Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ruby
Much later that day, Ruby stood on the front porch and smiled at Naomi who lay flat on her back on the wide wooden porch.
Miss Lila, because nothing of interest was happening in town, had floated up the hill for a gossip, and sat on a windowsill, her legs crossed and her foot swinging.
Ruby heard the front door open, and they all turned to see Poppy and Thom walk out onto the porch, icy bottles of beer in their hands.
They were both dirty, sweaty, and Poppy had a streak of dust across her cheek. Thom didn’t look much better.
“Thom TV,” Naomi said, sitting up, “yay!”
At the top of the stairs leading to the swathe of grass between the house and the lake, Poppy stretched, arching her back. “Pulling paneling off a wall is good for relieving stress.”
Thom laughed, his dimple flashing. “Well, we’ve still got three walls to go, so you’ll be very chilled by the time we’re done.”
“It would go quicker if you gave me a crowbar,” Poppy said, dropping to sit on the top step. Thom followed her down and stretched out his long legs.
“You’d probably poke yourself in the eye. Or poke me in the eye.”
Poppy pulled a face, took a long sip of her beer, and balanced it on her knee, her eyes on the falling red sun dipping behind the hills, turning all the trees fiery and tossing red ribbons onto the lake. “Pretty.”
“Very.”
Since Thom wasn’t looking at the lake, Ruby presumed he was talking about Poppy. “I love this place,” Thom said, his voice deep but softer than she’d ever heard it. “I know I gave you shit about running here, but I did it, too.”
Poppy turned her head, curiosity in her eyes. “When?” she softly asked.
“When I left…” He cleared his throat. “When I was forced out of Sheffield Strategy.”
Poppy half turned to face him. “Did you do what they accused you of?” she asked, straightforward.
Thom held her gaze. “No.”
She nodded. “I didn’t think so.”
Ruby saw his shoulders drop, the tiny smile flicker across his face, satisfaction, and a healthy dose of relief.
“This is how relationships start,” Naomi commented. “By clearing misunderstandings and talking.”
Thank you, Dr. Joyce Brothers.
“If you have the slightest bit of doubt,” Thom said, “I sued them and won my case. You can look up the ruling, but the settlement is confidential.”
“I believe you,” Poppy replied. Then she cocked her head. “Did you make them pay?”
“Through their goddamn noses.”
“Good for you. Question… Did you happen to settle the case sometime around the end of July?”
Ruby frowned. Where was she going with this? Thom didn’t seem to know either. “Uh, yeah. Why? We settled in July but only got the final ruling on August fourth.”
Poppy grinned. “Benji was so pissed that week, and the week before, and the week after. I guess you were the reason.”
“Good to know.”
Thom’s mouth curved slowly, and Poppy answered him with a smile of her own—soft at first, then a little wicked. They turned back to the lake, but Ruby knew neither of them was taking in the view.
Silence stretched, charged, and shimmering.
Thom glanced at Poppy from beneath his lashes, and she caught him at it—but Poppy didn’t look away this time.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and his jaw tightened.
The air between them deepened, then thickened.
They pretended to watch the water, but now and again their eyes collided again…
Yep, they very much wanted to pick up where they’d left off earlier.
Ruby’s panic ratcheted up. This was so not good.
Because their connection reminded her of the intense chemistry between her and Connor and that had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
Because she was impulsive and didn’t think things through, Ruby flew across the porch, bent over and blew cold air across Poppy’s neck.
“Holy shit,” Poppy muttered. Instinctively, she scooted closer to Thom, so close that her thigh rested against his.
He looked at her. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry, I think someone just walked over my grave,” she said. “I’m suddenly so cold.” She lifted her arm, and both Ruby and Thom saw her pebbled skin. Thom immediately put his arm around her and pulled her into his side, rubbing her arm to warm her up.
Ruby stared at them, horrified. Well, that backfired.
“Do you want to go inside?” Thom asked.
Yes! Yes, she should!
Poppy shook her head. “No, I’m fine.” And Ruby noticed she made no effort to move away. Ruby glanced at her friends, annoyed to see Lila and Naomi laughing their asses off.
Pride bit hard and Ruby realized she couldn’t back down or retreat. She had to show them how effective she could be, so she floated up to the outside light above their heads and twisted the bulb left, then right. On, off. On, off. Wasn’t that supposed to be scary?
The bulb sputtered, sparked, and died. Thom looked back over his shoulder and sighed. “Remind me to add fixing the wiring out here to my to-do list,” he said, lifting his beer to his lips.
