ONE NIGHT WITH THE BEST MAN

by AMANDA BERRY - Special Edition 2364 - ONE NIGHT

  “Even as teenagers, I felt it. That this could be so much more.”

  “This is all we’ll have, though,” Penny whispered because if she said it too loud it would break her heart.

  “Why?” He leaned up on his elbow and looked down at her.

  It was harder to hide this way, lying naked with him. It wasn’t the lack of clothing, but being in her bedroom, having him make love to her, having him care for her. It was all too much.

  “You can never trust me.” The words barely made any sound, yet they rang loud through the room.

  “Have you had sex with anyone else since I arrived?” His hand trailed over the side of her breast, down over the dip in her waist and over her hip.

  “No, bu—”

  “Have you wanted to have sex with someone else since I arrived?”

  She stared up at the ceiling. Everything in her screamed at her to tell him the truth. To stop playing the game. She shook her head no.

  “All I ever wanted was you.” He leaned down and kissed her lips.

  “You shouldn’t.” Penny shook her head.

  “Why not?” Luke’s voice was seductive. “You’re intelligent. Independent. Beautiful.”

  She rolled away from him. “You shouldn’t want me. There are better women out there for you. Ones who aren’t so...broken.”

  “Let me fix you.” He stroked his hand down her back.

  “I can’t.” She wanted nothing more than to sink back into his arms, but she knew if she did, she’d never have the strength to let go. “You know the type of woman I am.”

  “What type is that?”

  Steeling herself, she sat up and turned to face him. “The kind who kisses your brother.”

  She saw the light go out of his eyes. She kept her head up, but inside her world was crumbling. Her stomach knotted and her throat seized closed. He turned from her and sat on the edge of the bed. Her eyes burned.

  “So you kissed him?” His tone was even, not betraying one ounce of feeling.

  “Yeah.” She’d been strong enough to do it before, and she could do it again. She could push Luke away one last time and make this one stick. And she could just tell the truth.

  “Why?” He turned and lifted his gaze to hers. His question held no accusation in it, just curiosity.

  In all her lonely nights, she’d wondered the same damned question. Had she just been a scared little girl? Or had there been more to it? But for him, she’d brazen it out. Be the stronger of the two of them because she knew that Luke deserved better than her. “Maybe I wanted to know if he kissed like you.”

  “Did he?”

  No one kissed like Luke. But admitting that wouldn’t help him to leave her.

  “Maybe I wanted to kiss every guy in Tawnee Valley and just needed to add Sam to my list.” It felt as if there was a freight train rattling down the tracks toward her and she couldn’t step out of the way. “Maybe all the rumors were true. Maybe I was the town slut.”

  He looked away from her, and she felt the hole beginning to form in her heart. This is where he’d walk away. It didn’t matter how many days he had left before he went back to St. Louis. This would be when he walked away from her again.

  She should be glad. This is what she wanted. What he needed.

  “Bull.”

  “Excuse me?” she said. Her slowing heart picked up its tempo.

  “You heard me,” he said as he stood. He came around the bed and stood in front of her. “Bull.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” She tried to recapture her breath, but when he was near, the air disappeared.

  “That was years ago. If you wanted to be the town slut, you could have been. Instead you were with me. You never once looked at another guy while we were together. I knew it. I saw it. You were mine and always have been.”

  “You don’t know that.” God, she wanted him to believe that. But she couldn’t let him. If he’d said this to her after she’d kissed Sam, she would have lost her resolve to push him away.

  He lowered his head until his lips were barely brushing against hers. “Yes, I do. Just like I know that you are mine now.”

  She wanted to shake her head no and go down swinging. Instead she got lost in his eyes, picking out the flecks of dark and light blue. His mouth captured hers and she gave up. Only for tonight.

  She’d start the fight over in the morning, make him see that she wasn’t what he wanted. That they wouldn’t have a happily ever after because she wasn’t built that way.

  He pressed her back down onto the bed and into the mattress. Tomorrow was definitely soon enough.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Sam?” Luke came in through the screen door followed by the bang. “Sam!”

  “What?” Sam came out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel. He looked as he always did in jeans and a black T-shirt with the faded Metallica logo. It was hard to believe he had surgery less than a week ago.

  “What happened that night?” Luke came to a halt in front of Sam and searched his face for clues. It was time to learn the truth, and he knew Penny wouldn’t be the one to tell him. She was afraid of something. Getting to the bottom of his graduation night seemed like his best shot at convincing her they belonged together.

  “What night?” Sam threw the towel back into the bathroom. His dark wet hair stood haphazardly around his head. He slicked a hand over it and headed to the living room.

  Luke followed in his wake. “The night of my graduation. I saw you kissing Penny.”

  Sam sighed as he sat in his recliner. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring it up before.”

  “Why would I?”

  “Because I saw you walking off when I pushed her away.” Sam rubbed a hand down his face.

  That answered one question. Sam knew he’d seen him. “What happened?”

