Playing at Forever - By Michelle Brewer Page 0,48
and then this document just…popped up.”
“It just popped up.” It was not a question, but instead a statement of disbelief. “How much, exactly, have you read?”
Oh, this was bad. Penny bit her lip. “Um, well…all of it.” She paused. “Some parts twice.”
“Oh, come on, Penny—that was my business. You don’t see me digging through your personal files—”
“Wait, you wrote that?”
“No, I wasted my time on it.” Tommy walked over to the computer and, without even asking Penny to let him in, he took the mouse from her and closed the file.
“Have you shown that to anybody else?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He was already hurrying down the stairs, trying to escape her. But it was too bad for Tommy that Penny was not the type to just let things so.
Especially when she thought they were worth fighting for.
“Tommy,” He made a beeline for the terrace and Penny followed after. “Tommy.”
“What?”
“Would you just sit still for five seconds? Please.” Finally he turned around, his arms crossed over his chest like a sullen child. “First of all, that story—that script—whatever you want to call it—that was not a waste of time. I sat there thinking I was reading something you were going to be starring in and I was prepared to tell you that, if you didn’t do that movie, I would no longer consider you a friend.”
Penny took a step closer. “I mean, it brought me to tears, Tommy. And it really touched me on so many different levels—you have to show that to someone.”
“You shouldn’t have read it, Penny. You just—you shouldn’t have.”
“Why not? It’s good!”
“Are you lying to me? Or do you really mean that?” There was something almost desperate about his tone.
“I have no reason at all to lie to you. None.”
“And you really think it’s good?”
“Honestly, I think it’s better than good.”
Once she had started reading, she couldn’t look away. Tommy had written a beautiful story about a man who, after the death of his wife during childbirth, gave up his own little girl. He then spiraled downward, losing himself to drugs and alcohol—anything that would make the memories go away and the pain stop. But then, one day, a young girl—starving and homeless—showed up on his doorstep and changed his life forever.
Penny had been so moved that she’d cried several times, and then, once she’d finished, she’d gone back to reread it.
“You don’t think it’s depressing?” Her expression became one of confusion. Who could think that story was depressing?
“No, I think it’s just the opposite.” There were heavy themes throughout the story, but she found them in no way depressing. “It’s a story about hope, Tommy. Isn’t it?”
Tommy sat down on a chair beside the pool, resting his head in his hands.
“I don’t know what it’s a story about, Pen. All I know is that I sat there in that chair for a week straight. I hardly slept. Hardly ate. It was like I was possessed.” She watched as he sighed, closing his eyes. “I only know that it feels like it’s something important.”
“Have you shown it to anyone else?”
“Graham. He’s shopped it around a bit.”
“And how has the response been?” She couldn’t imagine it being anything but good.
“They like the story.”
“Tommy, that’s great—” Her feet were already carrying her closer to him.
“They don’t like me all that much, though.” Penny stopped, not understanding. “I’ve shopped it around with the condition that I play the lead. The studios haven’t been too receptive of that idea.”
“Why not?” Wasn’t Tommy a big enough actor? He would pull in an audience, of that she was certain.
“They don’t think it’s my kind of role.” Understanding quickly washed over her. Of course. Tommy had done nothing outside of the action genre. “Maybe they’re right.”
“Clearly they never saw you on the stage.” She did go to his side now, kneeling down beside him. “Tommy, you are more than capable of playing that role. I know it.”
“Too bad you don’t run a studio.”
“Well, we’ll just have to come up with a way of convincing someone who does, then. I’m going to make it my mission.” She meant it, too. Tommy was doing so much for her by helping her to buy Kevin out, letting her live her dream.
The least Penny could do was return the favor.
Chapter Eight
Tommy had a hard time sleeping that night, his head spinning. Penny was someone whose opinion he regarded very highly. And if she thought he could pull it off…
Well, that meant something to him.
His hard time sleeping turned into