Page 88 of Positively, Penelope

“I don’t even know her name.” She sighed, her shoulders drooping. “We kept with the anonymous rule for the group unless we reveal ourselves of our own accord. She never did.”

“Then we have no idea who she is.” He leaned beside her against the counter, their shoulders almost touching.

“All I know is that the initials she uses are GK.”

Heat drained from his face. “GK?”

For Gene Kelly.

She nodded, staring down at her phone. “I don’t know much else.”

He trained his expression before she looked up. She pulled up a Skymarian Theater Troupe email for his perusal. “This one.”

GK on STT. That washisformer account. Had he never deleted it? With all that had been going on in his life during the last handful of years, it wasn’t a priority. But clearly someone was using his former email, and that someone was sharing information with Emblem Studios.

***

As soon as Matt tucked Iris into bed, he made his way down to his computer. Who on earth would steal his STT account? Blast him for using the same password for his social networks for a century! Anyone close to him could likely guess it and tap straight in.

But who would care to take an account for a theater troupe? And why? It made no sense whatsoever.

He’d left Penelope with a smile before completing the brief drive home, assuring her they’d solve this dilemma together. And he’d meant it. They would get to the bottom of this little situation, but first things first, he’d change his password or delete the account altogether.

Emblem had been after The Darling House for the past few years. Even made a couple of ridiculous offers, too, but Grandfather would have nothing to do with them, and Matt couldn’t blame him. They wanted to tear down the building and use the space for a more modern theater. They’d even offered Matt a lucrative job as a dance instructor.

Dance instructor. He almost grinned. His body still hummed from the energy of dancing with Penelope. The steps and unused muscles remembering their form... and the pleasure, especially with Penelope in his arms. In fact, she made everything a little better. She’d been right about another thing too. He’d allowed Deirdre to steal his joy for dancing and he wanted to rediscover it all. The simple pleasures of spending a day with his daughter and a beautiful woman. The delight of being part of the choreography of a musical. And the thrill of dancing and teaching others how to dance as well. He had allowed Deirdre to steal much more than his self-confidence, and it was past time to take back what he thought he’d lost.

Teaching Jamie would be his litmus test, of sorts. A dip back into the world of dance instruction.

He turned to his computer and scanned the screen. In the far-right corner, the red icon of STT waited. When he clicked on it, a long line of messages filled the screen. All between his account and aJA. JA? Jane Austen? Then he read through the first few lines of the most recent message:

There is something to be said for “Popular” as Glinda sings inWicked, especially for business. I don’t mind being a behind-the-scenes person, but you can’t let your business be behind the scenes. That’s why I’ve been trying to create more ways to be visible. Out there!

His lips parted into a smile. Not Jane Austen for Penelope, no. He’d wager his dancing feet that JA stood for Julie Andrews.

He skimmed through the previous messages, and the identification of the person using his account became perfectly clear.

Text from Matt to Gwynn:Why are you using my old STT account?

Matt’s phone buzzed on the desk and his sister’s photo popped up on the screen.Ah! Caught!

“Okay, I should have told you,” she started in as soon as he placed the phone to his ear. “But I didn’t want people to know it was me because Victor is still a part of the troupe.”

Her ex-boyfriend?

“And to be perfectly honest, Matt, he was a little threatening when we broke up, so... well, I wanted to stay in touch with what the troupe was doing without giving away I was still a part of it.”

The excuse made sense, even though he didn’t like it. Victor hadn’t responded well to Gwynn ending their relationship. At all. They’d even alerted the authorities at one point because he’d been following her.

“Hmm.” He sighed. “So you just decided to hide behind my profile?”

“Your profile was so vague, anyone could hide behind it.” Hecould practically hear her rolling her eyes, if that were even possible. “Dancer, accountant, likes long walks and good movies.” She rattled off the list. “Besides, you weren’t using it, and I only meant to hide behind it for a few emails, but then—”

“You liked the anonymity.”

“Yes.” He could almost envision her pouting. “It’s not caused any harm for anyone and that’s how I’ve been able to get to know how to support the theater troupe some more, even while away at college.”

Thus, the reason she’d always known who was auditioning for parts before he did. And where the individuals worked. She’d been following them for months.

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