Homecoming - Chapter 8
Sunday
Brooklyn
“You really don’t have to come in,” I said to Kennedy. I was standing outside the diner my dad had taken me to years ago. The one he said my mom and him used to frequent. And I knew exactly why he’d chosen this place. He was playing games with my head. This was emotional warfare.
There was just one problem with his sneaky plan…didn’t he see that this made him look more guilty? There was absolutely no reason to mess with my head if he was telling the truth. “I’m serious,” I said. “I can handle him myself.”
“Too late,” Kennedy said and opened up the door.
I was glad she had come along. But I really hoped this didn’t put her on my father’s radar.
The diner hadn’t changed one bit. There were still black and white checkered floors and cute little red booths. The smell of French fries hung in the air, making my stomach growl.
“Table for two?” the hostess said.
“No, we’re meeting someone…” Kennedy looked around.
“Two someone’s actually,” I said.
“What?” Kennedy asked.
“Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention that Poppy was tagging along. She’s supposed to be his alibi or something.”
“Poppy? Poppy Cannavaro?” Her face looked really pale.
And I had a feeling I knew why. Because if she’d ever run into Poppy in the city, she knew Poppy looked a hell of a lot like Isabella. Enough to creep anyone out. “She looks a lot like Isabella, doesn’t she?” I looked around the restaurant. It didn’t look like they’d arrived yet.
“Um…” Kennedy’s voice trailed off. “Right. Yeah, they look really similar. You know what?” She grabbed my arm.
“There isn’t really anything they could say that you’d believe anyway, right?
So what’s the point in even talking to them?
I think we should just go get lunch and catch up.
Because we really have a lot to catch up on. ”
“Maybe we can stop by Central Park on the way back and go for a walk to chat afterwards? But I really need to get this over with. I need my head to stop spinning.”
“Right. Of course.”
“Table for four please,” I said to the hostess.
“Right this way.”
We followed her to an empty booth. I slid in right next to Kennedy so I’d have a good view of my father and Poppy’s faces during our lunch. I needed to know that they were lying. And my head was clearer today. I’d be able to tell. I had to.
Kennedy fidgeted with the menu. But it didn’t really look like she was perusing the options. “So…besides for the fact that Poppy looks like Isabella…what else do you know about her?”
“Nothing. I mean…not nothing. I met her once. At Thanksgiving.” I pressed my lips together.
I remembered the pudding flying onto her face and her screaming.
I’d found it funny for a minute. Until Matt didn’t.
Until everything broke. I pushed away the thought.
“And it seems like she’s working for my father.
My dad said that she got vengeance against the Locatellis already.
Apparently she’s fond of car bombs, which I find highly suspicious. ”
Kennedy nodded. “Okay, cool.”
I gave her a weird look.
She quickly shook her head. “I mean not cool. What kind of psycho is fond of car bombs?”
“Yeah. And if she’s that fond of them, who’s to say she wasn’t the one behind the bomb in my car?”
“Good point.” Kennedy started fidgeting with the menu again.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
She put the menu down. “Are you planning on seeing Matt while you’re in town?”
I hadn’t expected the question. And I honestly hadn’t even let myself consider the possibility.
I immediately shook my head. “No. I’m not.
” There was no point. I hadn’t come here for him.
And I really wanted everyone to stop mentioning him.
I wasn’t here to relive my past. I was here to move forward.
“I really feel like you should see him,” Kennedy said.
“Why? What’s the point of re-hashing old wounds?” Just thinking about facing him after all these years made my stomach twist into knots. What was there to say? I’m so happy that you’re so happy without me? Silence said that enough.
“It’s not about re-hashing old wounds. It’s about…healing. You two were so in love.”
I was already healed. From that. I’d moved on. I was happy with Miller. “It was a long time ago.”
“Does it feel like that long when you’re here in New York? Because it all feels rather recent to me. And you two were so in love,” she said again like I hadn’t heard it the first time.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about this.
Everything she said made my stomach twist even more.
Because Kennedy was wrong. Matt and I hadn’t been in love.
Yes, I’d been madly in love with him . But he hadn’t loved me back.
I think a part of me always knew that. That I didn’t belong in his world. That I never would.
“You’re really not going to see him?”
“No.”
She exhaled slowly. “Okay. Well then.” She pressed her lips together. “I really need to tell you something. Actually a lot of somethings. But… Shit,” she said under her breath, and looked over at the door.
