Playing at Forever - By Michelle Brewer Page 0,26

she liked it or not, everything was going to be changing. “You okay, Pen?” She pulled away, nodding her head.

“I’m great,” she told him, plastering a smile on her face. “Why don’t I go ahead and bring you some of those pancakes I was talking about earlier? I should probably be getting back to work.”

“Can I get them to go?” he asked and she watched as his eyes darted around the room. One of the younger couples sitting at a table across the restaurant was leaning across their table, looking over in Tommy’s direction every few minutes.

“Of course,” she told him, wondering how much longer it would be before he was found out. Penny hadn’t even thought about that aspect. He was a movie star now. People were bound to recognize him. “If you want, you can come back tonight for dinner.”

“That sounds like something to look forward to,” he told her.

It was right around the after-dinner rush when Penny found herself sitting in the office, going over the books. Kevin was on the floor, making his rounds.

And Gina, apparently, was on the warpath. “Kevin said he talked to you about selling.” Penny nearly jumped, startled by the younger woman’s sudden appearance.

“Not that it’s really any of your business, but yes, he did.” Penny felt her features harden ever-so-slightly. “I think you’re forgetting, Gina—this restaurant does not belong to you.”

“Not yet, no,” Penny set her pen down on the desk, closing the workbook she was currently going over.

“Not yet?”

“Kevin and I are talking about buying you out.”

“Well, that’s awfully funny, considering I’m not planning on selling.” Penny looked the girl over. She was so young—so naïve. Yet she was probably one of the most coarse people Penny had ever met. She hadn’t started out that way, though. No, when Penny had first hired her, she had seemed like such a sweet girl.

“Did Kevin tell you we’re getting married, Penny?” For just a moment, the room swayed in front of her. “And if you can’t buy us out, then I’m afraid we’re going to have to take some drastic measures. I mean, you’ve done such a stellar job building this place. We can’t let a business like this just…fade away.”

“I won’t sell,” Penny’s voice was suddenly much less firm than it had been before. Deep down, she knew that there was a strong likelihood that she would be forced to.

“Well, I’m not going to continue to work with you. And neither is Kevin.” Penny was hardly hearing the girl anymore.

Her head was swimming.

The divorce wasn’t even finalized yet, and Kevin was already proposing?

She couldn’t breathe.

“You can tell Kevin that I’m not selling.” Penny pushed her chair back, suddenly needing to get out of here. “This restaurant is my dream. Neither one of you are going to take that away from me.”

“I’ve already taken your husband, Penny. Don’t be so sure I can’t take this too.”

It took every ounce of control that Penny could muster to keep herself from slapping the girl in front of her. “I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life, Gina.”

With those words, Penny grabbed her things and walked out of the office. She looked at no one as she departed, knowing that Kevin was watching her from the other side of the restaurant.

But she didn’t care. She had to get out of there.

She didn’t even know where she was going until she was there, knocking on his door, with tears streaming down her face.

“Penny? What’s wrong?” Tommy asked, pulling her inside.

“I’ll do it, Tommy. I’ll go along with whatever Graham wants me to.”

“Now that is music to my ears.” Penny looked over her shoulder to find Graham sitting in an armchair, a pleased smile on his face.

Chapter Five

Tommy looked between Graham and Penny, not exactly sure what he should do.

“Just wait a minute, Graham—what happened, Penny? What’s wrong?” It was pretty obvious that, whatever it was, it had really upset Penny. Her eyes were red, her cheeks tear streaked.

“It doesn’t matter,” she shook her head. “I’ll play whatever role you want me to, just so long as it means I can buy them out.”

“Did Kevin say something?” Tommy was suddenly very angry. Who the hell was this guy, going around threatening Penny?

“No,” Penny shook her head, sniffing quietly. “So what’s the plan, Graham?” she asked, sitting on the bed and wiping at her cheeks. Tommy watched her, her expression very serious. “How do we do this?”

“Penny, I can just—”

“I’m not taking anything from you unless