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“Alex, where are you going? Alex!”Penelope’s words bounced impotently off the front door as it slammed shut. Schneider put his hand on Penelope’s arm, racking his brain for something to say. Elena got there first:“Just give him some time to get used to it. This is out of left field for him.”Pen cocked her head. “Not for you?”Elena smirked.“I knew you were sneaking out to see someone in the middle of the night, and since you never put on shoes it wasn’t that hard to guess.”Schneider felt his cheeks heat up. So much for being discreet. “I think it’s lovely, mija,” Lydia said resolutely, pretending not to have heard about the sneaking out at midnight, and taking Penelope's hand. “I am happy you two are happy.”“Thanks, Lydia.” Schneider got up. “I’m gonna head upstairs, give you guys some space. If Alex isn’t back in an hour I’ll come with you to look for him, okay?”He kissed Penelope’s curls as she nodded. Closing the door behind him he could hear Elena ask her mother how long their thing had been going on, and smiled. The rhetorical gymnastics needed to make that particular conversation palatable for Pen’s mother and daughter, he was really happy to leave to her. Heading up the stairs he thought about Alex. It was dumb, but he really hadn’t been prepared for the conversation to go badly. He definitely hadn’t been prepared for Alex to say 'You’re dating Schneider? Seriously?' and get up from the table, his face pinching in an angry grimace. 'No,' he’d said, shaking his head and then making a beeline for the door, his mom calling after him. When Schneider rounded the corner he stopped.“Hey, man,” he said, as casually as he was able, to the sullen form sitting with its back against the wall opposite his front door. Alex looked up at him, and Schneider couldn't read his expression. “You want to come in?”Alex still didn't answer, but he got up while Schneider unlocked the door and followed him inside.“Some water?” Schneider asked, walking through to get it without waiting for a response, and shot off a text to Pen to let her know Alex was safe. He handed Alex a bottle and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, waiting for Alex to say what he’d come to say. It took a couple of minutes before the dam burst.“How many women have you slept with?”Jesus, that's what this was?“Alex, that’s not an appropriate conversation for you and I to have.”“You want me to be okay with you and my mom?”Alex’s expression was still largely inscrutable, but his eyes looked angry. Schneider sighed. “Yeah.”“Then you should answer my question.”“Okay.” He ran a hand over his beard. “The answer is I don't know.”Alex leaned back. “You don't know?”“There are a couple of decades there with a lot of gaps, but I definitely got around a lot when I was using. Since I've been sober—”“Since the last time you got sober,” Alex said flatly and Schneider had to seriously catch himself not to cringe. Dammit, that hurt.“Since last time I got sober,” he acknowledged, focusing on projecting a calm he was very far from feeling, “I've been with a lot of women, that's true.”Alex blew a frustrated breath. “What, dozens? Hundreds?”Well, shit. Okay.
“Hundreds, I guess.”“That's a lot,” Alex said, sounding finally more thoughtful than angry. Schneider allowed himself a small breath of relief.“Sure,” he replied warily.“Too many.”Schneider nodded. “Yeah, probably too many.” They sat in silence for a while, and Schneider had just begun to relax into the quiet when Alex spoke, softly, almost in a whisper.“You're not good enough for her.”He clutched his water bottle, clenched his jaw, and stared resolutely forward, not at Schneider. Schneider swallowed. It was one thing to think it yourself, but to hear it out loud… He took a breath, and reminded himself that the best way out is through.“l know.”Alex's head whipped around. “What?”“I know that I'm not good enough for your mom.” He paused for a second. “But the thing is, Alex, she chose me.”Alex swallowed, but didn’t say anything.“I love her. She makes me want to get up in the morning and be a better person, the kind of person who is good enough for her.”“And what if you start drinking again?”“We've talked about that. If I start drinking again, it's over.”“She said that?”“I said that. I'm not going to put your mom, or you guys, through that again, Alex. I swear. If I fall off the wagon, I’m out of here.”Alex nodded slowly, but didn't say anything. “You should head home. Your mom's worried.”Alex got up.“I'm sorry,” he said, grimacing. “Don't worry about it.”Alex nodded again and left. Schneider sank back against the cushions. “He told me everything. I'm so sorry,” Penelope said when she let herself in a couple of hours later.“Nothing for you to be sorry about, babe,” Schneider replied, opening his arms and letting her settle against him on the couch. “How is he?”“Confused, insecure, angry, sad, everything I expected when I first started dating after the divorce and definitely didn’t expect now.”She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You are more than good enough for me, you know.”He smiled. “Well, thank God you have low standards.”“Ay, don’t say that!” She landed a sharp slap on his pec and he yelped in definitely very manly surprise. “You’re kind and sweet and fun. You’re more than your addiction, you always have been. And I don’t care how many women you’ve been with as long as you’re clean, which I know you are, and as long as I’m the only one now.”“Of course you are, Pen.”“Then we’ll let Alex come around in his own time. He loves you, he just needs to get used to this. Trust me.”Schneider tilted Pen’s face up with a finger under her chin, and kissed her gently. “I trust you.”