Chapitre 37: Truce?

Penelope ended up crying herself to sleep but still hadn't come to a conclusion about what she was supposed to do. Roman was already gone by the time she woke up. It appeared he had gone in early to avoid her.

Considering how much he hated his job, that was a low blow. He was still angry but she couldn't really blame him. She wished there was something she could do to fix this that didn't involve having to pretend to be someone else for the rest of her life.

If not for Percy's threat, Penelope would simply divorce Roman and go back to living as her maiden name if she was stuck here. She wouldn't feel like such a fake as Penelope Logan.

The only false thing about her would be her diploma. Building a separate life for herself wouldn't feel so conflicting if she didn't have to deal with someone who was hopelessly in love with her other self.

Makeup couldn't fully hide her puffy eyes but Penelope still had to go to work. Marianne had finally finished what she was working on and asked her for her help with those projects she had taken over.

That was where things got tricky. She had absolutely no idea what was going on with these projects or what the other Penelope's original ideas had been. All she had to go off of was the reference materials she sent to Marianne yesterday.

"Penelope, can you tell me what you intended to do with this part? I'd like to stick to your original vision as much as possible," Marianne said as she pointed to something on the screen of her computer.

Crap. She had absolutely no idea what her other self had planned to do with that. She could only say what she would do with it now but she didn't have enough information about the client to know what they wanted.

Penelope pasted on a smile. "I'd rather hear how you would do it, actually. You have worked here longer than I have."

She only knew this because Marianne had been her trainer when she first joined the company. It was mentioned in the journals. Going off of her superior wisdom while she was getting into the swing of things would be a much better idea than making something up.

Marianne seemed surprised but pleased. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! You can take all the credit for this project. I'm the one who had to go and get sick out of nowhere."

Penelope had heard from a professor in college that getting credit for projects in this field could be a touchy issue when multiple people were involved. She may have started the project but since Marianne was picking up her slack, she should get the credit for it.

Her coworker smiled sunnily. "That's awfully nice of you. I didn't blame you for getting sick, by the way. I hope you know that even though I ended up with your projects on top of mine."

Handing the projects back now would be pointless because of all the progress Marianne had made on them in the two weeks Penelope was out sick. She had only been assigned to help her at all because Darren didn't want to give her anything new until she got back from the conference.

"Thanks for saying that. I know it was inconvenient," she said humbly. "Why don't you show me what you've done so far without having access to the reference materials?"

Marianne did and Penelope was impressed. It might be because of her lack of experience but she wouldn't change anything.

She helped as much as she could for the rest of the day, letting the more seasoned graphic designer take the lead, and felt like she had learned a lot from that experience alone. Marianne must have been a good trainer when Penelope Cross came to the company.

When she got home, this time it was Roman who had an apology gift. He held out a bouquet of multicolored tulips; Penelope's favorite flower.

"I'm sorry for going off on you yesterday when you were trying to apologize…and for making you cry," he said sincerely.

She took the flowers out of his hands and delicately sniffed them. They smelled nice. It had been ages since anyone had given her flowers of any sort but her past boyfriends never bothered to get her tulips since they weren't the standard flower to give your girlfriend.

"Thank you for these. You really don't need to apologize though. I was the one in the wrong and I already said I was crying for a different reason," Penelope said as she went to go find a vase.

Roman made a skeptical noise. "Why were you crying then?"

"Let's just say I had a rough day."

As she set the vase down on the kitchen counter and stepped back to admire it, his arms went around her from behind and he rested his chin on top of her head. Penelope's heart pounded from the unexpected contact.

"Truce?" Roman offered. "We were both in the wrong yesterday."

He was way too nice. He had snapped at her but only after she caused a problem first. If the situations were reversed, she would probably still be angry. She had always possessed a bit of a temper though. He seemed too easygoing for that.

"Truce," she agreed. "What should I make for dinner?"

Roman kissed the top of her head before releasing her. "You go get changed; I'll make dinner tonight."

Way, way too nice! Who even was this person?! Penelope cursed her other self yet again for being stupid enough to put work before this wonderful man. If she ever had the chance to meet her, she would give her a real piece of her mind.

An idea struck her. That was probably impossible but what about a letter? She could leave it tucked inside the most recent journal where the last entry left off.

At this point, she was really beginning to doubt a switch back would ever happen but she wanted to vent even if it didn't. Roman didn't seem like the kind to snoop inside someone else's journal so she should be safe.