CHAPTER THIRTEEN – GABRIEL
The next day, I arrived back at the condo after a hectic day in the office. I found Penny pacing nervously in the living room. She paused briefly as I set my computer down on my desk to plug the charger in.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” I returned with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly.
“Really? You’re burning a trail in my floor from all the pacing,” I stated, shaking my head at her. “Is there something that you want to talk to me about, Penny?”
Penny chewed on the pad of her thumb as she turned to look out the living room windows.
“My mother invited us all to dinner tonight,” she said. “I just want to get it over with so she’ll stop bothering me and go home.”
“Fair enough,” I said, crossing the living room to where she stood. I glanced over my shoulder to look for any sign of Alyssa, but the entire condo was quiet. “Where’s my daughter?”
“Either in the shower or getting dressed. She’ll be out in a minute.”
I rested my hands on Penny’s shoulders to coax her around to face me. Her eyes widened visibly as I lowered my head to press my lips against hers, for what I intended to be a brief kiss. I just needed a touch of her lips against mine to ease the tension from my day. Our dinner plans yesterday had gone completely awry because of her mother’s phone call. We didn’t get a chance to talk, but right now, I didn’t want to talk. I wanted my body to communicate for me.
It took a few seconds before Penny’s lips started to move beneath mine. The tips of our tongues collided as she reached up to lightly drag her fingertips across my jawline. It felt so good, too good for me to pull away. She tasted of mint toothpaste. The smell of vanilla clung to her skin and the soft strands of her long blonde hair. I buried my hand into her luxurious locks and savored the silkiness that I felt there. It reminded me of other places on Penny’s body that felt like heated silk on my flesh.
Penny’s hands shot out to push me back with a startled glance. She took a hasty step back from me right before Alyssa came into the living room. My daughter’s head was tilted down to focus on her phone in her hand. I silently thanked Penny’s quick reflexes and Alyssa’s constant fascination with her phone.
“How long do you think we’ll be at dinner?” Alyssa asked. She glanced up and looked at me in surprise. “Oh, Dad. I didn’t hear you come in. Did you just get here?”
I cleared my throat as I reached up to unbutton my heavy jacket. Penny kept her eyes riveted to the floor, and I brushed by her with a forced smile gracing my lips. Something told me that I would be doing a lot of this tonight, with Nikki Lewis sitting across from me.
“Just got in,” I replied. “I’m about to jump into the shower. Did you settle on a place for dinner?”
“I told William where it was,” Penny said, an edge to her voice. I wanted to calm Penny’s nerves, but I kept to myself as Alyssa walked over to where she stood near the windows. I didn’t want to give Alyssa any sort of indication about a relationship between myself and Penny. Not yet, anyway. I needed to talk with Penny desperately without distractions around, but it seemed impossible over the past few days.
I took a hot shower to ease the soreness from my muscles before getting dressed again. It was close to five-thirty when William called up from downstairs to inform us that he was waiting outside in the SUV.
A thick snow started to trickle down from the sky when I followed Alyssa and Penny out into the cold evening air. I kept my gaze fixated on Penny as she walked alongside Alyssa to the back passenger seat. I opened the door for the two of them to slide in before I hopped into the front seat of the SUV, alongside William who immediately pulled out of the parking lot.
“Is this place close?” Alyssa asked. “I told Scott that I might be able to see him later tonight, depending on when dinner ended.”
I twisted around in my seat to look over at Alyssa pointedly. “You’re being rude, Alyssa. This is Penny’s mother, who happened to be a good friend of mine a long time ago.”
“She doesn’t even want to go,” she remarked cynically. “She tried talking her way out of dinner tonight because of that piece of shit boyfriend that is tagging along with her mother.”
I glanced over at Penny, who sat rigidly in the back seat. Her head was turned away from the two of us. I couldn’t gauge any sort of emotion because her long blonde hair shielded her face.
Piece of shit boyfriend. Now, it made sense why Penny had avoided going home. To spare her the humiliation, though, I didn’t question anything until we pulled up in front of a steakhouse on the other side of Chicago. I spotted Nikki standing alongside a younger man with dark blonde hair and a beard. She turned to smile at the SUV as William pulled up to the curb.
I turned to look back at Penny, but she had already hopped out of the SUV to walk around the front to greet her mother. I watched the two of them embrace awkwardly while I slipped out of the passenger seat, leaving instructions with William to wait for my call.
“My baby girl,” Nikki said, hugging Penny fiercely to her. “You look so beautiful, honey. I can’t believe how much you’ve changed over the past few months.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Penny said. She took a step back to barely nod in the younger man’s direction, which appeared instantly at Nikki’s side to stare at her. “Hello, Dylan.”
“Always good to see you, Penny,” he said smoothly. “And you look amazing, like your mom said.”
The comment caused something to flare up in my chest. I clenched my fingers into fists in my coat pockets as Dylan gazed at Penny long and hard before he twisted his head in my direction to look at me with distrust. Nikki paid little attention to any of it as she stepped forward to embrace me tightly as well.
“It’s so good to see you, Gabriel,” she said. “I’m glad you’ve been able to keep an eye on my girl here.”
I plastered a smile on my face again. “Of course. I know you’d do the same if Alyssa wanted to come visit you over in New York City.”
