Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Thom
His extended trip to Washington had been fine.
His clients had been fine. Everything workwise was fucking fine.
A week later, Thom slammed the door closed to his empty-except-for-beer fridge.
Having a beer felt like a perfectly reasonable option—but he checked his watch.
Nine in the morning. Way too early. Unfortunately.
Thom looked at his laptop and the carry-on that sat on the kitchen table; he didn’t have the energy to take the small suitcase upstairs.
He pushed his thigh-length coat aside to put his hands on his hips.
He was tired, pissed off and missing Poppy with every inch of his being.
They’d gone from living together to… He cocked his head. Silence.
His house was still pissed at him. So, apparently was Hayes, judging by the tense and brief conversation they had had last night when he’d called to tell him he’d be home this morning.
Thom looked over to where Felony lay on his bed by the door, his eyes sad.
His dog was also heartbroken, and Edie, who’d dog-sat, told him he was off his food.
Most worrying of all, Fel wasn’t communicating in his typical Fel fashion…
He’d stopped farting, peeing, humping, and turning his back on people who pissed him off.
Fel was depressed.
Thom got it. He was, too. This house was too big, too quiet, too empty without her. But he, and his damn dog, would have to get used to it. It was the way it was going to be…
He took off his coat and draped it over the back of a chair, then checked the level of beans in his coffee machine.
He had beans and water, and he could have coffee.
It would be his third or fourth cup this morning, but who was counting?
While he waited for the machine to do its thing, he heard footsteps on the kitchen steps and his heart started thumping an erratic and excited beat. Poppy was back…
Then the door opened and Hayes stepped into the room. Fel whimpered his disappointment and Thom released a low “Fuck.”
“Great welcome, guys,” Hayes said, pushing a hand through his sweat-damp hair. Thom took in his long-sleeved gym shirt, his shorts and expensive trainers.
“You don’t normally run at this time,” Thom commented. Judging by the light of battle in Hayes’s eyes, talking about his training routine seemed a safe option.
Hayes grabbed a glass and shoved it under the tap. “I went to work early, opened up and caught up on paperwork because I knew you were coming back today, and I wanted to see you.”
Thom lifted his eyebrows. It took a lot for Hayes to change his routine, even more for him to step away from his workshop. He lifted his now-full coffee mug. “Do you want one?”
Hayes downed a glass of water and shook his head. He refilled his glass and took it back to the table, where he pulled out a chair and sat down. “I came to have a come-to-Jesus talk with you,” he said, his brown eyes sparking with aggravation. And worry.
“Why? I’m fine.” Thom straddled a chair back to front and rested his forearms on the back. “Maybe a little tired.”
Hayes narrowed his eyes at him. “That is premium bullshit, dude, and the fact you think I’d believe it is insulting.”
Thom grimaced. He’d tried and it’d backfired. So he shrugged. “Look, it is what it is.”
“What it is, is Poppy crying herself to sleep in my fucking guest room, dude. What it is, is you looking pale and as tense as a leaf spring under load. She’s always been your person, Thom. So, what the actual fuck is going on?”
Thom took a sip of his coffee and stared into the black liquid, wishing he had the answers. How did he tell Hayes that he wanted her to choose him, that he wanted her to stay? That he couldn’t be the one who was always left—
“You need to talk to me, Thom. You need to work this out,” Hayes insisted. “She’s hurting, you’re hurting.”
He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. “Has she been okay?” he asked.
Hayes sent him a withering look. “Oh, she’s been just peachy, dickface.” Shit, he’d forgotten how sarcastic Hayes could be. His best friend sighed. “She’s been crying, a lot. She said it was your decision.”
“Mm.”
“And that Benji came to see you,” Hayes probed. “And that you didn’t understand that she needs to find herself, to live on her own and be on her own. That she wasn’t breaking up with you; she just needed to test herself.”
All true. “Seems like she covered all the bases,” Thom muttered. “No doubt she and Wren have been trashing me behind my back.”
“No, actually, they haven’t. They seem to think you have unresolved Benji and Ingrid issues, and that you need to work through them. I told them a good punch to your head would sort you out, but they vetoed that idea. Poppy even told me that she’d never forgive me if I hurt you.
“Pity, because nobody needs his ass kicked more than you,” Hayes added.
Thom rested his forehead on his arm. “It’s too early to be harassed like this. I’m tired and pissed off, Hayes, don’t test my temper.”