“How long is that list?” Poppy asked, smiling. Neither of them had considered the possibility of a ghost messing with them. Seriously? They were starting to piss her off.
“I know I gave you a hard time about the changes you’ve made to the inn, but I’m grateful you are restoring it, Thom. My grandparents would be happy to know that.”
Her hand came to rest on his knee and she squeezed.
He looked down, saw it there, but Poppy didn’t remove it.
The tension between them leveled up further, it was now a living, breathing thing.
Fine. Subtle wasn’t working. It was time to be less polite, so Ruby, beyond annoyed, slapped Thom’s bottle with an irritated hand.
It wobbled, then tumbled, and spilled beer, soaking the wooden planks beside him.
Thom responded by scooping Poppy onto his lap and shifting down to avoid the spreading wet. Then he, very calmly, took Poppy’s bottle from her hand and helped himself to a long swallow.
The more Ruby intervened, the closer they got. That wasn’t just frustrating. It made her feel like she was losing.
“Thanks,” Thom said, handing the bottle back but making no effort to move her.
“Pleasure,” she replied, slinging her arm around his neck. The smile she directed at him was full of mischief. “Did you do that on purpose to get me onto your lap?”
He laughed. “I’m not that imaginative.” He looked at the fallen bottle. “I genuinely didn’t touch it. It just fell.”
“Maybe you have a ghost haunting the place,” Poppy suggested, resting her forehead on his jaw.
“Or maybe I put it too close to the edge.”
“You are annoyingly logical.”
“And you are annoyingly beautiful.”
Ruby watched their gazes lock, a hundred emotions passing between them. Then she felt Lila and Naomi tugging her, as best as they could, being ghosts, back into the house. When she looked back, she saw Poppy tuck her face into Thom’s neck, and his arms tightened around her.
“Thom…”
“Don’t tempt me, Pops,” Thom replied. “It’s too soon, and I don’t want to be the Band-Aid you slap on your heart. If we go there, I want to know that it’s me you want, and that I’m not a distraction.”
Ruby ducked around Lila to watch them. Poppy started to respond, then scrunched up her face and pouted. “I want to argue, but I suspect you are right. It is, for numerous reasons, too soon.”
Poppy turned her head to look in front of her, at the night creeping over the lake and land and turning the world that gorgeous shade of midnight blue. “I like it here, Thom. I like being with you. You always make me feel safe.”
Thom flinched, but Poppy didn’t notice. Then he stroked the hair off her forehead. “You were never as fragile as everyone—even you—thought. You just needed someone to have your back.”
Ruby froze. She’d heard men say, to her and others, that women were too demanding, too pushy, too much. But never that they were strong. Never that they were enough. Why wasn’t Thom behaving the way she expected? The way men always did? He wasn’t pulling Poppy down. He was building her up.
Ruby wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold in a way that had nothing to do with death. Women, she reminded herself, loved men, gave them everything, and when those men walked away, they were left sobbing on the floor. It had happened to her mother, to her friends, to her biker sisters.
Ruby had gone all in. She’d let Connor take everything. And when he left, she’d chased him. Her recklessness, her need to be loved, had cost her her life.
How far would Poppy go for Thom?
Poppy
The next day, Poppy sat on the porch step below Wren and leaned her head against her best friend’s thigh, seeking comfort without asking for it. While the others were already three-quarters through their beers, she was only two sips in.
Wren, Hayes, and Hadley—Hayes’s teenage daughter—arrived at Solstice Deep shortly after five with beers and snacks.
Like when they were kids, no announcement was needed.
They immediately headed for the steps of the front porch, partly out of habit—they always hung out on the porch when they were younger—but mostly because the house had no furniture.
She’d worried briefly about the integrity of the wooden stairs—several looked one hard stomp away from collapse—but Thom waved off her concern, telling her the worst-case scenario was a splinter in her butt.
Fabulous.
She was grateful for the distraction. Hell, she would’ve welcomed a serial killer at that point if it meant not thinking about—reliving—Thom’s kiss.
Because God, it had been a great kiss. Sweet.
Sexy. Devastatingly lovely, surprisingly intimate.
In his arms, she’d hadn’t been the woman who’d jilted Benji, or the daughter who’d disappointed her family, the unemployed, unmoored version of herself with no clear direction and no real home.
For a handful of reckless seconds, none of that existed.
But his kiss also terrified her.