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“I’m trying. Start from the beginning.”
She rubbed her hands together, trying to dispense some of the sand from her fingers.
“I knew you were in trouble with the Lopa. So, I decided to help.”
“Ok.”
“I made a deal with my father. But, I’ve been sworn not to tell, Theo. I can’t tell you.”
“Penny, you can tell me anything.”
She bit her lip, digging her toes in the sand, before finally giving me something. “I asked to manage Lopa.”
“You asked?”
“Yes, when my father came at me with his deal, I begged him to let me manage the Lopa so I could still see you.”
“What deal?”
“To help you with the Lopa. He would buy it to bail you out. I asked for his help.”
“So, you asked to manage it? Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to be apart from you.”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed tight. “I don’t want to be apart from you either.”
“It’s all so complicated.”
“So the deal was he buys the Lopa, let’s me own half, and you manage?”
“Yes.”
“And Dex?” I egged her on.
She exhaled slowly and turned to me. “My father says if I don’t abide to his terms, he’ll take the Lopa from you. If I don’t marry Dex, well, he’ll bankrupt you.” Her gaze wouldn’t meet mine as she ran her fingers in the sand.
I rose from the sand, dusting off my pants in the process. I couldn’t lose her to keep the Lopa. “Fuck, Penny. I don’t care about it. Let him have the crummy place. Let him take it. All I want is you.”
“Please, Theo, you can’t mean that.” She grabbed my hand. “Maybe you don’t care about the Lopa, but I do.”
The sadness on her face made my heart almost stop.
“Come here,” I whispered.
She hesitated, briefly, then ran into my waiting arms.
“Make this nightmare end, please,” she cried.
“Shh, shh,” I soothed her. “We’ll think of something.”
And now, I had to think of something to fix this. Something big.
SEVEN
PENNY
Don’t want to go home, but can’t stay here.