  “You want a blow-by-blow?” Sam lifted his eyebrow as if to say, Are you sure?

  Luke took in a deep breath and sat on the couch. “It’s been years, but I need to know.”

  Something about the way she reacted when her mother had come back into her life unexpectedly had reminded him of right before graduation. They’d been talking about the coming year and how he’d be at University of Illinois and she’d come with him. Or more to the point, he’d talked about it. Now that he thought about it, the more he’d talked about it, the quieter and more distant she’d become.

  “I went into the house to get a beer.” Sam reached over and grabbed his glass of water. “I was surprised to find Penny in the room when I closed the refrigerator. She glanced out the door and then kissed me.”

  Luke remembered that part way too well. “You kissed her back.”

  The tips of Sam’s ears turned red. “I’d had a couple of drinks and it’d been a while.... I pushed her away as soon as I realized what was happening. She looked out the door and I followed her gaze to see you walking away. She seemed satisfied with whatever she wanted to happen, but then she just collapsed. Sank to the ground like a stone.”

  Luke leaned forward, concentrating on every detail.

  “I grabbed her elbow to help her up. She’d gone pale and was shaking all over. She kept repeating, ‘He can’t know, he can’t know.’ I had no idea what her problem was. She was your girlfriend, after all.”

  Sam shook his head. “I told her you saw us and she just nodded like she was numb. I told her I’d talk to you, but she grabbed my hand and said no.”

  “What happened next?” Luke’s mind was spinning around the details.

  “She got up, said she was sorry and went out the door. I didn’t see her again that night.” Sam shrugged. “I couldn’t find you, and you left before breakfast the next morning. That was the day Brady told me he was going to London and I lost it.”

>   “That was a rough day.” Luke remembered when he got home that afternoon. He’d still been upset at Sam and Penny, but Brady had pulled him aside. Luke said to Sam, “Brady told me to watch over you. He said you acted like you didn’t need anyone, but you did.”

  “Leave it to Brady to make it sound like a Hallmark card.” Sam shook his head and rubbed his chest.

  “Do you need a pain pill?” Luke started to get up, but Sam waved him off.

  “I don’t need to be babied.” Sam leaned his recliner back. “I just need to take it easy, like you’ve told me a hundred times.”

  Luke searched Sam’s face for signs of pain or distress from his heart surgery. He’d have enough time to think about what he’d learned when he was outside working. “Why didn’t you ever bring the kiss up?”

  “I didn’t want to deal with it. You’d broken up with Penny. Brady had left. It seemed better to just leave well enough alone.”

  Luke’s brow furrowed. “But I barely spoke to you when I came home.”

  Sam closed his eyes and smiled. “But you came home.”

  * * *

  “He’s fine. I’m not sure why you still call me when I know you call him every night, too.” Penny put the TV on mute and leaned back on the couch.

  “Uncle Sam’s not good on the phone,” Amber said.

  “Don’t his grunts come through okay?” Penny glanced at her nails. She should paint them. It would give her something to do tonight. Who knew who would show up at her door this time? Her mother? Luke? The Easter Bunny?

  “That’s not funny. Uncle Sam doesn’t just grunt.”

  “But he does grunt a lot.” Penny smiled.

  “Okay, he does.” Amber called something out that was muffled. “Mom says we’re coming home in a couple days, so I shouldn’t have to call you every night....”

  “You can still call if you want.” Penny stared at the image of the Winchesters driving down a dark road.

  “Penny says I can call if I want,” Amber yelled. After a pause, Amber said, “Okay, I have to go, but Mom wants to talk to you.”

  “Bye, sweetie.” Penny picked up the remote and pressed pause. Talking with Maggie would take more than half her attention.

  Penny could almost picture her friend in a sundress in a fancy hotel room, waiting to go out with her new family. God, she missed her.

  “How are things going?” Maggie said.

  “Fine.” Penny couldn’t disguise the strain in her voice. “You’re on your honeymoon. You should be having fun, not talking on the phone.”

  “I have a few minutes. Brady took Amber down to the pool. Now spill.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.” She was dealing with everything the best she could on her own. Maggie needed to focus on having a good time.

  “Please. I know your ‘fine’ is never fine. Is it Luke? Sam?”

  That was the issue with being best friends. They were always in each other’s business. It was the best and only relationship Penny had kept.

  “You asked for it.” Penny looked up at the ceiling. “Cheryl is in town.”

  “Your mother came back! And all you said was fine. This is big. Huge. What did she say? What did you say? Is she still there? Did she leave again?”

  Penny sighed. “She’s here. Not here, here. But she’s looking for a place to rent in Tawnee Valley. She wants us to try to get to know each other again.” The last sentence left a bad taste in her mouth. No matter how many times she thought about it, her mother being here was bad. How long before she fell off the wagon? How long before she made Penny believe she was here for good and then leave?

  “Is she sober?”

  “Yeah, for a year apparently.” Penny rubbed the bridge of her nose.

  “Wow. So you guys are talking?”

