Playing at Forever - By Michelle Brewer Page 0,27
I can do something for you in return.” She held his eyes for a long moment, pleading with him. He could see the pain there, the heartbreak. He could also see the determination.
And so, finally, Tommy gave in.
He sat down on the bed beside her, resting his elbows on his legs as he ran his fingers through his hair. “How do we do this?” he asked, feeling powerless.
“We’ll play it slow.” But as Graham continued on, Tommy couldn’t bring himself to listen. It didn’t matter, really.
This wasn’t supposed to be how this happened.
He was supposed to help Penny, like she had always done for him. He couldn’t remember a time since he’d met her that she hadn’t been there for him when he needed her most. And how had he repaid her? By taking off, by disappearing for ten years. What if she had needed him then?
He had wanted to make it up to her.
“This is going to work, Tom. This is going to be good for you.” Graham was saying. “You’re doing a good thing here, Penelope.”
“So now what?”
“Now, I’ll leave you two to discuss your own arrangements. I’ve got phone calls to make.” Graham rose to his feet and put his sunglasses on. “I think I’m going to like doing business with this girl.”
Neither Penny nor Tommy spoke until they heard Graham’s tires squeal as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“You didn’t have to do this, Pen.”
“Yes, I did.” She stared at the floor. “They’re getting married. She wants to take The Seaside from me, just like she took Kevin.” Tommy watched as the girl beside him wiped at her cheeks. “I need something from you, and you need something from me.”
“I would have given you the money. You know that.”
“I wouldn’t have taken it. The future of your career is unclear, Tommy. I can do this.”
“And what is this, exactly?” Because it didn’t matter to him whatever terms Graham had set up for them. This was his relationship. This was his friend.
Penny inhaled a haggard sounding breath.
“We’ll act like a couple. Pretend we’re in love with each other.”
Pretend. Tommy hated that word.
“And how, exactly, are we supposed to do that?” he questioned. What was allowed? What wasn’t?
“I don’t know,” Penny sighed. He felt the bed move and he looked up to find Penny reaching for the bottle of whiskey that was now on the floor beside the bed. She unscrewed the lid and brought the bottle to her lips, taking a long drink. He could tell from her reaction that she didn’t like the liquor, but that didn’t stop her.
When she finished, she passed the bottle in his direction and he took it, following her lead.
“Graham said we take it slow. A few dates here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“What about the rest of it?” He couldn’t help it. Even now, all he could think about was kissing her. Ever since last night, it was almost impossible to think about anything else.
“This is just business,” she told him at last. “I’m done mixing business with pleasure. Look where that got me last time.”
“No mixing business with pleasure. Got it.”
“And absolutely no kissing.” She told him, looking up to find his eyes.
“No kissing. Got it.” Tommy lifted the bottle to his lips once more, taking another long drink.
He passed it to the girl beside him, and she followed his lead this time.
Suddenly, he wasn’t looking forward to whatever the future had to offer him nearly as much as he had been only a few short hours ago.
Because, only a few short hours ago, Tommy had almost believed that, maybe, he could romance Penelope Lang for real. He knew it was a bad idea, and he’d told himself that repeatedly.
He would only mess it up, like he always did—and instead of just losing a girlfriend, he would lose the one girl he’d ever really cared about.
But he couldn’t shake the desire, no matter how hard he tried.
At least until just now, in this moment.
Now, he could see it all too clearly.
When Penny woke in the morning, her head was pounding. She sat up, looking around the room only to find Tommy sleeping in the armchair, his feet propped up on the foot of the bed. “I feel like death,” she groaned, moving very slowly as she crawled out of the bed. The bathroom seemed like a mile away, but she made it eventually.
She looked almost as badly as she felt, she thought as she glanced into