A Penny for Your Thoughts by Bess McBride

his voice tore at her heart. “Stayed with me?”
    “No, I couldn’t have broken the contract. I wanted to be with you.” Her voice broke as she continued to pace the dining room area.
    Matt turned from the window and came toward her. He put his hands on her shoulders and guided her around to face him. His direct gaze pierced her armor of self defense, and she dropped her eyes to her feet.
    “If you had wanted to be with me, Penny, you never would have put in for the job. If you had wanted to be with me, honey, you would still be with me. You left me. I didn’t abandon you. I loved you.”

Chapter Seven
    Tears slipped down Penny’s face. Matt had abandoned her. He had! She hiccupped on a sob.
    “You never told me you loved me. You never said that before, not one single time. I loved you, too.”
    Matt pulled Penny into his arms and whispered against her hair. “I know you did, honey. I know you did.” He set her back to look into her eyes. She ran a shaking hand across her wet face. “But not enough to stay with me.” He traced a tear with his finger. “Why didn’t you call me when you got back to the States?”
    “Because you never wrote me. I thought you’d moved on. Married some blonde with a convertible or something.”
    “What?” Matt blinked. A dull flush stained his face. He dropped his hands and shoved them back in his pockets. “I waited for you. I stayed put and got a job there, waiting for you.”
    Sobs wracked Penny’s body. She wrapped her arms around her chest. “I didn’t know. Why did you get married?” she wailed.
    “Because I was lonely. That was seven years after you left. How long was I supposed to wait?”
    “I don’t know.” She tightened her arms around the ache in her heart and sobbed. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
    Matt sighed. He took her face in his hands and kissed the top of her forehead. “I am too, Penny. Me too.” He stepped back.
    His phone rang, and he looked at her with an unreadable expression for a moment before opening it.
    “Chief Williams.”
    Penny choked back her sobs and escaped to the half bathroom where she rinsed her face in cold water. She patted her face dry with a towel, but nothing reduced the splotchy redness of her nose and eyes.
    “Penny?” Matt called from the living room.
    “Coming,” she mumbled. She stepped out to see Matt slipping into his jacket. He glanced helplessly at the food on the table.
    “Something’s come up, Penny. I have to take off. I’m sorry about the meal.”
    Penny nodded and stared down at the carpeted floor. Whether something had really come up or not, he looked like he couldn’t wait to leave. He’d always run from displays of emotion, and she seemed incapable of keeping a tight rein on her emotions.
    “I understand. No problem.”
    “Okay. Well, I’ll see you then.”
    Penny kept her eyes lowered while he approached. He kissed her cheek and paused for a moment. She stared at his boots. With a sigh, he moved toward the door and slipped through it quietly.
    Penny stared at the uneaten food, desolate and lost in the pain of the past and present. He really hadn’t changed at all, had he? He still ran from her tears. And it seemed she hadn’t changed either. She still wailed and sobbed at the slightest provocation. Penny knew she was being too hard on herself, but at the moment, it felt good to punish herself.
    And she’d forgotten to tell him about the missing address book. It hardly seemed important at the moment.
    She wandered past the table and pushed open the balcony door. Night had fallen, with the crescent moon providing the only light on the dark beach below. A stiff sea breeze had arisen with the disappearance of daylight, and as she rested her hands on the railing, she listened to the soothing sound of the wind and the waves.   
    A voice from directly below caught her attention, and she leaned over to find the source. A man stepped out of the lighted area near the ground floor of the