Done With Substitutes

"Do you…think she learned anything while she was here?" Penelope asked hesitantly. 

She was worried about Roman. While she was trying to get used to her role as his wife—thinking she would be stuck there permanently—she had done her best to change what his real wife had done wrong in their relationship. 

How could Penelope feel okay leaving him behind to things being exactly the same as before? She cared about him. She might have even started to fall in love with him. 

The thought of never seeing him smile at her again was enough to make her chest feel tight. She wanted to cry but she couldn't do it in front of Percy. He wouldn't understand that she hadn't wanted to come back; it would only upset him. 

Percy looked at her funny. "Learned anything? Like what?"

"I don't know…how to put other people first? Getting her priorities straight? I had to deal with quite the mess she left behind with her husband," Penelope admitted.