Homecoming - Chapter 18
Wednesday
Brooklyn
Wow. The entryway to Penny’s apartment building was insane.
I looked back down at the handwritten note Penny had given me.
This was definitely the right place. I felt like I was back in high school.
In a world I knew I didn’t belong in. I pressed my lips together.
Well, maybe I’d belonged once. For a little bit.
It reminded me a lot of Felix’s apartment.
All clean lines and modern décor. I smiled to myself.
I wondered how Felix was doing. I’d been thinking of him a lot ever since Kennedy’s friend Tanner had asked me about him.
Did Felix still live in the city, or had he moved somewhere new?
There were a lot of people I’d love to catch up with.
But…it was probably a bad idea. I still had no idea if I was staying.
I looked down at Jacob. He was staring at the place in awe. I squeezed his hand and he smiled up at me. Who was I kidding? I’d stay as long as he kept smiling. I just kept telling myself I might leave so I wouldn’t have to call Matt. Or text him. Or…something.
I’d promised Kennedy I would. But I just didn’t know what to say.
I’d typed out a few texts, but I’d deleted them all before sending.
I knew she thought it mattered. But I wasn’t so sure.
My dad had tried to reach out to him and he hadn’t cared.
I didn’t know why I was even worried about sending a text.
It was unlikely that Matt would even bother to respond.
“Mommy,” Jacob said and tugged on my hand.
God, I’d completely spaced out. I’d been doing that a lot recently.
Jacob held my hand as we walked across the stretch of marble floor up to the concierge desk.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m supposed to be meeting Penny.”
“Of course.” The concierge said with a smile before he glanced down at his notepad. “Name?”
“I’m not sure what her last name is.”
“Oh, sorry, I meant your name, ma’am.”
“Oh.” I laughed. “Brooklyn Miller?” I didn’t know why it came out as a question.
“Brooklyn Miller.” He looked back down at his notebook with a frown.
And then he moved to look at his computer.
“I’m so sorry, but you’re not on the list. If you could give me one moment please.
” He lifted up his phone. “There’s a Ms. Miller here to see you.
” He paused and stared at me. “Yes, she has blonde hair. And there is indeed a young boy with her.” Pause.
“Very well.” He hung up the phone and smiled.
“She’s expecting you. It’s the penthouse suite. ”
“Oh. Okay.” I didn’t know if I was supposed to go or wait for him to go with me. “Do I just…go up?”
“Yes, it’s the top button, Ms. Miller.”
“Thank you so much.” Jacob and I hurried off to the elevators.
“Mommy,” Jacob said.
“Yes?”
“Where are we?” When the elevators dinged open, he jumped back, dropping my hand.
And I realized he’d never been on an elevator before. He’d never even seen one. “We’re visiting your friend from the zoo, remember?”
“Sí.”
I smiled. He seemed to prefer Spanish these days. “This will take us up to see them.”
“Noooo,” he said.
“Jacob, I promise it’s safe.”
“Nunca.” He took another step back.
How could I resist him when he said nunca in that cute little accent he’d somehow adopted from Mrs. Alcaraz? “Okay, sweet boy. We’ll take the stairs.” I lifted him into my arms and carried him into the stairwell.
The penthouse was a long way up. And I’d broken a sweat a long time before we finally exited onto what I hoped was the correct floor. There were only two doors. One labeled security and the other with no label at all.
So Penny lived in a penthouse in a luxury apartment building?
With what appeared to be her own security.
I’d definitely just accidentally been thrust back into the world of the elite.
There was a little part of me that wanted to hightail it back down those stairs.
But a much bigger part of me wanted a glass of water.
And Penny had seemed so kind. Just because I’d never belong in her world, it didn’t mean Jacob couldn’t be friends with Scarlett.
Maybe they could even go to the same school.
My stomach churned. God, I guess I really was planning on staying. I’d text Matt tonight. I’d just do it and get it over with and everyone could just keep on going with their lives.
I wiped a bead of sweat off my forehead and knocked on the door.
A few moments later it opened all by itself. I almost jumped back like Jacob had when he saw the elevator. But then I looked down at the cute little redheaded girl holding the doorknob.
“Hi!” said Scarlett with a huge smile.
Was she supposed to be opening the door? I looked behind me like maybe she was expecting someone else.
“Come on, Jacob, let’s play Barbies,” Scarlett said.
Jacob looked up at me.
