Page 68 of Brewing Up a Bad Boy

“Is that a big deal? I thought rich dudes didn’t have to work and that jobs at their families’ companies were just for show.”

“You watch too much TV. It was a big deal. ThinkSuccession, notLove Island,” Poppy said.

“Ah. And he’s the second son, so the pressure was always on him to unseat his older brother,” Liberty said.

Poppy laughed. “I’m not sure that’s accurate, but he did want to please his father. Our marriage secured a recipe that no one else in the history of the company had come close to getting.”

“So him leaving is a big deal?”

She shrugged again. Who knew? He and George had been friendlier than she had ever seen them at the wedding. His father hadn’t acted like there was anything untoward about Alistair. So it was only his reaction to her question that had fear niggling the corners of her brain.

What was he hiding? He had admitted that he hadn’t told her everything, but he also promised to reveal it all soon.

Sera turned back to them and asked if Wes could stay. Though Poppy would have liked it to be just the three of them, she smiled her yes.

Liberty squeezed her leg under the table. “You don’t have to always be nice.”

But she did. That was how she operated.

Nineteen

Poppy walked quietly next to Ali as they headed back to her place. It felt more like a home than the apartment he rented on the outskirts of town. That place was as homey as his first-year room at boarding school. But Birch Lake was starting to feel like home, and he had Poppy and the tavern.

Small talk was needed, but his mind was blank, until he remembered Sera and Liberty showing up, and then Wes.

“What was going on with Sera and Wes?” he asked.

“Just couple stuff. You know how something small can feel huge,” she said, tipping her head back to look up at the sky. It was cooler in the evening than it had been during the day, and Poppy rubbed her hand over her arm.

“Yeah,” he said.

Right now, he wasn’t sure she wasn’t trying to give him some hints about talking about the past. Did she think it wasn’t a big deal? She’d change her mind in a moment, when she heard what he had to say.

“Want to talk in the park?” he asked.

“Why?”

“Just in case you don’t want me at your place after,” he said.

Stopping, she pulled him to her. “If you tell me that Lancaster-Spencer is a toxic workplace, and you had to ghost, I’ll get it.”

“It is toxic. Not for most workers, but for me,” he said.

“I get that. With your parents both working there and George in that office down the hall. I felt stifled there too. It was hard to get up and go into work,” she said.

“I’m sorry I never saw that,” he said.

She linked their fingers together. “We can talk wherever, but truly, unless you’ve done something that involves me and my family, I think I’ll be good with it.”

He could almost believe her. Until he remember the fear and revulsion on his own mother’s face when she saw the hole he’d punched in the wall.

They got to her house a few minutes later, then fed Pickle, who wouldn’t leave Ali alone until he scooped her up and cuddled her. He ended up seated at the end of the couch with the tiny dog sitting on his lap. Poppy curled her legs under her as she sat at the other end.

Watching him and waiting.

“After our divorce was finalized, something inside me sort of snapped,” he said. “I think I told you that, right?”

“Yes. Snapped in what way?”

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