Chapter 26 #2
She didn’t care what they caught on film.
She needed to tell him the truth before she chickened out.
If he didn’t choose her, then at least she’d know she tried.
That she was honest. Because she knew if he were being honest, he’d admit he wanted to stay and see where this relationship could lead.
In her heart she knew it could go the distance.
But what did he think?
“I want to talk about you taking the job with your family.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t want to get in the middle of family, but I don’t want you to go. I know that’s a selfish ask, but for once I’m going to be selfish.” To her embarrassment, her eyes filled with tears.
“Stating what you want isn’t being selfish, it’s being human.”
“Then I’m being human for the first time. I’m so used to putting everyone else first and always coming in second, but for once I want to come first. I know this is a big ask, but can you put me, put us first?”
“I’ve been holding off all day giving Jack and Brian my answer because I’ve been waiting to see where you stood. When I told you this morning I was going to do the show, you acted like you wanted me to go,” Decker said.
“Part of me wants you to go so that you can reconnect with your family. But a bigger part wants you to stay.”
“Why didn’t you say that this morning?”
“I’m so used to being the one chasing and fighting for the relationship,” Poppy replied. “For once I wanted to be the one chased. I wanted you to fight for me. Because I love you, Decker. Somewhere along the way I fell in love with you, and I don’t want this to end.”
There. She’d put it all out there, her heart open on a platter for him to do with what he chose. She just hoped to God that he chose to protect it and not shatter it.
“Angel,” he whispered in a gentle tone that sounded more like a rejection than a promise. Then he took her hand and kissed each one of her fingertips. “I didn’t fall in love along the way.”
And there it was. The tattered pieces of her heart gave one last pump and then suffocated in rejection and pain.
“I understand.”
She went to pull back her hand, but he held on. “I fell in love with you that night at the bar.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, it’s why I stayed and did this show. Not because of Brian, or Jack threatening to sue. I stayed hoping that I could change your mind about me and win you over.”
Her eyes stung with joy. “You didn’t need to win me over. You just needed to be yourself.”
“Around you I feel like I can. I don’t have to hide anything. You accept me for who I am. How could I walk away from that?”
“What about your show?” Poppy asked.
“We’ll figure it out, but you’re my number one. Don’t you get that? No matter what happens you and I are in this together.”
Balloons of happiness soared in her chest. “Together,” she repeated.
“I want to kiss you so badly right now.”
“Then kiss me.”
“But the cameras?”
“Screw the cameras.”
“Can we not mention cameras? It’s like breaking the fourth wall,” Jack scolded.
Decker stood and pulled Poppy to a stand. Then he leaned across the table and gave her the most precious kiss. It was a promise and expression of love all in one.
“I knew it!” Opal said, clapping. “I knew you two were soulmates.”
At her aunt’s words that flag started flapping back and forth in warning. All the gut feelings that she’d ignored came rushing back in rapid waves.
All the pieces fell into place. This was a setup. A complete setup. The painting of each other’s bodies, the photo shoot, and now this romantic dinner for two.
Poppy looked at the table and for the first time she realized what the spread of food was—all aphrodisiacs. It was her aunt’s trademark spread for her celebrity clients.
Poppy thought about Decker and how he’d been used because of his celebrity status, and her aunt had gone and done the same thing.
He was going to be devastated if he found out.
But she didn’t want to make assumptions; her world had been torn apart from assumptions.
She needed to go to the source and ask before passing judgment.
She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Can you give me a second?”
“Is everything okay?”
“I just need to ask my aunt something.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
She narrowed her eyes at Opal, who was now hiding behind one of the umbrellas on the pool deck.
Poppy marched over and the closer she got the more her instincts were telling her that this whole reno smelled of deceit.
And if that were true, her heart would be broken—because if there was one person she could count on to be honest it was Opal.
Poppy snatched her by the wrist and dragged her to a quiet place. “I need you to be honest with me. This isn’t a renovation show, is it?”
“In a way.”
“Explain what way.”
Opal had the decency to look embarrassed. “The show is actually called Romance Renovation.”
“Auntie, how could you deceive me like this?”
“I did it for you. I knew he was your perfect match.”
“But you interfered even though you knew I’d hate it.”
