Chapter 18 #3
“Whoa, slow down. Sit.” I lower her back to sitting on the side of the bed, handing her the panties that are next to my right foot.
“Let’s get you dressed first. A naked Poppy will be harder to explain than a dressed one.
And just so you know, I don’t give a fuck if the boys see you or not.
I’m telling them today that you’re my girlfriend, that I love you, and there will be a lot more sleepovers.
The rest we’ll talk about later.” Handing her the rest of her clothes I’ve picked up, I kiss her hard on the lips and then step back.
“Adrian is probably letting himself in the front door right now, so I need to go and stop him from barging in here too.”
I don’t have time to stay and explain any more as I head to open my bedroom door.
“We need to tell him everything about me, Landon, like everything everything,” she calls to me as I open the door.
Looking over my shoulder, I smile at her quickly. “Yeah, baby, we do. Dressed, now,” I say and close the door behind me.
I hear Adrian’s key’s jingling as he’s about to slip the key into the lock, but I reach for the front door and beat him to it. At the same time, I hear little footsteps running down the hallway from behind me.
What a great Saturday morning wake-up this is.
“About fucking time!” Adrian grunts at me, juggling the coffees and a bag of some sort of breakfast treats he’s brought with him. I pull his key back from the lock and hand it to him, before standing back against the open door to let him in.
“Swear jar, Adrian!” Kade yells as he arrives at the door to greet us with his usual morning energy. Nash is still rubbing his eyes and trying to work out why Adrian is here. Same, buddy, same.
“Morning, boys, who wants a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast? They’re still warm,” Adrian asks, which brings a cheer from the boys as they follow him toward the kitchen.
I close the front door, and as I’m passing my bedroom, I mumble, “Great, sugar for breakfast, just what we need.” To which I hear a little giggle from behind the door, bringing a smile to my face as I walk toward the kitchen.
The boys are already sitting up at the kitchen counter, and Adrian grabs plates from the cupboard.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, standing with my arms crossed at the edge of the room.
“I told you last night. We need to talk, because you are far from okay, my friend,” Adrian whispers to me with his back to the boys who are already feasting on their muffins.
And I seem to remember him grunting something like that at me last night.
“Hmmm, well, a lot has happened since then, and I agree, we need to talk, but not the way you’re thinking.
” I step forward and pick up what I think is my coffee off the counter, taking a sip, and then almost spitting it back out again.
“Ughhh, that’s one of those disgusting flavored things you try to tell me is coffee. ”
“Well, we both know you don’t have good taste.
A caramel latte just hits the spot some days, and today is one of those days.
I knew I needed extra sweetness to come here and be nice to you, when I really want to smack you around the back of your head and say wake the f— um, h— Oh these damn kids being around, you know what I mean.
” Adrian pushes the other coffee cup toward me and snatches his out of my hand.
I hear my bedroom door open very quietly and then the distinct sound of Poppy moving on her crutches.
I’m grateful that she isn’t trying to sneak out the front door before the boys see her.
They’re too busy eating so they haven’t heard her, but Adrian’s eyes narrow in on me, and he tilts his head to the side a little.
He’s not stupid, and the smirk that starts to cover his face tells me he knows exactly what happened last night.
The reality is he doesn’t even know the half of it.
“Where’s my coffee and muffin?” Poppy’s voice comes from behind me as she steps into view, and the boys go wild, jumping down from their stools at the counter and rushing toward her.
I scoop them both up in my arms before they crash into her with excitement. Throwing them over my shoulder, they’re both wriggling and screaming in my ear to put them down. Which I do, back on their stools, holding them still.
“Calm down, let Poppy come over here to you and give you a hug, okay. We don’t want her to fall over now, do we?” I say calmly, and I can hear Poppy moving over here so we can settle them down straight away.
“Well, if I had known you were here, I would have brought you some, Poppy.” Adrian’s reply is filled with questions about what happened last night.
“Going forward, always assume you need an extra coffee, black, double shot, one sugar,” I reply to him with Poppy’s coffee order as I wink at her. Then I step out of the way so she can get to the boys.
“Noted,” Adrian replies. “Sounds like this talk might be going in a different direction to what I was imagining last night.”
“Exactly,” I say, picking up my coffee and walking back to Poppy. I pull out a stool for her to sit on next to the boys and set her crutches to the side out of the way.
“Perhaps just one shot of coffee will be enough at the moment. It’s not like I’m working and need to be that alert.
Plus, these two are enough to wake you up nice and early, I’m sure,” Poppy replies as I hand her my coffee to share.
She takes a long sip, and I can see the enjoyment written across her face with that first dose of caffeine for the day.
Sighing, she passes it back to me. “Plus, without the extra shot, then it’s the same coffee order as Landon, so if I’m not here, it won’t get wasted.
” I can see the cheekiness in her eyes as she says it.
“You’ll be here,” I grunt.
“Oh, I’m going to love this push-and-shove. Bring on the popcorn, life just got interesting around here.” Adrian starts laughing and grabs another plate, cutting the last muffin in half, and pushes a plate to both Poppy and me.
“You don’t have popcorn for breakfast,” Kade pipes up, spraying food out of his mouth as he tries to talk with muffin still in there.
“No speaking with your mouth full,” Poppy quietly says to him, with her hand on his shoulder, pushing his butt back down on to the stool, reminding him to sit still while he’s eating too. Just the simple little way she handles Kade makes my heart grow.
“How come Poppy’s here in her pajamas? Did she have a sleepover?” Nash asks innocently. He’s probably been thinking for a few minutes about it and worked out he didn’t hear the front door open again after Adrian walked in.
“Yeah, Daddy, tell us, did Poppy have a sleepover?” Adrian repeats the question smugly.
