Chapter 18 #2
Instead, Shannon had stayed away and now she and Poppy didn’t know how to interact with one another. And Shannon tried. But it was hard to try when the five-year-old in question would so clearly rather be anywhere else.
Seeing that Nina was walking to the bar, Shannon politely excused herself from the group and drifted to her. She wouldn’t stir trouble. She had too much riding on Markus to piss him off.
She came up beside her, wasn’t above noticing that while Nina Keller was beautiful, the actress wasn’t built to knock people flat like she was. Nina was small and delicate while Shannon was tall and slim with perfect proportions.
The tension ratcheted up a notch when Nina noticed her. The air between them seemed to solidify.
‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to cause a scene,’ she said by way of introduction. ‘It’s not my style.’ Which wasn’t entirely true. Drama was necessary for attention. But at the right time and place.
Nina didn’t reply right away. She smiled at the bartender and ordered two margaritas and a beer, and it was only once the man had turned to sort the drinks, that she faced Shannon. ‘What do you want?’
Shannon had to hand it to her. Nina Keller had a backbone. ‘I was hoping you could invite me to join you,’ she replied.
Nina stared at her in shock.
‘Mav doesn’t trust me—’
‘Don’t tell me that surprises you?’
‘No. Not at all.’ She refused to succumb to sadness though it would have been genuine and probably would have helped her cause. ‘I don’t want to push my way in. But I’d really like to spend a little time with Poppy before I leave tomorrow.’
‘Shannon—’ Nina shook her head ‘—you’re Poppy’s mom. You don’t have to ask me for permission.’
‘I figured if we could get along, it might put Mav at ease. Poppy … She picks up on his emotions, you know. It makes it hard to want to try.’
Nina’s eyebrows raised, but not in judgement. Her eye flickered over Shannon, considering. ‘Why don’t you visit her?’
The question, the bluntness in which it was asked, momentarily shook her. But she replied honestly, ‘At first, it was because I was too afraid that I’d give in to my own feelings and stay. And then because I was too ashamed. Now … Because I see Poppy’s dread when she sees me and it’s too hard.’
‘Did you ever think she might dread you less if she knew you better?’
Shannon drew back slightly at that. ‘No. I’ve seen you with Poppy, so you might not understand this, but some women aren’t made for motherhood.’
‘Yes. And some choose not to be. There’s a difference.’
Shannon didn’t bother arguing. ‘Yes.’
Nina sighed. She turned to face the Hunt circle. Shannon followed her gaze and saw that Maverick was on alert. The silent messages that passed between Nina and him were impossible to miss.
‘Come on then,’ Nina said after a long moment. With the drinks in her hands, she started back to the Hunts’ circle.
Shannon followed. Her palms slicked with sweat. Her heart beat an anxious tune in her throat. And when she saw Poppy’s eyes widen with anxiety at only the sight of her, she exhaled a deep breath.
Nina frowned at her. ‘What’s wrong?’
In a moment of complete weakness that she’d regret later, Shannon said, ‘For an intelligent, successful woman, it’s galling to not know what to do.’
‘Don’t try to be her mom. She doesn’t know you, and it confuses her. Just be yourself. She’ll loosen up. Trust me on this; I have zero experience with kids, but Poppy’s made it really easy for me.’
‘I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me, but I’m happy for you and Maverick. And for Poppy. She clearly adores you.’
‘It’s a little soon for that,’ Nina said cautiously.
‘No.’ Shannon looked directly into Nina’s eyes. ‘If he’d looked at me like that – the way he looked at you during the shoot and when he sang – even once, I never would have left.’
Nina didn’t deny it. She asked, ‘So that’s why you left?’
‘In a nutshell. I’d worked too hard for my career to stay with Poppy when Maverick never looked at me like that.’
Surprisingly, Nina didn’t seem judgemental.
‘I understand,’ she said, ‘what it’s like to live and die by your career.
I know the terror of being a woman in a vanity industry.
But I’m telling you from experience, if you don’t step up, you’re going to lose her for good.
Poppy … She’s five. If you started giving a damn now, by the time she turned ten she would barely remember a time when you weren’t there.
But if you don’t step in soon, by the time she’s ten she won’t care about you at all. ’
Shannon’s throat closed at the possibility.
‘Mav … He would never try and stop you from seeing her.’
‘Oh God,’ Shannon whispered anxiously, cutting Nina off as they came close.
‘Look who I found,’ Nina chirped brightly.
‘Hi.’ Shannon actually waved before she caught herself. ‘I hope you don’t mind if I join you for a bit.’
There was a moment of stunned silence before Mav got to his feet. ‘Of course not.’ He offered her the space next to Nina on the settee and then walked off to pull himself a chair from a nearby cluster.
The conversation started back up slowly.
For the first time ever, Shannon didn’t try and bridge that gap between her and Poppy. She didn’t even look at her daughter though she was acutely aware of those big brown eyes turned warily – maybe also a little cautiously? – in her direction.
She talked and laughed with the others, slowly relaxing though she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel comfortable with them.
And an hour later when the band started playing Shania Twain’s ‘Any Man of Mine’ and the line dancing instructor got up to lead the dance, Poppy jumped up on the chair. ‘Daddy!’
She didn’t even have to tell him what she wanted, Shannon noted. He just knew.
Maverick got to his feet with a resigned sigh. ‘If I have to do it, you guys have to do it too.’
Sierra didn’t need to be told twice. She did a little shoulder shimmy and whooped. ‘I’m gonna get Markus.’
Maverick held out one hand for Nina. ‘Come on, baby. You can’t leave me stranded.’
‘I don’t know how.’ Nina laughed.
‘That’s why there’s an instructor,’ he insisted and pulled her to her feet.
He didn’t offer Shannon a hand or tease her lightly, but that cool, blue gaze met hers. He tipped his head towards the dance floor, said, ‘Shann?’
‘Yeah,’ she rasped. She loved to dance, loved to lose her thoughts to music. ‘I love to dance.’
‘Me too!’ At Maverick’s side, Poppy’s eyes lit up. They skimmed over Shannon, considering now.
As she pushed to her feet, she tried to keep her tone casual. ‘What’s your favourite song to dance to?’
Poppy considered this question seriously as they walked. But after a few seconds, she turned those big eyes on Maverick. ‘Daddy, what’s that one called?’
‘“The Git Up”.’
‘I like that one,’ Poppy said. ‘What’s yours?’
‘It’s called “Tik Tok”. By Kesha.’
‘Oh, I don’t know that one.’
‘I’ll play it for you sometime,’ Shannon said.
Poppy grinned up at her. ‘Okay!’
Shannon smiled as she took her place next to Poppy on the dance floor.
But for the first time ever, she stayed.
And she danced. And when the song ended and another one started, and Poppy grabbed her hand and giggled, Shannon thought about what Nina Keller had told her.
And she decided that maybe late was better than never.
And it would help to have a contact who was a famous actress – just in case.