Chapter 19 Poppy
POPPY
Eight weeks later
Mondays have become my favorite day. I get up in the morning and take the kids to school, then Phantom comes home, and we make love until he picks the kids up. Sometimes, he goes to work, and other times, he stays with me, and we spend hours in bed.
Today, though, won’t be a lot of fun.
So much has happened fast over the last few weeks.
Dylan, the prospect behind the break-in at my house turned himself in to the police.
After some tough conversations with Phantom, he admitted to the break-in, the destruction of my property, the break-in here, and the rats in the pool.
Both Phantom and I pressed charges, and due to some other minor stuff on Dylan’s record that he was on probation for, he’s waived a trial and negotiated a plea deal.
He will be moved to the state prison to start a term of fifty-four months with the possibility of parole in twenty-four.
I cleared out my house and am fully moved in with Phantom. It’s fast, but I have a tenant renting my place. It’s a good investment, and I’ll hold on to the house just in case I ever need or want it back.
Jax loves his new room and has settled into having stepsisters. He and Daisy are the best of friends, and my mom has come to dinner a couple times. I don’t know what she knows about Phantom’s work, and I don’t ask. She seems to absolutely adore him, and that’s more than enough for me.
Even more amazing is how Mom has taken to Daisy and Holly.
While she was strict and downright mean to me and Clara, she loves the girls.
So much so that she’s paying for a night in a fancy hotel for all of us tonight, including Mom.
Mom will stay with Jax in one room, the girls in another, and Phantom and I in a third.
Clara is covering the salon for me tomorrow so I can take the day off.
No one is more excited than my baby sister that not only am I doing something for myself, but that I’m doing it with Phantom.
She might just be his biggest fan. After me, Jax, and his daughters, that is.
I’ve appreciated their support over the last few weeks. Most surprising is the support coming from my mom. We’re all going to need a little break after today. A little extra time as a family.
We kept all the kids home from school. Jax is up in his room playing, and the girls are on the couch waiting nervously. My mom is already at the hotel and has a dinner reservation for us at a beachfront restaurant. Now, all we have to do is wait.
I pad down the stairs and drop on the couch between the two girls. I stroke the faded blue streak in Daisy’s hair. “We could touch this up or try something new.”
Daisy shrugs and sniffles, then drops her head on my shoulder. “Thanks, Poppy.”
Holly is texting away, not looking up but clearly listening. “I was thinking about color,” she says quietly. “Maybe pink. Do you think I could pull off some pink?”
“Absolutely,” I tell her. “We’ll go over samples when we get back. We can do it over fall break if you want.”
Holly looks up at me, tears in her eyes. “Thanks.” Then she sucks in air, and I have to resist the urge to look at her phone.
“What’s with you?” Daisy snaps.
“I’m excited, okay. Tyler just asked me if I have a date for the winter dance.”
I smile. “You guys just went to homecoming, and he’s locking you down for the winter dance? When is that, like January?”
“Yes,” Holly says, blushing furiously. “That’s not normal, right? I mean, why is he asking me now?”
“I think he’s trying to say he wants to still be dating you in what, three more months?”
“It’s like two and a half,” Daisy says, sounding bored. “Whatever. I’m over Tyler.”
Holly rolls her eyes. “You can’t be over him. Can you just try to be supportive?”
Before an argument can break out, we hear the sound of the garage door opening, and both girls fall silent.
“Hey,” I tell them, putting a supportive hand on each of their knees. “It’s going to be okay. Come on. Grab the albums.”
The girls grab the books they’ve made with some help from Jax, and we stand, waiting for the door to open. When it does, Phantom comes in first, followed by Shayla.
“Mom.” Holly collapses into tears and runs to grab her mother.
“Baby.” Shayla wraps her arms around her daughter and rocks back and forth. “Oh, my sweet, sweet baby.”
Daisy throws herself onto the pile but isn’t quite as emotional as Holly. Phantom walks up to me and wraps an arm around my waist. He silently kisses my forehead.
“Okay, okay, enough of that. Let me say a proper hello to Poppy.” Shayla releases the girls, but she holds their faces in her hands and kisses their foreheads. “Poppy, would it be weird if…” Then she comes over to me, hesitating like she wants to hug me.
“No, of course it’s okay.” I open my arms and give her a quick hug. “Let me call Jax down to say goodbye.”
“It’s okay,” Shayla says. “You don’t have to bother him.”
