here,” Charley said. “Turner is a big boy. He doesn’t need us chasing after him.”
“Supporting him and Poppy is part of the reason we’re here,” Val said.
“Keeping everyone together is the best way to keep everyone safe,” Preston said. “If anyone’s upset about being here, put it on me.”
“You wouldn’t be on the estate if it wasn’t for me, Preston,” Poppy said. “I brought you here.”
“Turner wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you either,” Charley muttered.
“It’s not her fault,” Zoey spoke up, surprising everyone who knew her. “Everyone’s getting on her case, but what was she supposed to do? This guy has made her life hell and now she has to hear it from us at her family’s dinner table?”
Usually, Zoey was the quiet one. After the way Poppy had abandoned her, she didn’t expect the teen to come to her defense.
Zoey pushed her chair away from the table and got up to rush out of the room.
“Zo…” Turner said and began to rise.
Poppy laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll go,” she said, leaving her father’s dinner table without permission.
She didn’t care about tradition or routine. The sound of Zoey’s footsteps running up the stairs reminded her of the dozens of times she’d chased after one of her sisters. For the first time, she really got a glimpse of Turner’s vision of the two families being one.
At least when she got to the upstairs hallway, the bedroom door didn’t slam. That was a Primrose special. She could slam a door with such drama and flair that the rafters would shake.
Going along to Zoey’s door, Poppy was careful about taking a breath before knocking. The door wasn’t all the way shut, which reminded her of creeping into Zoey’s room at the Maddox house.
“Zoey…” The room and bed were much bigger than the teen had at home, but it was a similar scene. “Honey, are you okay?”
Lying face down in the middle of the bed, Zoey was hugging the pillow to her head.
There wasn’t an answer, not one that she heard. So going inside, Poppy closed the door and went over to sit on the bed. After a second, she reached out to squeeze Zoey’s leg.
“Thank you for sticking up for me down there,” Poppy said. “I didn’t expect that. It means a lot to me.” Even if she knew a lot of the situation was her fault.
Rolling onto her back, Zoey linked her fingers over her torso. “Do you love my brother?”
Poppy hesitated. Not because she wasn’t sure of the answer. She’d just been hiding the truth for so long that keeping it to herself had become default.
“Yes,” Poppy said. “I do.”
“You didn’t tell me. I was joking about it and you didn’t say a word.”
“It was complicated,” Poppy said, sliding further up the bed. “I’m sorry I disappeared on you. I didn’t want to. Holden put the bounty out and I had to move fast. I never wanted to drag your family down, I didn’t think it would happen. I’m sorry the media harassed Charley. And I didn’t want to lie to you—”
“You didn’t lie to me,” Zoey said, sitting up, crossing her legs in front of her. “You told me about your family… Maybe not specifics, but I knew you didn’t come here ‘cause you wanted to. You have to be here because this Holden jerk is taking over your life.”
It was nice to be understood, even if it was unexpected. “Thank you.”
“Is Turner what you meant? When you said your family wanted a different life for you. They didn’t want you to be with him?”
“I left here before I met Turner. It’s difficult to explain why I left. I do have a privileged life here. I know that…” She drew in a long breath. “I guess all I can say is Grammie had a lot of influence on me. The way she talked about the world out there always made it seem… like an adventure.”
“And it wasn’t?”
“Being with your brother was an adventure. One I didn’t want to walk away from.”
Zoey was nodding. “But Holden didn’t give you a choice. You had to leave Turner… and he came after you.” Poppy smiled. “That’s so romantic.”
If she hadn’t been curious before then Zoey’s forlorn tone would’ve piqued Poppy’s curiosity.
“What happened with prom?” she asked. Her worries for the teen couple had only grown since Turner telling her it had been uneventful. “Where’s Casey?”
Zoey’s gaze dropped to her ankles. “I don’t know… We broke up.”