“No. But eventually...” he whispered.
Penny sighed softly. Gareth was right. No matter how the competition turned out…she was the loser. Obviously, she could stay if she stopped working for the Hawks, but what would she do then? She had various degrees but no specific job prospects. She had always just wanted to do something for the greater good and something with money. She was good at investing and using it properly. Really, as crazy as it might seem, the job with the Hawks was everything she had ever wanted. It brought with it enough money and influence to do something meaningful — and she enjoyed it. She was part of something, part of a huge family that stood behind her, something that she’d been lacking for the last decade.
They stopped outside meeting room E. Gareth knocked while Penny was still thinking about how they could buy time. Her brother, however, was even more impatient than her father – who called out“Come in”a second later.
A large table dominated the room but was unoccupied. Her father and mother stood in front of it and Thomas Lyle, the general manager, leaned against the wall to her right, his lips pressed into a grim line as if he didn’t want to be there anymore than she did.
“Leave the door open,” Gareth muttered. “Then I can’t scream.”
She had to laugh even though she knew he wasn’t joking. She stopped the door from clicking shut before giving her parents a forced smile.
“Hey,” she said, wrapping her arms around her chest. “Did you have a nice chat with the players about us?”
“Yes, we did. You seem nervous, Penelope,” her mother remarked, surprised.
“Oh, no, why should I be? It’s perfectly normal for your parents to spend an hour interviewing people to decide whether you’ve failed or not. Who hasn’t experienced that? A normal Tuesday morning.”
Thomas Lyle’s mouth twitched, but her mother rolled her eyes. “You’re always so dramatic, honey.”
No, she actually felt her behavior was appropriate for the situation.
“Penny, it wasn’t that bad,” her father reassured her. “We simply want to hear what Thomas thinks and then, naturally, what you have to say. Then we’ll be off.”
“Fantastic,” Gareth replied dryly, while Lyle didn’t react at all to his name.
He looked at Penny instead and finally said, “Coach Gray used Leon Alvarez as a striker during practice.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks heated up, but she tried to keep a neutral expression. “And?”
“He was a disaster.”
Her heart sank. “Oh,” she just repeated.
Lyle nodded and pushed off the wall. “But then we tried to let him play the center position…and my goodness, Alvarez is a machine. As a defender and as a striker.”
Penny’s heart skipped a beat and her mouth went dry. “Really?”
“Yes. He was almost as good as West, and that’s saying something. In a year or two, he might even be better.”
A smile spread across her face. “So, I wasn’t wrong?”
Lyle snorted. “No. Not correct, but not wrong either. You had a good instinct,” he murmured. “I should have at least considered the idea back then.”
“Well, thank you,” she said, surprised, her chest suddenly feeling so light and free that she was afraid she might lift off the ground.
“No problem. And Gareth, Miss Malborne was so impressed with how quickly you threw together a contract for the Hawks’ partnership withBlue Lemonadethat was tailored to her needs that she specifically requested that she only work with you when it came to legal matters.”
Gareth said nothing.
Lyle merely nodded as if he understood before turning to her parents. “Mr. Clark, I say this with the utmost respect, but it’s pointless to make your children fight for the job. Everyone wants Gareth on their side in a negotiation, but he often lacks the tact to smooth things over and deal with unhappy people. And he’s impatient with finances. Penny, on the other hand… She can keep a clear head and thinks outside the box. That’s useful. And she has the best memory for numbers that I know. So, if you ask me, Mr. Clark, it would be grossly negligent of you to let only one of them work in the organization. The two work well together, and each has their strengths.”
Silence fell over the room and hope stirred in Penny. Considering those words had come from Lyle…
“Well,” her mother interrupted her thoughts. “It’s not your decision, is it?” Her voice was not unfriendly, but there was still a certain sharpness in it.
“No, of course not,” Lyle replied soberly. “Anyway, that’s all I have to say about it.” He nodded at them again and left the room.
“He’s right, Dad,” Gareth murmured. “We work well together.”