Page 67 of Spotlight on Poppy

"Of course, you can. We just haven't much lately."

The guilt hit him. He knew she didn't mean anything by it, but he needed to tell her he intended to move out soon before the house finally came onto the market.

"I know, I'm sorry about that. Tomorrow it's me and you."

"You got it," she said with a smile.

“Well, I’m heading out. Gotta make the drinks for the masses,” he said, preparing to leave.

“Have a good day.”

“See ya when I get home.” He stood to leave.

“Bye, thanks for lunch.”

He made his way to work thinking about everything. About his sister, about the house and of course about Poppy. Everything seemed too perfect, he didn’t want to jinx it.

It was quiet during his shift. Day shifts at Lucky’s were usually quiet. They would get some people in for lunch but there was a lot of down time between lunch and dinner. After dinner they stayed pretty busy, and it became the bar part of the bar and grill. Halfway through Josh's shift he got a text.

Mitch Alsup -Give me a call when you can.

He thought it might be about the house, so he got someone to cover the bar and stepped outside.

"Josh, hey, I got some bad news about the house."

His heart sank. They needed that house. Both him and Poppy felt so connected to it.

"What's up?" he asked.

"It looks like the owner has been working with another buyer. It is a company that turns old houses into Airbnb’s. They approached them with an offer, and it looks like they might take it before it even goes to market."

"Is there anything we can do? I really want that house. Can I match the offer?" Josh asked.

"I mean maybe, I'm not sure what that number is but I will try to find out. But I thought you might be able to write a letter. I know the kids haven't lived in Mystic Falls for decades, but you might be able to appeal to their sentimental side and make some headway there."

"Yeah, I can definitely do that," said Josh.

"Okay, I will find out more about the offer and be in touch though," he said, hanging up the call.

Josh slipped his phone back into his pocket and made his way back inside. The thought that he might lose the house weighed on him. Poppy would be devastated to lose it. Hell, he would be devastated to lose it. That house meant so much to him. It meant so much to the whole town. Someone who loved the town as much as he did, who would work hard to bring back some of the town traditions around the house should live there. But if there was anyone who could write a letter about their love for this town and what that house could mean to this town again, it was him. This town had saved him more than once and returning that house to its prominent place in the community would be one of the greatest achievements in his life and doing it with Poppy by his side was beyond his wildest dreams. He could do this. He could convince the owners to let him buy the house.

The smellof coffee wafted in as he sat up and stretched. He woke groggy, as he often did after working a shift at Lucky’s. But with added stress of possibly losing the Whitney house, he was tossing and turning and worrying all night. If he could not get this house would Poppy still want him? She had said she had all these visions in the house, and it seemed to be a big part of why she decided to stay here with him. With the house being gone, would he be enough to make her want to stay here? That thought turned his stomach. He pushed it away and put a smile on his face. Today was about spending time with Lexi. He made his way downstairs to start their day.

"Hey little brother, are we still on for today?" asked Lexi.

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he poured himself some coffee. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. What do you want to do?" He smiled at her and drank his coffee.

"What's wrong?" Her eyes narrowed and raked over him. Of course, she would be able to sense something was off. She knew him so well and was pretty intuitive when it came to this kind of thing.

"Nothing, it was just a late night at the bar. I'm gonna hop in the shower." He set his coffee down and turned and headed to the bathroom. "Then we will eat this amazing breakfast and make some plans for the day."

He went to the bathroom and tried to pull himself together. If he was going to spend the whole day with Lexi, he would need to get sorted. He also needed to tell her that he was planning on moving, but he didn't want to do that first thing.

After they ate breakfast, they decided to go take a walk around town and get some junk food for an old fashion junk food movie night. It was an old tradition their mom had started. She would buy all the junk food they never kept in the house, set it all up in the living room and watch movies all night.

They had a nice walk around town. As they turned the block with Bridget's store, Josh wanted to go in. He wasn't sure why, his sister wasn't into any of that stuff, and he wasn't sure he believed in all of it, but if she had anything to do with Poppy and him finally getting together, it couldn’t be all bad.

"Have you been in here yet?" he asked motioning over to the store front.

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