“It was more than just that,” Opal said, as if she were going to come clean with everything. “This is my last match and the only way the producers would do it was if I got a celebrity, like Decker. But I just knew he was your perfect match.”
“Just like I knew in my gut that this was a setup. I didn’t want to accuse you until I was certain.”
“Look at it this way,” Jack said from behind the camera that was zeroed in on the two Hart women. “You got your own show, and you just reached a million viewers on YouTube. It’s a win-win.”
“A win-win, huh?” Decker said, and Poppy turned to find him standing a few feet away, his face contorted with anger and pain.
“Decker, let me explain.”
“Oh, I think I heard enough. Your family needed a celebrity, and I was the sucker. Was it all fake?”
“For me?” she said, taking a step toward him. He backed away. “It was all real.”
“How long did you know?” he asked.
“I had a feeling that first night we kissed, and Jack and the crew showed up.”
“So before we made love?”
“I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t want to accuse my aunt in case I was wrong.”
He gave a single nod of the chin. “You know how many people have used me for my fame, and yet you suspected your aunt was doing the same and you didn’t say a word.
What happened to being a team? Here you accuse me of making decisions that affect us both and you didn’t even bother to let me in on something that affects me? My career and my family?”
“I had to be sure.”
“Well, I’m glad you got your answer. Too bad it was after I gave you all my trust. You’d think I’d learn that lesson.”
Poppy walked over and this time he didn’t move. She took his hands. “You can trust me.” She could tell he’d already made up his mind and was going to leave her. “Please don’t ruin what we have over a misunderstanding.”
Because that was what had happened to her too many times before. She couldn’t stomach it if he walked away now.
“You said you’d fight for us,” she whispered. “Fight.”
“How can I be sure that us is even real? This whole thing was a setup. Your aunt got her show. You got your million viewers. And I got played.”
“I was played, too,” she pled.
“But you knew and didn’t say a word. That’s almost as bad as lying. That doesn’t sound like an us to me.” He unstrapped his mic pack and tossed it on the patio table. “I need some space to think.”
“You can’t leave.” Because history had taught her that if he left before they worked this out, he’d never come back. “If you leave you know that we can’t go back to what we had. Life doesn’t work that way.”
Her words gave him pause and a bead of hope flickered in her chest. Maybe she’d gotten through to him. Maybe he would realize that she hadn’t meant to lie to him.
“I’ll always have the fear of being lied to, and too many people have lied to me and used me. I just didn’t think it would ever be you.”
“That isn’t me. I made a mistake. I am so sorry.”
“Me, too, Angel. Me, too.”
With that he turned to go, and she felt her heart fall apart piece by aching piece. He was walking away over a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding that she knew they could work out—if only he chose to fight. But he didn’t fight; he walked toward the patio door.
“You can’t leave,” Jack hollered.
“Sue me,” Decker said over his shoulder. Then he was gone and Poppy was all alone.
Poppy was numb. Her heart was so broken she could only feel painful shards of loss piercing her chest every time she breathed.
Her aunt had set her up, her dad had mysteriously reappeared after twenty years, and the man she loved with all her heart had walked away.
“What are you doing here?” she asked the shadow standing beside her.
“Doing what I should have done twenty years ago. Being here for my daughter,” said Steve.
She refused to meet his gaze. Not when her eyes would show nothing but devastation. “Someone else’s daughter, remember?”
“I deserved that.”
“Seriously, why did you follow me? If it’s to absolve you, then fine, you’re absolved.”
“I came here because it looks like you could use a shoulder to beat up. And I figured I’d be the perfect person to take whatever you needed to release.”
He wasn’t wrong. Poppy wanted to punch a wall and crumple to the ground all at the same time.
Even worse, she wanted to sink into her dad’s arms and pretend that he’d always been there.
Buy into that fairy tale that had died so long ago, where the second he’d left the house that morning he’d come back for her, expressing that he loved her no matter if she was his daughter or not.
“May I sit?”
Poppy scooted over. “It’s not like my day could get any worse.”
Steve plopped down on the concrete curb. “I wanted to apologize.”
“For what? Being a deadbeat dad or lying to me about what show I was on?”
“Both.” He rubbed his hand down his face. “Why don’t we start with the show.”