Page 78 of Special Delivery
‘Not your fault,’ muttered Poppy, suddenly furious with herself. She scrambled to put her dress back on properly. ‘I’d better run.’
‘Blame it on me,’ said James, picking up his shirt and shaking off the dust.
‘Thanks, but I might pretend I was knocked unconscious by a horse or something.’
‘Hey,’ said James, catching her hand before she could run off. He planted a strong kiss on her lips. ‘I meant what I said. Fuck being friends.’
Poppy turned towards the door. ‘We’ll chat later,’ she called. She hitched up her dress and began jogging away as quickly as her chunky heels would allow.
CHAPTER 34
The vibe on the bus was raucous and messy. Complete strangers were dancing with each other in the aisle, men were loosening their ties and women were shoving their heels in handbags and swapping to flats. One bloke was trying to crowd-surf.
Poppy’s brain was trying to block the memory of James’s hand sliding up her thigh. He was nowhere to be seen and yet he was all over her. The smell of his aftershave was on her neck. She could feel the lightning sizzle of his hands up her back. She was terrified Dani would ask a question and she’d blurt out something embarrassingly incomprehensible likeJames! Thrusting! Horses!Fortunately, Dani had hardly noticed Poppy was missing as it seemed the queue for the portaloos had wasted as much time as it took to get half-undressed in a stable. April, meanwhile, had been misplaced. She’d texted Poppy a burger emoji to confirm she was alive.
Poppy tried to focus her attention on hmm-ing in the right spots as Dani ranted about why Fashions on the Field was actually a joke (case in point: men in trilby hats always won but everyone knew guys who wore trilbies in real life were creeps and sociopaths). By the time the bus rolled into downtown Orange, Poppy felt only mildly less flustered. Dani, however, shrieked in alarm. ‘Pops!’ she cried, peering through the window of the Royal Hotel. ‘Where is the dancefloor?!’
Dani looked so bereft that Poppy laughed. ‘There, I think.’ She pointed to a wooden floor currently covered with aluminium tables and some sexagenarian diners who’d not bargained on a busload of boozed racegoers interrupting their Saturday schnitzel.
‘Oh man!’ groaned Dani. ‘My dancing feet are ready now!’
Poppy checked her watch. ‘Relax, my dear. They pack away the tables at seven. We’ve got thirty minutes. We could order a quick pizza while we wait?’
‘Yes!’ Dani cheered, consoled. ‘Hawaiian!’
The two women filed off the bus and snaked through the crowd to the bar, where they ordered a large Hawaiian pizza and two bottles of water. While they sat at one of the aluminium tables, a queue of racegoers began forming outside as the bouncers took a leisurely approach to ID-checking.
‘How come they didn’t check our IDs?’ fumed Dani, watching a group of women pull their licences out of their purses. ‘We don’t look older than them, do we?’
The women at the door wore puff-sleeved midi dresses and minis with thigh-high boots. From this distance, Poppy couldn’t tell if they too were scarred by motherhood’sdeath-defying weariness. She had to admit, the thought of going home to sit on the couch and drink tea was crystallising in her mind as a very appealing option. Maybe after the pizza. No wonder the bouncers hadn’t checked her ID; she probably gave off the aura of a seventy-year-old.
‘Ooh, man alert, man alert!’ announced Dani.
Poppy followed her gaze to see a head towering above the queue outside. ‘The king of the jungle returns to find his prey,’ she intoned in a David Attenborough voice. ‘He scans the horizon, hoping to find her lurking on the crowded savannah.’
‘I’m not his prey, Dan. I told you: we decided we’re friends.’ Technically true, if you discounted the events of the past hour.
‘Please,’ scoffed Dani. ‘He couldn’t take his eyes off you. And the way he kept finding ways to touch you, it was like he was marking his territory. I’m surprised he didn’t pee on your leg.’
‘Yuck, Dan.’ Poppy shoved a giant piece of pizza in her mouth. ‘How good is this Hawaiian?’
‘Don’t change the subject. I’m trying to do my best friend duty by reminding you to be careful—even if he does seem like your perfect man.’
Poppy spluttered on her pizza. ‘What do you mean my perfect man?!’
‘He has the looks of Patrick and the banter of Henry without the awkward history. I can see how it’s an appealing combo.’
Poppy’s windpipe suddenly felt airless and scratchy. ‘No, no, no, Dan. I mean, yes, he’s fun, and there’s definitely some level of animal attraction there that I can’t shake, but he is one hundred per centnotmy perfect man. He legitimately drivesme crazy sometimes. He brings out my inner velociraptor or something.’
Dani smiled. ‘Well, my dear, after nine years of watching you in submissive girlfriend mode, it’s refreshing to see this side of you.’
‘But it’s not real, Dan. The way I act around him, it’s not me.’
Dani bit her lip thoughtfully. ‘Maybe it is. Maybe he doesn’t bring out your inner velociraptor, maybe it’s just—you. Maybe you spent so long in Patrick’s shadow, you’ve forgotten.’
Poppy stared at her friend wordlessly, the gears in her brain starting to turn. Was James really her perfect man? She’d been so blinded by lust she hadn’t considered whether this could be anything serious. She gulped down some water, relishing the coldness sliding down her throat. She shook her head. This was a stupid hypothetical. It couldn’t be anything serious, because she didn’t have the time or capacity or brain space.
‘I saw Henry before,’ said Dani.