  “Not exactly.” Penny winced because this had always been a sticking point with her and Maggie. Maggie had begged her to track down her mother. Life was short and you never knew how much time was left. But Penny didn’t want to let her mother back into her life just to watch her walk away again.

  “Seriously?” Maggie took a deep breath—probably preparing for her lecture. “How many people do you have in your life?”

  “Counting you and Amber?”

  “Exactly—me and Amber. I know you had something with Luke and I know you still feel something for your mother. You can’t keep doing this, Penny.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Pushing everyone away. I love you. I have always been there and I’m not planning on going anywhere, but...”

  “But?”

  “I can’t be your everything.” Maggie sighed. “I wish I could be there every minute of the day, but I can’t. You need more than me. You need someone who you love and who loves you and supports you in ways I can’t.”

  Penny rolled her eyes. “That’s the honeymoon and too much Disney talking.”

  “Weren’t you the one who encouraged me to try with Brady?”

  “Yeah, but that was different.”

  “How is that differ—”

  “Because you deserve happiness. You deserve love and devotion and a great guy and a great family.”

  Maggie’s voice was soft when she spoke after a heartbeat. “And you don’t?”

  “No. I don’t. I deserve to grow old and die alone.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “What else do you want me to say?”

  “I want you to say that you’ll try. That you’ll give your mother a chance to explain. That you’ll give Luke a chance to love you. Not the you who was eighteen and impulsive, but this woman you’ve become. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  Penny shook her head, pressed her lips together and clutched at the lump in her stomach threatening to come up. If Maggie were here in front of her, she would have pulled Penny into her arms and talked her down. But she wasn’t here.

  “I can’t,” Penny pushed past her lips.

  “You know I’d kick your ass if I were there, don’t you?” Maggie’s voice was hard, but she could hear the frustrated love behind the hardness. “You are not less deserving than I am, Penny. You deserve love. You deserve happiness. You deserve to live a full life.”

  Penny swallowed.

  “If you don’t think you’re worth it, remember that I believe you are. Just promise me you’ll try.”

  Maggie’s faith in her left Penny shaken.

  “I’ll try.”

  “Now, about Luke...”

  Penny could hear the smile in Maggie’s voice. “We don’t have enough time to talk about Luke. You need to get back to your husband and daughter.”

  “You’re no fun.” Maggie’s pout came through loud and clear over the telephone.

  “Well, I could tell you about the sex toys—”

  “Okay, you win. I love you, Penny.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Maggie hung up the phone, leaving Penny with a lot to think about. Her mother showing up in her life upset everything. She’d broken her rule about letting guys into her bedroom for Luke. She could sit and think all night or...she could continue to watch Supernatural.

  Hmm...life decisions or the Winchester brothers. No contest.

  She punched the play button. Just when she was getting into it and Sam and Dean, the main characters, were about to face the demon, the doorbell rang. It was only six and she wasn’t expecting anyone. She stopped her DVR and went to the door.

  “This better be good. You’re interrupting Sam and—” Pulling open the door, she met Luke’s shocked face. “Hey.”

  “Since I just left my brother at the farm, I’m assuming you mean another Sam?” Luke came in and she shut the door behind him.

  “Why would I talk about your Sam?” Taking a deep
breath in, Penny turned and faced him. “Why do you care what Sam I’m talking about?”

  The phone rang before Luke could say anything. She held up a finger and walked back into her living room to pick up the phone. The number was unknown, but she’d rather deal with whoever was on the other end than talk with Luke about “where they were going.”

  “Hello?”

  “Penny?” Cheryl’s voice hit her hard. It would take a while for the shock of her mother’s appearance to become part of her normal. Of course, that could change at any time. Her mother was prone to leaving.

  Maggie told her to try. Penny straightened. “Yeah.”

  “I was wondering if you’d like to get lunch tomorrow. I just signed my lease on my house and wanted to celebrate with you.”

  As much as her head screamed, It’s a trap to lull you into believing she’ll stay, Penny ignored it. “Sure, lunch sounds good.”

  Luke moved into the room behind her and her heart ratcheted up a beat.

  “Oh, that’s great. I can’t wait. I’ll come by the store at noon.”

  “See you then.” Penny cut off the call and set the phone down. She put her hand over her racing heart. Her hands shook and the world shifted beneath her feet.

  Luke’s arms went around her from behind. “Are you okay?”

  She leaned back into his warmth and tried to breathe normally, but the world wouldn’t stand still even with Luke holding her.

  “Let’s sit down.” Luke helped her to sit on the couch and then released her. He pressed Play on the TV and left the room.

  As the Winchesters began their fight, Penny started to relax. Her heart managed to find a normal pace again. Nothing in the room spun. She took in a breath and then another.

  Luke came in and handed her a glass of water before joining her on the couch.

  “Thank you,” she murmured.

  “No problem.” He didn’t take his eyes off the screen. “Sam and Dean, huh?”

  She flushed. “Yeah.”

  “Mind if I change the channel?” Luke picked up the remote.