Chapter 6
6
Sonny
“ S o you’re just packing everything and leaving to save the rainforest?” Uncle Graysen asks me at the family dinner Poppy had called to announce her acceptance to Ravenshurst. His face twists in confusion, a true contrast from the joy that was lighting it up a few moments before.
Aunt Divina hasn’t stopped smiling since Poppy set down her fork and broke the news. I’m not even sure she heard that I’m also leaving. Or maybe she did, and that’s why she’s still smiling.
Twisting my lips, I bob my head in an almost too-enthusiastic nod. “It’s a great opportunity to make lasting change and feels like the perfect timing.”
I hate lying to him. I can’t even imagine his heartbreak when he discovers the truth behind all of this.
Don’t focus on that.
“All you have to say is congratulations, Dad,” Poppy interrupts.
“Of course, of course. Congratulations,” he amends, setting his napkin down on the table. “It just doesn’t seem very like you. I mean, you’ve been laser-focused on school and that job at the flower shop . . . ”
“Actually . . . I have a favor to ask you as well,” my words stumble out awkwardly. I hate doing this. I hate asking them for help. “Helen sold the shop, so I’m kind of out of a job and a place to stay all at once. I was hoping . . . maybe I could crash in my old room for the next couple weeks, before I leave?”
Before Aunt Divina can manage to slip out one of her snide remarks, Uncle Graysen rushes out a quick, “absolutely.”
Giving him a tight, grateful smile, I drop my gaze to my plate and push around what’s left of my food. “I realized it might be time to take a break and allow myself to experience something for once. Costa Rica is way more affordable to live in, and I’ve got this awesome group lined up.”
“So, this is about money?” he asks, lowering his voice as if Aunt Divina and Poppy can’t hear him from three feet away. “Sonny, you know we’re always here to take care of you.”
Shaking my head, I stick my hands under my legs to stop myself from fidgeting. It is about money. But I can’t admit that to him when he’s part of the reason I’m struggling so badly.
He and Aunt Divina, who claimed that my parent’s debts surpassed their life insurance policies, leaving me with nothing.
“I just need this,” is all I can manage to say, my voice cracking halfway through.
“You’re going to get rid of us both at the same time,” Poppy chimes in teasingly, pulling their attention back to her to allow me a moment to gather myself. When I lift my gaze back up to meet hers, she tilts her head and smiles at me knowingly.
“Your mother was wanderlust as well. I think that’s part of the reason she left Ravenshurst,” Aunt Divina finally chimes in, lacing her fingers together to rest her chin on them.
Poppy and I share a knowing look. Yeah . . . that, and she was expelled.
We both recognize the positive mood she’s in and silently agree not to sour it with the truth. As complicated as I know their relationship was, I can tell that Aunt Divina still has a soft spot for her childhood best friend. She’s such a stubborn, proud woman, she’d never openly admit it. Some wounds never seem to heal—especially when there’s a constant irritant rubbing against it, like me.
“As long as this is something you truly want to do and not some act of desperation, we fully support you,” Uncle Graysen says more gently, nodding toward Aunt Divina to not-so-subtly encourage her to agree.
“I think it’s a great idea.” Bringing her wine glass up to her lips, she adds. “See the world before you’re too tied down with a career and family.”
“Oh, you mean like you?” Poppy snarks back sarcastically, but I can see the hurt behind the tough exterior she has up.
Aunt Divina’s cheery expression drops. “Of course not, Penelope. You know that’s not what I meant. I don’t know why you always think the worst of me.”
“Seems like that’s exactly what you meant,” Poppy mumbles, twisting her fork through her food.
“I think your mom is just trying to encourage Sonny to be a little more spontaneous,” Uncle Graysen tries to soothe. Turning toward me, he lifts his hand. “Like I said before, you’ve always been so hellbent on getting that degree. Sometimes, I worry that you’ve completely missed out on your whole young adulthood because you lost your parents so early. Divina is right. It’s a good time to play around a bit.”
“Well, I’ll certainly miss her.” Poppy juts her lip out in a mock pout.
“Ooh, we’re going to be empty-nesters,” Aunt Divina declares with a broad smile, clearly past her mini-tiff with Poppy. She holds her glass up to cheers with Uncle Graysen, who is slightly more hesitant to celebrate.
“I can’t wait to show you around campus,” Aunt Divina chirps at Poppy, and my heart drops.
Of course, she would want to go with her. How did we overlook this enormous detail?
