Penelope waited outside for Percy to arrive because she couldn't bear to spend another second in Roman's presence. He was too perfect. Men like him weren't supposed to exist!
She couldn't possibly keep up the charade with so much pressure on her. As much as she didn't want to, she would have to let Percy down.
He pulled up to the curb about five minutes later in a shiny new Nissan. Not the most expensive model on the market but definitely more than Penelope ever would have been able to afford.
She drove her dad's old 2001 Toyota Corolla with a ton of miles on it and was simply grateful it had been paid off ages ago. Her Percy didn't even have his own car. He had been using their mom's because she hadn't been going anywhere since the love of her life died.
"Hey!" Percy greeted with a carefree smile. "Where do you want to eat?"
"Somewhere I can get crepes," Penelope said firmly. She couldn't remember the last time she had any so she had to take advantage while she could temporarily afford it.
He entered 'crepes near me' into his phone's GPS before putting the car back into drive. He glanced over at her to make sure she was putting on her seatbelt and his eyes widened.
"Uh…where's your wedding ring?"
She glanced down at her hand and saw nothing but a thin white line where a ring should be on the fourth finger of her left hand, immediately flooded with panic. She wore it on the way home from the hospital because it had been with the clothes the other Penelope came in but had she worn it since?
She couldn't remember if she had worn it yesterday. Crap! Had Roman noticed? She wasn't used to wearing rings so putting it on hadn't even occurred to her.
It was a beautiful (if unconventional) ring. Five pear-shaped diamonds of different sizes that were set up to look like a tiara were set into a thin gold band. She wondered which one of them had picked it out.
Penelope had never fantasized about the engagement ring she wanted someday the way other girls she knew did. She figured that was a problem that could wait until she was seriously dating someone.
"I'm not used to wearing rings," she lamented. "I really can't pull this off, Percy! That's what I came here to tell you. I have to leave that house. Can't I stay with you for a while until things blow over?
"You can't reasonably expect me to pretend to be someone else's wife. He's totally going to notice sooner or later. This ring slip was probably only the first of many! I can't do this anymore."
They pulled up to a stoplight and Percy looked at her seriously. "Do you want to go home?"
Penelope gaped at him. What kind of question was that?
She should have been able to answer with an unequivocal 'yes.' She was worried about her real family but…aside from that did she really have anything else to go back to?
Most of her friends had abandoned her when her dad got sick. Missy was the only exception. She was friendly with her coworkers but wasn't particularly close with anyone. Jack would never ask her out anyway so there wasn't even a point in liking him.
She didn't want to steal another person's husband. Staying with Roman wasn't an option if she was stuck here. She would have to leave him and live her own life if she wasn't able to go back home.
This Penelope had an actual career so it wouldn't be too hard to provide for herself. She was used to living frugally anyway.
Her dad was alive here too. Percy knew she wasn't his actual sister but already said he didn't mind. Her life could be perfect if she stayed here. But that would be a horrible thing to say out loud.
"That's a dumb question," Penelope said, not really answering him one way or the other.
He made a small dismissive noise before changing the subject. "You can't leave Roman. It would destroy him and we owe him our father's life. If you're going to stay here, you're going to have to live with it or I won't forgive you."
Was he serious?! Percy could be intense at times but he wasn't the type to hold grudges.
"You can't mean that—"
"I'm dead serious, Penny. Don't ruin Roman's life. If this unnatural phenomenon doesn't correct itself automatically, you get to have everything you could ever want. Think about it. All of your family members. A career you enjoy. No debt or overworking yourself to survive.
"But if you think you can enjoy all those benefits while hurting someone who loves you—or at least a version of you—think again. I won't allow it," Percy finished with a steely look in his eyes.
Penelope gulped. The words 'I won't allow it' loomed over her ominously.
She had thought that he would be on her side no matter what because they were siblings but it appeared that his loyalty to Roman was greater than his loyalty to his fake sister. Harsh.
Percy was a genius. She had no doubt that he could follow through on that latent threat in a variety of horrible ways, the least of which could be locking her up in a mental hospital for delusions of grandeur claiming to be from another world.
"I thought you said I was your sister no matter where I came from," Penelope said slowly.
Percy's yellow eyes glinted in a way that belied his casual tone. "I did. But even if the sister I grew up with suddenly decided she wanted to get a divorce, I wouldn't support it. I've watched Roman fawn over her—you—since I was a child; there's no way he could have done anything worthy of divorce."
Based on everything Penelope had seen so far, that was probably true. But geez. Talk about stubborn! It would be more natural to take your family's side for this sort of thing, wouldn't it? Gratitude or not. She had never been able to fathom the depths of that boy's brain.