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“Why are you sorry? That’s amazing news. It also makes me feel pretty damn good too,” she says, laughing. “It means I’ve done an awesome job training you if someone wants you to run their whole…” she stops, not finishing her thought. “Oh, that’s why you asked about Tommy.” She pulls a hand through her long blonde hair, tossing her hair over to the other side of her head. “He’ll go with you,” she announces with finality as if it isn’t even something to be questioned.
“But what if I don’t want to go?” I ask, posing the question to myself more than to her.
“Then don’t,” she says, as if it’s that simple, my head spinning with all the what-if scenarios. “Penny, he loves you, he truly does, so take any doubts about that off the table,” she says, her words cutting through and making me smile a little at the thought of Tommy being in love with me. “Somerville’s will always be here for you, so if you leave and it doesn’t work out, you can come back here, no questions asked. We’re a family here and you’re part of our family.”
“You’re not making this any easier, Lauren,” I wail, my head falling onto her shoulder. “I want to stay. I want to stay with Tommy, but does that make me weak?”
“Did it make Jack weak?” she asks, posing the same question back to me. “He’s the one who left his job in Australia to make a life here with me.”
“No,” I reply, sounding affronted. “You guys are like an epic love story.”
“Maybe you and Tommy are an equally epic love story?”
“You think?”
The connection we have is intense and I’ve questioned it myself. I’ve never felt this way about someone and something about it scares me a little. He’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of and why the hell would I walk away from that? My life here at Somerville’s is better than I could’ve imagined and leaving it all behind could be the biggest mistake of my life.
“I don’t think, I know,” she says, smiling at me now.
“I stormed out on him and threw a tantrum like a child,” I admit, sheepishly.
“Oh, I’ve been there,” Lauren says, laughing. “Do you have any idea how many times I got mad at Jack just to have someone to blame for the fact that I couldn’t make a decision?”
“Probably about as many times as I’ve embarrassingly blamed Tommy.” I cover my face with my hands, realizing that this decision isn’t Tommy’s fault and being mad at him is only making me feel guilty.
“I hate to interrupt this cheesy sisterhood moment we have going on, but tomorrow’s the party for Apple Jacks and I kinda need you to not be mad at Tommy for a just a little bit,” she jokes, smirking.
“I’ll be there, Lu,” I tell her. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
“And if you want to stay at my place tonight, the extra bedroom is ready for you. Sometimes you just need a break to clear your head.” She shrugs her shoulders and there’s something about her offer that I find appealing.
“I think I will stay over if that’s okay,” I say, a bit of a question hanging on the end of my words.
“Of course it’s okay. Can you at least let Tommy know so he isn’t freaking out though? I don’t need two of you a mess at the grand opening.”
I pull my phone from my pocket and send him a quick text.
Me: I’m staying at Lauren’s tonight.
His response is immediate and something about it makes my heart ache for him. I’m not trying to be manipulative or make him think he needs to chase me. I really just need some space with my thoughts. If I see him, I’m going to make my decision to stay instantly, because being away from him feels far more difficult than anything.
Tommy: Ok. I love you
Me: I love you
He really is fucking perfect.
Chapter Thirty- Six
Tommy
“Fuck.”
I slam my phone down on the kitchen counter, frustrated for so many reasons, the least of which is the job offer Penny got. I mean yeah, I really don’t want her to go, but I’m not that much of an asshole that I’d beg her to stay.
No matter how much I might want her to.
But it’s the other things that I fucked up. The way she thinks that I kept owning a portion of Somerville’s from her, the way I told her I couldn’t come with her.
