Jordan sat down on the floor of the clinic as Ralph wagged his tail and licked the shit out of his face. Betty Tanner smiled. “He’s been watching for you for a while.”
“Thanks, Dr. Tanner. I appreciate you watching him for a few days,” he said. As the old woman left, he focused on Ralph. “Sorry, bud. I had to go out of town. But it was for her. And it’s likely that I’ll have to do this to ya a lot. My life isn’t changing. I still don’t own it.”
Ralph snuggled against him, his tongue darting out, searching for Jordan’s skin to slime.
“Is this how I’d be as a father? Always leaving?” He sighed. “Maybe this is why she didn’t want me in her life.” He wasn’t supposed to even be able to have children. When Nathan had found out, he’d gotten quiet. He was proud of his Reaper matrix shit, and that there was a bug in it probably chafed his British arse.
“Maybe she’s right. I’m a complete disaster of a man. I couldn’t even keep her safe when it counted.”
He buried his face in Ralph’s fur, the smell of dog filling his nostrils. Ralph whined and Jordan let him go. Ralph ran around the floor and then stopped at the door leading to the back area. Ralph was ready to leave him, too.
He stood up and walked to the door. There were a few other dogs out there already, running around, playing. Maybe in his next life he could come back as a dog. What a nice life that would be. No responsibility. No obligations. No British billionaire keeping him from being with the woman he loved.
Loved.
Who didn’t love him back.
Who carried his child, one he shouldn’t have been able to conceive.
He opened the door and let Ralph go running into the yard. As he nipped and played with the other dogs out there, he shut the door and headed out. He paused as he saw that wall, where he and Penny had first seen each other since their one night together. He’d been so surprised to see her. Made him wonder why he hadn’t ever looked at her background before he’d seduced her and taken her back to the hotel. What were the odds she’d be from Jubilee, really? The town had a population of a little over five hundred. The world had billions of people in it.
Had he ever bothered with the past of the women that he’d bedded, though? Why would Penny have been any different? He was a rotten person.
Nathan had promised he’d take care of her and yet… Jordan still missed her.
But leaving her alone would make her happy and that was all he wanted now. Her safe and happy.
If it left him alone, then that was his own damn fault.
His phone rang and he was tempted to throw it. But he answered it almost on autopilot.
“We’re ready,” Nathan said, clipped and short. “Where are you?”
“On my way,” he replied. He glanced out at the park, not too far from the vet’s office. He could just see the bench.
Then I suppose it must be love…
He was a right stupid idiot, wasn’t he?
“I’m sure you don’t want me to answer that,” Nathan said in his ear. Jordan blinked. Oh, right, he’d said that out loud. “Meet us at the back exit. Better for the helicopter to land out there than smack dab in the middle of town.”
He glanced at the park bench he could just see in the distance. The one where he fell in love with her. He had one more thing to take care of for Nathan, and then… well, he wasn’t sure what came after that. It didn’t really matter.
~*~*~
When the doorbell rang, Joe answered it while Penny and Tessa were setting the table. When he said it was for Penny, he had an odd look on his face.
She ran for the door, almost convincing herself that maybe Jordan had come… but it wasn’t him.
A man in a suit stood before her on the porch. He wore sunglasses and held a manilla folder in his hands. “Penelope Lawson?”
“Yes,” she said warily. “That’s me.”
He handed her the folder. “These are for you.”
Then he was gone, walking away to a black sedan parked along the curb. As the car pulled away, Penny opened the folder, shutting the door behind her. Then the bottom dropped out of her stomach.
“Oh, my god!”
Tessa and Joe appeared in the living room, both with concerned looks.
Penny glanced up, knowing the surprise was on her face. “Did we have a great uncle?”
“Not that I know of,” Tessa said.
“This says we did,” Penny said, sinking onto the couch. Tessa sat down beside her and took the folder from her. She read through it in silence, her lips tightening. “It’s legit, isn’t it?”
“It’s on Dad’s side,” she said quietly. Their father hadn’t been a Jubilee native, so they did have family all over the place up north. Which apparently now included a dead great uncle who left his entire estate to Penny. She looked at Penny and laughed. “If this is real, it looks like a job isn’t going to be something you need to worry about.”
Tessa handed it to Joe to look at, and as he scrutinized it, Penny’s heart pounded. She was fairly sure who was behind this sudden great uncle. Having seen the abilities Jordan’s people had and what they were capable of accomplishing, she had no doubt. Though he wasn’t with her now, he was still taking care of her.
That just made the hole in her heart that much bigger and hurt all the more.