Page 41 of Slow Kind of Love

Chapter Fourteen

Link and Elise settled into a routine of sorts. They spent their days busy with their differing responsibilities, Link with the soccer programs and clinics he’d agreed to organize and run, and Elise with her volunteer work, household duties, and the odd shift she covered at Poppy’s boutique. They usually touched base by late afternoon and made dinner plans, then depending on where those dinner plans were, in town or on the lake, the closest bed is the one they fell into.

It had been a busy month and today found Link staring at the calendar, wondering where in hell March had gone to. In forty-eight hours they’d be sitting down to dinner at the Mayor’s Gala and the list of things to do was still a mile long.

His tux had arrived this morning, though he was disappointed the other package, the one from England hadn’t come yet. He almost picked up the phone to call his father and make sure he’d done what he said he’d do, but thought better of it. He didn’t have the time or stomach to fight, and with the time difference his father was mostly likely asleep anyway. If it wasn’t here by the morning he’d spend a small fortune to make sure it arrived the next.

He left the complex, having run his first clinic with the coaches he’d hired, and his only thought was to head home where Elise was waiting with fresh sushi, and then spend the night making love to the only woman on his mind these days.

But then Poppy.

He’d just hopped into his truck and drove out of the parking lot when his cell rang.

“Link? Can you come by the house?” She sounded panicked and he slammed on the brakes and glanced in the rear view mirror because there were vehicles behind him.

“What happened?” His mind immediately went in about four different directions and none of them good. “Is Elise okay?”

“Elise is fine. This is about me. I need you to come here right now.”

He frowned and pulled over to the side to let three vehicles by. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here.”

“You don’t sound right.”

“I don’t feel right.” She swore, which was not like Poppy. “Before you come can you swing by O’Neal’s Deli and get me a pound of corned beef?”

“Seriously?” Was his mate going nuts? “You want some cabbage to go with that?”

“Gross. No. But grab a mint chocolate bar, the ones in the green wrapper not the yellow. They have a rack of them by the cash register. Wait, no get me two. At least two.”

She hung up before he could reply and being the good friend that he was, Link drove by the deli, bought her two pounds of corned beef, a loaf of rye bread, and five chocolate bars. He sent Elise a quick text to let her know he’d be a bit late and then continued to Poppy’s home.

Poppy and Boone lived not too far from Link, in a sprawling mansion on the water. It was the kind of place an ex-NFL quarterback owned, and truthfully when Link had first moved to Crystal Lake he’d talked to a local agent about purchasing it after finding out it was empty most of the time. But the owner who turned out to be Boone, wasn’t interested and he’d rented the stone cottage from the Edwards family. He’d eventually bought it and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

Other than Grove Manor.

That thought slid into his mind, all sneaky like, and he frowned as he hopped out of his truck and jogged up the steps to the front door, package from O’Neal’s Deli secure under his arm. He knew Boone was still at the complex, had seen his parked truck when he left, and no one greeted him when he strode into the house.

He took off his boots, tossed his jacket on the bench by the door and grabbed the bag on his way to the back of the house where he assumed Poppy was. At first he thought the house was empty, but then he spied her over by the breakfast nook, staring off into the darkness that had settled over the lake. As he walked up behind Poppy, he noticed the lights twinkling through the trees and if he stared long enough to the right, he thought that maybe he could see his place.

Where his woman sat waiting for him.

He set down the bag and waited, but she didn’t turn around or say anything.

“I’m here, Pops.”

“I know.”

“Okay. So can we talk?”

“Give me a minute.”

He frowned, suddenly uneasy and more than a little freaked out by the utter lack of normalcy from his friend. But he waited and said nothing and when she finally turned around his concern ramped up so high, he took a step back. She’d been crying. A lot by the look of it. Her eyes were puffy, her skin blotchy and her nose was red from blowing it.

“What did he do?” Link asked, a hint of darkness giving his words an edge.

“Oh,” she replied, voice high. “Wait for it.” She spied the bag on the table and marched over, ripping into it like a five-year-old opening presents on Christmas morning. She grabbed up one of the chocolate mint bars and tore at the wrapper, eating half of it in one bite. She chewed for a few moments, swallowed a big chunk of chocolate, and then grabbed a juice box from the counter. “It’s all that was in the fridge,” she said, voice wavering. She took another bite from her bar. “I was supposed to get groceries today but then I got the call and well, I…”

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