Page 43 of When You Had Me Adapting

Poppy: You sure?

Jace: Positive.

Poppy: Okay, good. I missed you.

Jace: I missed you too.

The warm water surrounds me, relaxing my sore muscles from my morning run. I ran longer than I usually do, but I needed to clear my head and process yesterday.

Funny how sometimes things work out exactly how they’re supposed to. If Eli had been on time, who knows how my conversation with Lacey would have gone.

I turn off the shower and wrap myself in a towel. A knock on the front door echoes through the apartment. “Can you get the door, T?” I yell through my bathroom door.

“Got it,” he yells back.

I throw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and walk out to see who it is. Logan is sitting on the couch talking to Tanner and drinking coffee.

“Hey, man. I didn’t know you were coming over this morning,” I say, looking down at my phone to check the time. It’s nine thirty.

“Figured I should come and apologize for being a shit friend the past couple of weeks,” Logan says, taking a sip from his cup.

“I’m gonna go jump in the shower and let y’all talk,” Tanner says. He stands and walks into his room, closing his door behind him.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I say, walking into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee.

“Yes I did,” he says. I walk back into the living room and sit across from him.

“Look, man. After the party, Poppy told me what happened. When I heard you had cheated, it pissed me off and reminded me of my dad. All I could see was my mom when Poppy was telling me about Lacey. It wasn’t fair for me to project my own shit on you.”

“It wasn’t, but I get it. Your dad’s a piece of shit and you thought I did the exact same thing he did.”

“Yeah, but I should’ve known better. At the graduation party, you said she broke your heart, and then you denied it when she accused you of it. I should’ve believed you. I let my emotions get the best of me, and I’m sorry.”

“I’m not going to lie, you surprised me. I know you love Poppy, but I think of you like my brother.”

“I know. It was really fucked up. Poppy and I are still so new. I went into protective mode, I guess, because I want to make her happy. She and I both feel awful.”

I rub my hand down my face and take a long sip from my mug. “I get it. You love her.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m happy y’all found one another.” I offer him a smile.

“Does that mean we’re cool?” he asks.

“Yeah, we’re cool,” I say. “Honestly, I should probably thank you for falling in love with Poppy. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have them back in my life.”

“They both mean a lot to you, don’t they?”

“Yeah. I mean you were at dinner with me and Poppy the other night. She was like my sister and Lacey is the only girl I’ve ever loved.”

He nods. “Why did you never mention them to me before? I mean I’ve known you for a long time.”

“It’s never really been my style to talk about this sorta thing. Plus it was so long ago, it never came up. The only reason Tanner knew I had an ex named Lacey was because I mentioned her once when we were talking about my mom.”

Tanner walks out of his room. “Did y’all kiss and make up?” he asks, chuckling.

“Yeah,” I say. “We’re cool.”

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