Playing at Forever (2 page)

It was a kiss like none other she’d ever experienced. 
Tinted with longing, edged with desperation, tasting of goodbye.

“Don’t forget about me,”
  she
had whispered into his ear, touching her lips to his cheek, fighting against tears. 

“I promise,
”
  he’d
responded, taking her face between his hands. 

It was, for all practical purposes, the last time they’d ever spoken. 

A strange pain jolted through her as she thought about the wounded look that had always been in his eyes.  How she had once longed to erase that pain.  Tommy had become a near permanent fixture at her side after he’d moved to the small town during his sophomore year of high school, her freshman.  She still remembered the first time she ever saw him—dressed in worn baggy jeans and a plain white t-shirt.  He was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome—with piercing dark blue eyes and perfectly chiseled features. 

He had walked into her parents’ small shop seeking a job.  He hadn’t found employment, but he had found a friend. 
A safe haven.
  Somewhere he could go to escape the realities of his life. 

Tommy Davidson had
always
been troubled. 

“You’re probably right about that magazine—those gossip magazines do everything they can to cause trouble.”  Amy was saying, and Penny only nodded in agreement, still not believing her own words.  She passed by this magazine rack every day, and it seemed to be a growing trend.  There always seemed to be some story about the troubles Thomson Davis was facing, ranging from rough breakups and Hollywood rivalries gone too far to rumors of drugs and alcohol abuse. 

Even though it had been over ten years since she’d spoken to him, she couldn’t help the trickle of worry that flushed through her.  “I can’t even imagine what his life must be like now.  How many blockbusters has he been in?” 

“I lost count,”
  Penny
mumbled, fully aware that she was lying.  She knew far more about Tommy than she let on.  She couldn’t help it—it seemed only natural to follow his career—and as best she could, his life. 

“You know, it’d be nice if he’d remember the little people.  Where would he be without us?”  Amy had been the stage director during most of Tommy’s performances and Penny had almost always been his leading lady.   

“Well, Amy, I imagine it’s pretty easy to forget about your old life when you’re completely overwhelmed by your new one.”  This was how Penny had comforted herself over the first few years of silence. 

“I’d never forget you,”
  Amy
replied mockingly, wrapping her arm around Penny’s shoulders. 
“Even if I was worth millions of dollars, with mansions spanning the globe.”
 

“It’s good to know who your true friends are.”  Penny said with a smile as they approached her restaurant, only half joking at that point.  She recognized Kevin’s car parked in the parking lot and dread filled her.  How much she loathed the idea of stepping inside
her
restaurant and seeing him there.  Probably with Gina, the woman he was now having a supposedly legitimate relationship with. 

For a moment, she allowed herself to slip into a fictional reality.  She played the role of the scorned lover, betrayed by the man who had promised to love her.  Who had promised her eternal
happiness.
 

In this reality, though, Kevin was a horrible man—some sort of Mafioso, who’d finally crossed the line.  And in would waltz the hero—tall, dark and handsome with dark blue eyes.  He would not only put the bad guy away, but he would sweep Penny off her feet and show her what love was
meant
to be like. 

She almost laughed aloud as she turned and waved to her friend, tightening her sweater once more before turning back and heading into her dream—her dream which was slowly becoming a nightmare. 

Thomas Davidson sat high above the ground, staring blankly in front of him.  He didn’t notice the waterfall to his left, cascading down into the pool.  He didn’t pay attention to the beautiful view in front of him—the way the hilly landscape seemed to contrast so beautifully with the lights of the city.  He didn’t even hear the constant hum of noise coming from below him as people he hardly knew, much less cared about,
pranced
around his house.

The only thing he was aware of was the weight in his lap.  It wasn’t heavy—not to hold.  But it carried a great deal of substance. 

He looked down with a tired sounding sigh, his hands resting on the stack of papers. 

It was his script.  The one thing he’d ever done in his entire life that he was actually proud of. 

