No, she couldn’t. Poppy didn’t even know all of the staff in the house. Some worked behind the scenes, keeping the cogs in the larger machine working. The estate was supposed to be a safe space. The idea that anyone could be keeping tabs on them was unsettling. That anyone might be reporting back to an outsider was plain sickening.
Tired and drained by the drama, she sighed. “I wish we were at the Venture right now,” she whispered.
“I can grant that wish,” Turner said, drawing her focus. “If it’s what you want.”
Crawling over to him, she lay on the grass, resting her head on his lap. “I just want him to leave us alone. I don’t want any of this mess.”
“If he hadn’t hurt your sister and trashed the wedding, you would never have met Charley,” he said, his fingers combing through her hair over and over. “You’d never have come to the Venture and we’d never have met.”
“You’re grateful to the guy,” Preston said like he couldn’t quite believe it. Poppy was glad she wasn’t the only incredulous one. “She’d never have left you either. It was his bounty that brought Poppy back here.”
“I only got my head out my ass because she left,” Turner said. “No, I’m not grateful to the guy, I want ten minutes alone in a room with him to show him how I really feel, but I don’t like to see Poppy upset.”
No, he didn’t, as he’d proved more than once. Finding his hand, she scooped it up and nestled it against her chest. “No amount of money can replace love,” she said, sure that went without saying. “He doubts how you feel about me. He thinks it’s false. That it’s all about the money.”
Turner looked down at her, his fingers still stroking through her hair. “I don’t care what he thinks. Did you think for a second I’d take the offer? That I’d let money replace you?” She shook her heavy head. “No. That’s all that matters to me, baby. You and me and this.”
It was a wonder that he could be so calm. Poppy knew it couldn’t be easy to let Holden’s insult roll off. Turner was doing it, being calm, for her. Because if he got angry or upset, that would only increase the pressure. Every minute he surprised her; she got luckier and luckier.
FIFTEEN
After their picnic lunch, Poppy and Preston walked Turner back to work and then returned to the house.
“Where have you been?” Zoey said, pouncing out from the shadow of the stairs the moment Poppy and Preston entered from the rear terrace.
“She’s been sucking face with your brother,” Preston said.
Her mouth dropped open. “We were not sucking face!”
“What else would you call it?” Preston asked, sauntering away backwards. “Just like a couple of teenagers.”
“Zoey is a teenager, maybe you should rethink your insults.”
He just laughed. “I’ll find you if I get anything else.”
Poppy nodded and waited for him to disappear before turning to Zoey. The obvious anxiety shimmering around her spiked Poppy’s concern.
“What’s wrong, honey?” she asked, guiding Zoey around to seat them both on the stairs. “What happened?”
Guilt for lingering with Turner and then joking with Preston swamped her. Poppy pulled Zoey into a hug. The girl wasn’t the type to advertise her feelings without cause, so the fact that her distress was so apparent alarmed Poppy.
“I think I’m going to do it,” Zoey whispered into Poppy’s hair.
Drawing back from the embrace, she searched the teen’s expression. Yes, there was definite anxiety there, but she glimpsed determination too. Just witnessing that certainty lit something in Poppy as well.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Poppy said, sliding closer. “Do you have a plan?”
“No, that’s why I needed you,” Zoey said, glancing up and around, probably to check they weren’t being spied on. “I have to do it one day, eventually. Maybe I’ll put it off for years, but it will still have to happen someday, right?”
“You can’t change who you are,” Poppy said. “So, yes, I think you will have to tell them eventually.”
“If I wait years, Casey might have moved on by then. It’s like you said about Turner, if he hadn’t come here for you, then you wouldn’t be together, would you? He took that risk. If he hadn’t, wouldn’t some part of you have always wondered what might have happened if you got together?”
Smiling, Poppy nodded. “Yes.”
“I don’t want to wonder. I don’t want to be unhappy. Being with