Chapter 38 Penny
38
PENNY
Mac: Get the hell over here now
Penny: What? Omg is everything okay? I’m getting ready to go to Aspen’s
Penny: Do you need me to swing by before?
Penny: Mac?
Mac: If you said any other plans besides going to Aspen’s, I would’ve taken you up on that
Penny: So it isn’t an emergency?
Mac: I’m starving… and I’m craving you
Mac and I were back at it—full steam ahead. We couldn’t seem to keep our hands off each other. Ever since that night, my body craved him like a drug, my skin humming with the memory of his touch.
I wanted to imprint myself on him, sew us together so I could carry that feeling with me twenty-four-seven.
But real life didn’t allow for that kind of constant closeness.
So tonight, I did the next best thing—I sought out my people. Not for the kind of soft, sugar-coated advice Sandy would give, but the raunchy, real talk I knew I’d get from my girls.
Ellie, Theo, and I were holed up at Aspen’s cabin for a much-needed girls’ night. The plan was simple: face masks, at-home spa treatments, too much wine, and board games we never finished because we talked too much. Right now, Theo and I were stretched out on the floor, heads resting in the laps of Ellie and Aspen while they brushed our hair like we were thirteen again.
Each of us wore a charcoal face mask, hoping it would bring our skin back to life. I silently wished mine could erase the sleepless nights I’d had—nights where Mac filled every dream, every toss and turn.
“This is my first full night leaving Frankie with just Rhodes,” Theo sighed, her voice soft but laced with guilt.
“You know she’s in good hands,” Aspen said, leaning down to press a kiss to Theo’s forehead.
“Yes!” I added, trying to turn toward her, only for Ellie to gently yank my head back into place. “Hard-working moms like you deserve a break, too.”
Ellie smirked down at me. “You keep moving your head and this braid’s going to come out crooked.”
I winced and gave her a sheepish smile. “Noted.”
She laughed, clearly not mad, just amused by my restlessness.
“Besides,” Aspen continued, “it’s good for both of you to have some time apart from her. If you’re thinking about going back to work, this is a great warm-up.”
Theo nodded. “I know, you’re right.”
“Have you thought more about it?” Ellie asked gently.
Theo had been offered an amazing gig—one she never would’ve hesitated to take before Frankie came along. A luxury ranching company wanted her to spend a month at a dude ranch out west, photographing the wildlife for a new campaign.
Theo was a gifted wildlife photographer with a stunning portfolio, and they were offering her great pay and a view to die for. But with a baby and Rhodes in the picture, she was torn.
“I think about it every day,” she admitted. “At least twice a day, honestly. The money’s incredible, and the photos the assistant sent me? Gorgeous. And who wouldn’t want to spend a month in luxury?”
“Exactly,” I said. “We’ve all got your back. We can help Rhodes with Frankie. If you’re ever going to do it, now’s the time before she gets too old and starts changing by the hour.”
“You’ve got a whole village here,” Aspen added. “Let us show up for you.”
“You seem really excited about the job,” Ellie said.
“I am,” Theo admitted, her eyes shining with a mix of hope and nerves.
Ellie tapped me on the head, signaling my hair was done. I leaned forward and reached for the mirror on the coffee table. She’d styled it into two perfectly symmetrical Dutch-braided pigtails.
Theo sat up, too, once Aspen finished hers. Her fingers traced the edge of the blanket as she spoke, her voice lower now.
“Rhodes told me to go,” she said, eyes on the floor. “He promised they’d be okay while I was gone, but… leaving them still doesn’t feel right.”
I reached out, resting my hand gently on her arm, grounding her with soft reassurance.
“You have to do what makes you happy,” I said. “And whatever you decide, we’re with you every step of the way.”
Theo looked up at me with a small, grateful smile, then glanced around the circle to the others. Her face mask cracked slightly at the movement, the expression fighting the tight, drying clay. I couldn’t help but laugh, and neither could anyone else. The awkward stretch of our masks had us all cracking up until we were doubled over on the floor like teenagers at a sleepover.
