2. Be Someone Else
BE SOMEONE ELSE
“ M orning, Poppy,” Daphne said a week later. “How are you feeling?”
Her boss, Poppy Bloom-McGill, was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of her, baby Tatum in her arms with a bottle in his mouth.
“I’m doing well,” Poppy said. “This little guy woke me up earlier than normal because he’s starving.”
“Two months old,” Daphne said, moving over to look at the baby guzzling as fast as he could. Tatum let out a shout when Poppy pulled the bottle out to put him on her shoulder to be burped. “They grow so fast and need the nourishment. Where is Holly?”
“Reese is helping her change. She spilled syrup on her shirt with breakfast.”
Reese worked from home as a woodworker in a barn on the property. More than one building had been added for his business.
“Do you have plans today?” she asked.
Daphne felt odd being a full-time nanny with Poppy still on maternity leave. She was being paid for not doing much and it didn’t sit well for someone who’d worked more than one job her whole adult life.
She never wanted a handout like her parents often asked for. Maybe because of that she tried so hard for people to not see the same in her.
She came over to the main house every day to check in, took Holly on adventures, learned routines, offered to do anything they asked, even running errands if she needed to.
“I’m going to the office for a few hours,” Poppy said. “Got to start back slowly, but there is so much to do. The runway was a huge success and our orders and calls are coming in like crazy.”
Daphne nodded, not understanding a ton of this.
But since her brother, Aster, was the Director of Facilities at Blossoms, the company Poppy owned with her sisters Lily and Rose, she’d gotten bits and pieces from him.
One of those things was that Poppy’s bags were on a runway fashion show in Italy and now they had a growing international presence, pushing her new boss back to work earlier than she’d planned.
“It’s so exciting,” she said. “Over my head, but still exciting. I love all the products I’ve got. I can’t thank you enough. I was spoiled when Aster sent me stuff, but you’ve got my cabin full too.”
The two-bedroom cabin she lived in on the McGill estate was about eleven hundred square feet and came updated and fully furnished.
She even had a three season room that she’d been spending a lot of time in at night looking at the property around her while she read or watched TV. Sometimes listened to music.
It’s not as if she had any friends she was calling and talking to.
Aster was the only person she talked to other than his girlfriend, Raine.
She should try to get out more and find friends, but she had never been that outgoing.
The previous weekend, she’d given it a try and ended up in bed with a guy who attracted her more than anyone else in her life.
She’d just wanted to be someone else for the night.
But when she woke hours later and realized what she’d done, she’d snuck out of there faster than a French bulldog doing zoomies for attention.
She didn’t know what possessed her to have a one-night stand.
She’d always thought ill of her friends who did that, but at least it was with people they knew.
I did it with a stranger.
How stupid and reckless could she be?!
“I’m glad to know you love our products.”
“Daphne,” Holly yelled, the two-year-old running into the room in a little yellow and white sundress. There were white sandals on her feet and she lifted her arms for Daphne to pick her up.
“Hey there, sweet stuff. Don’t you look pretty.”
“Daddy said I was pretty too.”
She ran her fingertip down Holly’s arm, the skin soft and smooth like a child’s always was.
Holly’s light blonde hair was pulled back with a pink and yellow bow. One from Blossoms.
“Daddy thinks all the women in his life are pretty,” Reese said, coming into the room.
“My husband knows how to play the ladies,” Poppy said.
Reese squinted. “It’s how I got you. If you don’t need me for anything, I’ve got a few things to deal with in my office and then I’m going to the barn.”
Reese leaned down and kissed Poppy.
“Nope.” Tatum finally let out a huge burp after he’d been squirming so Poppy put the bottle back in his mouth. “I’m going into the office soon and Daphne will have the kids.”
“What are we doing today?” Holly asked.
“Well,” she said. “I was thinking we could play house when Tatum is taking his nap. And it’s such a pretty day out, we can go play outdoors and I can walk Tatum around in the stroller too.”
“I want to swing,” Holly said, throwing her arms in the air.