The one thing nobody wanted to touch. 

He rose to his feet in one graceful movement and angrily tore the stack of paper to shreds, sending it flying over the edge of the balcony and raining down on the pool below him.  A few pieces were caught up in the wind and carried off, toward the mountains.

Another burst of anger flashed through him and he turned, rushing into the master suite so that he wouldn’t put his fist through one of the many panes of glass that surrounded him.  He at least had enough presence of mind to remember what a hassle that had been last time.  Instead, he paced around the large room, his thoughts muddled. 

“
Yo
, Tom—what’s going on?”  Tommy turned to find his manager, and supposed best friend, standing in the doorway, propping one of the heavy glass doors open as he leaned against it. 

He radiated confidence. 
Success.
 
Wealth.
 

Of course, Graham had it all thanks to Tommy. 

“Nothing,”
  Tommy
responded, shaking his head as he ran his hands through his already-disheveled hair.  Graham wouldn’t understand.

“Nothing?
  So you just decided to let garbage rain down on the pool?”  Tommy laughed morosely. 
Garbage.
  Well, it might as well be. 

“It was my script.” 
Tommy replied, his teeth clenched.
  The other man sighed, shifting his weight so that he was now holding the door open with his hand rather than his shoulder.  It seemed to Tommy an act of frustration.

“Look, man—Fox is willing to take it.”  He spoke to him almost as an annoyed parent would speak to a spoiled child.

“But not as long as I’m lead.”  Tommy closed his eyes, trying to maintain control of the anger that was raging through him. 

He’d come to Hollywood looking for an escape.  He’d come looking for happiness—a new life, a new future.  He’d even found both, and he was grateful. 

He had struck gold when he was given the lead role in what would become one of the biggest action series to hit theaters since
Die Hard
.  He’d reprised the role several times, reveling in the stardom and fame that came with each progressive film.  Everyone around him had encouraged him to keep going—to keep bringing in the money and the celebrity. 

But he was tired of the same roles.  He was tired of the same characters.  Even when he took roles in other movies, they were all the same—the tough macho man out to save the day. 

Was it too much to ask for something different?

Apparently so.

“It isn’t
just
you.”  Of course Graham was lying.  It was the one stipulation from every studio he’d offered the script to.  They would make the film, but not so long as Tommy was the lead. 

He’d worked hard on this.  It was his chance to prove himself—to remake himself.  Everyone just assumed that he was a mindless drone, carrying on without an original thought of his own. 

“Look, Tom.  They just don’t think you’re right for the part.  You’ve written something really deep here—intense.  They don’t think you can pull it off.”  Graham took a step closer and the heavy glass door swung quietly closed behind him.  “I’m not saying I agree with them—but, I mean—really, can you blame them?” 

“They should give me a
chance
—”

“It’s not just your acting
they’re doubting
, Tom.”  Tommy narrowed his eyes.  “You’ve been all over the tabloids—the drinking, the fighting, the accidents.  They’d be nervous to cast you even if it
wasn’t
a challenge.” 

“Isn’t it
your
job to make that a nonissue?”  The anger was boiling to life inside him.  Who was Graham to say anything?  He’d been right there alongside Tommy throughout all of it!  Graham knew the tabloids exaggerated—shouldn’t he be defending him? 

“Hey, I can only spin so much.  You’re out there fighting with paparazzi and driving recklessly, acting like you don’t have a care in the world.  Then you show up with this dark, depressing manuscript—”

“
You
said it was good!”  Tommy paced across the room, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.  “You told me to shop it around—”

“I didn’t think you were going to take me seriously, man.”  It was like a sudden emptiness flooded through Tommy.  He stopped dead in his tracks, staring blankly in front of him.

He was so fed up with everything this life had to offer.  He was sick of his so-called friends walking all over him, using him for nothing more than a paycheck.  He was sick of feeling so uninspired. 

