The Price of Penny

by T. C. Rybicki

  Mom insisted I leave early even though we’d just had a huge family blow up from all the stress surrounding Mimi. I still had family drama to sort out the following week. I made it back to the condo in record time only to find X making himself at home at my place.

  I regretted ever giving him easy access to my condo for emergencies.

  It took about three seconds to figure out he raided my bar. “Are you drunk?”

  “Almost.”

  “It’s three in the afternoon.”

  “Chet, what’s your secret? Who said you could settle down? We had a ten year plan. Now, you’re whipped and I’m left standing alone exposed.”

  I shook my head at the memory when the front desk associate left to find a manager. I had a last minute thought, so I called out to stop her before she disappeared behind the door. “You know what, we can sort this out later tonight. Give me an extra key to Ms. Kopernik’s room so I can drop off my stuff.”

  She frowned at me like a sprouted two heads before shaking her bleached blonde hair in all directions. “I’m sorry, we don’t do such things . . . for anyone. You can leave your things over there if you want. The dinner is the Wisteria Room.”

  I turned to the side and saw three gawkers eavesdropping. If I left my things, I had no guarantee, they wouldn’t scavenge my bags and sell things off as fan memorabilia. They took a picture without asking which meant any extreme freak out would be uploaded straight to TMZ.

  I was tense as hell, but did my best to appear understanding, “Fine, I’ll wait for the manager.”

  I didn’t have these problems when Gage handled everything. I made this reservation on my own and obviously fucked something completely up unless it was this damn resort’s fault.

  I hoped X was gone by now, but I told him to sleep it off first. He made very little sense during my mad dash to clean up and get out the door. I tried sorting out why he’d showed up at my empty condo and proceeded to get shit-faced in the middle of the day. He was having trouble with women. I made the suggestion to stop seeing so many at once and his life might get a little easier. He bitched and moaned about how I practically abandoned him. I had zero patience for his shit.

  In his defense, I would’ve acted the same way possibly six months ago, but I owed him no apologies. I told him relationships took work and he would always be my bro, but I wasn’t going to stop seeing Penny so much. If I had it my way, after this weekend, we were going to see a whole lot more of each other.

  Finally, another lady appeared. She expedited the check-in. “I’m sorry Mr. Parker. Zena is new. She didn’t know we filed all those wedding reservations in a separate location.”

  I told her no problem. A bellboy picked up my bags as soon as I grabbed my card key. I planned on dropping off the luggage, but I also needed to change clothes. Needless to say I’d never moved faster. I needed to get to Penny as soon as possible.

  I scanned the Wisteria Room skipping over the strangers’ faces to only seek out familiar ones. Keats and Maggie were next to her parents. Penny had to be near. For a second, I wondered how close the best man might be. So help me, if he was breathing down Penny’s neck, I would be happy to introduce myself. I noticed a guy sitting next to Keats’s left. I was pretty sure it was Simon. I wasn’t going to call him handsome ever, but I could imagine he might be the type of guy Mags would rave about. Blonde. I could never picture Penny with a pretty boy and I had no idea why I tortured myself even entertaining that nightmare. Every mention of him gave me an uneasy feeling. Hopefully, once this wedding was over, Penny wouldn’t ever see him again.

  I decided maybe she stepped out to use the restroom or something because I sure wasn’t finding her. Katherine spotted me first.

  “Oh, Chet’s here.” She waved me over to the head table. I headed their way when Penny came from around the corner. She ran full speed. I managed to stop us before she tackled me to the ground.

  “Where have you been?”

  She sounded upset. I told her a few of the issues I had getting here, like no one in LA knew how to drive on Friday afternoon. I had to sit through two accidents.

  She buried her face into my neck. “You big dummy. I was worried sick. Why weren’t you answering your phone? I called everyone: Wayne, Gage, Sheila.”

  “Whoa, whoa, are you crazy? Why’d you involve my mother?”

