“Want company?”
She looked at him then, at the handsome lines of his face and faint curve of his mouth. He wasn’t mad anymore and neither was she. Oh, she could pretend. Given a few minutes, she could work herself into a temper, but to what end?
“Only if you’re hungry,” she said. “I made a little extra.”
“So I see.”
He sat next to her and took one of the empty plates. After filling it, he picked up a fork and took a bite of potatoes.
“Still the best,” he said.
She shrugged. “Potatoes, garlic, butter, a few spices. You’re too easy, Cal.”
“I know what I like.”
That statement had danger written all over it, so she decided to change the subject. “I saw Gloria was here earlier. Mercifully, she stayed out of my kitchen. What did she want with you?”
“She’s trying to badger me into accepting the job of president of the corporation. The third guy in fifteen months just quit.”
“If he reports directly to her, I can see why.”
“That’s what I told her. I said she had to loosen up or she was going to lose everything.”
“You’d never do it,” Penny said confidently. “You’d hate working for her and you wouldn’t want to give up your work with The Daily Grind.”
He stared at her. “How do you know that?”
“Am I wrong?”
“No.”
She smiled. “Cal, you’re a guy. Most of the time, you’re not very complex. Although there were a few times you confused the hell out of me.” She didn’t want to talk about them now. “So what’s the big deal? She should offer the job to Dani. She’d jump at the chance to run things and I think she’d do a good job.”
“That’s what I said, but Gloria won’t have any part of it.”
Typical, Penny thought. “Gloria’s always been horrible where Dani’s concerned. What’s the problem? What does she have against your sister?”
She expected Cal to brush off the question or say he didn’t know. He surprised her by putting down his fork and leaning toward her, then lowering his voice.
“She’s not a Buchanan.”
Penny couldn’t have been more surprised if Cal had morphed into a dancing squid. “Excuse me? She’s your sister.”
“Half sister. Same mother, different father. My dad was always really distant. He drank-I think having Gloria as his mother drove him to it. I don’t remember all that much about their marriage, but they never seemed happy or like other couples. At some point, she met someone else and had an affair. Dani was the result. I first found out about it when I graduated from college. I’d never guessed. None of us had.”
Penny instinctively reached for his hand and took it in her own. “That’s not possible. Of course Dani is one of you.”
“No. She’s completely different. Her looks, her personality. Also, look at how Gloria treats her. Dani thinks it’s because she’s a girl, but it’s more than that.”
Penny thought about the years she and Cal were married and interacting with the rest of the Buchanan family. Gloria was rude and difficult with everyone, but there was a special level of awfulness in her contact with Dani. It was almost…contempt.
“No,” Penny said, more to herself than Cal. “Family is everything to Dani. Being a Buchanan defines her world. The only thing she wants outside of her marriage is to run the corporation.”
“Gloria’s not going to let that happen.”
Penny squeezed his fingers. “Do Reid and Walker know?”
He nodded. “Gloria told them, then used the information to threaten them. Do what I say or I’ll tell your sister she’s not really part of this family.”
Penny’s chest tightened. “That’s awful. I never liked Gloria, but I never thought she was evil. Poor Dani. You have to tell her.”
Cal pulled his hand free and shook his head. “No way. I’m not screwing up her life.”
“Her life is already screwed. You’re keeping secrets from her, Cal. It’s not a good idea. I speak from personal experience.”
His gaze dropped to her belly. Without her white coat, her condition was fairly visible. While she doubted he’d noticed her breasts were larger than usual, there was no way he could miss the distinct roundness of her belly.
“I can’t tell her. It would hurt too much,” he said.
“It’s going to hurt more when she finds out another way.”
He bit into a piece of fish. She recognized the stubborn set of his mouth and sighed. Fine. She couldn’t make him tell Dani, but she could keep on him until he caved.
“I will say this,” she told him. “Talking about your family always makes me appreciate my own a lot more.”
“How are your folks?” he asked.
“Good. My dad is still busy with the dealership and making both his sons-in-law sweat about who is going to be left in charge.”
“Do they know?” he asked, glancing at her midsection.
She touched her stomach. “Yes. I told them about the baby. Actually I told them when I started thinking about getting pregnant. Mom wanted me to wait to get married, but it wasn’t a big argument. They’ve stopped expecting me to be conventional.”
“Because you didn’t decide to be a stay-at-home mom like Emily and Julie?”
She nodded. Both her sisters had married within two years of finishing high school. Penny had never seen the point of hooking up with a guy, then locking herself in a house and popping out babies. Of course she’d never planned on being a single mom, either.
“I’ve made my way in a man’s world,” she said brightly. “As soon as word gets out about the baby, everyone will be really nice to me and if they’re not, I’ll have Naomi to protect me.”
He glanced around the empty restaurant. “She’s with Reid tonight?”
“That’s my guess. I’m sure they’re off having hot monkey sex even as we speak.”
Cal grimaced. “Don’t go there. It’s not an image either of us want in our brains.”
She grinned. “You have a point. Naomi is far more sexual than anyone I’ve ever known.”
“Tell me about it. That time she walked in on us, I was sure she was going to offer to join in.”
Penny laughed. “If we hadn’t been married, I think she might have. Later she told me you were much more impressive naked than she’d ever suspected.”
“Great. Not something I needed to know.”
“But Naomi is practically a legend,” she teased. “Don’t you want to know what all the fuss is about?”
“No.”
“But, Cal…”
He glared at her. “I’m not interested in having sex with your best friend. Okay?”
“Fine. It’s your loss.”
“If you want details, ask Reid. I’m sure he’ll share.”
“No, thanks.” Penny enjoyed teasing Cal about Naomi, but she didn’t actually want to know what her friend was like in bed. That would just be too weird.
“So if you’re not interested in Naomi,” she said, “who are you interested in?”
“Asking about my love life?”
“Uh-huh.” She suspected there wasn’t anyone right now. Cal wasn’t the type to have kissed her if he’d been involved.
“I’m between women. And you?”
“You talked to Reid,” she said, knowing it was the only place he could have disappeared to so he could get
