Chapter Twenty-Nine Poppy—Before
| Twenty-Nine |
Poppy—Before
I’m getting bored. Bedford is pretty, but I miss the city.
There’s only so many times I can walk around downtown and look at the same stores and establishments.
Henri and I decided to take a little trip together this weekend.
We’ll get together with Isabel too. I can’t wait!
He’s picking me up in an hour. Bennett’s been locked in his office all week, his mood sour, something about having to start all over on his book because he’d lost the passion for the premise.
He’s even more of a perfectionist than I am.
But unlike me, he has a deadline and contractual obligations, so he must put in more hours.
But that doesn’t mean I have to sit around on my own all weekend.
There’s only so much antiquing I can do, and the nightlife here leaves a lot to be desired.
Bennett wasn’t happy when I told him my plans.
“Why do you have to go all the way to the city? And with Henri. I don’t like him.”
“Well, you’re not the one going with him, so it doesn’t matter.”
Bennett doesn’t really like me to be around anyone but him, but he’s especially jealous of my relationship with Henri.
He has no reason to be. Henri’s in a committed relationship and he’s gay.
I think it’s because Henri says whatever’s on his mind—a characteristic I like, but Bennett’s used to being adored.
It must have been the comment Henri made about Bennett’s subsequent books not measuring up to Promise Me Never.
He’s not wrong. But Bennett shouldn’t be so sensitive.
After all, his other books have done great too, just not as great.
I’d be thrilled if the first piece of art a gallery acquired of mine went for big bucks and those following not as well.
You can’t have everything. But as I’m learning the longer I’m married to Bennett, he thinks he deserves everything.
I looked up as he came into the bedroom. “What are you going to do there?”
I shrugged. “Go out to dinner, clubs, maybe see a play but probably not. Just have fun. Plus, Isabel’s going to meet us.”
“Give her my love.” He glanced at my open suitcase and raised his eyebrows after clocking the six-inch heels. “Please watch yourself. I don’t trust Henri to be much of a protector.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t need a protector. I lived there all by myself before I met you and survived.”
“Fair enough. But I hate facing the weekend without you. I really wish you weren’t going.”
I shook my head. “You’re so possessive. My friend Bridgette called last night and invited me to visit her in London. Would you rather I do that?”
“Very funny. No, I don’t want you on another continent.”
“Then stop complaining. It’s only two days, and it’ll give you a chance to work without feeling guilty for neglecting me. You know you’ll be locked up in your office all weekend. Besides, you owe me after the visit with your family last weekend.”
He made a face, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess I do. Although to be fair, I warned you. I’m sorry about the way my mother treated you.”
I’d been the one to persuade him to take me to meet his family.
He hadn’t seen them in years, and I foolishly thought I could help to bridge that gap.
But it only made things worse. “Babe, it doesn’t matter.
You stuck up for me, that’s all I cared about.
If she thinks I’m some hippie flower child, who cares? ”
The truth is his mother was a class A bitch.
She acted as though I was dirt under her feet.
I know she has money, loads of it. But so what?
Just because my family didn’t own a company with a product that’s a household name doesn’t make me nothing.
It’s crappy cereal anyway! But she acted as though I was a gold digger.
I have no desire to come between anyone, but Bennett already had one foot out the familial door when he met me.
Her treatment of me pushed him out the rest of the way.
I heard a horn beep and walked to the window. Henri’s BMW.
“He’s here.”
“Nice manners,” Bennett muttered under his breath.
I put a hand on his arm. “You don’t make him feel very welcome.” I stood on tiptoes to kiss him, and he pulled me closer to him.
“I love you, my Poppy Seed.” It was a silly nickname, but I loved it.
“And I love you.” I put a hand on his chin where the dark stubble was. “I thought you were going to shave.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about growing it back.”
He was clean shaven when I met him, but I’d seen book jacket photos with a heavy stubble, I think they call them short, boxed beards, and he looked sexy.
“Now’s the time when I’m gone for a couple of days. It won’t scratch me after a few days’ growth.”
He nodded.
The horn sounded again. “Ugh. I gotta go.” I texted Henri that I was on my way down, then zipped up my suitcase. “Can I bring you anything from New York?”
“Only you, safe and sound in one piece.”