Poppy clears her throat. “Oh, yeah. About that, Mom . . . I was thinking I would go alone.”
Aunt Divina blanches. Her brows pull together as much as they can in a futile fight against her Botox. “You aren’t serious.”
“Poppy, you know your mother is excited about this,” Uncle Graysen chimes in, his eyes flicking back and forth between them, like he’s about to diffuse a ticking bomb. “Why wouldn’t she help you settle in?”
“Because she always has to find a way to punish me,” Divina wails, her voice raising an octave as she stubbornly throws her nose in the air and crosses her arms.
Poppy huffs out a humorless laugh. This is the point where I would break down and bend to my aunt’s will in an attempt to avoid the storm that’s about to hit. Perhaps we could find a way to have Poppy arrive at the campus with Divina, and then we could switch places once she’s gone. My mind races with alternatives to make this less painful.
But Poppy doesn’t have it in her to back down. Not from Divina.
“It has nothing to do with you. I’m twenty years old. I don’t need you to hold my hand.”
“It’s more than that, and you know it,” Graysen says, hanging his head into his palm.
I kick Poppy’s leg underneath the table to tell her to stop, but she only glares at me before turning back toward her parents.
“If you want me to do this, you’re going to let it happen on my terms. I’m not going to spend the next few years only being seen as Divina Ellery’s spoiled daughter.”
“That’s ridiculous. Everyone there is a legacy living up to their parents' reputations. That’s just a part of it. You won’t understand until you get there,” Divina cries out. Her face reddens, and the vein across her forehead bulges out.
Crossing her arms across her chest, Poppy leans back in her chair and purses her lips. “Then, never mind. I’m not going.”
“Grow up, Penelope,” Divina spits.
“That doesn’t sound very much like the tough twenty-year-old you want us to believe you are,” Graysen points out.
Poppy ignores him and examines her nails, acting every bit of the same petulant child she’s always been with them.
“Fine. I won’t go, then. But not because you don’t want me to,” Divina says, narrowing her eyes on the monster she created with a tight smile. They’re far more similar than Poppy wants to admit. “You’ll see what a grave mistake this is.”
Poppy huffs out another laugh, tilting her head with a saccharine smile. “Perfect. It’s settled, then.”
“You can’t be serious,” Graysen says, frowning at his wife.
She shrugs, raising her brows. “She’ll regret her decision.”
“Sure I will.” Poppy’s voice drips with sarcasm that has Divina’s vein popping out again, but she surprisingly keeps her thoughts to herself.
Poppy got our passports and driver’s licenses back this week, and we took that as the green light to start announcing our plans to other people. Whoever she found to create them knew what they were doing, because both items look exactly like the real thing sitting in my purse. They took longer than we had hoped because they ran into an issue with mine, although that was almost expected at this point. Any time I have to do anything with my government IDs, I run into issues. I’m just happy we were able to do it without raising any red flags.
Now, we’ve only got about a week before we each have to leave. Part of me hoped Aunt Divina and Uncle Graysen would try to insist we wait, given the short notice. I should have known this was something they’ve been hoping to come into fruition for years. It didn’t matter if Poppy waited until the day before classes began, they would be making sure she got on the plane in time.
“Ookay,” Uncle Graysen drawls out awkwardly, eyes bouncing between his wife and daughter. “We’ll have dinner this weekend as a proper celebration. This will be the first time all of us are under one roof in, gosh, how many years?” He looks to Aunt Divina for an answer, but she only shrugs, cradling her wine glass against her chest.
That tight, stubborn expression is still plastered on her face.
Uncle Graysen isn't deterred. He swats his hand in the air and leans back into his chair. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll go big. Louis Chop House—Sonny’s favorite.”
Turning toward me, his beaming smile reminds me so much of my father, I can hardly take it. I try to smile back before he catches onto the harsh emotions flooding my chest, then look down at my plate once again when he releases me from his stare and moves onto Poppy.
Guilt floods me. We’ve got to be the two worst people in the world, sitting here spewing lies this easily. One small glance at Poppy and the feigned grin she’s donning only makes me feel worse. How is she so good at this?
I excuse myself from the table with a lame excuse about not feeling well and quickly scurry out the front door before I ruin all the work we’ve already done.
I know I’ll have a text from Poppy before I pull into the flower shop parking lot, but I needed a break. I have no clue how I’ll be able to maintain the lie once I get to Ravenshurst.