Chapter 9

It was Friday night and tonight was the night Penny is taking Leonard and Sarah out to dinner. She called the restaurant to confirm her reservation and made sure her dress looks fine. Penny texted Leonard earlier that day so they could prepare. He said Sarah was excited to wear her dress and shoes for tonight.

Penny was done preparing herself and grabbed her purse to go across the hall to Leonard's apartment. She knocked on the door and Leonard opened it after a few minutes. She was impressed on how smart looking Leonard was with his suit and slacks.

"Wow Leonard...You're so handsome...so dashing!…" she said as she fixed his tie.

"Thank you….And you look amazing as well!...Uh can you go to Sarah's room and help her out with her dress and hair?" Leonard pleaded.

"Yeah of course…." She went to Sarah's room and helped her prepare. "Awww you're so pretty baby girl!… just like a princess!" she said in delight as she twirled Sarah like a ballerina.

They went out to the living room.

"Look daddy...I'm pretty like Penny!" she exclaimed!

"Yes honey! You both are pretty tonight!...like a queen and a princess!" Leonard can't help but smile at how happy his daughter was.

"You can be the king daddy!" she added. He caught Penny staring at him.

"Absolutely honey.." he paused. "We better get going then?…" he said as he took his daughter's hand and led them out the apartment.

They walked to the restaurant since it is only a couple of blocks away. Leonard held Sarah's hand while making small talk to Penny. All of a sudden, Sarah grabbed Penny's hand and continued to walk between them. Penny nervously looked at Leonard and he did the same. They both felt relaxed and let the little girl have her way.

They arrived at the restaurant and was led inside by the receptionist to their table in the second floor by the window. They had an amazing view from the inside.

"Penny...this is so fancy…." he said smiling at her. "You shouldn't have spent so much!"

She smiled at him. "I didn't...you see I'm friends with the assistant manager here and she gave me some complementary coupons when I helped her out a couple of months ago...so complements of the manager!" she said.

"Wow that is so cool!" he said smiling at her.

A restaurant staff carrying a basket of flowers then went to their table. "Sir, perhaps you would like some flowers for your wife and daughter?" he asked politely.

Leonard looked up to him. "Oh...uh...she's not my wife" he said rather embarrassed then quickly continued. "But yeah...I'll take two of those red roses!"

The staff handed the flowers to Leonard as he took out a couple of five dollar bills from his wallet. He then turned to Penny. "Penny these are for you!" then turning to his daughter.. "Sarah honey...these are for you as well!" he said with a big smile on his face.

"Awww...Leonard!" was all Penny could say. She blushed again.

"Thank you daddy!" Sarah giggled in delight.

Another waiter came to their table and offered them some red wine. He poured two glasses and handed them to Penny and Leonard. "Uh...can we get some cranberry juice for my daughter here so she could join us for a toast?" Leonard asked the waiter. He nodded his head and went to get Sarah's juice in a wine glass. Penny was touched by Leonard's gesture. She realized how much he cares for his daughter as he wants her to go thru the experience and not be left out.

When Sarah got her 'wine' glass, Leonard raised his glass and invited the two women to join him..."To pizza bagels and pretzels!" in which the girls repeated the same. "Thanks for inviting us Penny...this is so nice.." he smiled at her. She didn't say a word and smiled back at him.

The waiter came over and took their order while they continued to talk about their day and work. Their food arrived and they started to eat. Leonard made sure that Sarah's food was cut up small so she wouldn't choke. He would from time to time wipe off any stain from her cheek or hand with a napkin.

Leonard and Sarah would then take turns to offer their food to one another with their forks. Sarah then offered some to Penny which she agreed to. "Daddy you should try it with Penny too!" Leonard gasped and didn't know how to react. It took him a while to respond to his daughter.

"Uh...honey...I don't think….." he hesitated as Penny squeezed his arm.

"Don't worry….here Leonard…" she said as she held up her fork towards him. Leonard had no choice but to comply as he let Penny put the food in his mouth. He chewed it and realized nothing has tasted this good before. She gave him a playful smile.

"Uh Leonard?….aren't you going to give me some of your food?…" Penny teased him.

"Oh...yeah...of course...sorry…" he said as he fumbled to pick a portion into his fork. He slowly offered the food to Penny. She took a bite while they locked their eyes together. Leonard felt like he would have a heart attack.

They continued to have a great time eating, drinking wine and cranberry juice and just laughing at each other's jokes. Leonard feeling more relaxed, showed them how he could put an olive in the glass without him touching it. He demonstrated his trick and spun the glass quickly as the olive is lifted on the inside of the glass.

"Oh yeah...centrifugal force!" Penny exclaimed. "I've heard about that in high school!"

"Well actually...it's centripetal force…" he tried to explain but lost control of the olive and it went flying away...hitting a nearby waiter on the back of his head. The waiter turned around to see who was the culprit. Leonard quickly put the glass down while Penny and Sarah struggled to keep their mouths shut. After the defeated waiter left...they burst out laughing while Sarah asked her father to do it again. "Uhh..no more honey...or else we'll get thrown out of the restaurant." Leonard said.

It was almost ten in the evening when they decided to leave the restaurant. Sarah was already sleepy so Leonard had to carry her. Her head was resting on Leonard's shoulder as they exited the restaurant.

As they were walking, Penny looked over Sarah and saw that she was already asleep. "She's really lucky to have you as her father Leonard…" she said to him.

"Well...she is my life...I would do everything just to make her happy…" he replied.

Penny brushed aside a few hair strands on Sarah's face. "Does she sometimes ask you why her mom isn't here?"

"A lot actually, when she was around three years old… it's been difficult to explain to her and it breaks my heart to see her longing for a mother's affection...of all the bad things in this world that I want to protect her from...this is the one that I can't do anything about…" he said staring blankly in front of them.

Penny placed her hand on his back to comfort him. "You're a really great guy Leonard...you really are...and it's obvious that you did right by her...she's a great kid...I know June would be so proud of her…." she reassured him.

"Thank you Penny...I really needed that…" they continued to talk until they reached the fourth floor of their apartment building. Penny opened Leonard's door. She gave the child a kiss on her forehead before Leonard went straight to Sarah's room and put her to bed. Leonard went back to the living room to say goodnight to Penny.

"Well...thanks again Penny...we had a great time.." he smiled at her. "we should do this again sometime..."

"Leonard that would be nice...I had a great time too…" Penny just couldn't stop looking at his eyes.

"Hey..uh...if you want..I'm taking Sarah to the park tomorrow morning...you can come over and have breakfast with us...I'm making waffles!…" He said smiling at her.

Penny smiled back..."You know what?...sure...I'd love that..just text me and I'll come over…"

After a little hesitation, Penny hugged Leonard as he hugged her back. "Goodnight Leonard." She released herself after a few seconds and saw Leonard a little bit stunned.

"Is something wrong Leonard?" she asked him.

"Oh...uh.. it's just your perfume...it smells really nice…." he gave her a weak smile.

She moved her hair to the side and moved her neck closer to him. "Here…" she invited him.

Leonard moved closer to smell her neck. Goosebumps filled his skin as he felt like being electrocuted from the inside. "You smell really lovely Penny."

"Well I'm glad you liked it…" Penny smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye Leonard." She turned around and went back to her apartment.

"Goodnight Penny." was all Leonard could say back.

Penny locked her door and went straight to her bedroom. She laid on her bed, grabbed a pillow and pushed it on her face. She screamed on it. After a few minutes of staring blankly on the ceiling, she decided to change and get ready for bed. She pulled the covers over her body as she fell asleep smiling.