of adult voices in the background seemed to only belong to Faye and Valerie. The twins were probably entertaining themselves just as her own sisters would be. Grammie was capable of looking after herself too, but Poppy would check on her in a while.
Turning her attention the other way, she had two options, Turner’s room or Charley’s.
She and Violet had never been particularly close, which could be why giving her space wasn’t doing much to mend the rift between them. With Charley it was different. Poppy had been close to Charley. They’d shared an apartment and a workplace, socialized together, bonded. At least, she thought so.
Giving Charley space wouldn’t do anything to heal their relationship. After encouraging Zoey to do what was difficult, Poppy decided she had to do the same. With everything that was going on, she wanted her friend’s support. If she didn’t have it, then there would always be a strain on her relationship with Turner too. She had to fix it for her sake and for the sake of their family.
Heading down the hall, she knocked on the bedroom door opposite Turner’s. Rather than wait outside what could be an empty room, she opened the door a couple of inches to peek inside. Charley was lying on the bed on her stomach, swiping at a propped up tablet.
“I’m not interested in the—”
Charley stopped talking when she looked up. Whoever she thought was interrupting her, it obviously wasn’t Poppy.
“Can we talk?” Poppy asked.
Sitting up, Charley crossed her legs beneath her. “Who’s with you?”
“It’s just me,” Poppy said, pushing the door open a little more to show that there was no one else around. “You can kick me out any time, I just want a chance to figure this out…” Charley was hesitant, though at least she wasn’t sniping anymore. “I want to be friends again, Charley. We need each other.”
“If you’re coming in, just come in. It’s your house, you can do whatever you want.”
The invitation was a great sign of progress. Still, fearing the offer may only exist for a limited time, Poppy went inside and closed the door before her friend could change her mind. Charley shifted on the bed, picked up the tablet to toss it on the nightstand, then propped her butt on a pillow.
“I miss you,” Poppy said. “I want to fix this.”
As long as Charley believed David’s version of events, there may not be a chance of that.
“I’ve never been on the outside of my own family looking in before,” Charley said, calmer than she’d been since her arrival.
“You’re not on the outside.”
Her friend just blinked. “Mom adores you. Faye forgave Turner in a heartbeat and…” She sighed. “I don’t think it’s a mystery whose side my brother is on.”
“Does it have to be about sides?” Poppy asked, approaching the bed. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“You were sleeping with my brother and didn’t tell me. Was it really going on the whole time?”
Pointing at the corner of the bed, Poppy asked for permission to sit, which Charley granted with a shrug. They’d slept in the same bed before without ever thinking twice about it; Poppy really wanted to get back there.
“I knew from the minute I met him that I was attracted to him… I tried to kiss him and he walked away, I… it was mortifying.” When Poppy smiled, Charley appeared to relax. It seemed only right, now that the truth was out, to be completely honest. “We both knew there was something between us. I didn’t know about his rules, not exactly. It took time for… I don’t know, it just happened. We were lying there and he was touching me… It was just… right.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “That first week after I met him, you weren’t at work. In that same week, Turner let me know it wouldn’t happen.”
“But you pursued him?”
Explanations weren’t that straight forward. “I think we pursued each other. Though it wasn’t devious or dogged. Whatever chemistry was between us, it didn’t go anywhere, no matter how much we tried to wish it away… I saw how stressed out he was, how busy he was, and I just wanted to be a pressure release valve for him… It wasn’t supposed to be a relationship. It was just sex.” After telling herself to be honest, that truth sounded like a lie even in her own head. “No, we told ourselves it was just sex… I knew I loved him. I probably knew it