I’m not married, I’m free as a bird, but even that isn’t enough for you. What? You just like reminding me how I’m never good enough? That no matter what, I just can’t please you? Damn, it’s a shame this never worked out, you’d get on great with my mother. The two of you have so much in common.”
“Don’t compare me to whatever you ran away from. You ran to me, Princess. You came here looking for help and I gave it.”
“Yeah and got so much more in the bargain,” she said, taking a shot at getting down the corridor, but he stepped into her path.
“No,” he said. “You don’t get to walk away until you look me in the eye.”
Her focus stayed straight ahead, locked on his chest. “Is that how this works? One of us makes demands and the other yields? Funny, I seem to remember asking you something yesterday and being rejected…” Closing her eyes slowly, Poppy only opened them when she had the courage to meet his gaze. “Doesn’t feel good, does it? Now… let me pass. Please.”
The anger was gone from his expression, but she wasn’t sure the pity that took its place was preferable. When he stepped out of her path, Poppy wasted no time getting the hell out of there. She’d thought she might make a fool of herself, that being awkward would just draw attention to the thing they were trying to forget. Instead of discomfort, she’d found a new home in anger. It wasn’t fair to judge his decisions. There was no law that said he had to be with her.
A running joke in the Granger family was just how spoiled Violet, the eldest daughter, was. Poppy had missed how she too was used to getting what she wanted. It had never mattered before. Never like it did then.
EIGHT
Their morning interaction stayed with her.
Poppy hadn’t given Turner her number as they’d discussed. Doing that would be a bad idea, especially when she had a habit of drinking wine after work and didn’t have many ways to entertain herself. But it did mean she had no way to get in touch with him to find out if he was at the apartment or not.
So around lunchtime, after wandering a lot, and in hopes of making amends, Poppy did a quick search on her phone to pinpoint which hardware store was closest to the apartment. On the day they’d met, she’d told Turner that she would help out with fixing the place up. Like many of her other claims, Poppy hadn’t followed through. He’d once said his word was his bond. In contrast, she was proving she was all talk, no action.
Just the word “action” returned her memory to his mouth on her skin, his body pressing hers to the window. Those thoughts were dangerous. Poppy had to erase them as fast as possible.
Her landlord. Turner was her landlord and they had a deal. A business deal. That was what he wanted. She had to respect that.
Although Poppy had been clueless about what she wanted at the hardware store, it didn’t take long to locate inspiration. The process was more complicated than she’d anticipated, but Chester, the young guy behind the counter at BJ’s Hardware, was super helpful. He’d practically fallen over himself to make sure Poppy had everything she needed. He’d even let her put other supplies on layaway, a fabulous scheme she’d never heard of before.
Even if she’d been able to afford it, Poppy wouldn’t have been able to carry everything at once. Chester helped her pick out the essentials and gave her lots of advice. She looped a couple of bags around her wrists and managed two of the heavy cans. The walk home was only a couple of blocks. Still, by the time she made it home, she was relieved to dump everything on the floor and give her aching arms a reprieve.
Having not thought about what to say to Turner, Poppy was sort of pleased to find the apartment empty. She drank some water, scooped her hair up on her head and stripped to her underwear.
In her closet, she stalled over what to wear. None of her clothes were old. That thought took her fingers to the dress bag hanging on the clothes rack in her closet. Her bridesmaid’s dress was the oldest piece of clothing there. The delicate lace bodice wouldn’t hold up well to stains. In fact, spatter may even make it through the sheer neckline,