No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Chapter 68

DARCY

Penn left,and he hadn’t returned to Aveline. While I would like to say I hadn’t thought about him at all, I would be lying. I felt ridiculous being upset after only knowing him for practically the same amount of time that he had been gone, but sometimes people make an impression on you. Sometimes, they make such a big impression that even when you try your hardest not to care about them, for some reason, you still do.

I had never really let my guard down with anyone like I had with Penn. He was easy to talk to, fun, and it didn’t feel like work getting to know him. When I found out the whole thing had been something to check off his list for work, it felt like a knife to the heart. I had let my walls down with the wrong person, and now, I was paying for it with an open wound. Everyone always said that pain decreased with time, and I hoped they were right. At this moment, though, I was bleeding, and it hurt like hell.

The day after Penn left, I called into work. I never called into work, and Lettie knew this, which was why she came over at lunch to check on me. When she found me in my room crying in bed, she had Flo cancel the remainder of her patients that day.

“Darce, what happened?” she asked gently, rubbing my hair out of my eyes. I wiped my nose with my comforter and looked up, watching Lettie grimace. “Remind me to wash this for you. Why are you crying?”

I groaned, leaning onto my pillow. “I don’t even know. I feel so stupid. I shouldn’t be crying.”

Lettie stroked my hair again and shook her head. “You aren’t stupid for having feelings, Darce.”

“I barely even know him. Actually, I know even less about him than I thought I knew.”

“Who? Penn?”

Tears fell from my eyes, blurring my vision. “Yeah. He wasn’t who we thought he was. He came to town to help his boss. He wanted to tear down my dad’s store and build a hotel.” My breath caught in my throat with a sob.

Lettie gasped. “No. Really?” She took my hand in hers. “I’m so sorry. I would have never guessed. How did you find out?”

I sat up a little bit, my hair falling out of the braid. “His boss. I overheard his boss talking to my dad, and then I invited Penn over to torture him with Operation Andie Anderson, and he found the notebook where Peyton and I had drafted out the ideas for torture and—”

“Wait,” Lettie cut me off, her eyes closed trying to put together everything I just gave her. “What is Operation Andie Anderson? What do you mean you tortured him? Should you be telling me this? What if I have to testify?”

That’s when I came clean to my best friend about what I had been doing and exactly what happened when Penn left. Lettie consoled me, gave me a manicure, and had Tuck bring us over the biggest box of donuts I had ever seen. We ate them all.

The next few weeks were fine. Not bad, not great, but the whole time, there was a gnawing in my stomach. My body was working overtime trying not to think of Penn, and every time I went to text him, to tell him we should talk or that I missed him, I deleted the letters and distracted myself with something else.

Unfortunately, it was typically short-lived. My mind would bring its way back to all the quirks I had begun to find endearing. The way he would always put on his socks before the rest of his clothes, or how I would never know which wrappers to expect in the trash can after his midnight snacks. I liked knowing he drove with his left hand and tapped his right on the console to the beat of the music on the radio. For the first time in my life, I liked knowing the little things.

Penn had tried to call me a week after he had left, but I watched it ring all the way to voicemail. I couldn’t bring myself to answer, too nervous about what he would say or how I was feeling. I thought maybe he would leave a message, that I could hear his voice and prepare myself for a conversation.

But he didn’t.

And a month later, he still hadn’t tried to call again.