Page 53 of Brewing Up a Bad Boy

“Believe me, Mum, I know that. I’m not getting married again,” Poppy reminded her.

Her mum didn’t say anything else, but on the plane ride home the next morning, Poppy couldn’t help but wonder what her mum had seen to give that warning.

Had she fallen under Ali’s false spell again?

Fifteen

Poppy was glad to be home. Pickle danced on her back legs and peed all over the floor when she came in the door. Liberty laughed as she hugged Poppy tight. Sera got a towel to clean up the mess and then hugged Poppy as well.

Exhausted from the flight, Poppy immediately slept a solid ten hours, only to wake up at 4:00 a.m. and go sit outside on her patio.

Ali had been on her mind all night. Dreams that were a blend of hot sex and complicated emotions. Life would be so much easier if she could say she didn’t really care for him. If he’d simply been a lover from her past that she hooked up with at a wedding.

Simple, right?

Except it was Ali, so that went straight out the door.

He hadn’t mentioned Birch Lake or working for Owen again. Perhaps it was for the best. It would be too much pressure for her if he moved here with expectations of anything other than late-night, lonely calls and hookups...which would make her feel like a loser.

Despite the time she’d spent with him and the resolution she’d found with her own part in their marriage, she still didn’t trust him. Or, to be fair, anyone else.

That was part of why she’d wanted closure. There were two—okay, three—people on the planet she trusted not to let her down. Merle, Liberty and Sera. That was it. That was enough.

Wasn’t it?

Except the wedding had made her misty-eyed and nostalgic. Watching Gemma sayI doand knowing her friend had found a guy who was going to love and cherish her for the rest of her life had caused a pang in Poppy’s gut. She’d had the fancy wedding and all of the trimmings; she knew the rest of someone’s life could be six months—hell, not even—just because your spouse turned into a dick.

But the butterflies she felt in her stomach when Ali drifted into her thoughts told a different story. There was a part of her that still believed the right person could come along. Ali? That’s what had her worried. Could she trust herself enough to believe in him and them again?

Someone knocked on her door. Poppy walked through her house with Pickle barking and running around her ankles. When she opened the door, Liberty and Sera stood there. Liberty held a bag of pastries, and Sera had three coffees.

“We knew you’d be up, and we couldn’t wait to see you. You seemed a little out of it when you got home last night, so we didn’t want to press you for details,” Sera said.

“I missed you guys so much,” Poppy said.

“We missed you too,” Sera said. “We want to hear all the details. I loved your outfit for the wedding. Did it slay?”

“Yes. Thanks for the help picking it out,” Poppy said. She missed her tea shop. Her regulars, the smell of tea brewing and just glancing around and seeing her friends. “How was the shop without me?”

“Okay. Merle knows your operation so well, but having him there distracts me. I almost gave Mrs. Parson a virility blend instead of the one for her arthritis,” Liberty said in mock horror.

Sera chuckled. “She didn’t do that, but I did catch her and Merle in the backroom twice.”

“Like we haven’t all caught you and Wes back there,” Liberty said. “She’s not wrong. The energy isn’t the same without you. I’m so glad you’re back.”

Liberty hugged Poppy tight from behind. “How was England? Did the meeting with Alistair’s family go okay?”

Poppy hugged her friends back, drinking in the love and friendship that they gave her. She knew she was tired from all the travel, but the tears that stung her eyes came from a deeper place. Being at the table with Howard Miller had made her realize how far she’d come from the eighteen-year-old girl she’d been.

A lot of the woman she was today was down to these two. There was something so special about knowing that they always had her back and if she made the wrong decision, they’d still be there to support her.

“You okay?” Liberty asked, leaning forward to take her hand.

“Yes and no. I’m just feeling so much love for you two and realizing how glad I am to be home.”

“We’re glad too. How was Alistair?” Sera asked as she arranged the pastries on paper towels she’d grabbed in the kitchen.

“Ali was...”

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