  She slapped my back and wiggled her way back down to the ground. “You weren’t answering your phone and you’re almost two hours late, that’s why?”

  I told her how my phone was dying. “Someone hid my charger. I couldn’t find it anywhere.”

  “Nonsense, it’s in your glove box.”

  “That’s not where I keep it.”

  We fussed back and forth since she didn’t like how it was always on the floor. Now I needed to go back to the room soon and send Mom a text I wasn’t dead since my cell was charging on the nightstand.

  Penny took a while to calm down. She brought me over to the table. I knew several people, but she introduced me to the rest of the wedding party. That meant I had to shake Simon’s hand. Things were already cold between us for no particular reason. I caught him staring when Penny slipped her arm around me. A server stopped by and asked if I’d like a plate. I was starving with a fucking headache on top of that. I probably was way past hungry but I politely said that would be fine.

  She whipped out her phone to text Mom while we waited for the food.

  “Sheila wants to know if you’re upset. Did something happen?”

  “Good God, tell my mother to drop it and quit trying to ruin our weekend.”

  “You are upset. Tell me. Is it Mimi?”

  I shook my head. I leaned in a little closer since everyone was talking. I didn’t want to interrupt. “It’s fine. There’s a little something with my family, it’s not Mimi, but I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll tell you the whole story, later. This is supposed to be a special weekend.”

  “Okay, sure, if that’s what you want, babe, but you can tell me.”

  I knew I could and I would, just not yet.

  As far as weddings go, I guess Maggie and Keats had a pretty good one. It was fast, so that made it good in my book. Plus, I had the perfect view of the prettiest woman in my world. I would have to keep that to myself since the bride was supposed to outshine everyone else. Maggie looked amazing but my Penny took my breath away. I couldn’t stop staring at her.

  It was no surprise Maggie chose purple bridesmaids dresses. Penny once said they were lavender, amethyst and eggplant. What the fuck ever? They were purple, dark purple and really dark purple to me. I liked how no two dress were exactly the same. No doubt Penny got first pick as the maid of honor. Hers was the medium purple one and the fit was nothing short of spectacular on her body. She hated fairy tales but today she was a real life princess.

  I thought the endless barrage of picture taking would never end. I was a celebrity for crying out loud and was sure they surpassed my record an hour ago. The minute Penny got free, I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her behind a topiary.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t scream. You startled me.”

  “Really, what other guy would grab you from behind? That Ken doll that wants to put you to sleep so he can take advantage of you, perhaps?”

  “You’re completely deranged about this Simon thing. I wish Maggie would’ve never mentioned my dinner out with him. It’s a non-issue and always has been.”

  “So you’d hide it from me?”

  Penny made a valid point, did I bring up every casual or friendly date up to her? The answer was no, I probably didn’t remember half of them. I told her the important parts of my past, so she was right. It was time to drop it.

  I hugged her again without letting go. “What’s with you being prettier than Maggie? That’s kinda rude, isn’t it?”

  She shushed me and said I was exaggerating. I shook my head. I was being honest.

  “Thanks, Maggie’s people worked on me for a while. I have to admit i
t has a little something to do with you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, because there are some casual acquaintances here plus the staff and you never know who might take pictures or videos of us. I didn’t want your fans to have any gripes when they analyze me on my sister’s wedding day.”

  “Penny, we’ve talked about this many times before. No matter what you do, there’s always going to be critics. What do you do about the haters?”

  “We ignore them. They are not important and have no bearing on our happiness.”

  She’d memorized my little chant.

  “Again.”

  “Ignore them because they aren’t important and have no bearing on our happiness.”

  I kissed her forehead. “Good girl, now, onto more important topics. Are you all mine for the rest of the day?”

  “Not exactly, I have to run to my room to pee and I need to grab . . . um, something. Then I’m supposed to freshen up with Nicholai and the other makeup artist. Of course, I have the reception’s order of events to get through.”

