Worth Every Penny – Chap. 1
She kicked off her heals and closed the door, tossing her purse onto the couch. “It's good to be home” she said to herself, then pulled the twisty out of her hair, letting it fall down to her waist. Saturdays were usually packed with lawyers, doctors, and golfers, socializing and bragging about the exquisite lifestyle that came with their job and complaining about the average Joe Smith not being able to pay their debt. It was the same older men, usually married with wives that stayed home and threw great dinner parties for no special reason. The men sipped on scotch and played with their phones as Penny just listened without saying a word except maybe a thank you for the enormous tips they left when they were drunk and had to go home before their wives became worried. Penny knew they needed to worry. Sometimes she would see flirting going on even with a ring on his finger, seeing who could get the young women first to be their mistress and not tell a soul. It was known but kept secret between all the bartenders, a rule brought down by the owner John Walker. He knew every secret of the men that came in, lying and sneaking out from under the nose of their innocent wife filled with wealth but no love.
Penny didn't care to be keeping these secrets, but John paid them well and she stayed out of debt. If keeping the secrets was part of the trade, then she swore to herself to make them all happy, as long as it wasn't her they were hitting on. That was another story all its own. She didn't need the constant companion like her brother once did. She liked her alone time to read or take a bath with jazz music playing softly in the background. She'd been through enough heartbreaks before, and one engagement until she walked in and saw him screwing her one best friend. She closed the door as tears then fell and swore to her soul she'd never get married and never would have another best friend.
Checking her mail, she walked upstairs, flipping through every piece as though she was expecting something important. It usually consisted only of junk and hospital bills from the car wreck she was in just two years ago. One vertebrae cracked at the impact, causing hip pain to go down one leg, hurting to walk especially when it was cold. She needed constant physical therapy to keep the pain from being so brutal. If the weather was bad, her back became stiff and hurt to walk worse than usual. Her boss tried to tell her New York wasn't the place to work with that kind of pain in that harsh of winters. Every year, the winters were brutal but she was able to push herself through the pain for the pay. That was one thing he adored about Penny, always enduring and working like a pro. She'd smile and serve every request until closing with tips galore buried in her pockets.
Extra money was nice, but didn't spend much. She kept all her tips in a small shoe box inside her closet on the very top shelf, just in case something came up. Growing up poor with her mom barely there and dad always working to pay the bills, she learned to scrape every dime she had and put it away for rainy days or small incidentals.
As she flipped through the mail and sat at her desk, one letter caught her attention off guard. It wasn't a bill, but it wasn't junk mail. It looked like a letter someone had written by hand. The name read Sally Denver in the top left corner from somewhere in Oregon she never heard of. Penny's eyes just stared at the name she had read. Who was Sally Denver and how did she know Penny's name and address? Her mind started swirling with many ideas but nothing made sense. Penny had no family left and the only people she knew was her boss John and most of her coworkers. That included James, Amy, Tricia, and Patrick. The rest were newbies she didn't know yet and most were younger than Penny was now.