Page 105 of Choosing Forever
Her eyes dig into my face as I wave the bartender down again. “That’s not what I meant. Of course you are. But together! I’m talking together, Della. It’s magic. Fireworks and rainbows.”
“You’re drunk,” I tell her, fully aware that I am too.
My ass feels glued to the bar stool when I lean away from her and drop my elbows to the table. I’m off-balance, but yeah . . . this position is good. Great.
“I’m not just saying it because I’m drunk and Darren’s my brother. He’s a douche-face sometimes, but he’s one of the good ones. He’s missed you.”
“You don’t need to talk him up. I know how great he is. I know it too well.”
“He loves you.”
I tuck my chin into my chest and shake my head before immediately looking up as the world tips. “He used to love me.”
The bartender, a dude named Matty who’s lending his services from a bar called the Frosty Mug in a town a couple of hours away, slides two shots and a big ol’ glass of water across to me before slipping away.
I frown at the water and take the shots. Poppy takes hers from me and sniffs the vodka.
“Is he putting all of these drinks on Garrison’s tab?” I ask.
“Of course,” she answers, making it sound obvious. “The only time my man ever looks at his credit card statement is to see if I’ve spent anything.”
“He doesn’t want you to?”
Her laugh is loud and wild. “No, babe. He likes me spending his money a bit more thanIlike spending it.”
“Oh.”
“It sounds backwards, right?”
“I just feel like I don’t know him at all. Isn’t that wrong? I should have sat him down and grilled him about you at the beginning.”
“He’d have pissed you off for sure,” she says after taking her shot.
I take mine and tap the empty glass against the bar. The alcohol slides down the hatch like water.
“I heard about him when he got to town and knew that you’d be the only one with the nerve to work his shit out and bring out the good in him.”
“And work I did!” she cheers, her head falling back and shaking wildly.
Her hair whips back and forth across her back as she shuts her eyes and taps a beat on the bar. The pink tint to her skin isn’t just from the warmth in here. It’s a show of her happiness. The kind that goes bone-deep.
I wrap an arm around her body and pull her into me, keeping her locked there. “You’re my favourite person in the world.”
“Second favourite, but I’ll take it, baby cakes.” Poppy returns the hug and presses a wet kiss to my cheek. “I love you too.”
“I want to love him again,” I announce, the vodka cracking open both my head and my heart.
Poppy stiffens in surprise before relaxing again. “Do you think you ever stopped?”
“Maybe or maybe not. I’m not sure. I can’t be sure right now. Not without having . . .more.”
“Ask him for that, Della. Make him give you more and more and fucking more until you have what you need! How else are you supposed to figure things out?” she asks, slurring heavily.
I can hear the drinks making my words sloppy when I say, “He should have married me.”
“He should have.”
“And you should have been an aunt to my baby, not Sasha’s. She never deserved him.”
