front of the desk. “It’s just that the guy only had eyes for you. Any stranger off the street could tell if they looked at the two of you long enough.”

Her focus shifted to encompass the whole room. Then it landed on the painting on the wall. She sucked in a gasp and moved toward it.

“This is… beautiful.”

“Royce got it for me.”

Her friend merely nodded as if this made all the sense in the world. “I’ve never seen something so…” She tilted her head, studying the brushstrokes. “The artist managed to capture hope on a canvas. Someone who can do that has real, raw talent.”

Penny studied the canvas for a moment, and in those precious few seconds, she was at peace. The nausea seemed to fade away. The churning in her gut lessened. Whether it was the picture or the memories associated with it, she couldn’t be certain.

But then River broke her trance when she turned to face her again.

“So, you gonna tell me what’s going on? Mathew didn’t tell me much, but based on how you seem to be holding up…” River’s expression softened. “I’m guessing things aren’t going well?”

Penny tried to remain strong.

Stoic.

But with that question, her strength crumbled until it was nothing. Her smooth expression broke, and she covered her face with her hands.

“It’s over. It wasn’t a good idea to begin with. You know all about the stuff going on between those two families. I don’t know what I was thinking when I let him convince me…”

She trailed off because that wasn’t fair.

Royce hadn’t been the only one in the relationship. He hadn’t forced her to marry him. He hadn’t coerced her in the slightest.

She’d wanted it.

Which was the most heartbreaking thing about all of this.

A whoosh of air expelled from Penny’s chest when River crossed the room and pulled her in for a tight hug. The connection was comforting and soothed the ache she couldn’t rid herself of. River rubbed Penny’s back a few times, then tugged her toward the loveseat in the room.

“Okay,” River said gently. “Start from the beginning.”

Between bouts of tears and the occasional hit of nausea, Penny laid it all out. She even admitted to the marriage.

At this point, she didn’t think Mathew deserved to hear it from her. Not after what he’d done by showing up with her uncleand Rose. Penny would have to talk to her mother, though, and that wasn’t something she was at all prepared for.

“Just do me a favor and let me tell my mom. You can talk to Mathew. He’ll probably want to talk to me before our mother, anyway.”

There was no judgment in River’s eyes.

Just empathy.

And the relief Penny felt over getting all this off her chest was almost as painful as holding on to it had been. Only this pain was similar to when her leg had fallen asleep and the prickles of blood flow returned.

“Okay, so…” River hedged, shifting in her seat. “What’s going to happen next? Are you really going to get a divorce?”

“I don’t have any other choice,” Penny insisted, wiping beneath her eyes with her fingertips as she lifted her focus to the ceiling. “You should have seen the way he was with his family. I don’t think I have ever seen such anger between siblings. It was so… unnatural. That’s not how things are supposed to be.”