had already stated. “You’re not on the outside and you’re entitled to be hurt. We were friends. I hope that we still are.”
“I just… I don’t understand why David would say you were together if you weren’t. Everyone in my family believes you. I can’t choose a man over my entire family.”
The logic was completely Charley to a tee. Even if she wanted David to want her, if her feelings were still there, she could also step back and see that her family’s love for her wasn’t maliciously destructive all of a sudden. No one was out to get between her and David just for kicks.
Still, Poppy knew what it felt like to care about someone she shouldn’t.
“All of us are flawed,” Poppy said. “Whatever David’s motive for lying, it doesn’t mean he’s evil.”
While her opinion of David was low and she was angered that he’d fabricate stories of them being intimate to get time in front of a camera, Poppy recognized Charley’s melancholy. Her friend didn’t need anyone pouring salt into her wounds of confusion.
“I’ve never really thought about Turner as a guy,” Charley said. “That we’d have to, you know, share him. He’s always been ours… I don’t know if I can imagine him with a serious girlfriend. As a husband or father… He’s just our brother.”
“He’ll always be your brother. Being with me won’t change that.”
“Are you going to keep him here? After all the Holden stuff is done?”
“No,” Poppy said with a shake of her head. “I want him to go home. For all of you to go home. I loved my life before Primrose showed up. I’d be ecstatic if I could go back to it.”
“You’d want your job back?
“I don’t know. I’d definitely want to work. With everything that’s going on, Turner and I haven’t had a chance to talk specifics.”
It seemed like she had said that a million times. Zoey’s news was the priority of the day. If Poppy could fix things with Charley that would be a bonus.
Tomorrow would be Holden’s day, unfortunately. Whatever came beyond that, she would have to prioritize getting some time with her man to figure out what the hell they were doing.
Grammie would be happy to wave her off to a life in the Venture. Her parents may not be as accepting. They’d want to know what future she was aiming for, where she was living, why. None of that could be answered without Turner’s input.
Ideally, she’d fix her relationship with Violet too, though that was definitely not assured. They’d always just missed each other when it came to finding common ground. They were too different in too many ways. Maybe it just wasn’t possible.
The Maddox family had love and acceptance down. The Grangers weren’t bonded in the same way. Not by a long shot.
“What did you do around here?” Charley asked. “Did you have a job when you lived here?”
“Sort of,” Poppy said, offering her a hand. “I can show you… if you like.”
Hesitant but curious, Charley took her hand and Poppy pulled her onto her feet.
They hadn’t quite reached the summit of their friendship, as it had been before, but they were taking steps. Poppy wanted Charley to know how special she was and that she trusted her. Withholding hadn’t been out of any conscious decision to be devious. They needed to keep working on their friendship and showing her friend one of her favorite places was a great move in the right direction.
SIXTEEN
The music room offered Poppy a chance to give Charley some insight into what her life had been before Violet’s wedding when everything went wrong. Playing for her friend was fun. Both of them relaxed, they’d talked some more and ended up joking with each other.
If it hadn’t been for Zoey’s plan, Poppy might not have declared how close they were to dinner time. Charley had taken her arm on the walk back up to the house, a good indication that maybe she was starting to come around.
“Dinner isn’t for like another hour, is it?” Charley asked.
“No,” Poppy said, hoping her friend wouldn’t question why they were going back so soon. After encouraging Zoey to do the talking, and promising Charley honesty, Poppy couldn’t be evasive or blurt out the truth. “But I need to get changed.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Charley said with a thread of teasing. “Doesn’t my brother finish work and come back to the house an hour before dinner?”
Ah, so her friend thought that she was eager to see her love.