How had things gotten this way?  He remembered a moment that seemed like eons ago when he’d been so filled with hope. 

Her eyes danced into his view, then—such a warm brown, so inviting and comforting, revealing to him her optimism for the future.  She’d had faith in him—known that he would make it. 

She’d always believed in him—his Penny Lane. 

Tommy remembered how she would smile and roll her eyes any time he called her that. 

The memory of Penelope Lang was one he could never forget, even if he wanted to.  He knew—he’d tried. 

Suddenly he was struck with an overwhelming desire.  It passed through him in waves, growing stronger with every passing surge and washing away the anger. 

“I have to get out of here,”
  Tommy
heard his own voice as if from some far away place, his mind already crossing the distance.  He felt his feet carrying him forward, moving through the large, lifeless home as if on autopilot. 

There had been
an emptiness
inside him, growing deeper and deeper every day.  And he’d been trying so hard to fill the void—to find
something
to make it stop.  He’d tried everything.

Well, almost everything.

He knew that Graham was following behind him, calling out to him, but he didn’t care.  He
had
to leave.  He had to get away from all of this—it was suffocating him.

Memories of a time similar to this danced through his mind.  He’d just moved for what seemed like the millionth time.  His father had been berating him—as usual.  Telling him he was worthless—that he would never amount to anything.  To his father, the Colonel, Tommy was nothing more than dead weight. 

He remembered the way the walls had closed in on him.  His chest had tightened, his vision blurred.  He’d darted out of the house and kicked his dirt bike to life, speeding off down the street.  There was nowhere to go, though—he hadn’t known a soul, and he knew he couldn’t make it on his own yet. 

So he wandered aimlessly, letting his bike guide him toward whatever destiny had planned out for him.

And then he saw her. 

Penelope Lang was a beautiful girl—he’d seen that right from the start.  Tommy had never told her, but he hadn’t accidentally wandered into the movie rental store, looking for a job. 

What had initially brought him there was her.  He’d caught just the briefest glimpse of her long, fair brown hair, her soft coloring, her bright smile.  She had been walking down the street, making her way to work, lost in her own thoughts.  He’d become mesmerized in just a matter of seconds. 

He could still remember the way everything seemed to melt away the moment their eyes met.  He walked into the store, coming up with the excuse of looking for a job at the last minute—
really,
all he’d wanted was to meet her.  He’d never expected anything would come of it. 

But it had. 

By now, Tommy was putting his helmet on, no longer paying any attention to the people who were coming to watch him leave.  The motorcycle beneath him roared loudly as he brought her to life and he closed his eyes, letting the memory of Penny wash over him once more.

From that day forward, she had always been his refuge. 
Whether she knew it or not.

And now, more than ever before, he needed to have that back. 

The gates in front of him opened slowly, but he sped through—careful to avoid the toes of the crowd of paparazzi that was constantly perched just outside his property.

With a deep breath of fresh air, Tommy once again let his bike guide him to his destiny. 

It had been another long day.  She had, as she’d almost always done, been at the restaurant from open to close.  That alone was enough to wear a person out—but add in the additional stress of having to deal with working alongside her ex and his current flame—and it made for an almost impossible day. 

Penny looked around, taking in her surroundings.  She had worked hard to make The Seaside into everything it was.  An older building, it possessed an air of history—one of
it’s
most endearing qualities, Penny thought.  There were lots of windows, allowing the cool breeze from the ocean to mingle with the scents of the food.  It was a comfortable atmosphere, suitable for both family nights and special occasions. 

It was everything she’d ever wanted it to be.

Well, all except the part that half of it belonged to her husband. 

As if knowing she was thinking of him, the man appeared in the doorway. 

“I’m about to lock up,”
  he
announced.

“I can do it.  I’m not quite finished up here.”  She couldn’t even look at him. 

“This is the reason why our marriage failed, Pen.”  She immediately tensed, gripping the pen tightly in her hand before she turned around in her stool.