I'm Only Messing With You

Penny didn't see things that way. She was at the top of her game at work right now, moving swiftly up the ladder in the advertising agency. She had been given some very important projects lately and was thrilled that her boss had chosen her to go to the conference coming up.

She thought that they should wait to try and get pregnant until she got the promotion she wanted at work. But then she didn't want to stay at home with a baby until it was old enough to go to preschool even though working wasn't a financial necessity.

Roman didn't understand it. She had always been so good with Percy and her younger cousins so it wasn't as if she didn't like kids.

They had talked about when they wanted to have children before getting married. Because Penny was only twenty-two at the time, they agreed to wait a few years but now they had been married for four and she still kept putting things off.

He even volunteered to find someone to temporarily take over his duties at the hospital so he could be the stay-at-home parent when the baby was little. She shot that down too, saying being pregnant would get in the way of her potential promotion.

Penny insisted that if she worked hard it would happen in the next six months but admitted it could take as long as two years. It wasn't even the time frame that was the problem here; it was the fact that she kept pushing things off and putting her career before her family.

Roman couldn't fathom loving a job that much. His had been thrust upon him by his parents; it wasn't as if he enjoyed it. He did it because it was what was expected of him.

She was different. She had a passion and drive for her career. Her tenacity and enthusiasm were things he normally loved about her but that was where he drew the line so they had been arguing on and off about this for the past seven months or so.

They had been in the middle of yet another discussion on the matter that was going nowhere when Penny collapsed from pain and he had to rush her to the ER. Part of the reason he had been so terrified during her surgery was the fact that he didn't want hurtful accusations about loving her job more than she loved him to be the last thing he ever said to her.

Roman had been so relieved when she woke up and then she acted like she didn't even know him. It had been the worst hour of his life, even more than the hours she was in surgery or unconscious.

Penny hadn't said anything about the argument since coming home but she had been oddly distant, even going as far as not wearing her wedding ring two days in a row. She always wore her ring religiously and occasionally admired how it sparkled in the light even after five years of wearing it.

She wasn't as snuggly as usual either. Normally when she didn't feel well she was all over him, demanding to be held because she claimed it made her feel better. Not that he was complaining; he was always happy to oblige.

He didn't like this at all but he wasn't sure how to fix it. He didn't want to bring up the argument unnecessarily and get them fighting again, especially since she was still recovering.

There had to be something he could do. He couldn't bear for Penny to be distant with him when she had always been his greatest source of warmth.

When she finally did come home, Roman had to stop himself from pathetically jumping up and giving her a bear hug. It had only been a few hours but he had missed her desperately. He didn't want to accidentally hurt her incision though.

She seemed exhausted and in pain. What on earth had Percy gone on about to keep her out so long? Breakfast did not take three hours to eat.

Penny shot him a weak smile and seemed to read his mind. "We got on the topic of black holes and earthquakes so the conversation ran long. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap. Wake me up before dinner if I'm not up by then."

Disappointment flooded through him. Curse that kid! The weekends were pretty much the only time he really got to hang out with her and Percy had inadvertently taken the entire day away.

"Sure thing," Roman said lightly, not wanting to fuss over it when she wasn't feeling well.

He watched her tiredly make her way up the stairs and figured that lying around here all day wouldn't be productive. Penny would be out for at least a few hours based on how tired she seemed.

He shot Harry a text. 'I know we normally play basketball on Sundays but is there any chance you're free right now?'

Roman got a reply less than a minute later. 'Lucky for you, a lunch date canceled on me. I'm free. See you at the club in 20'

Sighing in relief, he grabbed his gym bag and headed out the door to the sports club he and Penny had a membership at. There was an outdoor pool, a gym full of weightlifting and cardio machines, tennis courts, and a basketball court.

When they came together, she typically did water aerobics while he worked on weightlifting or cardio. But on Sundays he got together with Harry and some other rotating guys to play basketball around 1 PM.

Roman changed in the locker room and carried his ball under his arm on the way out to the basketball court, making a few shots before Harry showed up.

He waved and smiled with a familiar teasing glint in his green eyes. "What brings the world's most devoted husband to hang out with his forgotten best friend on a Saturday?"

Roman rolled his eyes. "Don't pull that crap on me. I see you at least three times a week."

They playfully bumped shoulders the way they had since becoming friends their freshman year of high school during JV basketball tryouts.

"I'm only messing with you, man. Relax," Harry said with a laugh. "Let me guess—Penny's asleep and you didn't know what to do with yourself."

He hit the nail on the head. After so many years of friendship, he knew Roman nearly as well as he knew himself. Originally Harry hadn't understood why he was only interested in a girl four years younger than him when there were so many pretty girls their age to be found but he supported their relationship once they did get together.

He had been around the entire time Roman and Penny had been in a relationship. Maybe he could be a decent sounding board for why she was being so distant lately. Harry had dated all sorts of women so he tended to know how the female mind worked.