"My foster grandmother."
"We also have the big Halloween festival the weekend before Halloween. Still looking for someone to play Macbeth," she said, pushing my leg slightly with her foot. "That's enough for Sebastian to have the full Harrogate Halloween experience, I think."
She chattered on about the particulars of each party. I was only half listening. Her chest was right at my eye level. The way the sweater stretched over her tits was… distracting. They rose and fell as she talked.
"… which we'll use to decorate your office," I heard her say in the laundry list of Halloween events.
"Decorate my office?"
Penny nodded excitedly. "This whole office will be filled with fall. You can't just buy it, either. It needs to feel DIY but high-end."
"No."
"Yes!" Penny replied. "It's not like you have to make anything. I know some artists who can help. We'll make the lobby space very festive. You could even have a desk-decorating contest!"
I scowled. "Don't decorate my office. I want it pristine."
She looked up at me expectantly. I sighed then took out my credit card and handed it to her.
She jumped up and down with glee. "I can't wait! I love shopping and decorating." She texted someone while I mentally tallied how much the décor was going to cost.
"Don't go overboard," I warned.
"I won't! I'm just going to buy some hay bales, cute fabric, and some lights. It will barely be anything. Pinky pumpkin promise."
"Uh-huh," I said.
She pulled on her red wool cape. "Do you want me to buy you a coffee or a snack or anything while I'm out? I hate to think of you stuck here, starving, while I'm gone," she teased.
"I'm fine," I said as I walked her downstairs.
"I can't believe your straws aren't here yet," Penny complained when we walked through the lobby. "The shipment said they were delayed. Can you believe that? Maybe we can find some other sort of material. I'll test some other straws out for you, you know, give them a good hard suck, see if they can withstand a milkshake or something else creamy."
My head was reeling. I opened my mouth then shut it. Penny laughed.
A big black hearse pulled up in front of the office. Two identical young women were in the car, one driving. They were even wearing black lace gloves and silk scarves over their hair.
"These are our Halloween decorating experts," Penny said as she opened the door of the hearse.
"I suppose they do look the part."
* * *
"You seemto be warming up to Penny," Mace said when I went into his office to talk to him about space for Thalian Biotech. My brother Liam and his cofounder, Jack Frost from Platinum Provisions, were in Mace's office. My older brother Greg was there, too, a look of annoyance firmly affixed to his face.
"She's fine," I said, trying and failing to avoid thinking about hersucking on something. I looked at Mace. He looked at me. Liam and Jack looked at each other and snickered. "The space for Thalian Biotech, if you don't mind."
"I had Adrian look into it," Mace began.
"Adrian," I scoffed. "He's barely made a dent in the money he lost."
"It wasn't his fault it was stolen," Mace said. "And the authorities recovered some of it."
"Jack and I did not drive all the way out here to listen to you rehash last summer," Liam said.
"We have a meeting with the architect to walk the site in an hour," Jack added.
"You all have a lot of space over there," Mace said.
