Page 38 of Spotlight on Poppy

Josh: Be right over.

Poppy smiled at her phone. What on earth was her problem? What kind of spell had Josh put on her? Ok, well... maybe she was the one who put a spell on them, but whatever it was it sure felt right.

The family started making their way back for dinner. Jackson was the first one and he started setting the table. Poppy was glad Jackson was here. Since he and Sam got married last year, they weren't around every night, and Poppy missed them. They were still close, but they hadn't gotten together for a family dinner in a couple weeks.

"Hey, add one more place to the table," Poppy said.

"Okay, who's coming?" Jackson asked.

She didn't really want to tell him, because when Jackson got his mind on this, he would be relentless. There would be so many questions. Are you dating? Is it serious? Is he good in bed? Where is this going? And she didn't really have the answers to any of those questions. Why did she think it was a good idea to invite him over for dinner? Oh, right because she missed him. She hadn't seen him today and wanted to see him. This is not something she was used to. She cringed at the thought, but maybe she and Josh needed to have a conversation and figure out just what was going on. She was nervous because she was still unsure where her place was. Josh deserved certainty, but she didn’t have that for herself right now.

"Josh," she said as she got the cornbread out of the oven. She hoped if she was holding something hot, he wouldn't be a pest about it. He was oddly silent as she set the pan on the stove next to the giant soup pot of chili. She turned to see Jackson appraising her with his hands crossed over his chest and his eyebrow cocked.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm not saying anything."

"Good."

Over the next couple minutes her dad and gran came in. The room was filled with chatter and laughter and all the warm fuzzies. Sam came in and headed into the bathroom to clean up. There was a soft knock and Poppy went to open the door. She had not expected everyone to be here. Usually, it was tricky this time of year to get them all together, but somehow, they managed it tonight, and Josh was about to be thrown into the middle.

Poppy went to open the door, but instead of opening it and inviting him in, she opened it and then slid out, shutting the door behind her.

"Hi," she said barely above a whisper with an out of character bashful smile.

"Hey, what's going on Poppy?" he asked. Amusement creased his forehead and he chuckled.

"So, when I invited you over, I was not planning on the whole family being here for dinner, and I just wanted to let you know they are all in there."

"I have met your family before," he said with a reassuring smile.

"I know, but that was before we were doing what we have been doing and I just wanted to tell you before you got in there."

"I think it’ll be okay, unless you told them I made you scream with pleasure in the woods --"

Her hand flew to his mouth covering the words. "Oh my god! Will you stop?" She slowly removed her hand from his mouth.

"Let's go eat dinner, Poppy," he said. The warm smile on his face settled the nerves that had been bubbling up.

When she opened the door, they were already sitting down at the table with steaming bowls in front of them chatting about the day.

"Josh, hello dear, I'm so glad you’re here. Grab a drink from the fridge and come join us," said Gran.

They got their drinks and sat down to eat. Sam and her dad talked about the orchard, Jackson talked about work, and Gran asked Josh how his sister was doing. It was nice, something about this seemed easy.

"I wanted to tell you what an amazing job you did in the play," Gran told Josh. "I enjoyed watching you and Poppy up there."

"That is very kind of you," he said with a simple charm. "It's pretty easy when you've got such a spectacular leading lady." Under the table he put his hand on Poppy's knee. Her thin legging did nothing to block out the heat of the touch. His fingers gently rubbed her leg, and it made her think about yesterday.

"Are you blushing?" Sam asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you blush before."

"Shut up, I'm not blushing," Poppy said, wishing she could disappear inside her bowl of chili.

Sam gave her an expression only a sister could read. It was an expression that said, ‘You are full of shit. What is going on with him?' And her expression answered back,‘Not now. Please be cool, for the love of god.'

When they finished eating, Sam left to finish up some work before he was done for the day, and Jackson left with him. Her dad and Gran got up to start cleaning up dinner.

"Please let me help," Josh said, as he got up and took his bowl to the sink.

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