Page 45 of How to Puck Your Boss (L.A. Hawks Hockey #3)

Chapter Twenty-Six

P enny’s hands were clammy, and her legs were shaking as she entered the Hawks building. Gareth had said they should discuss business matters with her parents in the office, so here she was.

She kept glancing furtively over her shoulder as she walked down the corridor to Gareth’s office.

She was afraid to see Jack — and at the same time, she wanted nothing more.

He seemed…not to be coping well with the breakup.

He had knocked down a hockey player before the face-off and had been fined twenty thousand dollars for it.

She knew she should find that terrible, but secretly it gave her hope.

Maybe he hadn’t meant what he said, about cutting things off for good.

Maybe he would wait for her a little longer until things had settled down.

Which hadn’t happened yet. She’d ignored two reporters on the way into the building and over fifty calls from her mother in the last week.

Lucy had advised her not to say anything, advising her that as soon as people started making excuses, they looked guilty.

Penny didn’t think she had done anything wrong, but that was fine.

It didn’t matter. She was happy as long as the conference wasn’t about her. All the better if something distracted them from Jack and her…even if she hadn’t thought about anything else for days.

She thought about Jack as she fell asleep. She thought about him first thing when she woke up. She thought about him while she was working, while she was shopping, while she was…breathing.

She missed him. She missed that he listened so well.

She missed that he warmed her feet. She missed his mischievous smile and his stupid black curtains.

She had been redecorating her apartment the past few days and all she could think about was showing Jack how cozy it looked.

But she couldn’t call him without asking him to come over.

And she couldn’t ask him to come over without ending up in bed with him.

And she couldn’t end up in bed with him without wanting to stay there with him for the rest of her life.

It was awful, almost as awful as the thought of having to talk to her parents …who were waiting for her in Gareth’s office.

Penny’s heart leaped into her throat when she saw Sybil and Darron Clark sitting on the two chairs across from Gareth’s desk.

She hadn’t spoken to them since the incident with the hotel because she wouldn’t have been able to stand their pitying looks.

To her surprise, there was no pity in their eyes, but… concern?

Penny swallowed and shut the door before nodding to them. “Good morning,” she said in a business-like manner. This was a business meeting.

Gareth, at least, was wearing a suit and an expressionless face. To be honest, though, she wasn’t sure if he didn’t wear a suit to bed, so…

“It’s good you’re here,” Gareth said, pointing to a chair next to him. “Now we can get started.”

Penny nodded again, wiped her damp hands on her floral dress, and walked around the desk.

“What exactly is going on?” her father wanted to know, frowning. “Why are you treating us like we’re defendants in court?”

“Well, Dad,” Gareth replied slowly, “to use your own words: We have to be able to separate family from business, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Her mother sighed heavily but Darron Clark smiled. “Okay, fine. What is there to discuss?”

Penny sat next to her brother and patted him stiffly on the shoulder. “You go ahead and say it. I’m certain you have a prepared speech.”

Gareth grinned. “As luck would have it, I do. Mr. Clark, Mrs. Clark,” he said soberly, “you have behaved like pricks over the last few months, and we are here to talk to you about that today.”

Penny looked at him, impressed. She had to hand it to Gareth, his speech was starting strong. And he claimed that she was brave!

“Gareth!” her mother replied, shocked.

“Mr. Clark to you, Mrs. Clark,” he replied dryly. “To be honest, Penny and I think that after you spent half a day judging us in front of the whole team, it’s our turn now.”

“That’s right,” Penny added, taking a deep breath. “Our verdict is that you just don’t seem to be neutral enough to make such an important decision about who takes over the team.”

“Exactly. That’s why we’re taking over that task — and we’ve decided to share the team.” Gareth nodded firmly. “I’ve taken the liberty of finalizing the paperwork for the takeover. All you have to do is sign and that’s it.”

He pushed a sheet of paper across the table and pointed to a series of dotted lines across the top.

Their mother looked like she’d been smacked over the head with a hockey stick. Their father, however, just sat back and studied them patiently. “I told you that’s not an option,” he finally stated.

“Yes, Dad, but we’ve had enough,” Gareth replied calmly. “We’ve talked about it, and we think the best thing that could happen to the team is for both of us to own it, and either you deal with that — or neither of us takes it.”