He didn’t know what elevators were. Or Barbies. He’d never known anyone his own age, and we’d mostly played outside together as a family. “They’re dolls,” I whispered to him.
He scrunched up his face. “Can we play soccer instead?” Jacob asked.
“Soccer?” Since when did he like soccer?
“Fútbol,” he said in a Spanish accent.
I stifled a laugh. He’d gotten that all mixed up. Yes, soccer was called football in Mexico. But football wasn’t soccer.
“I have a ball,” Scarlett said. “Come with me.” She took off running.
Jacob squirmed in my arms. I set him down and he ran after her, leaving me standing awkwardly in the doorway.
Penny appeared in Scarlett’s place, almost a spitting image of her daughter. “Did Scarlett open the door?” She blew a strand of hair out of her face as she adjusted Liam on her hip. “We keep telling her not to do that.”
I laughed. “I think she was just excited to play.”
“Oh I know, she hasn’t stopped talking about Jacob ever since they met at the zoo.”
“Jacob was equally excited.”
Penny smiled. “Well, come in, come in. Can I offer you something to drink or…”
“A glass of water would be amazing. Apparently Jacob is afraid of elevators. We took the stairs.”
“All the way up?” She opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of water. She expertly balanced her son while somehow managing not to spill any water. “I’ve lived here for years and I’ve never taken the stairs. But in my defense…cardio is the worst.”
I laughed. “I’m the exact opposite. I love running.”
“Ugh, you and my husband both. He’s always trying to get me to jog in Central Park with him.”
The horror in her voice made me laugh again.
She handed me the glass of water.
I downed half of it in one gulp as she sat down at the kitchen island.
“Help yourself to more. And if you want, we can order takeout for lunch. But sometimes I like to indulge in the occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich too.”
“I’m totally down with peanut butter and jelly,” I said as I poured myself another glass of water.
Their fridge was immaculate. Everything was labeled and there wasn’t a single spill on the glass shelves.
And everything was organic. I was a little surprised that the person who owned this fridge ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Penny smiled as I turned around. “I knew I liked you. I know it’s probably weird, but my husband has this thing about loving children’s food.
” She shook her head and laughed. “Wow, that sounded so weird. I just meant food he never got to eat growing up. Peanut butter and jelly with juice boxes has become a lunchtime staple in our home.”
What kind of monster parents did her husband have? “Not weird at all. For a few weeks there all my son would eat was cupcakes. Which he calls cuppycakes. So I’m thrilled that he’s excited for PB&J.”
“Cuppycakes?” Penny looked down at her son. He’d fallen asleep, his head resting against her chest. “Don’t you just want to freeze time so they keep saying stuff like that forever?”
I wanted to freeze time for a lot of reasons. I’d go back a month and relive the same day over and over if I could. Instead of saying any of that, I just nodded and sat down next to her at the kitchen island. I cleared my throat. “So what do you do?”
“I’m an author.” She laughed. “Well, not really. I don’t know why I said that. But I’m writing a book. And I hope to get it published one day.”
“What’s it about?”
“It’s about how I met my husband. A love story of sorts.”
I plastered on a smile. I didn’t really want to hear about a love story right now. But it felt a little rude not to ask. “And how did you meet?”
“Oh it was all very scandalous. He was my professor.”
“Really?”
She laughed. “You don’t have to pretend like you haven’t heard all about it.”
I shook my head. How would I possibly know about that?
I didn’t even know her last name. Were her and her husband frequently in the tabloids or something?
I wouldn’t put it past her because of where she lived.
Paparazzi loved snapping photos of the rich and famous.
But the more I learned about Penny the more confused I was.
She was an unpublished author with a professor husband.
Yet they could afford this apartment? Maybe her parents were wealthy?
“I’m actually not from around here, so I know very little about the goings on of NYC. ”
“I wish I knew less. I swear I’m going to hit the next paparazzi who wakes Liam up with those ridiculous bright flashes.”
I laughed. “Do you need to go put him down?”
She kissed the top of Liam’s sleeping head. “No, he’ll cry as soon as I put him in his crib. He prefers his naps like this.”
I couldn’t help but laugh again. I couldn’t even count how many times I’d let Jacob nap just like that.
I loved that my heartbeat soothed him to sleep.
And how many times he’d crawled into me and Miller’s bed once he was a toddler, insisting he needed to sleep in between us.
Yeah, I definitely wanted to go back and freeze time.
“So if you’re not from around here, where did you grow up?” Penny asked.
“Delaware.”