what you both have to do. You should be grateful that you have each other to lean on.”
“A guy at school came out to his parents and they completely disowned him,” Zoey said. “He had to drop out and move away and everything.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that,” Poppy said, reaching across the table toward each of them. Zoey took her hand in a second, Casey was a little more reluctant, but did relent. “Neither of you have to worry about being alone. Casey, I’m sorry I don’t know your family, so I can’t promise you anything about how they’ll react.” She turned her focus to Zoey. “I promise yours will accept you. Even if they’re shocked or say something stupid at first, they will get over it.”
Casey was chewing on her lip as Zoey squeezed her hand. “I’m worried Turner will treat me differently… He’s the closest thing I have to a dad and—”
“You do not have to worry about Turner,” Poppy said, tightening her hold of the teens’ hands. “He’d never do anything to hurt you, any of you. Do you know how much it will mean to him to know that you have someone to rely on? He feels guilty that he can’t give all of you more quality time. He always thinks he’s disappointing you or that he might miss something.”
“Are you kidding?” Zoey said on a gasp. “He’s always there for us! He does everything for us. Everything. Mom would be a complete mess without him half the time. Charley’s always complicating things, but he’s always there for her. Even with Faye, she must have stayed at his apartment with the kids for weeks and he didn’t say a word.”
Poppy tilted her head. “So you think he’d be there for Faye, Charley, and your mom, but he’d shun you? Come on, Zoey, he’d walk through fire for you.”
“I guess…” Zoey fixated on their joined hands. “I’m worried about saying the words. I’ll have to get them all together and… It’s just all their attention on me and I… What would I even say?”
“You say you’re in love. You say you’ve found someone who makes you happy. Someone you want to be with.”
“They’ll think Zo’s pregnant or something,” Casey said.
A laugh sprang from Poppy’s throat. “Turner’s reaction to that would definitely be worse than his reaction to this news.”
Being a big brother was his most important priority. To think some guy might have got his little sister in trouble while he wasn’t paying attention… He’d beat himself up for that… and the guy responsible.
“Are you sure?” Zoey said. “He’d be mad as hell if I was pregnant.”
“Not at you,” Poppy said. “At the guy…” She worried about Casey. “Not that he’ll react badly to you… He only wants Zoey to be happy.”
She’d considered whether or not to tell Zoey that Charley suspected the truth. But Poppy decided against it. She didn’t want Zoey to think that she couldn’t keep a confidence or that they’d been discussing her behind her back.
“Do you think I should tell him first?” Zoey asked. “Maybe like… in private.”
“If you want,” Poppy said, nodding. “You know he can keep a secret. And if you want him to be there when you tell everyone else, you know he’ll have your back.”
“Or maybe…” Zoey turned to Casey for a quick second before both of them sat straighter. “Maybe you could tell him.”
Her eyes flicked from one teen to the other. The situation was getting stickier by the second. “If… you want.”
Poppy couldn’t really say no, if that was what they needed her to do. Except the couple didn’t, or shouldn’t, know about her connection to Turner. As far as they knew, he was her landlord and that was it.
“He likes you,” Zoey said. “He was always completely against Charley living with any of her friends until he met you. Faye told you about Kev, so it’s like—”
“Okay,” Poppy said, holding up her hands. “Wait a second, I will do whatever I can to support you through this, but I can’t tell everyone for you. They have to hear it from you. I mean think about it, you have to have the conversation either way. Even if I tell them, they’ll still want to talk to you about it.”
Both girls sagged. Giving them some time to process, Poppy didn’t say anything.
“Maybe we should wait,” Casey said.
“Until?” Zoey asked. “Prom is in like two weeks.”
“We could wait until after we graduate…” Casey said, blowing