She Made It, Then Dumped Me novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: What Jace Brought

Penelope's POV

Wesley Thornton left the diner without saying goodbye.

He walked out with the envelope pressed flat against his chest, and the bell rang twice behind him.

I sat in the booth and did not move until my coffee went cold.

Then I drove home to New Jersey.

My father was in the kitchen, in the same cardigan he had worn since the studio closed.

He had a pillbox open in front of him and the evening news on low.

"You look like you've seen someone," he said.

"I met Wesley Thornton."

He put the pillbox down.

"The one on the news? The one who put his girlfriend in handcuffs?"

"The one who paid your banks."

My father said nothing for a long time.

"I want to pay him back," he said finally. "Every dollar."

"He won't take it."

"Then I'll mail it every month until he does."

"Dad, there isn't a single accountant in the country who would let you do that on your pension."

"I don't care what they'd let me do."

His hands shook on the table.

"He took my company," he said. "He cleared my debts. He did both in the same month and never once came to our door. I spent four years hating a man who didn't have the manners to be hated to his face."

"I know."

"Is he as bad as they say?"

I thought of how carefully he had carried that envelope out of the diner.

I thought of him sitting across from me with his father's hospital band still on his wrist.

"No," I said. "I think he's the only person in that whole business who tried to be decent."

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