Page 61 of Poppy Kisses
I pulled the potatoes out of the oven. Auggie hated baked potatoes and the texture, so when he was gone, I made them for myself. Poppy was in the bathroom taking a shower and cleaning the paint off herself. She’d been distant since I told her to start making the first move, but I couldn’t be that guy again, begging for his wife’s attention and getting turned away.
Didn’t mean I didn’t want Poppy with every breath I took. It did mean I was at her beck and call, should she choose to come calling, and that was an easier place to be. Supposedly.
I tugged at the collar of my shirt like it was slowly tightening around my neck and finished getting the rest of the meal ready.
“Smells delicious.” She came out of the bathroom, squeezing the ends of her hair with one of my blue towels. She wore my favorite leggings and an oversized black shirt. The sight of her being so domestic in my home never failed to clench all those knots in my chest. The instinctualI want thiscame right after. Now that we’d had sex, the sensation only got stronger.
“Auggie fails to see the potential in the toppings.” I gestured to the crispy chicken, bacon, shredded cheese, olives, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, sour cream, salsa, and I even added diced ham and sliced cucumbers to give her more options.
She studied the selections lined up on the island. “So the potatoes are a vehicle for a bacon salad?”
“Basically.”
“Auggie’s a smart kid. He’ll see it eventually.”
I went still. “It means a lot that you say that.”
“That he’s smart?” Surprise resonated in her voice.
“It’s something I never got. And when I talk to Mom, all she remembers are the teachers who treated her like crap and made her feel small.” In Coal Haven, many of them had been my teachers too.
“It’s nice to be in a time when we understand more.” She slid onto a stool and grabbed a plate. “And we can do something about it. Someday, I hope to be out of a job.”
“Yeah?”
“I know how expensive it is to get tutoring. Debbie’s had so many families have to drop out because they couldn’t afford it, and that’s with the cost offset by fundraising. One family who graduated out told me that she estimated spending forty grand on tutoring over the ten years she had kids in it.”
“Fuck me. I hadn’t calculated how much I’m in for already. He needs it. I’ll make it happen.” I enjoyed watching her pick through the selections and load up on the same things I would, except for the onions.
“Right? Debbie said they wiped out savings and racked up credit card debt. It shouldn’t be like that. Debbie asked me to help her with the next legislative session.”
“You should be mandatory in all the schools.”
“I don’t always get along with the administration.” She popped a piece of bacon in her mouth.
“Is that the real reason why you left Wyoming?”
She stiffened and her gaze darted around, but she kept chewing. “No, the timing was right.” The way she cut open her potato was stabbing it and ripping it apart. Was she hungry or pissed off? She sighed and put her knife down. “I argued too much.”
“Poppy, I don’t believe it.” When she playfully scowled at me, I chuckled. I wanted to keep the tone light, mostly to keep her talking. “I know you’re in the right without asking.”
“I dunno. I should’ve played ball more.”
I slid my plate next to hers and sat down. We could be closer than when we sat at the island. “Poppy, one hundred percent if you thought something was wrong, it was.”
“The caseload was too high. Over and over. So many kids needed help, but the school system would hire another administrator instead of another therapist. I tried to come up with ideas to help, but…they didn’t pan out.”
“Why?”
She gave me a tight smile. “No support. I got to be the scapegoat. Design a new schedule, they said. Because apparently, I knew better. Then, our load got worse, more therapists quit, and my coworkers blamed me. Anyway, that’s why I should be my own boss.”
She made it sound like that was her only choice. “You don’t want to be?”
She pivoted to face me. “Dad was coming from a good place, but he gently suggested that I gave up too early.”
“Harsh.” Poppy adored her dad. That had to be akin to being told she was a failure by a guy who’d held the same job for over half her life.
“But true.” She lifted a shoulder.
