Epilogue
Despite the opposition they’ve faced online—and in real life—Summoner and Poppy Thomas work.
The reclusive rock legend and the bright fresh face of romance fiction battled a lot to be together, between personal demons, family and friend opposition, and the dreaded public reaction.
Now, the couple discuss everything from their age gap, their sex life, creativity, art and the surprising similarities that make it work.
By Jessamyn Wilder
“A gift from my daughter,” he smirks, lines spreading across his face. “She’s … very witty.” Poppy just nestles into the couch with a giggle.
“You laughed at it, too,” Poppy teases her husband, and he squeezes her knee. He sips his tea, raises his eyebrows, and gracefully changes the subject.
“This is a good day for this,” Summoner says, “we’re actually both here for a few days, for once.” Things have apparently slowed down just a little for the couple since the whirlwind days of promo tours and Vegas weddings.
“The travel’s been amazing,” Poppy nods, “but it surprised me by how much I wound up missing this place…”
“Quite.” Summoner nods. “Your tour is supposed to start pretty soon, though, isn’t it?”
“Yeah …” Poppy says, with an embarrassed grin.
The lifestyle of public appearances, travel and fans can’t be new to the global superstar.
It’s a whole new world for his wife. Her publisher signed her to a two-book deal and is eager to jump on the publicity buzz.
Poppy will be doing her first promotional tour for her book in just a few weeks, putting her in the public eye for the first time.
“I’d like to think they signed me because I’m good writer.” She shrugs. “Whatever the case, he helps me keep my head on straight about it. There’s the travel, the weird hours, the crowds… He keeps it from getting to be too much.”
“You’ve done the same for me,” Summoner sips his tea.
During and after the tour, the rock legend was very open about how supportive his wife’s presence was.
Really, if one wasn’t still awash in 80s images of the skinny, spikey-haired Brit from his heyday, it’d be hard to picture him without Poppy glued to his side, the way she is, now.
Partly because fans hadn’t seen him at all.
Summoner shocked the world when he emerged from a decades-long absence.
He stepped back onto the world stage with a tour, a new album, and a new wife.
Poppy in The Wildflowers was considered a return to his rightful place in rock, and went platinum, and somehow in the middle of all of that, Poppy and Summoner were married in Las Vegas.
“It wasn’t really planned,” Poppy says, “but we knew we loved each other and just decided to go for it.”
“Wasn’t planned for you,” Summoner laughs. The rock star has a cheeky sense of humor that he shows here with his wife that helps to soften his rough edges.
“My best friends were there, his daughter came. My dad was there to walk me down the aisle. It was perfect.”
Summoner smiles.
2-time Grammy winner, rapper Wooly stood as Summoner’s best man that day.
Pictures of him crying at the ceremony became a meme.
Fan reaction was, maybe a little predictably, not kind.
The internet was quick to brand Poppy a money-hungry gold digger, drawing comparisons to Anna Nicole Smith.
Summoner’s ex-wife, director and actress Kay Elliot, was quick to vocally and publicly call their union ‘foolish bullshit.’
“I’ve seen some of it,” Poppy sighs. “People send me stuff. Nobody has to understand it but us.”
“I guess there are … elements that might make someone take pause,” Summoner admits, when pressed on the gap in age between the two.
By the time Poppy was even of age to start swooning over rock stars, Summoner’s iconic works were already released, and he’d entered his reclusive phase and would have been approaching the status of ‘retro act.’
“I mean, I was an adult,” Poppy brushes off the gap in their age.
“Trust me, it’s something we worked our way through, but I was hardly like he was stalking some teenager, or something.
” Behind her, Summoner innocuously scratches the back of his head, and mutters a list of rock legends that were far less considerate, which won’t be quoted here.
“We had our considerations,” Poppy continues, taking a second to swat at her husband.
“Summoner already had kids, and that wasn’t something I wanted…
for a few reasons. Other than that, I mean, he’s obviously still him, you know, still gorgeous …
and everything still works.” Poppy stops herself with a stifled giggle.
Summoner clears his throat and comments, “We have a lot of sex. There, let that be the end of it.”
“That aside…” Poppy says, “we get to catch each other up on things. References, movies. We pretty much always have something to talk about, or share…”
“That extra perspective really helps, sometimes,” Summoner admits. “We all end up getting into our little ruts. It’s nice to start seeing new things on television after a few decades of nothing but classic and international film. Very, very different…”
“Oooh, I make him watch cartoons,” Poppy admits with a laugh, when pressed. “Those are my big two, cartoons and true crime murder shows.”