Darron Clark raised a single eyebrow…and for a moment, he looked impressed. Yes, almost proud. Then his gaze slid to Penny and concern filled his expression.

Familiar anger bubbled up inside her. How could he be proud of Gareth but worried about her?

! That wasn’t right. God, she was so tired of being a puck, of being pushed around and enduring everything because she didn’t live up to expectations.

She didn’t want to change. She wouldn’t change.

She liked who she was. She always had — she had just let herself be unsettled for too long by all the people who had told her she was weird and crazy. That stopped now.

She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at her father. “What’s the problem, Dad?” she asked, forcing herself to remain calm.

“I think you know,” he said patiently. “If I let you two run the team, you’ll be on the next plane to South America tomorrow. You’ll be a silent partner, and Gareth will take care of the rest.”

She pressed her lips together. “Have you ever thought that if you didn’t treat me like a little kid, I might not be so eager to leave?

God, you never intended to give me the team, did you?

It’s always been Gareth. I’m too much of a hassle for this family.

The scandalmonger you always had to referee!

I wasn’t even surprised when Mom talked about me behind my back like I was missing a few important tools in the toolshed. ”

“Penny…” her mother said pleadingly.

“No! Mom, you said I should disappear for a few weeks. I took your advice and now it turns out I did that wrong, too? Doing what you asked of me?”

“I said a few weeks, Penelope, not years!” her mother snapped.

“I didn’t want you to get hurt any further.

It was so you wouldn’t have to endure the media circus for a few weeks.

” She smoothed her hair nervously. “I know I shouldn’t have said you were in therapy, in public.

But I couldn’t stand all those rich, self-righteous women talking about you.

Making you out to be stupid when you’re so incredibly intelligent. So, it was easier…”

“To call me crazy instead of defending me, right?” Penny snapped, clenching her teeth.

“That’s how I defended you!”

“Because being crazy is better than being stupid ?” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“Well…yes!” her mother said, perplexed, blinking. “Your father was always called crazy because he had some innovative ideas that no one believed in.”

She snorted. “Mom! That’s bullshit.”

“I didn’t think so,” she said, raising her chin.

“And I certainly didn’t mean you should disappear and never come back.

You just had to…gain experience. Grow up.

Find out what makes you happy. And you obviously couldn’t do that in Los Angeles under the scrutiny of the press.

But you used that as an excuse to have little contact with us for years. To simply cut us out of your life.”

“Well, it took me years , Mom!” she replied angrily. “To find what I was looking for.”

“And what was that?” her father asked calmly.

“Acceptance. People who simply accept me as I am without constantly trying to change me.”

“We didn’t want to…” her mother began, but Penny didn’t let her finish.

“Of course you wanted to change me, Mom! You wanted me to be a female Gareth who never disappointed your expectations.”

“No,” she said in a high voice. “One Gareth is truly enough.”

“What does that mean?” her brother asked in disbelief.

She sighed. “Honey, you’re wonderful. But your perfectionism and your desire to always be the best have ensured that no woman could live up to your standards and that’s unhealthy. We want you to be happy — not be the best.”

“Oh, really?” he asked sharply. “Then you conveyed that poorly!”

Now it was Darron Clark who sighed heavily. “Fine. You’re right. We didn’t always see eye to eye when it came to raising you.” He squeezed his wife’s shoulder. “But you’ve been given a lot in life, and I didn’t want it to go to your head. So you’d keep your feet on the ground…”

“…and I had endured so many newspaper headlines during my first year as Darron’s wife that I wanted to spare you that pain,” her mother murmured, lowering her gaze.

“I thought that if you lived up to people’s expectations, they would have less reason to criticize you.

But I should have known that people will always find a reason to gossip. No matter how perfect you are.”

Penny blinked and opened her mouth in astonishment. “You…you had to endure headlines?”

Her mother waved her hand. “A mere receptionist marries a multimillionaire? Obviously, it made the headlines.”

“But you weren’t a receptionist!” she said, perplexed. “You ran a successful hotel, you…”

“Penny, my dear,” she said. “I haven’t owned a hotel at any point in my life. I started out as a receptionist.”