I followed her gaze. Poppy had just arrived. I was hoping her similarities to Isabella wouldn’t affect me. But…her dark hair and sharp features made my heart beat a little faster.
She pulled off her sunglasses and looked around the little diner in disgust. And then her eyes fell on me.
Her lips curved into a smile, and it reminded me so much of Isabella that I actually stopped breathing.
That same fear washing over me whenever Isabella turned my way.
Just waiting in horror to see how she’d torture me next.
Poppy dismissed the hostess with a flick of her wrist and walked toward us.
Her heels clicking on the linoleum floor made me wince.
It was like being back at Empire High all over again.
Isabella’s heels echoing in the hall as she approached me to torment me.
I couldn’t believe I was in my thirties and still haunted by those memories.
“Brooklyn, darling,” Poppy said. She leaned down and air kissed both my cheeks.
I stayed perfectly still, thinking one wrong move might set her off.
“So good to see you again after all these years.” She grabbed a napkin off the table and wiped off the booth before sitting down. “Interesting choice for dining.”
“My father chose it.”
Poppy laughed. “Uncle Richard would never.” She turned her attention to Kennedy. “And you are?”
Kennedy cleared her throat as she stared at Poppy. “I’m Kennedy.”
Poppy just stared at her.
“I’m Brooklyn’s friend.”
Kennedy was always outspoken. But she seemed suddenly reserved in front of Poppy. Almost like she was scared of her.
“Well, Kennedy, this is a family meeting,” Poppy said. “We need a little privacy.”
“She’s staying,” I said.
Poppy smiled and it stretched her skin awkwardly around her mouth. “If you say so, cousy.”
I gagged a little in my mouth. It was like how Isabella always called me sissy. Just because I was Poppy’s cousin didn’t mean I wanted to be called that.
“So where is Uncle Richard?” she asked. “It’s so rare for him to be late.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and started texting.
I glanced over at Kennedy.
She shrugged.
“So…how have you been?” I asked. Killed anyone’s husband recently?
“I’ve been fantastic.” She smiled again and put her phone away. “How about you?”
I winced. Was she serious? She knew what this meeting was about, right? “I’m…not great,” I said.
“Oh. Right.” She put her hand to her chest. “I’m so sorry for your loss, cousy.”
Are you?
“Speaking of relationships. I’m dating this really great guy.”
That was a really insensitive segue. I’d known Poppy and I wouldn’t be friends when I met her 16 years ago.
As soon as my friend James had said she was the worst. If James didn’t like her, I kind of figured I wouldn’t either.
And her looking like Isabella’s just-as-evil twin didn’t help.
But now I knew for sure that we would never be close.
What kind of person would talk about their amazing relationship in front of someone who just lost the love of their life?
“And it’s definitely getting serious,” she added.
“Really?” Kennedy said, deadpan.
“Yes, really,” Poppy said. “Super serious.”
“I’m so happy for you,” I said. I just didn’t want to hear about it right this second. I just wanted to get this meeting over with. I had a bunch of decisions to make, and her current relationship status had nothing to do with any of it.
Poppy smiled again, her lips curling evilly. “Wait, I think you might know him actually.”
“Oh yeah?” I’d been out of town for 16 years. I doubted I knew whatever tool she was currently dating. He was probably some douchey hot-shot CEO of a company that was inadvertently ruining the world somehow.
“Mhm. He went to Empire High at the same time as you.”
“Awesome.” I hoped it was Cupcake. That guy was still on my shitlist for what he’d done to Kennedy. Poppy and him deserved each other.
“Aren’t you dying to know who it is?” Poppy asked.
No. Not really.
Kennedy grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it.
I looked over at her. She looked like she was going to be sick.
Wait…was it actually Cupcake? I’d never bring him up.
I didn’t want Kennedy to ever have to think about that creep.
But from the way she was holding on to me for dear life, I was pretty sure my guess was correct.
“Wait,” Poppy said. “Oh my gosh, silly me. I almost completely forgot. You two…”
“Angel,” my father said, cutting Poppy off mid-sentence. “You came.”
Kennedy exhaled slowly and let her hand fall from mine.
“Of course I came.” I needed answers. Real ones. Not orchestrated lies.
Poppy gasped. “Uncle Richard, what on earth happened to your face?” She put her hand on her nose.
My father had two black eyes. And his nose was red and swollen. Honestly, my hand didn’t feel much better than his face looked.