Poppy studies me, twirling her light blonde hair around her finger. “Uh oh, that’s a face. A face of a man who has feelings for my friend, and feels shit about it because she’s leaving soon.”
“You got all that from an eyebrow quirk?”
“I’m a woman studying psychology, so yes.” Poppy sits on the bench and pats the metal beside her for me to join. “I haven’t known Flo very long, but I can already tell she feels deeply, even though she pretends not to. She won’t be taking this lightly, either, Evan, so don’t feel alone.”
“I’ve just never seen Leo so smitten.”
“I think kids actually move on more easily than adults do.” Poppy’s eyes flash with pity before she inhales deeply. “He’ll be okay. You both will.”
Slinging one arm around her, I give her a friendly squeeze, but pull away before things get too awkward. I’m not much of a hugger, but Poppy is, so I know she’ll appreciate this. “Thanks, Poppy.”
“Plus, at least you know you’ll see her again at Nathan and Mae’s wedding.”
Yeah, and it’ll be awkward as fuck if we have to pretend that none of this ever happened between us, especially if she were to bring someone along. There would never be a world where I wouldn’t be jealous.
“Are you coming to the engagement party next week?”
I chuckle. “I think Nathan would hunt me down if I didn’t.” He’s one of my best friends. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
“Well, I’ll see you then. Now, go.” She shoos me away. “I’m trying to get this high kick right.”
After thanking Poppy for the little chat and apologising for interrupting her practice, I exit the stadium, but I’m met with a grinning Flo, my son on her back. I swear, he was a koala in another life.
“What are you two doing here?” I ask as my son reaches for me, and I balance him on my hip.
“Well, since you ‘forgot’ to tell me it was your birthday the other day, I didn’t have time to get you anything, so… we’ve come to surprise you by taking you out for ice cream!”
“Ice cream, huh?” I laugh with a furrow, setting my wriggling son down.
Flo’s smile is forced, and through her gritted teeth, she mutters, “It was Leo’s idea.” She lowers her voice so only I can hear when she says, “I’m not sure if he forgot you only like to eat gruel, or if he’s just craving it, but he said he wants to treat you, so I slipped a twenty into his pocketwhen he wasn’t looking. That way he feels like he’s the one paying.”
I immediately dig around in my pocket to reimburse Flo’s twenty, but she holds her hand out to stop me, cracking a smile. “No need. Happy late birthday. I’ll give you your present from me when we get home.”
A flirtatious wink is sent my way, and a breathy laugh rumbles my chest as I take my son’s hand and we all walk in the direction of his favourite ice cream shop.
26: Flo
“What kind of food do you think they’ll be? I hope nothing has garlic in it. I don’t need my breath smelling when trying to pick up women,” Sam mutters as we walk up to the gardens Mae and Nathan have hired out for their engagement party. Sam’s been growing his hair out—it’s no longer as cropped as it was when I first met him—and has pushed it back with some texture spray he was filling up the car with. I swear, I inhaled more of it than he actually got in his hair.
“Flo, you’re a woman. Long hair, or short hair.” Sam points to his head, and I respond with, “Whichever answer will steer us away from this conversation. You’ve asked me ten times already.”
“It’s an engagement party. This isn’t about you finding someone to fuck,” Evan grumbles.
“Well, I need a date for the annual sports dinner. I don’t want to show up looking like a loser with no one.”
“I’ll be your date,” I tease, and Evan grits out, “Not a chance,” with his arm snaked around my waist. Sam’s gaze shifts from me to him, then back to me again.
“As much as I like you, Flo, I’ll end up getting punched if I take you as a date, and I need this pretty face. It’s all I’ve got.” He swipes his hand along his jaw like he’s posing for a camera. “Speaking of dates, who are you taking, West? You can’t bring your mom, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Evan’s throat bobs as he laughs, but then he looks at me. “I might not go.”
“Oh, no, you can’t pull that one. We all have to attend. Peter’s orders,” Bennett complains. “Leo doesn’t count as a date, by the way.”
Leo isn’t attending the engagement party tonight. We were stuck for a babysitter, and so I called up my sister, Megan, and asked if Leo could spend the evening with her and Mollie, which took Evan a little bit of convincing, but as long as Megan gives us a call in the middle of the evening to let us know how Leo is getting on, he said he was fine with it.
Evan rolls his eyes before they land on me. “Fine, I was thinking…” He hums, fighting with himself.
“Me?” I question, shocked. “You don’t want me to stay at home with Leo? What about people seeing—”
