“The police are inside now, but I don’t know what’s happening,” Ridley continued. “Eli knew we were at the show, so he’d contact us if everything was fine. He hasn’t been in touch, so I’m not sure what’s going on. Mara wanted you to know what was happening so you’d have time to drive down here. Just in case.”

Penny understood what the other woman was really saying. Just in case Matt didn’t get back up. Just in case he was dead.

“Thank you. I’m coming now.”

“Okay, we’ll text you if we hear anything in the meantime.”

They hung up and Penny dropped down into her desk chair. She stared, unseeing, at the piles of paper on the floor.

Matt had called her last night, like usual. He’d told her all about guarding Kaylee and what a nice, humble girl she was. He’d actually laughed at how it didn’t seem right to be getting paid to hang out with his friends. He’d sounded so happy that it had temporarily made her feel better about the separation. It sucked not seeing him every night, but at least he was enjoying himself. He’d found a career that fit him well and gave him the sense of teamwork he’d been looking for. She’d been happy for him.

Briefly, Penny thought about how many years he’d spent in the military and how she’d thought he’d be so much safer in the civilian world. She’d assumed the military was the only danger to their relationship. To her perfect future. By avoiding risk and keeping everything in her life in perfect order, she’d fooled herself into thinking she could control things. That she could ensure she’d never have to feel as helpless and out of control as she had as a teenager.

How had she not learned by now that fate had a way of getting you where it wanted you no matter what you did? Her glee, no matter how momentary, that he hadn’t qualified to stay in the military had brought this down on them. She’d been smug in her triumph and this was the payback. She covered her eyes with her hands.

Fate was such a miserable, catty bitch.

*   *   *   *   *

A FEW MINUTES after she’d hung up with Ridley, the door to her office opened.

“Penelope?” Charles stood in the doorway uncertainly.

“I don’t have time to talk right now, Charles. I need to go.” His appearance jerked her from her shocked stupor, and she realized she’d just been sitting in her chair, staring into space. Her man was in trouble and there were one hundred and fifty miles separating them.

She swept all the papers on her desk into a pile. She’d have to ask Georgia to rearrange things since she didn’t know how long she’d be gone. It would depend on how badly Matt was injured. Mara hadn’t been sure of exactly what she’d seen.

“Go where?” Charles watched as she pulled off her lab coat and threw it over the back of her chair.

“I’m having a personal emergency. I need to take a few days.”

“You just took vacation.”

Penny grasped her head between her hands and pressed hard against her temples. She wasn’t sure if it was possible to physically hold in rage, but she was trying. If Charles didn’t get out of her way, she was liable to turn green and come bursting out of her clothes.

“No, Charles. I used my vacation time to attend to a pro bono patient. That’s not a vacation. A vacation is lying on a beach somewhere, sipping mai tais and checking out cute cabana boys. I was doing my job on my personal vacation time. Something I should not have to do.”

He took a step back when she pointed at him, her finger almost jabbing him in the chest. His face turned a mottled shade of red as he watched her racing around the room, ignoring him.

“Well, yes, but it still counts as vacation time. I don’t think you have enough hours left to take more time now,” he stammered.

“That may be the case, but my boyfriend was injured while on the job. I need to be there.”

Charles stood up to his full height. “Look, Penny—I’m not heartless, but you can’t just run off.”

Penny pulled her handbag from her desk and slammed the drawer. “Watch me.”

“Now wait a minute!”

Penny whirled around. “I have busted my ass for this place since the day I was hired. It’s never enough. I’m doing too much or too little. I’m getting too much attention and the center isn’t getting enough. Or was it really that you weren’t getting enough? Well, you’re finally going to get what you’ve been angling for since the beginning. I quit. You get to be the star of the show now. Good luck with that. Trust me, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.”

She burst into tears. “Now get the hell out of my office.”

Charles watched her uncertainly until she screamed “Get out!” Then he ran out the door.

A few seconds later Georgia pushed the door open. “I saw the snake go slithering off. What happened?” When she saw Penny standing in the middle of the room crying, she shoved the door all the way open and ran to her side.

“What happened? Penny? Are you okay?”

“I should have listened to you. You tried to tell me love is simple. I made it complicated and now he’ll never know how I felt.”

“He knows, Penny. I’m sure he knows.” Georgia held her and rubbed a hand up and down her back. The gentle touch broke down the last of Penny’s emotional defenses.

She collapsed into her friend’s arms. “It’s not enough.”