“Of course,” Nikki said, smiling. “Alyssa, darling. I remember when you were toddling around the hallway. You have grown into quite the young woman now.”
“Thank you,” Alyssa said. “It’s good to see you again, Ms. Lewis.”
“Shall we go in, then?” Nikki asked and looped an arm through Penny’s. “It’s starting to snow like crazy out here! Come along, Gabriel. I know how much you like a good steak.”
I stepped up behind the girls and stared hard at the back of Dylan’s head. I could see immediately why Penny didn’t like him. He had a predatory air about him and I didn’t like the way he looked at Penny. At all.
Dylan tore his gaze away from Penny as she followed her mother in through the glass doors. The tips of his ears went red when he noted that I had been watching him stare at Penny. Something wasn’t right about the way Dylan’s eyes rested on Penny a bit too intently. It didn’t sit well with me, either, when he flicked his eyes up and down me in an assessing manner.
“Can’t wait, babe,” he said, looking back at Nikki. He turned to walk up the pathway to follow Nikki and Penny inside. It was Alyssa who gently touched the back of my elbow with a frown.
“I didn’t imagine him staring at Penny, did I?” she whispered, breath streaming out in front of her. “It was weird, right?”
“Something isn’t right about him,” I agreed, and draped an arm around Alyssa’s shoulders. “Come on. We need to go inside before we freeze our butts off out here in the snow.”
We settled at a large table that faced a snowed-in patio area, and we exchanged polite conversation. Nikki seemed interested in my upcoming proposal for the government contract. As I spoke, I kept one eye trained on Penny, who sat on one side of her mother while Dylan sat on the other side. His eyes kept shifting over to where Penny sat looking at her menu, but her eyes weren’t moving.
“I hear that you are in line for some good things,” she said. “That’s exciting! I’m so happy for you, Gabriel. You’ve done really well for yourself and Alyssa.”
“Figured I better put my brain to good use,” I said with a shrug. “What about you, Dylan? What do you do?”
Dylan’s eyes glittered with irritation when he looked up at me. “I am actually Nikki’s personal assistant back in the city.”
“So, she’s your boss?” I asked coolly.
The subtle insult didn’t slip past Penny’s attention, and she looked up to smile at me. Anger radiated from Dylan, but Nikki placed a soothing hand on his forearm when he glared at me.
“Let’s talk about something else,” she said. “Find any good men here, Penny?”
Penny’s cheeks reddened at that. I swallowed the nagging guilt in my throat when Nikki looked at me expectantly for an answer. Yes, me. It’s me, Nikki. What do you think about that? I forced those thoughts away, though, before they could come spilling out of my mouth.
“No one,” Penny said. “Can we talk about something else? Something that doesn’t involve my love life?”
Nikki shrugged as she swept Alyssa up into a conversation, then. The rest of dinner passed by in a series of awkward questions while Penny kept her gaze fixated on her plate, refusing to look in anyone’s direction. It was vividly clear that she was uncomfortable, but Nikki paid little attention to it. She was clearly more interested in her own agenda than the comfort of her only daughter. It made me angry on Penny’s behalf. This was not the Nikki I had known all those years ago.
I paid for dinner before Nikki could retrieve her wallet, and I rose from my chair quickly because I wanted to get as far away as possible from the situation. The guilt licking at my insides was enough to chase away my appetite. I hugged Nikki goodbye as Penny climbed into the passenger seat with Alyssa behind her.
“I can never do anything right these days,” Nikki said with a sigh. “I came all the way out here to make amends, to spend some time with her, but she barely even spoke a word to me.”
“I’m not sure, Nikki. It might be something she doesn’t want to talk to you about yet.”
The answer appeased her a little bit as she took ahold of Dylan’s hand. They both nodded at me as a taxi cab arrived to take them back to their hotel.
“I’ll come by tomorrow,” Nikki said. “If that’s all right with you? I’m only here for a few days.”
“That’s fine,” I said, even though a part of me wanted to tell her no. “I’ll be in touch. Have a good night, both of you.”
It wasn’t until we arrived back at the condo that I turned to look at Penny while she hung up her coat on the coatrack next to the door.
“I don’t like that guy,” I said. “What the fuck is his problem?”
“Yeah, he’s creepy,” Alyssa added with a frown. “You never mentioned that to me before, Penny. He kept staring at you.”
“I don’t know,” Penny said, rubbing at her arms. “He’s always been weird toward me, and I’ve made it clear that I don’t like him at all.”
Alyssa turned to look at me, then. “Do they have to come over tomorrow, too?”
“Well I can’t exactly keep Nikki from her daughter, unless Penny tells me that’s what she wants,” I said, sighing. “Where are you going?” I asked, as she was turning to go again.
“To meet up with Scott for an hour,” Alyssa said, tightening her scarf while I slid out of my own coat. “He drove all the way over here to see me. Romantic, huh?”
She opened the front door and disappeared with a cheerful wave in our direction. I looked over at Penny, who chewed on her bottom lip in contemplation as she looked over at me. The discomfort in her eyes faded away slightly, but now that we were alone for at least an hour, I wanted to take the time to talk to Penny alone. I held out a hand for her to take.
“Come with me,” I said. “I want to show you something.”