  “Excuse me, what?”

  “You know, the receiving line, the cocktail hour overlaps, but it’s already started. Then there’s toasts, the special dances, dinner, cake, more pictures . . .” I finally put my finger over her lips to stop her.

  “Are you kidding me? Promise me, we’ll never do this to our friends and family.”

  Penny went completely pale. “Sure Chet, I would never dream of torturing you like that. I know how you feel about marriage.”

  She did that annoying habit of twisting my words. “You know what I mean, so don’t even go there.”

  “I have to go. I’ll see you at the head table. Mags reserved your spot next to me.” She pulled away and left me standing alone with the topiary. I glanced around the area. We were going to have several sets of eyes on us tonight. Two giggling girls made their way over and asked for a picture. I said sure, went through the drill and then I went on the hunt to locate my spot at the head table. I debated having a good stiff drink, but I decided against it. I wanted the next hour of my life to be remembered, so keeping a clear head was a priority.

  I made good use of the time while Penny freshened up. I found the DJ Maggie hired. I ran my plan by her first when I gave Maggie and Keats my personal congrats for actually tying the knot.

  She told me hell yes, it was perfect. I made sure I wasn’t stealing her thunder.

  Keats assured me, “Are you kidding? She’s got plenty of shit planned to stay the star of the night. Sorry, man, you might have fame, but that will pale in comparison in my wife’s universe tonight.”

  “Awe, you called me your wife.”

  “Well, you are, I’ve got the bills to prove it.” They were about to get mushy, so I got the hell out of there before the groping and kissing started.

  I had my own kissing to plan for.

  I played it cool during the rest of the cocktail hour. The bride and groom had their first dance after standing in a line, then Frank took over and led his daughter around the dance floor. The wedding party had some crazy stunt Maggie orchestrated to get the real dancing started. I had to sit there and watch Penny dance with Simon. He got to dance with my girl before me. I was supposed to be letting it go, but I was there again, stewing in my jealousy.

  She glided back to her spot looking winded. Another song started up, Penny grabbed her water glass and guzzled it and then popped two stuffed mushrooms and ate the tomatoes off a skewer but left the rest of the appetizers untouched.

  “Oh my gosh, I’m so hungry. I barely ate all day because Mags made me so nervous.” She turned her body toward me, “So, how about you? Are you having a good time?”

  “I’m fine, but I’m about to get a whole lot better.” I took her hand and brought it to my lips. The sun was slowly setting and this outdoor reception was taking on an entirely new mood. Glowing strands of lights hung everywhere. Candles in clear glass illuminated the tabletops. Penny had never looked more beautiful to me. She took my hand and kept it connected with hers on the table.

  “When we first started planning this day, I never imagined I’d have such a handsome date for the reception. You wear a suit superbly, but I’m sure you know that?”

  “Maybe a couple of people have said so, but I like compliments best when they’re coming from you.”

  “More like a couple of thousand would be more accurate. Ugh, did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” The music and festivities were drowning out our conversation.

  “My stomach. It’s terrible. I bet they heard that rumble in the back.”

  “Then eat more, I thought I heard Kate say dinner wasn’t being served for at least another thirty or forty minutes.”

  “I can’t eat too much because of the sister dance. I have to be light on my feet.”

  The sister dance. I swore I’d never heard of such a thing until Maggie and Penny. I was looking forward to it, but Maggie promised my dance would go first. She thought it would put Penny at ease. She confessed earlier that Penny was super nervous about me more than any other part of the occasion since we all knew our deadline had arrived.

  “Distract me, Chet. Dance with me.”

  “In a little bit, I’m waiting for the right song to grab me,” I had to stall until the DJ was ready.

  “You’re weird.”

  Penny kicked her heels off. Maggie gave them all flip flops, but she preferred being barefoot for a while. I looked over her shoulder and the DJ made eye contact. It was our turn. This was it.

