Penny finally arrived at her building, and waved to Roberto, the 24 hour doorman, who was behind the desk, as he buzzed her in through the automatic doors, which were kept locked after nine PM. Her gratitude immediately turned to stomach churning despair, however, when she saw her matching luggage, which had been a gift from her grandma Plotnick when she'd gone away to school, sitting next to his desk, along with a couple of boxes next to them.

Fuck. Fuck fuck.

So Frederick was really angry, then.

Roberto smiled apologetically at her and gestured to the luggage and boxes, at her life stacked neatly next to him. "I guess you and Mr. Berenson had a little argument, Ms. Penny?" he asked sympathy in his eyes.

"I guess so," Penny responded with a nod. "I'm sorry to trouble you, Roberto, but could you buzz him for me, please?"

But Roberto shook his head. "I can't do that, Ms. Penny, he's put the 'do not disturb' on his phone until tomorrow morning," he explained, the apology in his eyes growing. Penny knew Roberto liked her, and that he didn't particularly care for Frederick. She also knew that his hands were tied as an employee of the building.

Fuck and double fuck.

"I understand, it's okay," she answered. "I guess I'll just have to go up there and talk to him myself." Penny sighed and shook her head with a rueful smile, to show how much she wasn't looking forward to this.

Now Roberto actually looked like he was in physical pain. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Penny, but I can't let you up. Your name isn't on the lease, so technically you're a guest, and Mr. Berenson took you off the list of approved people this afternoon. I also have to ask for your keys immediately. I'm really, really sorry." Roberto hung his head as he held his hand out.

Oh. My. God.

Penny supposed she should be grateful it was fairly late and there were no other people in the lobby as she took her house keys off her keychain and handed them over, face burning with humiliation.

Then something occurred to her.

"But Roberto, my cat, Carol Channing, is still up there!" she told him. "What do I do about my cat?"

Roberto shrugged, eyes limpid with sympathy. "I guess you'll have to talk to him and arrange to get her back some other time," was all he could come up with.

WTAF? He didn't even like C-chan. Penny pulled out her phone and called Frederick, but of course it went straight to voice mail. She then sent him a text, but got no response.

Through all this Roberto stood politely, giving her his undivided attention.

"I'm sorry, Roberto, I know this is when you get your paperwork done," Penny apologized. "Is it, um, is it okay if I sit over there for a bit and make some calls, figure out what I'm going to do?" She gestured to the chairs in the lobby.

"Of course, please, take your time, I'm so sorry about all of this," Roberto commiserated.

So Penny took a seat and sat, trying to figure out who would take her in on fifteen minutes' notice on a Wednesday night with all her stuff for an open ended stay.

Not many people, she was sad to admit.

Yoko would've done it, even with her tiny studio apartment and day bed situation, but unfortunately, Yoko was on a cruise ship in the Bahamas at the moment, working the snowbird circuit, and had sublet her apartment. She wouldn't be back for three more weeks.

Penny scrolled through her phone, slowly coming to the realization that, over the past two years, she'd lost touch with her friends because either they didn't like Frederick, or, more likely, Frederick didn't like them. Most of the people in her life now were Frederick's friends, which probably didn't predispose them to giving her a place to stay because he'd thrown her out on her ass.

Sure enough, the first three people she called went straight to voice mail, though normally they would've been home and taken her call at this time on a weeknight. Finally a call went through, to Woody and Lolly Adelson, friends of Frederick's that they'd spent many friendly evenings with, drinking wine and playing games, talking politics and drama.

"Oh, hello, Penny. Yes, we heard from Frederick what happened, and we're so sorry, you made such a nice couple, we really enjoyed your company," Lolly said, and Penny could tell from her regretful tone what her answer was going to be.

Sure enough: "No, I don't think we could take you in, sweetie. You see, Woody's mother is coming the day after tomorrow, and we just won't have room. And, well, to be honest, we just hate to take sides in a situation like this, I'm sure you understand. We'd hate to lose Frederick's friendship over something like this, you know?"

What about my friendship? Penny wanted to scream. But she did understand, all too well. Frederick could get them house seats to just about any show in town, and Woody and Lolly lived for the theatre.

She made a few more calls, but knew by the time she hit the "S" section of her phone that it was hopeless. "Frederick told us he'd prefer we not speak with you," seemed to be the official party line. She was being frozen out by all of their friends on instructions by Frederick, who probably thought he was teaching her a lesson.

She'd have to go to a hotel or something. But this was New York City. The only places she could afford were the kinds of places she didn't want to go. She was a working actor, which made her luckier and more successful than 95 percent of the actors in the city, but that didn't make her rich by any means.

God, what a mess.

As she was getting ready to close her phone and just have a good cry in the lobby, she saw the most recent addition to her contacts:

Cameron Aldobrandeschi.

Could she call him? Would he even take her call? Would he even be home? He'd probably left the restaurant and gone out to hit a couple of clubs or bars or whatever; people who looked like him always had places to go and people to hang out with, didn't they?

She touched his name, hovered over the send button, and hit cancel. She did this two more times before finally just hitting the "call" button and holding the phone to her ear. It wasn't quite midnight, surely that wasn't too late, right?

He picked up on the third ring, voice gravelly and irritated with sleep.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello? Cameron?"

"Ms. Patrick? What is it?"

"I'm so sorry, you were obviously sleeping--"

"I was, so if you could state your business?"

Penny took a deep breath to prepare to speak, but began to cry instead.