“It makes sense once you get to know her,” Summoner deadpans, earning him another light smack in the arm from his wife. “I have to admit, though, there’s some interesting things happening musically in those cartoons.”
“I’m trying to talk him into pitching a song for one, so fingers crossed!”
“I’d rather that than try to do something with True Case Files of the FBI,” Summoner says, a visible shake going through his body. “I still don’t know how you swing between those with no transition…”
“Yeah, that does kind of squick him out…”
“I do have the opening tune down, however,” Summoner says, shrugging. “In three notes of it, I can pivot on my heel and head down to the studio to get some work done.”
“We do work around each other’s schedules pretty well,” Poppy adds. “It’s neat, working from home, where he can be on one side of the penthouse in his studio, while I’m on the couch writing. Like, we’re working together even if we’re not all over each other.”
“At that exact moment,” Summoner says, this time with enough foresight to flinch.
“Plus, it’s pretty neat,” Poppy says, when she’s done rolling her eyes. “Inspirationally, I mean. I get to listen to my favorite musician create while I’m writing. How can you beat that? Plus, we can always just put it away for a minute to see each other when we’re stuck on something.”
We circle back again to the dreaded label that seems to follow all age-and-wealth-gap romances: the Gold Digger?
“My world is really different now in a lot of ways.” Poppy nods. “It’s strange how a lot of depression and anxiety goes away when one doesn’t have to worry about how bills are going to be paid.”
I ask if there’s any truth to online rumors that Poppy has disinherited his kids from his estate.
“Money makes the world go around. But it’s not the driving force behind this relationship.
” Summoner's turn to roll his eyes. “The kids are alright, really. They made their own way. When you are successful as I am, and come from a background like mine, you do worry about your kids becoming like your rich friends’ kids. They’ll get something when I go, but not much because I want them to make their own way in the world.
Also, I’ve gotta keep this one flush with anime figures.
Have you seen how much those things cost? !”
“I guess every good rumor has bits of truth in it. It’s true that his son hates me,” Poppy sighs. “I don’t know how long I’ll be his wife before he gets that I’m in this for the long haul. And the ex-wife, I don’t think she’s ever going to get behind us…”
“Good thing she doesn’t get a say in it, then,” Summoner says flatly. “And my son will eventually get over it. He’s stopped trying to ‘have a talk’ with me about it, at least. All things considered, though, it could be worse. At least my son didn’t threaten to fight you the way your dad did to me!”
“It was between saying nice things about you!” Poppy gasps, looking surprised at the mention.
“Oh yes, the proverbial ‘compliment-knuckle-sandwich,’” Summoner laughs, those distinct lines spreading across his face again.
“When we flew my dad out to the wedding, it was the first time he was going to meet Summoner,” Poppy explains. “Probably not the best time to do it, but it was also after a lifetime of following your work, so it was a confusing time for him!”
Poppy’s dad actually collected minutia of Summoner’s career for years. In a way, it seems he was the one that introduced the couple.
“He was very excited to get to meet me apparently, he also wanted to fight me right there in front of the Bellagio and was also very happy he was able to be there to support his daughter. So, yes, a bit of a fuckin rollercoaster.”
“It’s not all weird, though,” Poppy offers. “I mean, Daisy has been perfect!” Summoner’s daughter, the indie actress and paparazzi favorite, has apparently become something of a bestie for Poppy.
“Daisy has been great about all of this and playing tour guide for the lot of us in Vegas did help to defuse that situation, I think.”
“Daisy is the best! Love her!” Poppy says, excitedly.
That does bring back the question that comes up on every Summoner fan page, every subreddit, every IG post the couple makes on a candid moment … where did all this start? How did two people from very different backgrounds, decades apart, come together and make it work?
When asked about the first moment they met, there’s a laugh, and a bit of a pause. Finally, Summoner says, “We met at a coffee shop.”
“I was doing some writing, and he needed a place to sit. We shared a table. I didn’t even recognize him.”
“I didn’t tell her my name, of course.”
“By the time I figured it out, I was sure I’d never see him again.”
“Well, you wouldn’t let it end there now, would you?” They both laugh again.
So, why did the legendary rock star, who had fallen off the face of the earth for so long and refused everything from autobiography to documentary crews, eventually open up to a then-aspiring writer in an overcrowded coffee shop?
“She was very cute.”