He stopped abruptly and forced himself to look at her face. It was easier to be honest when he was reassured by the warmth of her expression. “Of course it’s stressing me out! Penny, youshould know better than anyone! We grew up in the same family, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, but…you always seem so relaxed. You’ve seemed relaxed forthirtyyears.”
He laughed dryly. Apparently, he was a better actor than he though, maybe because at some point, he’d forgotten he was even on stage. “Because I don’t want Dad to see how hard I’m struggling.”
Her eyes widened. “But…you seem so apathetic when you negotiate…”
“Because you have a better negotiating position when you don’t seem to care about the outcome!”
Ironically, his father had taught him that, but damn, he’d taken the advice to heart. A little too much, he realized now, because at some point, too much had truly become irrelevant in his eyes. He’d stopped pretending and simply stopped…trying.
“Wait.” She blinked. “You seriouslymindDad meddling?”
“Of course! Don’t you?”
“No. Why should it?” Penny dropped her hand from her chest. “Gareth, my childhood and adolescence were incredibly hard for me, but if I’ve learned one thing in the last year, it’s that no one can make decisions for me. Not the press who vilified my relationship with Jack, not the stupid rich people we used to hang out with who would have liked to change everything about me — and certainly not Dad. He can only add his two cents, nothing more. But the only opinion that truly matters to me and the Hawks – apart from mine, of course – is yours, you idiot. You’ve been preparing for this job for ages, Gare. You know what you’re doing, and I trust your expertise. I just didn’t want to exclude Dad since we’ve only just reconnected. I feel like I finally have a halfway decent relationship with our parents, and I didn’t want to ruin that first thing. I didn’t know it bothered you! You didn’t say anything.”
He blinked in confusion, his heart sinking. “I don’t want to ruin your relationship with Mom and Dad, Penny. I’m happy for you, I truly am, but…I thought it was obvious that it drives me crazy when Dad shows up here every week and grades my work!”
Penny snorted and looked at him, amused. “Oh. You mean because your emotions are always written all over your face and you’re so good at communicating?”
Shit. He hated it when his sister took away any basis for discussion. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m honestly trying to improve – because it’s been suggested to me that I’ve stopped making an effort to open up and listen to other people's opinions – so…it annoys me!” he clarified, his shoulders sagging. He had intended to stay angry, but Penny had taken the wind out of his sails.
“Okay.” She nodded and smiled. “Thanks for sharing with me. So, I’ll catch Dad downstairs and tell him to stop. Is that it?”
Uncomfortably, he scratched the back of his neck. He’d never talked to Penny so much about himself and his emotions before, and the whole situation was making him nervous. “Um, yeah.”
“Great.” She squeezed his arm, as if she knew he needed a quick reassurance that everything was okay between them. “Thanks for letting me know. Sorry if I stepped on your toes. That wasn’t my intention. I’ll talk to Dad right away, okay? He’s waiting for me downstairs because he wants to discuss Blake Ford. I take it you don’t want to be part of the discussion?”
“Fuck, no.”
She grinned. “I’ll take care of it, don’t worry.” She threw open her office door and paused. “Oh. Hey, Hazel. We’ll sign Devreaux’s contract later, okay? I have to take care of something for my brother. I feel so honored that he practically indirectly asked me for help that I don’t want to ruin it.”
Hazel laughed. “I understand. Good luck.”
“Thanks.” She winked at him and disappeared the next moment.
“Well?” Hazel asked, strolling into the room with a guiltless smile. “That wasn’t bad, was it?”
Gareth didn’t reply right away. He stared at the spot his sister had just vacated. She was going to help him deal with his obvious daddy issues…and an overwhelming sense of relief flooded him. He didn’t want to admit it, but he’d been afraid of ruining or straining his relationship with Penny by dumping his problems on her. Instead, he felt they’d grown closer rather than farther apart in the last five minutes. It was all because he’d told her how he felt, making sure to listen to her side of the story first.
“No, that wasn't bad,” he said, puzzled, and looked at Hazel. “The beginning was hard, but the rest…easy.”
She smiled broadly. “That’s good.”
“I don’t know.” Frowning, he tilted his head. “Maybe you didn’t hear, but…I was yelling.”
She laughed. “Oh, dogs across town heard it, but that’s okay. The important thing is that you tried. Now come on.” She looked around the hall before taking his hand. “I want to go downstairs to Blake before the game starts, to give him a few words of encouragement.”
“What kind of encouragement?”
“About punching the others in the face like they all slept with his ex.”
He laughed softly. “Effective.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Chapter Twenty