I really want to tell him to fuck off, but I can’t. Instead, I put my arm around Poppy’s shoulders and look at both the boys.
“Yes, Poppy had a sleepover in my room.” They both just nod and then go back to eating their muffins like there’s nothing interesting in that answer.
“Nash, Kade, I need to tell you something, and I want you to pay attention for a minute, so put down your muffins.” Kade quickly takes a huge bite so he can still be eating while I talk.
This kid drives me crazy and makes me laugh at the same time. God help me when he’s a teenager.
“You know how I loved Mommy very much, and I always will.” They both nod, and I feel Poppy slip her arm behind me and wrap it around my waist, giving me a little squeeze with her hand to let me know she’s got me.
“Well, I also love Poppy very much. So much that I want Poppy to be my girlfriend, and that means she will be staying over at our house lots of nights. In my room, in my bed. Is that okay with you two?” I watch as they both look between me and Poppy.
“I thought she already was your girlfriend,” Nash says as he shrugs.
“Same, kiddo,” Adrian says and holds his hand up for Nash to high-five it. I’m not sure Nash understands why but does it anyway.
“You’re such a child,” I tell Adrian when Kade starts to talk.
“Does that mean Poppy’s my new mommy?” Kade replies excitedly when he’s finally finished his mouthful, crumbs on his lips and a few smudges of chocolate at the corners of his mouth.
I feel a sharp pain in my heart at the thought of Lucinda being replaced in the boys’ lives. And with what’s happening for Poppy right now, there are all sorts of thoughts running through my head on how to answer Kade. I wasn’t expecting these hard questions so soon.
Poppy answers for me, while she’s rubbing her hand softly up and down my side. “I’ll be your special friend for now, Kade. Just like Adrian and Felix are. Someone who loves you both so much, and no matter where I live, I’ll always love you and do my best to protect you. Does that sound okay?”
“But does that mean Felix and Adrian will be having sleepovers with Dad in his bed too?” he asks, pointing at me and Adrian.
“No!” both Adrian and I shout out at the same time. Which has Poppy laughing and both the boys looking a little confused.
“Why don’t you boys go and turn on the television, and us grown-ups will be in the living room chatting.” I offer the option for them to get away from us.
“But I haven’t finished my muffin.” Nash looks at me, with at least a third of his muffin left in his hand. He’s always been a slow eater.
“That’s okay, you can take your plate over, sit on the rug, and finish your muffin in front of the television, just this once.
But be careful.” I know he will be, and I’m thankful that Kade is all finished, otherwise there would be crumbs from one end of the rug to the other.
Kade jumps down from his stool and is already running toward the table in the family room.
He grabs the remote, choosing a streaming service and trying to start a show before Nash even has a chance to look for something else.
“Let’s go.” I pick up my muffin and put it on Poppy’s plate so we can eat it from the one plate. I carry the plate and the coffee into the front living room away from the kids, and Poppy and Adrian follow behind me.
“Can you go put a shirt on so I don’t have to look at that ugly bare chest for the rest of the morning? It’ll turn me off my muffin,” Adrian says as we all settle into seats.
“I kind of like the view,” Poppy remarks, and Adrian lets out a groan.
“Please tell me you aren’t going to become one of those sickening couples who are all lovey-dovey in public. I don’t think I’ll be able to take that,” Adrian replies before he takes another sip of his coffee.
“Seriously, I know you don’t know me that well, but do I look like the type of girl to act like that?
I mean, the worst it’ll probably get is if you walk in on us fucking on the office desk.
But if you can cope with that, then we’re sweet.
” Poppy manages to keep the straightest face as she waits for his reaction, and I don’t know what to say or do.
What I do know, though, is that as soon as we’re finished talking, I’m ordering that replacement desk to be delivered to the bar office.
“I don’t know whether to believe you or not,” Adrian says, narrowing his gaze and studying Poppy’s face. “Shit, you’re good,” he says, shaking his head, still not sure if she’s joking or telling the truth. And I don’t think I want him to work it out, either.
“Anyway, we don’t know how long those boys will be occupied in there, so we need to talk before they come looking for me again.” Taking Poppy’s hand in mine, I lift it and give it a little kiss.
“See, that.” Adrian points, making a joke. “That right there, kissing her hand like a gentleman. Shit, I’m doomed.”
If there’s one thing I can count on with my friend it’s that he never takes life too seriously, and it’s one of his greatest traits—most of the time.
“Jeez, no wonder you’re still single.” Poppy laughs at him. “But I’m warning you now, Autumn is off limits. You’ve both had your one-time fling, now move on. And I’m not joking.” Her tone of voice is more serious now.
“Yes, ma’am.” He mock salutes Poppy. “You don’t need to worry, we’re just friends. She’s a cool lady, but we aren’t anything more.”
“Make sure it stays that way. She needs to find a guy to settle down with, and from what I’ve heard, you’re not planning on ever settling down, so…
that tells me you’re not that gentleman.
” She looks at Adrian sternly, giving him a warning that she’s not joking, and he nods to acknowledge he understands.
The room falls silent for a few seconds, so I start what we really need to talk about.
“Do you want me to tell Adrian everything or would you like to? It’s your story to tell,” I ask Poppy, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to me on the couch.
She thinks on it for a moment and then looks up at me.
“No, I think I need to do it. The more I talk about this, hopefully it will normalize it all. It’s one of the things Meara mentioned.
” She sits up a little taller, and I couldn’t be prouder of her than I have been watching her get through and manage the last few days—well, since the accident really.
But that doesn’t mean she’s walking this road alone either.
“Okay, if it gets too hard, just say so and I’ll step in.” I kiss her on the forehead and she starts telling her story.