Page 78 of Choosing Forever
“Can I make one more? Please? Delaney isn’t done hers yet!”
Poppy nudges my foot beneath the table before replying, “Alright, but you have to play dumb when Bryce gets back, and don’t tattle on me.”
“Okay, deal.”
I blow out a low laugh and fidget with the unfinished bracelet lined up in front of me. The right side is complete, but there’s empty thread where the charms and letters should be. I’m stalling in a very obvious way.
“Do you want me to give you some ideas?” Poppy offers, examining the rows of white letters and numbers in front of me that I’ve rearranged a thousand times.
“No. I’ve got it. Just stop watching me while I work.”
“While you work? You’re suddenly so serious about this, Della. I never took you for a professional bracelet maker.”
Abbie giggles while expertly tying the beginning knot on hernext bracelet.
I dig the toe of my boots into Poppy’s ankle. “Careful, or I’ll start using bracelets as my way of blowing off steam. You’ll get one in your mailbox with a dirty cuss on it.”
“Did you know the way to my heart all this time?” she asks on a gasp.
“At least now I know how Garrison did it.”
Of course, Abbie uses now to start paying close attention to what we’re saying. Her second giggle is even louder than the first.
“Uncle Garry made you a bracelet with swear words on it?”
“No! He didn’t. Delaney is just teasing. Go back to your bracelet. You better finish before Bryce gets back and snatches it away,” Poppy rushes out with her narrowed eyes on me.
I smirk while pinching a bead and sliding it onto the string without overthinking it. The bracelet isn’t for me, which could be the problem. Making one for Abbie would have been easy. Poppy too.
But no. Of course, I chose the most complicated person to make one for. Darren will understand the odd array of beads and what they mean. I can only hope now that he’ll see it as what it is: an offer of friendship.
Working quickly, I listen for Bryce to return. Poppy, I can risk seeing the completed bracelet, but Bryce? Not a chance.
She might not be Darren’s sister by blood, but she’s the one he’s chosen. Poppy’s been my friend as much as she has her brother’s, and that keeps her tugged in the middle of us more often than not. Bryce is my friend in a loose sense of the word. We’re brought together by shared relationships and this town itself. If we’d met in any other circumstances, we wouldn’t get along.
That’s never been a problem between us, really. I like her, and she likes me—I think. It’s just never going to get deeper than that, and because of our lack of a deep relationship, her loyalty is to Darren. She might play everything off as the teasing friend, but she has his interests at heart always when it comes to the twoof us. I appreciate that as much as it makes me constantly second-guess myself around her.
Her real feelings about what Darren’s doing are unknown to me. She could approve, or she could hate everything about it. I probably won’t ever know which one it is. All I can do is try to keep my feelings close to my chest instead of on my sleeve when she’s around.
That includes hiding the stupid beads I’ve strung onto this bracelet.
“Okay, I’m done,” I announce a minute later.
The knot I’ve tied in the elastic is pathetic, but I hide it well as I slip it into the pocket of my jeans.
Abbie glances up from her eighth bracelet and crinkles her face in thought. “Can I see? It looked pretty.”
“How about I show you these ones instead?” I ask, lifting my heavy wrist and waving it around.
“I already saw those ones.”
I gulp. “The one I just did was bad. Really, really bad. I’m afraid it’s so bad that nobody can see it but me. Mm, maybe the next time we make bracelets. If you want to do them with me again. Or we can. Either-or,” I ramble, face flushing.
Poppy, apparently having more than enough sympathy for me, jumps in to help. “How about we let it go, Abs? Remember, we’re all about respecting boundaries this year. It’s what we agreed on when the fireworks went off on New Year’s Eve.”
“But I want to see it,” Abbie argues.
Glancing around, Poppy snaps her fingers and grins, relieved. “Oh, would you look at that. Bryce is back.”
