Chapter Nine
Penny was unsurprised there was no weird first-day-after-sleeping-together awkwardness the following morning. She and Marc had been friends long enough for that to not really be an issue. And besides, by the time the morning came around, there had been quite a few more interludes, and both of them were suffering a lack of sleep.
Of course, neither of them was unhappy about that, Penny reflected as she sipped the tea Marc brought her in bed. There certainly hadn’t been any complaint overnight while they bonked themselves silly. But now, Penny thought, the hard part would begin. This was where they decided where they would go from here. And there was a question Penny needed answered before she could do anything further about this.
“Who is Leanne?” she asked with studied casualness when Marc threw himself back on the bed beside her, coffee mug in hand. He had pulled on a pair of blue striped pajama pants, still, Penny was almost drooling at the sight of him.
Stop it, stupid brain, she thought. This is important.
“Leanne?” He took a sip of his coffee, his eyes sharp. “Why do you ask?”
“Just before I went to sleep one of the times last night, you said you didn’t think you’d… love… anyone after Leanne.” Penny blushed. Love was a strong word to bring into the conversation. They’d shared a night of lust, for sure, and they had a brilliant friendship, but love?
The longer the silence reached, and the deeper Marc’s brow drew, the more Penny wished she hadn’t brought it up. Eventually she said, “If you don’t want to talk about it, I quite under…”
“Leanne was my fiancé.” Marc didn’t look at her. “She died.”
Penny gasped. “Oh my god, Marc, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.” She lay a hand over his arm, and with a wry smile, he turned to face her.
“It’s okay. It’s just not something I talk about a lot.”
“I can imagine. Listen, you don’t need to tell me anything about her. It was pretty insensitive of me to ask.” Penny tried a smile, fearing she had done nothing but end up with a lopsided grimace.
Marc tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s fine. It was a few years ago now and I’m pretty much over it. I’ll never forget her, but it’s time to move on.” He took a deep breath. “She was a tiny, petite little blonde thing, with a mouth on her that would have made a sailor blush.” He smiled to himself. “I loved that about her, that she didn’t care what the world thought.”
Nothing like me then thought Penny but kept the thought to herself.
“I thought she was tough, kind of untouchable, you know? Like nothing ever got to her, it all just rolled off her.” Penny nodded, but let Marc continue. “We got engaged, but I suppose that was more me than her. She didn’t seem to be fussed either way. But then I came home one day, and she’d slit her wrists in the bath.”
He let out a shuddering sigh, and Penny’s heart went out to him. Despite what he said, he was obviously still affected by her death.
“Afterwards, I found out she’d been on medication for anxiety and depression for years. I had to find that out from her mum at the funeral. That was pretty harsh. I thought I knew her, but in the end, I didn’t really know her at all.” He turned to Penny, his eyes flashing. She was a little alarmed that it seemed to be from anger. “I never want to be in that position again, Pen. I couldn’t even grieve properly, because I didn’t know who I was grieving for.”
Penny rubbed his arm in what she hoped was a consoling manner. “Sounds awful,” she said, not really knowing what else might comfort him.
“Just promise me you won’t hide things from me.”
The intensity of his expression, and his hand suddenly grasping hers had Penny stuttering, “I promise.”
She knew the promise was empty, and her stomach dropped. How could she say that, when she couldn’t even discuss her deepest, darkest issues with her best friends? And what kind of a person would she be if she got involved with someone who had been hurt before, only to hurt them again?
She battered down the thoughts. Of course, she could never tell Marc everything about her past, that was impossible. But her past had no bearing on the future, right? She promised herself that there would be no secrets from this day forward.
She leaned her head on his arm. “So, where are we at?”
“What do you mean?”
She waved her arm around. “This. Me and you. Sleeping together.”
“Is that all it was for you? Just sleeping together?” Marc took her shoulders and turned her upper body to face him. “Because for me, I think this was just the start of something… huge.” He kissed her, gently but with so much passion it made Penny’s head spin.
“That’s what I was thinking too,” she whispered, and a broad smile crossed his face.
“Good.” He picked his coffee mug back up and took a long sip. “So, the first thing you need to know is that I have my coffee strong and white.”
She punched him. “What? So, I’m like the little wifey who goes and gets your coffee in the morning while you sleep in?”
“Hey,” he remonstrated. “I got your cuppa this morning. And I’ve committed to memory that you have your tea white with one. It’s only fair that you commit to memory that I have white coffee. For the times when you do get up first. Although, with the way you were snoring last night…” He grinned at her.
“I was not! I never snore.”
“You said that once before. Who told you that? Your ex-boyfriend?”
Marc was teasing, but Penny’s mood instantly fell. There hadn’t been any real boyfriends, not since Renaldo.
“What happened?” Marc said, instant concern replacing his playfulness. “What did I say that made you sad?”
“No, nothing,” she said, once again rubbing his arm. “I just haven’t had that many boyfriends. And the ones I have had…” She left the sentence hanging, knowing that Marc would understand.
“Oh. Well, I hope I do a better job of it than they do.”
Penny turned a quizzical glance upon him. “Is that what you are?”
“Is that what you want me to be?”
It was a fair question, but one that Penny wasn’t sure she was ready to answer just yet. Marc looked at her hopefully - obviously he was ready to move forward with the relationship.
Her stomach dropped. “I… You know, I think I’d like to have a few more dates before we make it official. If that’s okay with you.” She saw Marc’s expression fold in on itself, and inwardly she winced. But a moment later, all she could see on his face was a wicked smile. “Kind of like the date we had yesterday?”