  He started talking into a mic, “In case you’re wondering, ladies and gentlemen, I am taking requests for the evening. In fact, we’re about to launch the first request of the night.”

  I stood up. That was my cue. Penny hadn’t caught on yet. I reached for her hand.

  “What are you doing?”

  “This song goes out to the lovely sister of the bride. It’s always nice when you have a song named after you. Let’s hear it for Mr. Chet Parker and Ms. Penelope Kopernik. He said this is their song.”

  He started “Penny Lover” as soon as he stopped talking. I pulled her all the way up. Everyone else took a pause and watched us as I walked her out to the dance floor.

  I only had eyes for her. Penny shook her head when we stopped. She pushed her finger into my chest. “You. I swear. Can’t you go one night without being the center of attention?”

  “Nope, it’s just one song, Maggie can have the night back when we’re done.”

  I pulled her flush with my body, wrapped one hand around her waist and grabbed her right hand. Penny let her head fall on my chest briefly, but then she looked up. We were moving to the music.

  “I thought the jingle, ‘Penny, You’re the One’ was our song.”

  “Yeah, I asked for that initially, but he didn’t have that one in his playlist. This is a close second, don’t you think?” I rubbed small circles across her back and brought one hand to my lips so I could kiss her fingers.

  Penny’s breath quickened, “Chet.”

  I leaned over and sang a few lines close to her ear. A few other guests had joined in alongside our dance by that time, but we had grabbed the attention of the crowd for the most part.

  Penny had this sort of mesmerized look on her face. The way she rubbed my neck while we danced almost made me dizzy. In roughly four months, she’d succeeded in turning my whole life around. I thought I had life all figured out, but I was wrong.

  “You’re amazing.” She said to me and I thought the same thing about her. I had visions of that afternoon when she stepped into the room wearing her sister’s dream wedding dress. We’d come so far and yet we were just getting started.

  I brought our hands in between us and held them over my heart, then I decided to get a little flashy. I spun around, she settled in my grasp so I could hold her against me with her in front. She was a dancer, she had more moves than I did. Penny winked and told me to follow her lead. We put on a good show. At the end I dipped her. O
ur faces were so close, but the entire world would not witness our first kiss. The cameras were rolling, so to speak. I never underestimated every damn person in the free world carried a cell phone these days. I brought her up into a comfortable hug. The song quickly changed and I used the distraction to get her out of there.

  “Come on, follow me.”

  Penny ran behind me to keep up. I’d used all that idle time why they were taking pictures to find us a hideaway. I pulled Penny toward a pathway the workers used to go in and out of the hotel. The wedding guests wouldn’t be an issue, but I wasn’t sure how much time we had before the dinner service started a procession to and from the kitchen. The grounds at the vineyard showcased beauty and romantic ambiance any which way we turned.

  “Slow down, I’m barefoot.”

  I slowed my pace as soon as she said that. I spotted a lamppost and I needed to see her. Once we stopped and faced each other, we were just standing there with a now what expression. I knew what, but I wanted permission. I’d never been more nervous about a kiss in my entire life. Penny touched me first. She flattened her palm against my chest. I studied the rise and fall of her shoulders as her breathing increased even though we were no longer running. Mine was probably just as fast, like we’d run a race to get over here. It wasn’t that far, I could hear the music loud and clear.

  “Thank you for the dance.”

  “We’ll have plenty more.”

  “I’m sure, but that was the first time and it was perfect.”

  “I’m really into making firsts special.”

  She pulled both her lips in like she was wetting them. She held the bottom one a little longer and I knew she was equally nervous, “Yeah, I figured.”

  I moved my hand to her neck and took the necessary steps to close the distance between us. “So this is it, the deadline’s up. Are you ready?”

  Penny wrapped her arms around my neck and stretched her neck. With me leaning down, we were so close to touching. It was the moment we began to share the same oxygen. “I thought I was sending all the right signals. I’ve been ready for a couple of weeks.”