Poppy laughed. “She always wants to run in the yard. Which reminds me. We are having a lot of work done on the property for a few weeks. The landscaping workers are going to be around our house and yours.”
“Oh,” she said. “Do I need to get out of the way?”
“You should be good,” Poppy said. “We are having a ton of landscaping done. Not just plants and flowers but paving stones and rocks too. They are going to have it match your place and ours. Kind of connect them. I want a nice path between the two houses, the barn, and to the dock. This way you can walk up and down rather than driving over or walking on the grass.”
“That will be nice,” she said. “But I hope you aren’t doing it for me. I mean, I have no problem walking on the grass or driving.”
She’d walked over this morning. It took her a few minutes, not even five. It wasn’t that far away.
“Nonsense,” Poppy said. “It will be easier at times if they are in the stroller too. Plus it’s nice to have the houses connected. Reese is thinking of building a guest house for his family.”
She lifted her eyebrows up. “His family is moving here?”
“No,” Poppy said. “Definitely not his parents. But his father visits more now. His brother and brother’s family more than anything.
Though they gave the house to Reese, they all know they can come any time they want.
He wants to make it easier for them to have a place to stay separately.
It’s in the works. Nothing happening now, but we are planning ahead too with the landscaping. ”
“Got it,” she said. All of it was beyond her scope of reality. She put Holly down. “What do you want to do first? It looks like your brother is almost done eating.”
“Play,” Holly said.
“We can go play then,” she said.
Poppy stood up. She was in shorts and a baggy T-shirt. Though she knew Poppy wasn’t down to her pre-pregnancy size, she didn’t look as if she’d just had a child two months ago either.
“I’m going to get Tatum out of his jammies and play with him for a few minutes while I figure out what to wear and go into the office. I’ll bring him out when I’m ready.”
“No problem,” she said as Poppy walked out.
Holly grabbed her hand and yanked her to the toy room. Just one of many massive rooms in the house, but this one was off to the side and full of toys. Enough for someone to think it was a store.
She couldn’t imagine ever having things like this as a child.
She knew Poppy and her sisters hadn’t either, but Reese grew up differently.
“I want to play dolls and dress up,” Holly said.
The top of the wooden chest that she was positive that Reese made was lifted and Holly was pulling out purses and clothing, plastic shoes, and scarves.
The room was already looking as if it was looted during a major sale.
“I like this purse,” Daphne said, picking up a cloth one. She was sure it was one from Blossoms and not bought at a children’s store.
“You use that,” Holly said, nodding her head. “And I’ll use this one.”
The two of them covered themselves in accessories and were sitting at a table with pretend tea when Poppy came in.
“Don’t you two look as if you’re having fun,” Poppy said.
“Calorie free tea and cookies are the best,” she said.
“That’s what I need,” Poppy said. “Tatum fell asleep. He’s in his playpen in the living room.”
She accepted the monitor that Poppy handed over. “Thanks. Do you have dinner plans? Do you want me to have it started for you?”
Poppy laughed. “I love you, Daphne. But you don’t have to do those things. Your job is to care for the kids.”
“I know,” she said. “But I don’t mind. I’m used to having more than two kids at a time.”
“Then consider this life in the slow lane for once and enjoy it. You know where Reese is if you need anything and you’ve got my number.”
“I do,” she said. “Thanks.”
Poppy walked out looking more stylish than Daphne could ever pull off.
“I want to swing,” Holly said, starting to take off her play clothing.
“Why don’t we wait,” she said. “Tatum is sleeping. We can go watch a movie if you want or color in the other room.”
“Color,” Holly said, running to another chest to look for what book she wanted while Daphne quickly picked up enough of the clothing to put away. They’d come back and clean up together later.
“How much sugar did you eat today?” she asked Holly when the little girl started to run down the hall.
“I was drinking out of the bottle. Daddy laughed. Mommy said no.”
She laughed when she realized it had to have been the maple syrup bottle. “And that explained why they both left this morning.”
But Daphne had it because she could handle anything.
She hoped.