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Penny
By the end of the week, Penny was exhausted. It had been a never-ending cycle of deliveries, transport, and setup. Between that and the late-night trysts with Jaxson, she was running on empty.
She wouldn’t change a thing though. She’d needed those fixes. She’d become like a junkie when it came to him. And when he did things like ask his sister to make bienenstich kuchen and then spoon-feed it to her after hot and sweaty sexy times, was it any wonder?
Those few stolen moments tided her over, but they weren’t enough. Spending an entire week with him had spoiled her. She missed being held in his arms and falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat beneath her ear. She missed sharing meals and discovering new things and the sense of rightness she felt around him. So much so in fact that when Jaxson eventually returned to Campbell’s Junction, she wanted to go with him.
Sumneyville was her home. She loved her job at the flower shop. Loved her family. She’d miss them terribly. But she also knew that she’d miss Jaxson more. Her priorities had changed. She was no longer content to be content. She wanted to be happy, and being with Jaxson made her happy.
He’d be leaving soon. He hadn’t come out and said so, but it was inevitable. He’d gotten what he had come for, and while he was getting on well at Sanctuary, it was only a temporary thing. He’d confided to Penny that while he enjoyed spending time with the guys and getting to know Sam, he preferred to do so slowly, allowing their relationship to build naturally over time instead of forcing the issue. Jaxson and Sam were a lot alike in that they were both private people and didn’t open themselves up to others easily.
He was also getting restless; she could sense it. He’d been down to see Zeb a couple of times over the past week, and they’d been working on some old bikes or something. Most of it went over her head, but there was no mistaking the pleasure in his eyes when he talked about it.
That was his thing. He loved old machines as much as she loved plants and flowers. He found his sanctuary in a garage, just as she found hers in a greenhouse. The problem was, his garage was five hundred miles away from her greenhouse.
But there was no reason it had to remain that way. She could do her thing anywhere.
The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced it was the right thing to do. All she had to do was convince him.
She smiled to herself, thinking of the ripples in the Sumneyville grapevine that her following him to Campbell’s Junction would cause. There would be a lot of speculation as to the why of it, of course. The Ladies Auxiliary would have a field day, and Great-Auntie Agnes would be mortified.
The tongues were already wagging. They had been from the moment Jaxson had first appeared in town, asking questions about Ilsa Appelhoff. There was plenty of supposition and no shortage of theories, but the gossipmongers didn’t know the details. Only a select few did, and they knew how to keep a secret.
As if that wasn’t enough, Penny’s sudden disappearance had added fuel to the fire. Penny had received her share of curious looks all week, and she’d heard the murmurs and whispers. Ultimately, it changed nothing, although it did provide a new perspective.
Dawn was on the horizon when Penny put the finishing touches on the final display. Like a mythical fairy, she’d worked her magic during the night while everyone else was sound asleep.
She dragged herself back to her apartment, tired but pleased, and crawled into bed. Now that her job was finally done, she could relax—at least until it was time to tear everything down again.
In the meantime, all she had to do was have fun.
And figure out how she was going to tell Jaxson she’d decided to go with him.