Recipe for Temptation - Gina Gordon Page 0,66

belated, but right now, there were too many thoughts spinning around in her head. The only words she could muster were, “Thanks, Mom.”

Penn felt lighter than she had all week. She felt like herself. And she owed it all to Cole.

She wasn’t going to feel bad anymore about not following the same family drum. She had so many other qualities that not living up to the few skills her father valued would no longer define her as a person. Not as a daughter, or a sister, or a friend. Or as a woman.

“I think the other kids and I should go for a walk down the beach.” Her mother patted her father’s knee and stood, shuffling the rest of her siblings out of the pit toward the shoreline.

Then it was just her and her father.

“Pennelope?” Her father’s voice carried over the sizzle and crackle of the fire.

But she said nothing.

The next thing she knew, he loomed over her with his hands on his hips. The classic Harold Foster I-mean-business stance.

When she still didn’t acknowledge him, he sank down into the sand beside her, letting out a tiny groan on his way down.

Silence fell between them as she once again poked the stick into the ash, but her father broke it with a sigh. “I’ll admit it. I did want you to be like your brothers.”

Finally. The truth. She only hoped it would set her free.

“I couldn’t relate to you. I didn’t know how to interact with a little girl. So I treated you like a boy. In hindsight, maybe that wasn’t the best idea.”

“You wanted me to be a demure little girl who said yes, please, and thank you, but also a warrior on the field. It was impossible to live up to.”

So, she had stopped trying. Maybe if she had rebelled against it all as a teenager, her entire life might have played out differently.

“But you are my little girl.” He lifted her chin and wiped away a tear she hadn’t even known was there. “And my little girl isn’t supposed to swear or wear skimpy clothing.”

“But don’t you get it? The pressure to be a good girl meant I never had any fun. So, when I went off to college, boy, did I have fun.”

Frat parties. Beer bongs. Dating. Lots and lots of dating.

He held up his hands. “I don’t want to know.”

She had no intention of giving him details. There were some things a girl needed to keep to herself.

Her father shook his head, confusion again washing over his face. “I want the world for you, Pennelope, but I just don’t understand you.”

“You don’t have to, Dad.” Waves crashed loudly in the distance, startling her. “It’s not your—”

Her father grabbed her chin, forcing her to look over at him. “What if I want to understand?”

She smiled. She had to give him credit. He was trying. Trying to relate to her on a level he wasn’t familiar with—an emotional level. Harold Foster wasn’t the most demonstrative man in the world.

“I push you because I want you to succeed.”

“I have succeeded.” She straightened, her body going into defense mode. “I’ve tried so hard to make you proud, Dad, but you make it impossible when you refuse to see things outside your comfort zone.”

“I do like my comfort zone.” He laughed softly. “I just want you to have the same wonderful life that I’ve had with your mother, with you kids.”

Crap. Now he was making her feel guilty for poo-pooing his very normal, mundane life. It made him happy.

She leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. She didn’t remember ever doing this as a kid. And for the first time ever, she felt a tiny bond with her father. One that wasn’t built on sports or false personas. For the first time, he was truly seeing her, and she saw the love in his eyes as he looked at her.

She might not have achieved what she’d set out to do. She hadn’t won the cup. But this trip hadn’t all been for nothing. Not even close.

She’d finally been able to get everything off her chest with her family. From now on, she would be herself, good-girl persona not required.

“I have to admit, as much as I disliked you being so…different, I hadn’t seen you that happy in a long time.”

She wasn’t so happy anymore.

“Thanks to Cole,” she said.

“So you love him.”

She shrugged— A gesture that immediately made her think of him.

She probably couldn’t do a lot of