Page 1 of Poppy's Place

Chapter 1

Poppy

There was a crowd of people by the pick-up counter when Cassie walked in. She came straight to me, throwing her arms around me and hanging from me, practically collapsing over me. “Please tell me you ordered for me, Pop. I need caffeine, stat.”

I hugged her back and smiled. “Yes, Cassie. Of course, I ordered for you. With this line, I wasn’t about to waste our quick visit by making you stand in line again.”

Just then, the barista screamed out my name and slid two coffees and two slices of banana bread across the counter.

“Ooh, that couple over there is leaving. I’ll grab the table if you grab the food.” Just as quickly as she arrived, Cassie took off to save our seats.

When I dropped into the chair across from her with a tray of our snacks and drinks, I felt as exhausted as she looked. “So why the urgency around our meeting today? Or did you just want to see my pearly whites?”

Cassie bit off a corner of her pastry and grinned. “You know how much I love your smile, but I need a favor.” She wrapped bothhands around her warm mug and held it to her face. “And I’ll owe you forever.”

That didn’t sound good. “What do you need this time, Cass?”

“Can you host the Little Lovelies tonight?” It was her turn to flash her pearly whites at me. “I know you had to do it last time, but my place is an absolute mess, and there’s no way I can get it ready for playgroup tonight.”

“Cassie…” I hated whining, but sometimes it couldn’t be stopped. “I have to move all my furniture and unpack the bins. What if I go help you get your apartment ready before anyone else arrives?”

“That’s really nice, but there’s no way I can make it work. I’ve been experimenting with some new candles, and I have supplies set up all over the place. I can’t just start moving everything around or it’ll be ruined.”

“Really?” I frowned, knowing that nothing would get ruined by moving it out of the way, but I understood her situation. Even though it was a pain, it was easiest for me to host because my living room and dining room combo were set up in a way that if I pushed everything to the walls, we had a pretty nice playspace.

“Pretty please with poppies on top?” She clasped her hands under her chin and begged with her eyes as convincingly as her mouth.

“Fine. I’ll do it again, but I’m not hosting for the next…five playdates.” I crossed my arms over my chest and felt my lower lip jut out, even though Cassie was completely immune to my sad face. The only time I could get away with anything was if I was at the club and one of the Dungeon Monitors, or Daycare Masters as we liked to call them, wanted me to put my toys awaybefore I was ready or if I needed someone to read us a story. “But we really need to find a better way to host playdates. Maybe we can rent a permanent room at the club so we don’t ever have to clean it up?”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Cassie finally relaxed and took a drink of her latte. “I knew you’d help. And yeah, wouldn’t that be awesome? A place where we could just show up anytime we wanted and have our toys out and ready to go.”

I sighed and took a drink too. “Someday I’ll buy a house with a basement that can be a special playroom just for the Little Lovelies.”

“And when you do, I promise to go over once a week and help clean it so it’s not all on you.”

“Thanks, Cass.” I broke off another piece of the banana bread and slid it into my mouth. Bean Box made the best banana bread. Even better than mine. “So, everyone will be there at six?”

She was chewing, so she held up her finger, asking me to wait. “Yeah. I’ll bring dinner so you don’t have to worry about that. Just get the play area ready, and leave the rest to me.”

I raised an eyebrow, trying to look stern but failing miserably when I giggled. “I want chicken strips, mac and cheese, and cookies.” I pursed my lips and thought about it. “Actually, not the cookies. I’ll ask Kylie if she can bring a cake. She was baking all weekend, so I’m sure she has something.”

“You’re the best, Poppy.” Cassie wadded up her crumb-filled napkin and stood up to leave. “I’ve got to get back to the store, but I’ll be there at five forty-five with dinner. If you need anything else, call me.”

I stood up and gave her a hug before she ran toward the door like a feather on the wind. Cassie was a whirlwind who never slowed down, and her apartment showed the aftermath of the tornado that was my best friend. “See you tonight. And drive carefully.”

Once she was gone, I quickly finished my pastry and the rest of my coffee before heading back to my car. It was parked right across the street, but I’d been in such a hurry when I parked that I didn’t pay attention to the For Sale sign on the building where I was parked.

But after the conversation I’d just had with Cassie, it was all I could see. Right there in the middle of Tiny Seeds Pre-K and Childcare Center was a big, red For Sale sign. I crossed the street and went to investigate.

The door was locked, and when I peeked in through the window, there was a mess of papers on the ground in front of the reception desk and a small chair was turned over. It seemed like the building had been abandoned.

Without hesitating, I dialed the number on the sign and held my breath. The money my parents gave me from my college fund had been burning a hole in my pocket since I graduated two years earlier. Partly because I didn’t know what to do with it, but also because I wanted to do something special with it. And as I read the sales listing and saw that the 2000-square-foot building had a large playroom with parent viewing center, a bathroom, a kitchenette, and a reception area on the first floor and a two-bedroom apartment right above it, it felt as special as special could be.

In fact, I didn’t bother leaving a message when I was sent to the agent’s voicemail. I just snapped a photo of the listing and drovetwo miles down the road to the broker’s office to talk to someone in person.

Since I was always the one in charge of providing a place space for my Little friends, buying the building was as much for my benefit as theirs. And not having to clean up our toys and stuffies after every playdate was just the cherry on the most special sundae of all.

Chapter 2

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