Page 13 of Spotlight on Poppy

Poppy

Poppy made it through her workday. Her gran either hadn’t noticed, but most likely was just ignoring the fact that she magically showed up at the register in the same clothes she left in yesterday. But Poppy just put her head down and made it through her shift, but her mind was everywhere.

She wanted to text Damien and tell him how amazing last night was, but she didn't actually get his phone number. While things were a bit strained this morning, and she was a bit put off by the way he was treating her, everything had been great at rehearsal and even at the bar. But once they got to the inn, it had just felt like a hook-up. It wasn’t the soul shaking love she was hoping for, but they could grow. She just needed to trust the process.

Then there was the whole Josh thing. And if she was honest with herself, this was bothering her way more than the Damien thing. His face and demeanor in the car had been playing in her head over and over today. She needed to make him feel better. Something on a cellular level in her felt wrong when he was upset. That was new, and she had no idea what to do about that.

She had been trying to get back to the kitchen all day. On slow days she went back to the kitchen at the orchard and baked. That was her happy place. When she couldn't get her head on straight, she could always go back there and make something and feel better. She knew Josh loved the cinnamon muffins from the diner in town. She decided she would make him some apple cinnamon muffins to take to rehearsal tonight. They had been slammed all day. She did manage to get the apple diced and mix up the batter between customers. Then she finally got them in the oven as she finished up her shift.

She popped her head in her dad's office.

"Hey Dad, I am going to go get ready for rehearsal, but I just put some muffins in the oven to take to rehearsal tonight. Can you take them out when the timer goes off?"

He looked up at her from his desk, which was covered with messy stacks of paper. He handled most of the business side of things at the orchard. He had been an accountant when he and Poppy’s mom got married and he put those skills to work here keeping the books and managing accounts and orders.

"Sure thing, Pumpkin. How's the show coming? I heard at the diner this morning something about a Broadway star here in Mystic Falls," he said.

"You heard right. Damien St. Cloud.” Poppy beamed at him. “He’s here to be the music director until Ms. Maple gets back."

"I bet you’re excited about that,” he said with a knowing smile.

"He's really talented.” She took one of the tootsie rolls from the bowl on his desk and unwrapped it. There was always a bowl of tootsie rolls on his desk. While she didn’t particularly like tootsie rolls, she could never pass up the nostalgia they gave her of visiting this office when it was her grandfather’s. “He’s really going to help our show."

"That's good, Pumpkin. I gotta get back to these numbers. Sam has some orders coming in and I have to do some payroll."

"Okay daddy, just don't forget about the muffins,” she said and popped the tootsie roll in her mouth.

"You got it, Pumpkin."

Poppy headed to the house that was just across the yard from the store and nestled back between two big maple trees. After taking a shower and getting cleaned up she headed into the kitchen to get the muffins she made for Josh ready to take to rehearsal. She loaded them up into a basket and headed out the door.

Poppy made her way into rehearsal with minutes to spare. She had been scattered all day. It always seemed like when her day started with running late, she ran late all day.

They hadn't started rehearsal yet, and she was happy about that. She wanted to give Josh the muffins she brought. She walked in and looked up on the stage.

The set was really coming together. When they left last night there were some unfinished platforms, but now the walls were up and with a little paint it would start to look like the rundown florist shop it would be. Then she spotted Josh. He was up on stage screwing in the last panel. The way his muscles flexed and his bicep strained against his black t-shirt kept pulling her gaze. He set down the drill and picked up his phone as Poppy walked up behind him.

“Hey Josh, just the man I was looking for!” she said with a smile.

He was startled and fumbled his phone until it landed with a thud on the stage. Bending to pick it up he turned to look at her with a look on his face she couldn’t quite read.

"I hope you have a good case for that thing, you seem to drop it a lot," she said with a smile. He just looked at her. “The set is looking great! Did you do all this today?”

Wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, he nodded.

"Right, well I made these for you." She handed him the basket of muffins.

"You made these for me?" he asked.

"Yeah, you seemed upset this morning, and Josh Turner should never be upset. I noticed you like the cinnamon muffins from the diner, so I baked you some apple cinnamon muffins."

"You did?" he said. He looked up at her and smiled. Something inside Poppy's soul clicked into place when he smiled up at her. She would do anything to make him smile. She wasn't sure where that feeling came from, but it sure was there.

That little bubble of a moment popped when Damien came in. She hadn't even noticed him until he was putting his arm around her and taking a muffin from the basket.

"Aww, Poppy brought muffins, guys,” he called to the rest of the cast. “Come and get them before we start the run through.”

They all made their way over to Josh's muffins to help themselves. Poppy wanted to stop them, but she wasn't quite sure what to say. After the cast had cleared out, she looked down at the basket that now only had three muffins.

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