Playing at Forever - By Michelle Brewer Page 0,58

course he’d know where to find her. She sighed, shaking her head.

“No, we can stay.” Without even asking, she felt the warmth of his jacket suddenly fall around her shoulders.

“Want to talk about it?” She shrugged, the tears still fresh in her eyes.

“I told him.” Tommy nodded. “Gina’s pregnant.”

“Well, congratulations to them.” This time, Penny nodded. “You okay?”

“I just…it feels like I’ve wasted so much time, you know? That was supposed to be me. I was supposed to be happily married and starting a family.”

“You’ll be happy again, Pen.” She thought back to what Kevin had said. What if he was right? What if Tommy really was the one she’d always wanted?

“I’d better get back inside,” her voice was hardly more than a whisper.

She made it through the rest of the evening with a fake smile and forced enthusiasm. The moment the last of her guests stepped through the door, Penny sat in an empty chair, exhausted.

“Excuse me, Miss, but I believe you owe me a dance.” Tommy smiled his most dazzling smile and she felt her heart flutter in her chest. Well, he was quite the charmer, that was for sure.

“But nobody’s even here—”

“Well then, this one is just for us I guess.” A smile formed on her lips before she could help it, her hand slipping into his as he guided her toward the dance floor. She laughed when, just a few moments later, the band struck up a song.

“This one goes out to the young lovers out there.”

And Penny let herself believe for a just a moment that that was exactly what she and Tommy were.

Tommy had gone to New York for a few days, leaving Penny all alone at the house. It was much too big and much too quiet, she realized, for just one person. The first night had been horrible. Every time she heard a noise, she would jump.

“Too many scary movies for you. I’m cutting you off.” She laughed at his text message, tossing her phone aside early the next morning. He was up early, making his rounds with all of the talk shows. Penny, having the day off, lay sprawled along the couch, remote in hand. She stopped when she came to one of the live shows, seeing Tommy’s handsome face smiling at her.

“So, Tom—who is this new mystery girl you’ve been spotted all over with?” She smiled as Tommy chuckled, shaking his head.

“Her name is Penny.”

“And?” the woman probed. “You know I’m not letting you go without at least a few juicy details.”

“And…she makes me happy.” Tommy shrugged his shoulders. “Simple as that.”

“How serious would you say the relationship is?” Tommy chuckled again and Penny couldn’t help but notice how adorable he looked, sitting there with his perfectly maintained five o’clock shadow and deep blue eyes.

“Honestly?” Tommy looked away for a moment, staring down at something on the table between them. He stroked his chin for a moment, as if seriously considering the question. “I can see us settling down together.”

“Is that commitment I hear?” His eyes glimmered with happiness.

“I don’t know, Lucy. It might be.” He laughed again and Penny felt her expression sadden. Of course, he was acting. Graham had probably even written his lines for him. She shut the tv off and sighed, rolling on to her back.

A few minutes later—or so it seemed to Penny—she was startled by the ringing of her phone. “You’re a real charmer, Mr. Davis—”

“He most certainly is.” It was indeed a male voice that greeted her, but not that of Tommy.

“Oh—hey, Dad!” Penny sat up quickly. “Sorry, I thought you were Tommy.”

“You’re not in New York with him?”

“No, I didn’t want to take the time off work. We’re heading to L.A. as soon as he gets back.”

“So, you two are serious then.” Penny sighed. She hated having to lie to her parents.

“No—I mean, I don’t know, Dad.”

“Penny, you know that we love Tommy. You don’t have to lie to us.” This time it was her mother’s voice.

“Hi, Mom,” she rose from the couch and began pacing around the living room.

“We just watched his interview on tv. He’s just such a cutie, isn’t he?” She imagined her parents sitting in their living room, talking all about the days when Tommy had practically lived at their house.

“Why don’t you two come on down for Thanksgiving?” Her father proposed.

“Oh, I don’t know—I don’t know what he has going on. His movie opens that Wednesday, so we might have some promotional thing to do…” She thought