Page 100 of Sunshine
I don’t bother sending a reply. What’s there to say? I’ve got a sinking feeling we’re about to find out my brother is one hundred percent right.
thirty
Poppy
Silver Leaf’s guest accommodationsaren’t too far from the reception house, a cozy row of cabins that back onto the property’s vineyards, but it’s dark now, and all I can see is the gently undulating shape of the Sonoma Valley horizon in the distance and the familiar star-studded sky overhead.
I stand in the watery porch light at the door to Cabin 14 and take a deep breath. I can do this. I can. I can meet the woman who gave Dylan a child and then all but disappeared from his life. I can withhold judgment and make a good impression. I can make it clear that Dylan is mine now. And I can tell her I love him and their little girl.
My breath puffs out from my inflated cheeks. I can fight for the family and the happily ever after that’s almost mine. I can defeat the scary ex-girlfriend. Easy.
My phone vibrates in my tote, and I pull it out to find a message from Dylan lighting up the screen.
Dylan
I’m stuck at the house for a little while longer. Wait for me.
I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed, but I heart his text anyway, drop my phone back into my bag, and quietly creep off the porch. I plan to loiter in the shadows until Dylan gets here when another light buzzes to life, this time on the porch at the rear of the cabin. I know Dylan told me to wait for him, but curiosity wins out over caution, and I sneak around the side of the white-clad building, trying hard to remain invisible.
Not hard enough, apparently.
“Hello? Is someone there?”
Shit.
“Uh, yes. Hi.” I step into the light, cursing under my breath when I roll my ankle over a rock in the semi-darkness, then squint up at the shape of a woman standing on the other side of the porch railing. “It’s just, uh… Just me. I was waiting for Dylan. And you—I think.”
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up! If you can’t say something at least semi-coherent, don’t say anything at all!
“Poppy?” she says. “Or Penelope, if you prefer?”
“Yes. That’s me. Poppy is fine.” I scurry around to the steps and hurry up to the porch, extending my hand before I’ve even lifted my head. “Nice to meet…”
Sweet baby Jesus. This woman is sexy in that way women were sexy in the era of black-and-white. She’s wearing pantyhose and patent leather heels, a cream-colored pencil skirt that skims her knees, and a black silk blouse that dips precariously low in front. Lips painted classic red. Long dark hair spilling to the small of her back. It’s the same coffee color as Izzy’s hair. Has the same soft curl to it as well. Izzy has her eyes too. Deep brown and intelligent.
I suddenly feel very…small.
She accepts my hand with a friendly enough smile and is polite enough to ignore the fact that my jaw is on the floor. “I’m Annalise. It’s nice to meet you too.” She raises her other hand to show off the glass of red balanced in her manicured fingers. “Would you like a glass of wine? The red is open, but there’s white as well.”
“No, thank you.”
She lifts one brow and purses her mouth as if to sayseriously?
“Okay,” I cave. “A glass of red sounds good. Thanks.”
She gestures to the outdoor armchairs off to one side of the back porch. “Take a seat. It won’t take long.”
I lower myself onto the far seat, perch on the edge with my tote at my feet, and accept the wine Annalise offers when she returns. She sits opposite me in her tight skirt and silk blouse that falls just right, kicks off her shoes, and tucks her bare feet up underneath her legs in a move that should make her look less composed, not more. But she does it with such class that I can’t help but admire her.
I cast a glance down at my best jeans, my cleanest boots, my most expensive sweater that probably only cost a fraction of Annalise’s pantyhose budget and feel like a kid with scraped knees and smudges on her cheeks.
What the hell does Dylan see in me when he’s spent the last eight years looking ather?
“So,” Annalise says. “Dylan tells me that the two of you are involved.”
Oh. So we’re just going to dive right in. Good. Great. Wonderful.
I set my untouched wine on the low table between us and turn to Annalise. “I love Dylan. And I love Izzy. I want to spend the rest of my life with them. I’ll do anything to make sure they’re happy. Anything.”
