Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
She’d consumed about half the cookie when she felt full and set it down. She caught the question in Willa’s gaze.
“Sorry, I just…I, um, well, I’ve had a bad time of it. I’m sure you’ve noticed how skinny I am.”
Willa nodded. “I did notice.”
Pen pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “The last two years I was held by some bad people.” She didn’t know how much she could say. The last thing she wanted was to upset Foster. “They didn’t let me eat a lot.”
“I’m so sorry.”
A harsh laugh escaped her lips. “Truthfully, I was larger, the doctor told me my BMI made me obese a few weeks before I was taken. Now I’m malnourished and I haven’t had a period in a long time.”
Willa took her hand and squeezed. “Gosh, that is terrible. Not just that you lost so much weight, but BMI is a terrible measure of health. Being healthy is more important than a number on a scale.”
A harsh laugh escaped her lips. “I haven’t really processed it all. I’m just trying to make it day by day now.”
“No doubt it will take time.” Willa squeezed her hand again. “I’m here for you. I want you to have my number.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I want you to know you have people who are here for you.”
Her emotions rose. “Thank you. Having support means a lot. I have no idea what I will do or really where I can even go. I don’t know what the next few days will bring, let alone what next week will look like.”
“You don’t have to make any decisions right now.”
She shook her head. “No, but I’m going to have to soon. I have nowhere to go. I’m supposed to be staying at this military hotel, but after I leave there, I have no idea what I’ll do.”
“So no family?”
Revealing the horrible things her father had done wasn’t appealing. It showed how terrible her past was. Would Willa want to be friends with her if she knew about her past, about what happened to her in captivity?
She’d made so many mistakes, so many missteps. She had trusted her father, and she never should have. Her mother had been problematic, too. If her mother was still alive, would she have prevented her father from selling her?
“No, no family to speak of.”
“We’ll be your family. There are a lot of great people I’ve met here. I’ll have to introduce you to Bree and Remi. They both are really wonderful. The other women are great, too, but I don’t know them as well.”
“It would be nice to have friends again.”
“I’m sure.”
Pen’s phone rang, and she pulled it from her pocket. Foster’s name showed up on the screen. She answered. “Hello.”
“Hey, I came back, and you weren’t at home.”
“Sorry, I’m next door talking to Willa.”
“Oh, cool, I’ll be there in a moment.”
A key sounded in the front door and panic slid through Pen. But Willa’s face lit up as Pen turned. The door opened, and she recognized the man who walked in and turned off the alarm.
“Pen, I didn’t know you were going to be here. It’s Cy, if you didn’t remember.”
She unwrapped her arms from around her knees and stood slowly. Willa moved to Cy, pulling him into a hug. There was a knock at the door and then Foster was inside, his smile wide when he saw her.
Willa stepped out of Cy’s hold. “I made cookies and invited Pen over.”
“Cookies?” Foster asked.
“Yes. Snickerdoodles. Eat some. We have plenty.”
“Thank you.” Foster moved to the table and picked up two cookies.
Pen stared down at her half-eaten cookie, feeling like she wasn’t trying hard enough. She needed to eat more, but she had to eat slowly.
Strength was coming back to her legs, but standing for too long wore on her. She lowered to the chair and everyone else moved to the table and sat beside her.
“How was today?” Foster asked.
“I’m good. I slept late, so that was nice.”
Cy picked up another cookie. “Foster said the hotel was loud.”
She nodded. “It was. Nice, but loud. I’m thankful I had a place to stay.”
“Maybe you should stay in my guest room until you make up your mind where to go.”
Foster’s suggestion shocked her. Would it be wrong to stay with him? He was only offering to keep her close. There was no way there was more to it. He wasn’t interested in more with her and she needed to keep that in mind.
“Are you sure?”
Foster held her gaze. “Yes. I’m positive.”
Relief filled her. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Oh, that’s great news,” Willa said. “I’m working tomorrow, but I’ll be around on Saturday. Maybe we could watch a movie.”
“That sounds good. Being away for the last two years means I haven’t seen many movies or watched much TV.”
“We can remedy that,” Willa said. “I love going out to the beach, and doing activities outside, but I also love watching movies and hanging out.”
“You’re being too nice. I don’t want special treatment, but I guess I need it. Walking over here was exhausting.”
“You’ll get your strength back,” Foster said.
“How long did the doctor say it would take for you to recover?” Willa asked. “Wait, don’t answer that if you don’t want to.”
Pen shook her head. “No, I can answer that question.” She wove her fingers together and squeezed. “The doctor here asked me not to rush the process. She wants me to take it slow. I’m going back in two weeks to talk to her about how my stomach is doing. Apparently, that is one of the dangers.”
“Dangers?” Willa asked.
“Yes, it’s not as simple as eating more. I have to do it the right way. Like I only ate half a cookie, and I feel guilty that I can’t eat more, but it’s way too filling.”
Willa shot her a warm smile. “Hey, no guilty feelings.”
“POWs had a tough time recovering after getting free,” Cy said.
She shook her head. “But I wasn’t a POW.” She felt guilty whining about how she felt. Other people had it so much worse than she did.
Foster held up his hand. “But your situation wasn’t too unlike what they suffered. You weren’t fed, and now you have to gain weight. It takes time and patience.”
Willa huffed. “People always focus on weight loss and think it’s a great thing when people lose weight. But I’ve had friends who had to gain weight, and it was hard. All that just to say, don’t beat yourself up.”
Pen nodded slowly. “I’ll try to remember that. There’s just so much to it all.”
Foster put his hand on her arm. “And I’ll help you get through it all.”
She didn’t know what to say. Had Foster just said he would help her get through it all? He hadn’t said we, instead he’d said I, she was sure of it. Maybe there was more there than him just being nice.