She laughed. “Not much by way of dating going on there. More lusting and panting and…”
“Fucking?” Marc added. Penny pretended to be shocked.
“Fucking? I think you mean making love.”
“No,” he said, “I’m pretty sure I meant fucking.”
She grinned. “Fine. Fucking it is.”
He sidled up to her, instant fire kindling in his glance. “Do you want to do some more fucking?”
Her body leapt to attention, sending hot sizzles along her nerves. “I’m game if you are. Only we need to be at the theater by one, so we’ll have to limit any fucking to a quickie.” She made the pronouncement with a straight face, but she couldn’t help the twinkle in her eye.
“I think I can manage that,” replied Marc with a sexy smile, pulling her close.
Secret smiles and furtive touches were all Penny and Marc could do behind the curtains that afternoon. Jane seemed to be in a frenzy to make sure everything was perfect, spending a good portion of the afternoon checking and cross-checking props, scenery and changes with Penny.
After watching one of the scenes from the wings, Penny sighed as she again heard, “Pen?”
She stepped onstage, shielding her eyes against the glare of the lights, squinting to find the shadow of Jane on the dark floor below. “Yeah?”
“You know that old smoking stand that we used for Brief Encounter?”
Penny nodded, her stomach sinking. Jane was going to get her to fossick through the props to find some old relic they hadn’t used in years.
“Do you think you could find it? I want it for this scene.”
“Sure.” It was a pain in the arse, but that’s what a stage manager did. “I’ll try and track it down on Monday before the run if that’s okay?”
“Yep, not a problem.”
Penny disappeared back behind the curtains, and the show continued as if she hadn’t even made her quick onstage appearance. She smiled to herself. It was like that in community theater. Organized chaos right up until opening night and then, as if by some kind of magic, everything usually sorted itself out.
She felt a breath on her neck and turned, expecting to see Marc there. To her surprise, there was no one. And she realised it wasn’t really a breath she felt - more like the cool fingers of a breeze. She shivered.
Then all the lights went out.
All the theater windows were covered, so even during an afternoon rehearsal, a thick blackness carpeted the whole area. There was a scream. Jane’s authoritative voice rang out. “Don’t panic people. It’s just another blackout. Pen? Can you check the lights?”
“Not a problem,” called out Penny, but before she could stumble to the fuse box, the lights came back on.
“Thanks” she heard Jane call.
Penny had to laugh but couldn’t help noticing how hollow and strange it sounded. What was going on here today?
Marc strode up to her, a little stress showing on his face. “The fucking handkerchief is gone again.”
“Again?” At Marc’s terse nod, Penny sighed and trudged back to the props table. She was tired. Admittedly, it was good tired. She sure wasn’t complaining. But today, every small issue felt like a huge one, and all she wanted to do was go home, curl up in bed, and have a long nap.
But she could still feel where the cool fingers of air had touched her, and she shivered again.
“Cold?”
“No.” She didn’t bother to explain. Marc would think her fanciful and overtired. Which she obviously was.
This time, the search for the handkerchief took longer. Penny and Marc, and the actors who weren’t needed onstage until the next scene, scoured the theater with Amber eventually unearthing the handkerchief in the kitchen. At the opposite end of the building from the green room and the props table.
What on earth was going on?
“We should have a second hanky ready and waiting in case this keeps happening,” said Penny to Marc, who nodded as she continued, “even though someone obviously thinks it's hilarious to hide the thing from us. Who would be so… childish?”
Marc shrugged. “Someone who doesn’t get that we are all here doing this for fun and that their little joke makes it significantly less so?”
“Hmm,” said Penny, her brows drawing together. “I really don’t want to take everyone to task again after rehearsals today, but I’m going to have to, aren’t I?”
“Yep. And we probably also need to get people looking out to check if they see anyone doing anything stupid. Maybe they can self-regulate.”
“I hate to ask the people here to be suspicious of each other.”
“They already are.” Marc’s lips thinned. “Since those personal items went missing, everyone is already looking at each other sideways.”
“That’s not how it’s supposed to be,” said Penny sadly. “This is supposed to be fun.”
“I know,” said Marc, gathering her into his arms and kissing her hair. She sighed. It felt good to be held. She lifted her head to look at him, and he tenderly caressed her cheek.
“Oh my god.” Chris appeared out of nowhere and slapped Marc heartily on the back. “It’s about time you two got together. You’ve been tiptoeing around each other for long enough.” He hurried past, costume flapping wildly, to take up his waiting spot in the wings.
Marc and Penny looked at each other and burst into laughter. “So much for a few dates,” said Penny, and Marc gave her a squeeze.
“I don’t mind,” he whispered, before dropping his lips down on to hers.
“Hey, no making out in the green room,” one of the actors said with a laugh as she walked by.
“Get a room you guys,” quipped Amber as she bustled past in the other direction.
Penny colored and pulled herself out of Marc’s arms. “She’s right,” she admitted. “We need to cool it until the show is over.”
“Well,” replied Marc, “I’ll try to wait that long.” He raised one eyebrow, and Penny had to smile.
But with all the odd things happening at the theater today, her smile soon faded, replaced with concern.
Why would someone sabotage the show? Well, sabotage was maybe too strong a word - moving one handkerchief would hardly put the whole production in jeopardy. But it was still a constant annoyance - so why would anyone do that?
And what was that weird breeze she felt?