“No, it’s all right. He’ll want to say goodbye.” I walk over to the stairs and call for Jax to come down.
Meanwhile, Shayla sits with the girls on the couch.
“So you’re going to be able to write to me,” she says.
“And the case worker I talked to said, depending on how I’m doing, I might even be able to make calls.
” She looks at Phantom. “I’ll coordinate any calls through you first. I don’t want to disrupt what you’ve got going on here. ”
Phantom doesn’t say much. He just nods. “Whatever you want, Shay.”
It’s been a rough eight weeks for the kids.
After Dylan turned himself in, Shayla spent two weeks in rehab but then relapsed.
She overdosed twice during that time, and it was Phantom and Savage who picked her up and checked her in to an inpatient program.
That seemed to work. She’s been accepted into an immersive three-month rehab program in California. Phantom has given her the money for it.
If Shayla is clean and sober, she can have a relationship with her kids. If she can’t stay clean… Well, as a mother, I don’t want that for her or the girls.
The kids give their mom the cards and photo albums they made for her to take to California.
Holly is an emotional wreck, and Phantom and I have already set up some counseling for her to help her navigate the next few months.
She’s got a lot of guilt about what’s happening with her mom, and making sure she deals with it as best she can is both of our top priorities.
That’s why Mom booked us a one-night getaway and why we kept the kids out of school.
After Phantom and the girls drop Shayla at the airport, we’re going for a one-night family staycation. We’ll eat dinner on the beach, play games, and get our minds off the fact that Holly and Daisy won’t hug their mother again for at least three months.
Jax bounds down the stairs, and he waves a polite hello to Shayla.
“Hi, sweetheart. Thanks for coming down.” Shayla nods at him and then tells her daughters to be good to their new brother. “You always wanted a brother. You couldn’t ask for a better one, huh?”
Daisy nods, and Holly starts crying again.
“We should roll,” Phantom says quietly.
Shayla nods and gets back up from the couch. She walks straight up to me. “I know I wrote that letter when I was in detox,” she says. “But I have something I want to say to you.”
I look at Phantom, and he shrugs.
“Of course,” I say. “What is it?”
“Just thank you. I’m sure you can imagine, if you were in my shoes…
” She stops as tears start running down her cheeks.
She blots them with her palms and keeps talking.
“Maybe you wouldn’t do drugs and would never have an addiction like this.
But if you had to leave your kids. If you got sick or hurt… ”
“Shayla,” I say. “It’s okay. I love them. As their dad’s girlfriend and their friend. They’ll only ever have one mother. But I’ll be here for them until you can be.”
She nods. “Thank you, Poppy. For everything.”
Then she turns to Phantom. “I appreciate the ride.”
He grunts, and then Daisy and Holly grab their mom’s luggage, and the three of them head for the garage. Phantom stays behind with Jax and me.
“You cool?” he asks.
“Completely,” I say.
And it’s true. After my son lost his dad, I couldn’t imagine not being supportive of a woman who’s doing everything to get herself together.
She might never have full custody of the girls again, but she’s been talking about a new career, a new direction for her life.
Maybe she’s tired. Maybe she just needs a break from being a full-time single mother.
I’m so grateful to be able to carry some of that load.
Phantom leans down and kisses me. “Love you. Be ready to hit the road when we’re back.”
“I love you,” I tell him. “We will be.”
Jax turns and heads upstairs. “Mom, can Ryan sleep over this weekend?”
“Did you ask Phantom if it’s okay?”
“Yeah, he said it’s fine.”
“I’ll text Tera and ask.”
He bounds upstairs, leaving me alone. I walk into the kitchen and stare out over the back of the property. The afternoon sun glitters on the water in the channel, and the pool, completely clean, sterilized, and back in use, sparkles in the sunlight.
I rub my thumb along the tattoo on my ring finger.
Grief is a funny thing. How long is long enough to hold on to feelings of sadness?
After we check in to the hotel, we get the kids settled in their rooms, and Phantom and I shower and change for dinner. Phantom makes calls on the balcony of our room while I get ready, so once I’m done, we trade places.
I stand outside and peer out over the beach, watching the sunset. I feel so many things tonight. I’ve been thinking about Michael a lot lately. Not in a sad way. I don’t miss him—not in the ways I used to.
I wonder if he can see us. If he knows how happy I am. How strong and funny, smart and talented Jax is. If he knows that he’ll always be Jax’s father and my first husband.