Page 4 of Poppy Kisses
“So three of your siblings have moved to Coal Haven and you’re next?” he asked.
The timer on my phone blared and I jumped. I tapped it off. “Sorry, Jensen. I have another session.”
“We need to catch up.”
Fear climbed into my throat, choking out theyes!He might be divorced, but he could still be hung up on her. It’d been hard enough to hear the comparisons when I hadn’t thought he was an Adonis.
“I’ll be around,” I said noncommittally. “I’d better get going. Nice to talk to you!”
I clicked out of that session and grimaced. Could I have sounded more insincere? It had been nice to see him. Was I curious to know more? Yes, but also, I’d had enough of people like Hassie Heart. Wait, or did she go by her married name? Hassie Hollis?
Jensen might be tight-lipped around his son, but I had no wish to learn he hadn’t changed in the last twenty years. The way he’d been smitten, I didn’t have to hear the story to know the divorce hadn’t been his idea. He’d have gone to hell and back eight times and asked her if she’d needed anything on his next trip.
Someday, I’d find a man like that. But it wasn’t Jensen Hollis.
* * *
Jensen
I stared at the “session ended by host” flag in front of me. Poppy Duke.
A fondness welled up inside my chest. Poppy had been part of the “Sporty Spice” crowd, as one teacher had called us. A group of us who’d played together at recess. We’d eaten lunch together, and sometimes we’d hung out. Hassie had competed in horses, Poppy had been big into soccer, and I had played football and ran track.
Auggie plopped into his chair at the table with his bagel in front of him. I didn’t have to look behind me to know that two cupboards and a drawer were probably left open. “Was Poppy nice?”
“She was real cool.” Memories surfaced, and I stared at the screen, seeing her face where there was only Auggie’s background of Hassie curving around a barrel on one of her horses, Gone Girl. “She made me laugh, and she didn’t put up with my shi—you know.”
Auggie gave me the same dubious look his mom would shoot me when I would suggest a date night that didn’t include buckles, bronc riders, or barrels.
“She’s a soccer player,” I said. Did Poppy still play? Her light-brunette hair had been pulled back, but those big hazel eyes were the same. It was how I’d recognized her beyond her name. Her freckles, too, but those eyes always told me how she was feeling. They flashed fire when she was pissed, turned cold when her stubbornness kicked in, and sparkled like a lake on a gorgeous summer day when she was happy. Today, she’d been guarded. Her enthusiasm hadn’t matched mine. I’d been fucking thrilled to see a friendly face again.
“Cool,” Auggie said. “I like soccer.”
He was obsessed about it. When I was trying to relax at night, he was doing drills with the soccer ball in the living room. The toe taps and penguin warm-ups I’d taught him had come from Poppy. “Yeah. You ready for school?”
“I haven’t finished eating!”
“I know, but is everything else ready?”
“My backpack’s not.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You’re supposed to do that before bed.”
“You told me to shower.” His bagel was abandoned. “I fed Luna.”
He loved our black Lab, so I didn’t worry about feeding her.
“Eat, or we’re going to be late.” I had to give up on the bus. He—we—were perpetually late, and I had to drive him most days. This way, I didn’t have ashame on youcall from the driver or the school. The chidings were valid, but it had sucked. Especially if it’d been done by email and my replies had been littered with typos.
Auggie pouted, but he dug into his bagel. I kept an eye on the time. We had fifteen minutes. The drive to town took eight. Another two in the drop-off line while he gathered everything. I didn’t want to add up getting in and out of the car and what Auggie would inevitably need to run back into the house for before we’d even left.
I inhaled a steadying breath. If I rushed him, it’d only delay us more. I opened my email app.
A reply from an estimate I’d sent a couple days ago waited for me.
Thank you for the information. We’re going to have to pass.
Damn. My cabinet business was like a goose with a busted wing, flopping around on the ground and not really taking off. I’d had a good feeling about this couple. They’d bought a house built in the seventies and had contacted me for a refacing. Easy enough and I had a good portfolio. Five years’ worth, but my independent work outside of contractors was spotty. At least I could make my own hours, and with Auggie, I needed the timing down.
