Page 34 of Gifted

Chapter Eighteen

~ Poppy ~

I fiddled with the ring on my finger, thinking of the man who’d put it there last month. A man I missed with everything in me.

The last weeks had been hell, but it was over now. Soon, we’d be together again.

After the call with Rutgers, we’d had a big fight because Noah refused to be parted from me for all that time. And I refused to let him deep six his life and in turn, destroy our life together. What was a month in the scheme of years?

The fight had led to angry sex…then not-so-angry sex. In fact, he’d barely been out of me until we caught the train to London.

As planned, we’d gone to Colorado, and I’d met his family. I loved them! And they seemed to like me, too. In fact, over the past month, I’d spoken to Noah’s mother, Kelly, almost as much as I had him. As soon as she’d found out my orphaned situation, she’d stepped in to mother me, too.

That’s not to say they hadn’t all been scandalized by the circumstances of Noah and me knowing each other. When Noah had told them, everyone had stared at us in aghast silence until Noah’s dad, Noel, had poured himself a hefty slug of bourbon and lifted it in a toast of sorts.

“Well, whatever brings you home to us, kid,” he had said to his son.

“I love her,” Noah had said, his arms tight around my waist.

“I am over eighteen,” I’d assured Noel, although I wasn’t sure that was assurance at all when he took a big swallow from his cut crystal glass. “And I love him just as much.” I looked up at Noah. “Though, maybe you could have told me first,” I whispered.

“Didn’t I?”

I’d made a mean face at him, that had led to a discussion about how we were just like Noel and Kelly. Though our circumstances were far different. They were close to the same age and had met in college. Those few moments of revealing the truth had been the only low point of the wonderful trip.

Now, on this bright January afternoon a month later, my phone rang while I parked my car. I pulled the cell out of the cup holder to answer it.

“Hey, Daddy.” I grinned because I always answered like that, and as usual, he groaned.

“When I get my hands on you, I’m going to spank that ass for all the teasing you’ve done the last month. I can’t believe you’re making me wait another week for you to get here.”

I stared up at the building housing Kessler Logistics, the multi-million dollar trucking company Noah’s family owned. My stomach flipped over, possibly from more than nerves. I was about to lie to him about still being in Connecticut.

“Well, you know, my mansion is a little larger than the apartment you had. It takes a while to pack up things and get rid of whatever I don’t want.”

“I’ll come help—”

“You can’t!” I interrupted. “You know what he said.”

“Yeah…” Noah huffed a sigh that was all-too-familiar to me. He was frustrated. “You got your diploma alright?”

“Yep. Rutgers called me to his office and gave it to me himself with words to the effect of don’t darken our doorstep again—but a sugar-coated version.”

“Asshole.”

“Yeah, but it’s over.”

Noah didn’t say anything, and I knew he was seething. He’d shared some stories about the other man, and I understood the deep animosity between them.

“I love you,” I offered.

“I know. I love you, too, little lamb. I miss you so fucking much. I’m empty without you. I hate having my hands tied like this. I should be with you.”

“Soon.”

“No soon enough.”

Sooner than you think.

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