Aspen stood and disappeared into her tiny kitchen, only to return moments later with a bottle of red wine and four mismatched wine glasses.
“I feel like it’s time to break this out,” she declared, popping the cork with a loud pop that made us all jump. She poured generous servings and handed them around while we stayed sprawled across the floor in our spa-night chaos.
I grabbed the deck of cards beside me and shuffled. “All right, something easy. We all know once the wine kicks in, no one’s going to remember the rules.”
“Truth,” Ellie agreed, settling in with her glass balanced on her knee.
“Okay,” I said, fanning out the cards. “Who wants to go first?”
“I think Penny should,” Theo said, fixing me with a look that immediately raised my suspicions.
I glanced around. “For the game?”
Aspen smirked, shaking her head. “Sure, but she didn’t mean the game. You’ve got some explaining to do.”
I stared down at my cards, pretending to focus on matching the color on the deck in the middle, but the flutter in my chest said otherwise.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I muttered, slipping a card onto the pile.
Total lie.
Why was I dodging this? I knew what they meant. I knew. Instinct told me to deflect—even though every part of me was screaming to just talk it through.
“Mm-hmm,” Ellie hummed, eyeing me over her wine. “Nothing involving Mac and a certain recent… rendezvous?”
“Nothing about him throwing you over his shoulder like a rag doll?” Aspen added with a grin, slapping her card down like it was a mic drop.
I inhaled. Held it. Then exhaled, slow and not so steady.
“Fine,” I said, tossing a card dramatically. “Mac and I had sex the night of the fundraiser.”
Silence.
Not the surprised, gasping kind, but the eerie, synchronized blinking kind. Three pairs of eyes. No words. Just… blinking.
I threw my hands up. “Seriously? That’s the reaction? Nothing?”
“Keep going,” Ellie said calmly.
I sighed and leaned back on one hand, waving my other through the air. “And… it’s been going on since roughly October,” I mumbled. “With a month or so off.”
That did it.
The three of them exchanged a single glance—one of those wordless, knowing glances only best friends could pull off—and then smiled. All of them. Matching, crooked little smirks.
I frowned.
Something was off.
I carefully set my cards face down on the carpet and moved to all fours, crawling forward into the center of our little circle like a lioness stalking her prey. My eyes narrowed.
They knew something.
I scanned each face slowly, deliberately, waiting for someone, anyone, to crack. I locked onto Theo first. Nothing. Just a cool, unbothered stare. Then to Ellie. Her poker face held strong, lips twitching at the corners but never betraying her.
Finally, I turned to Aspen. And there it was.
The eye twitch. The way her gaze flicked just a little too fast. Her wide-eyed panic.
Bingo.
“What do you know?” I asked, voice low and sharp.
Her face froze. Her body stilled like a kid caught sneaking cookies.
“N-n-nothing!” she squeaked.
Theo sighed beside me, unimpressed. “Really, Aspen? You think she’s going to buy that?”
I leaned in even closer, until I was practically nose to nose with her.
I repeated myself, slow and deliberate. “What. Do. You. Know?”
Aspen groaned and flopped back onto the rug like a dying starfish. “Ugh. Everything.”
She peeked open one eye.
“We all know everything.”
“You… what?” I asked, dropping back onto my heels, staring at my friends like they’d just confessed to hiding a body. My skin prickled, my throat tightened, and I could barely swallow.
“We know about the whole Mac thing,” Theo said, her voice soft but sure.
“How?” I breathed, the disbelief in my tone laced with a touch of confusion.
“Mac told me,” Aspen admitted.
“Then she told me,” Theo added with a slight shrug.
I turned to Ellie, the only one who hadn’t spoken yet. She hesitated before murmuring, “Logan told me.”
“The guys know?” My voice pitched an octave higher. “You’re telling me the guys know? Not only did you all keep this from me, but the guys knew too? And they acted like nothing was going on?”
Aspen winced. “I couldn’t keep it from Boone.”
I whipped my head toward Theo. “Let me guess, you don’t hide anything from Rhodes.”