Hayes sent him an evil smile. “Oh, I might’ve promised not to punch you, but if I harass you into punching me then all promises are null and void. I’ll tell them you started it and I’ll still kick your ass.”
Glad to know that he had it all worked out. “Hayes, you’ve never once punched me, and you’re not going to do it now.”
Hayes took his coffee cup out of his hand and took a big swallow. “You’re right. Fuck.”
Thom gripped the bridge of his nose. It might be too early for a beer but, since he hadn’t scheduled any crews to do renovation work today, he could go upstairs and crawl into bed.
The bed he hadn’t slept in since he’d left H-Town a week ago.
He didn’t know if he could sleep in it without Poppy next to him.
When next would he get a decent night’s sleep? Never?
“Still waiting for an explanation, dude.”
Hayes wasn’t going to leave him in peace until he told him.
“Poppy wanting to leave…” Thom cleared his throat and looked at a point on the wall past Hayes’s shoulder. “It made me realize, think … shit, feel, the way I did with Benji and Ingrid.”
“But Poppy didn’t cheat on you, Thom.”
No, she didn’t. “But like them, she didn’t choose me either, she didn’t choose to stay.” He closed his eyes, the next words ripped from his soul. “I needed her to choose me.”
Before Hayes could answer, Fel let out a long howl, sounding like a cat with constipation, his paws scrabbling on the floor as he stood up.
Then he streaked out of the kitchen into the hallway, his long ears flying and his butt wiggling as he ran.
Thom winced as he heard Fel bounce off the closed front door but, before he could react, the dog was streaking back across the kitchen again and flew out of the open back door, clearing the steps in one massive leap.
He knew his dog was flat-out sprinting around the house.
“What the hell is happening?” Hayes asked.
Thom shook his head and put his finger on his lips. “Poppy is here.”
“Okay,” Hayes replied, looking confused. “But why are we whispering?”
Thom, his heart racing at a thousand beats per minute, got up and walked into the hallway, Hayes on his heels. Why was Poppy here? Had she come to apologize? To ask whether she could come back? To talk?
Thom, needing some time to think, quietly walked into the main lounge. It had at least three windows that opened up onto the wide porch, and one was missing its pane of glass. He was a few steps from the window when he heard Poppy’s croon and Fel’s delighted whimper.
“Fel, you’re here! It’s so good to see you, gorgeous boy.” He knew she would be rubbing his face, then his belly. Fel had a rubbing routine he preferred, and Poppy had it down to a fine art. Thom didn’t and that was why he always got hit, depending on Fel’s mood, with a fart or a growl.
“Did you enjoy your vacation with Edie? Is your dad here? Shh, don’t tell him I’m here, okay?”
Why was she sneaking around his inn? Thom stood against the wall next to the window and looked down the wide porch, frowning at the sanding blocks and discarded pieces of sandpaper.
He ran his finger along the wooden sill and felt its silky smoothness.
He caught Hayes’s eye and pointed at the sill. “She’s been here?” he mouthed.
Hayes lifted his shoulder in an I-have-no-idea shrug.
Why would she come to Solstice Deep and work on his house when he wasn’t here?
“You really can’t tell him I was here, okay, Fel baby? But I promised to help him renovate this house, and this was all I could do.”
Did he give a rat’s ass about his house? He fucking did not.
“Truthfully, Fel,” Poppy’s voice broke a little and ten arrows hit his heart simultaneously. “I just needed to be here. In the place that we both love. I’ve always just needed to be here, with him.”
Then why did she leave? Thom wanted to howl the question and was about to make his presence known when her phone rang.
“Shit, it’s my mom.”
Thom met Hayes’s eyes and pulled a face. Hayes simply lifted an eyebrow, leaned a shoulder into the wall, his expression silently asking Thom why he was hiding in his own house like a coward. He didn’t know.
“Hi, Mom.”
Thom peeked out of the window to see Poppy sitting on the porch step, Fel next to her, leaning his big body into her. Her arm was draped across his back, and she’d turned her head to place her forehead on his flank. Yep, according to Fel’s Law, he was definitely surplus to requirements.
Poppy was quiet for a long time, and when she spoke, he heard the exhaustion in her voice. Glenda McMaster, a human stress-generator.
“No, Mom, I am not going back to work for Frieda,” Poppy said. “I’ve rented a cottage for three months and I will be staying in H-Town for at least that long.”
Another long silence. “Wait, so what you’re saying is that if I come home, take the job, and leave H-Town behind, we can go back to how we were? The dinners and lunches, the shopping trips?”