“Great,” Faye said. “See, listen to this, Charley, are you hearing it? He’ll use you to get closer to Poppy. How do you think that will go down with Turner, huh?”
“Poppy doesn’t need our brother to protect her,” Charley said. “She doesn’t need anyone to protect her. I’m her friend, I wouldn’t let anyone use her for anything.”
It was difficult to hear Charley’s tone change. The more harried and defensive she sounded, the clearer it became that she felt ganged up on. As much as Poppy wanted to leap to her aid, she also knew it was important for Charley to hear these truths.
“But you’re cool with him lying about her,” Faye said. “I’d be livid if any of my friends lied about one of my sisters. How do you see the relationship ever working out if you can’t bring him home or to family events? The minute Turner lays eyes on him, he’ll see red. You know it was our brother’s fiancée that your crush lied about, right?”
“He didn’t come right out and say they’d had sex.”
“Not on TV,” Faye said. “But I bet he said it to you.”
“Hiding behind semantics is a cop out,” Zoey said.
“Why are you all yelling at me?” Charley asked, sitting up straight. “I didn’t say anything about her. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Except give her grief when we got here.”
“You gave Turner grief,” Charley reminded Faye.
“Because he didn’t tell us he was in a relationship. He hid his feelings for Poppy from us.”
“And because I’m honest about my feelings for David, I get yelled at?”
“Who’s yelling?” Faye asked and exhaled. “Still sure you want to get married?”
When everyone looked to her, Poppy glanced around only to finish on a smile. “Oh, I’m sitting here thinking about how lucky I am that I don’t have to go through any of this anymore. Violet’s at the end of a relationship just like you, Faye. Primrose is starting one. Zoey and Casey have to fight for theirs. Charley has issues in almost every direction with the relationship she wants to have…” Wriggling further down on the bed, it was difficult not to be smug. “It’s never felt so good to be spoken for.”
“You could just move in with us now,” Zoey said. It took Poppy a second to realize the teen was talking to Casey. “Mom would let you.”
“Sleep in your room?” Faye asked. “We weren’t allowed to have sex in the house when we were teenagers, just because yours doesn’t have a dick, doesn’t mean you’ll be allowed.”
“We can share a room without having sex.”
Charley scoffed. “Yeah, we tried that line too. Never worked. Mom would love to have you, but there isn’t room.”
“Turner could build an extension,” Poppy said, just coming upon the idea. “I’m sure he’d love to help.”
“Turner doesn’t have time to sneeze and he just got engaged,” Faye said. “I don’t think a building project is the best idea.”
“We did talk about buying you a place,” Poppy said. “Somewhere close to your mom if you wanted it.”
Zoey gasped and grabbed for the arms of her lounge chair. “Then Case and I could have the basement. That’s perfect!”
“Uh…” Poppy said, unsure if she should’ve said anything. “It’s your brother’s decision. You’d have to talk to him.”
The house was his decision, and Faye’s, not whether or not Zoey and Casey could play house in Val’s basement.
“He can’t say no,” Zoey said. “Not when it works out for everyone.”
“He wouldn’t say no if you asked, Poppy,” Casey said, apparently jumping on the bandwagon. “You just got engaged, he can’t say no to you.”
“Yes, he can,” Poppy said.
“But he wouldn’t,” Charley said, nudging her. “He never says no to you.”
Poppy could think of plenty of times that he had, though most were early in their relationship and not really appropriate to discuss in front of his sisters.
“Just how many apartments does your brother own?” Primrose asked, twisting onto her side to get a better look at Faye.
“There are twenty-four in his building,” Charley answered before her sister could. “Only twelve are leased though. Poppy and me are in number thirteen. He manages twelve buildings. So if you’re looking for somewhere to stay, he can hook you up.”
The way that was said implied the two might have discussed it before. Poppy hadn’t been privy to those conversations.
“I was just saying how wild it would be to live in the city,” Violet said. “We go out all the time, but the trek back and