Sounding more awake now, "What's the matter? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, then realized he couldn't see her. "No, nothing like that. I just need some help, and there's no one else, I'm embarrassed to say."

"What kind of help?"

"Frederick threw me out of our apartment, and none of our friends are inclined to help me, and my one good friend is out of town, and--and--"

"You need a place to stay. And there's no one else you could call?"

Once again, Penny shook her head.

She heard Cameron sigh, and this made her cry even harder.

"What's your address?" Now he merely sounded resigned.

"Oh." Penny was surprised. She'd assumed she'd get his address and go to him. Apparently, this wasn't the way princes operated.

She meekly gave her address and got Roberto to help her carry her stuff to the curb.

"Thank you," she said to him.

"No problem," he responded. "I'm really sorry about all this, I hope you and Mr. Berenson work everything out because I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too," Penny responded with a smile.

She didn't have long to wait. Within fifteen minutes, Cam showed up in an Uber, wearing a coat that he'd obviously pulled on over sweats that he'd been sleeping in. His hair was in gorgeous, disheveled disarray, and his eyes were still a little puffy with sleep.

"Okay, let's get these in the back, yeah?" He spoke with businesslike authority to the driver.

"And you'll keep this with you up front, right?" This was addressed to Penny.

Penny nodded and grabbed her shoulder bag, taking a seat in the warm interior of the car.

Fifteen minutes later they were at his loft, and Penny was so impressed she momentarily forgot the horrible circumstances that brought her there. It was a beautiful, open space with nearly 360 degree views of the city.

"Well, since this is a loft, obviously it doesn't have rooms with walls and doors per se," Cameron said, gesturing around the huge space, "but I did anticipate having visitors, you know, friends from Europe, or my sister Genevieve, so I put up bookcases and screens and such in strategic places to create the illusion of privacy." He led her to a space that contained a bed and dresser, and did indeed have the feel of a bedroom, though probably sounds would carry easily. "I'm afraid this is the best we can do on short notice. So why don't you put your things down and then come out for a night cap, hm? I daresay you could use one?"

Penny looked at him in his rumpled sweats and demurred. "No, it's okay, you were sleeping," she said. "I'll just settle in and try to get some sleep."

"No, really, I could use a drink myself," Cam insisted. "Come on, get changed into something comfortable and come have a drink. I won't even bring up what an absolute bitch you were to me earlier." He smiled and left.

Penny looked around and, after sitting on the very comfortable bed for a minute, changed into comfortable sweats herself, found the bathroom just outside her "room," washed up, and wandered around until she found the main living space, where Cam was waiting to pour her a drink.

"So, what exactly happened?" he asked, sitting on a very comfortable looking sofa and gesturing to Penny to take a seat. "I didn't realize that what happened this afternoon was break-up worthy. I thought he'd just gotten upset about me and stormed out. Did you actually have an argument?"

Penny took a sip of her drink and nodded. "Well, when he walked out, he expected me to walk with him, and when I didn't, he took it personally."

"I see. But I thought you'd already signed? I understood that no male lead had been assigned yet? That was why I got offered the part so quickly? Am I wrong?"

Penny shook her head. "No, you're not wrong."

"So you had to stay, in other words."

Penny nodded. "Frederick didn't seem to understand that, though."

Cam bit his lips and swirled his drink. "Not very professional," he finally said.

"So you get home this evening and he just asks you to bugger off?" he continued.

"Not exactly." She explained how she'd found her things in the lobby, and how she'd been denied access to the apartment and had to give back her keys.

Cam whistled. "I'm liking your Frederick less and less," he remarked. "And I have less and less respect for him. I used to be quite the avid fan."

"Please don't call him 'my Frederick," Penny requested. "You haven't heard the best part." She told him how all of their mutual friends had ghosted her on instructions from her ex.

"No! Really?" Cam was disbelieving.

"Oh, yes," Penny assured him.

"And they all just, did it? Just like that? What kinds of friends are those?"

"Not very good ones, I'm afraid," Penny said sadly, tucking her legs up under her, looking down at her lap.

Cam felt sorry for her, looking at the vulnerable sweep of her bent neck, the way he could see her shoulder blades poking up out of the top of her shirt, as if hunched from an expected blow. He could see her lovely lashes moving as she blinked rapidly, turning her glass in her hands.

Poor thing.

"And he still has C-chan," she murmured hopelessly, lifting humble shoulders in a helpless shrug.

"What?"

"Carol Channing, my cat," Penny explained. "I know he won't give her back, either." Her voice broke a little. "And he doesn't even like her, you know?"

"Oh no," Cam said, shaking his head. "That won't do at all. Don't worry, Miss Penny, we're getting your moggie back straight away, you have my word, yeah? First thing tomorrow." He continued to shake his head. "A person who would do the vile things he's done is truly horrible, but to hang on to your moggie, that's just despicable."

Penny smiled through her tears at his use of the word "moggie," a British word for cat that she'd only ever heard on TV up to now.

"Well," she said, rising. "I'd better get to bed, I guess." She handed him her glass. "And I can't thank you enough for letting me stay tonight. I promise I'll get out of your hair in a couple of days, okay?"

"You're very welcome," Cam answered graciously. "All disagreements aside, I'm so very sorry this happened to you in part because of me, I really am."

And he leaned forward, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.

She inhaled the scent of his shampoo and deodorant as he did so, and went to sleep with the fragrance of him in her heart, though she didn't know it at the time.