Page 5 of Promising Little Poppy

On the surface, she knew she could handle any punishment given. In fact, there’d been a time in her life where she’d even thought she might like to be spanked.

But that had been a long time ago, before she came to the Ranch seeking a safe place for a new start. Before relationship after relationship left her broken and alone instead of safe and sated like the few men in her past had promised she’d be.

Poppy glanced from Sadie to the door as it opened, her eyes locking with those of the woman from the cafeteria. She’d changed her clothing and now wore a pair of simple denim jeans and a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, Poppy took a split second to study the slim build of the woman before averting her gaze. Immediately, heat spread across her cheeks, the embarrassment and shame of what she’d done in the cafeteria making her feel no more than two inches tall, while a different heat spread curiously low in her belly at the same time.

She wished she could speak to the woman—to offer a sincere apology that would certainly never be enough—but Master Derek was behind the woman, speaking before Poppy ever had a chance to open her mouth.

“Sadie, angel, would you be a wonderful hostess and keep CJ company for a few minutes? Maybe you could give her a tour of the artwork in the lobby.” Without waiting for confirmationfrom his wife, he continued. “Poppy, please follow me into my office.”

Poppy gulped audibly, the sound causing her eyes to widen as did Sadie’s, already up from her perch on the bench, and all but pulling at the still silent third woman’s arm with the enthusiasm of a puppy with a brand new toy.

And with that, Poppy took the final step into the office—her entire future hanging precariously in the balance.

For some strange reason she didn’t understand, Poppy couldn’t help but chance a look backward. Only to find the curious brown eyes of the woman from the cafeteria looking back at her as she was led away from the Ranch owner’s office.

Entering into the grand office, Poppy and Master Derek each took the same places as they had a few days before.

A strange sense of déjà vu settled over Poppy, as if this was where she’d known her future was headed—to an oversized office where she was likely about to get kicked out of the one place that had truly felt like home for the first time in possibly her entire life.

A myriad of memories played across her mind. None of them pleasant and all of them a staunch reminder of what a mess she truly was. Thoughts of when she tried—and failed—college the first time. All the jobs she couldn’t hold on to because of the constant dread that settled over her entire body like a cement blanket from such a young age that sometimes made it impossible to do something as simple as get out of bed each day. College the second time around, another failure under her belt. Even brief flashes of her dad and brothers as they looked at her with disappointment with what she felt was on a near constant basis.

As they filled her head, her eyes welled with tears, and before she knew what was happening, she was speaking. “I’m so sorry, Master Derek. I know I screwed up again. And we just talkedon Friday about my future and being more responsible and I already messed it all up.”

She pushed up from the couch, ready to bolt for the door. “I’ll just go back to my dorm room and pack my things.”

Derek’s hand on her shoulder gave her pause. “Ms. Miller, let’s take a moment to calm down and regroup. Whatever gave you the idea you would need to pack your things?”

With the smallest bit of renewed hope, Poppy turned to look at the Ranch owner. “Because that’s always what happens when bad things happen too many times.”

The man’s eyes softened. With ease, he guided Poppy back to the couch and knelt on the rug in front of her, meeting her eyes with sincerity. “That’s not what happens here at the Ranch, darlin’. In fact, many times, what might seem like a bad thing is actually something good just hiding in disguise. So let me assure you again, Poppy Miller, Rawhide Ranch is your home for as long as you’d like or need. Now, with that out of the way, can you tell me what happened this afternoon in the cafeteria?”

And that is exactly what Poppy did.

She rambled on about how she’d accidentally set her alarm for PM instead of AM. How she woke up extra late and realized that she hadn’t showered after going to the indoor pool the night before. Embarrassed to attend a meeting with the owner of the Ranch with such a disheveled appearance, Poppy had decided it was better to be late than to arrive smelling of chlorine and caked with sleep. Only when she’d finally arrived at Derek’s office, his receptionist Erika informed her that the man had already left for lunch with his wife in the cafeteria. Instead of rescheduling, Poppy had thought it would be easier to chase after Derek to explain to him in person why she missed her appointment earlier that afternoon. That she had been running up to profusely apologize to him when she slipped on a grapethat had rolled off a nearby tray and sent her careening into the woman who had been standing nearby.

Tears still occasionally slipped free, earning her another of Master Derek’s cloth handkerchiefs. At this point, she thought to herself between small hiccups and sobs, she was going to have to buy stock in the silly things.

“It happens all the time,” Poppy confided with a sigh. “Like my body just moves on its own before I can logically think about something. I do things I shouldn’t without thinking them through and sometimes, I even say hurtful things. Andthat’sthe thing, I know afterwards they are hurtful, but in the moment, it doesn’t even dawn on me I could be hurting someone else’s feelings, just as much as they might have unintentionally hurt mine.”

Master Derek never strayed from offering slight comforts to Poppy as she talked through everything that had been weighing her down. They came in the small, reassuring squeezes he gave to her hand that wasn’t still tightly holding the handkerchief, in the tiny nods as he encouraged her to continue her stories, and in the way he offered to truly listen to her. It only added to Poppy’s tears when she realized she couldn’t remember the last time anyone had allowed her that precious and most basic of human interactions.

And when she finally finished baring her soul to the first person to truly listen to her in several years, it felt like hours had passed. Her body ached to crawl into her bed and sleep for days. She yearned for soft, familiar pajamas and her favorite snuggly blanket.

But the pair still had more to discuss.

The Ranch owner gave her a few minutes to compose herself, briefly stepping from the room only to return a few moments later with a bottle of ice-cold water. Pressing it into Poppy’shand, he motioned for her to drink as he took the place next to her.

“To prepare for the meeting we were supposed to have earlier this morning,” he began.

Poppy expected to hear the bitter disappointment she often heard in people when she missed a deadline or forgot to do something she had promised. Yet none of that laced the tone of the man sitting across from her.

“I had a look at your file.”

She knew it was common practice for Master Derek to know what was happening with all his guests and residents of the Ranch. Not only did it help to keep everyone safe, but he truly had the best of hearts and wanted to see everyone thrive. His position had allowed him to see and hear backstories encompassing some of the worst of the worst. Anyone who knew the man, knew those stories broke his heart each and every time as if it were the very first time. Poppy knew despite all the years he’d been running the Ranch, he’d never become numb to the pain and suffering of others, instead used it to continue to shape the Ranch into the perfect haven for those often mistreated or thrown away by the rest of the world, like herself.

If anyone had asked Poppy to her face, she would swear her history of emotional abuse wasn’t bad. That so many people had it so much worse than she ever had.

But Derek seemed to know that despite her assurances, emotional abuse could leave scars at least as deep as physical abuse could. And that wasn’t just limited to well-planned, deceptive behavior on the part of romantic partners that could leave permanent damage, but good-intentioned parents and friends who were hurtful, even when they had no intention of causing harm.

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