Theo had the decency to look sheepish.
“And he told Logan, who told Ellie,” I finished, gesturing toward her.
A breath escaped my chest in a long, deflating sigh, my shoulders sagging with it. I thought I’d be furious—righteously, explosively angry—but I wasn’t. The heat drained out of me as laughter bubbled up instead. A deep, involuntary belly laugh took over, the kind that made my head fall back and my eyes water.
The fact that my mess of a love life had turned into a glorified game of telephone was honestly kind of hilarious. My friends were so entangled with each other that secrets didn’t stand a chance. And the fact they’d managed to keep this quiet for so long? That was practically a miracle.
When I finally gathered myself, I looked back at them. None of them were laughing. They were sitting there, wide-eyed, watching me like I’d completely lost my mind.
“So… what? Mac came to you for help?” I asked Aspen, my voice finally steady again.
She gave a small nod. “To win you back.”
“He came to you? Told you everything? Just to win me back?”
“He was a wreck,” Aspen said, leaning forward. She grabbed my hands, her words spilling out fast, tripping over each other like she was still unsure how I’d react. “I—I know how much you liked him, and it was obvious he felt the same. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have shown up at my house, practically begging for help. I thought I could do something. I thought it was the right thing.”
“Aspen,” I said gently, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. Honestly… I’m impressed.”
I leaned back again, taking them all in. My wild, loyal, meddling friends.
“He really didn’t want to lose you,” Theo said softly.
I picked up my wine glass and took a generous sip before settling cross-legged on the floor. “Okay, spill it. How exactly did you all help him?”
“I told him about the romance books,” Aspen offered with a proud little smile.
“I gave him a hard time for being a lying jackass,” Theo said, raising her glass.
“I was… mostly moral support,” Ellie said with a shrug, looking slightly guilty.
My heart swelled in a way I hadn’t expected. These women, my best friends, had helped the man who hurt me because they believed he was worth it. Because they believed we were.
That bit of information hit me hard.
They all saw something in Mac. Something worth fighting for. Something worth giving a second chance.
The uncertainty I’d been clinging to started to dissolve, loosening its grip on my chest. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed someone else to believe in him until now. They answered a question I hadn’t even said out loud.
Was it okay to trust him again?
Was it okay to trust myself?
Yes. Because they saw it too.
I took another slow sip of my wine, the warmth spreading further than the alcohol could reach.
“Now that you know,” Aspen said carefully, her eyes bright with mischief, “is there anything you want me to tell him? Maybe plant a little bug in his ear?”
I smiled, letting the thought roll around in my head before I spoke. “Between us,” I said quietly, “I think I’ve fallen for him…again.”
All three of them beamed, breaking into soft, knowing giggles that made my cheeks flush.
“But,” I added quickly, holding up a finger. “I feel like I need more.”
“Okay,” Theo encouraged, leaning forward. “Keep talking.”
I took a breath and let the words pour out. “Everything that happened between us, the secrets, the wife, the pretending like nothing happened, it broke something in me. It wasn’t just a casual fling. I let myself fall for this guy in a way I haven’t let myself feel in years. And he made me question all of it. I felt like I was the only one carrying the weight of what we were.”
The room went still. No one interrupted. They just listened.
“It’s hard to come back from that kind of heartbreak,” I went on, my voice lower now, more vulnerable. “To go from being so one-sided to suddenly being told he wants to make things right. I want to believe him, I do, but it’s like I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“So, you need something big?” Aspen asked gently.
I nodded. “As much as I want to run straight into those tattooed arms and never look back, I need more. I need something real. Something that silences this back-and-forth battle in my head.”
“What if I planted the seed?” Aspen grinned. “Put this poor man out of his misery?”
The rest of the girls burst into laughter, and I joined them, the tension melting away like fog in the sun.
Maybe I was ready. Ready to stop running from this thing between Mac and me. Ready to stop punishing him and myself for the past.
It was time. Time to write the ending to this messy, beautiful story.
And maybe, just maybe, fall into Mac for good.