Miss Carol nodded in commiseratory understanding. She knew that was Poppy’s mom’s M.O. Whenever Kerri met someone new, it was always the same, she wanted her daughter to meet them at a dinner, and then she wanted her to talk about how amazing they were for hours on end and give her Poppy’s approval because, since her father died, she said she needed her blessing from now on. She didn’t, and Poppy certainly didn’t need to give it.
“Job is good. Tabitha is a doll. So sweet.” She took a breath. “And the house is…yeah, it’s good. It’s coming along.”
“What’s wrong with the house?” Miss Carol seized on Poppy’s hesitation like a dog with a bone.
“No, nothing. I had just planned on doing most of the work myself, but I’ve been so busy, so my neighbor has been doing most of it. I haven’t actually been over there that much. I’m going today though, and I’ll send you pics.”
Miss Carol stared at Poppy. She could tell that she wasn’t quite buying her story. She felt herself melting under Miss Carol’s scrutiny.
Right before she was scared she was going to crack and confess a litany of sins, including: stealing Fruit Stripe gum when she was ten, TPing Principal Norton’s house with Jamie and Mary Snelling, and drawing penises on the boys lockers with Clarissa Holt and Jana Frasier in retaliation for them freezing all the girls bras during P.E. a loud knock sounded.
Saved by a knock.
“Oh, that’s me. I gotta go. Love you.”
“This conversation isn’t over. Love you.”
Poppy disconnected the call and exhaled in relief. Miss Carol was suspicious, but she’d made it through the call with her none the wiser. And she hadn’t technically lied. She had planned on doing the work herself, and her neighbor was doing it.
After grabbing her purse, Poppy opened the door, and her heart practically leaped from her chest. AJ stood on her porch looking sexier than anyone should legally be allowed to look. A navy blue Henley pushed up on his chiseled forearms, faded blue jeans that were worn in all the right places, not from some manufacturer but from hard, physical labor and work boots with scuffs that showed he knew his way around a job site. If Chef AJ was sexy, Construction AJ was sexy on steroids. Instantly, she felt happier, lighter, like she was walking on clouds. This was bad. Her mood should not be dependent on a man. No matter who that man was to her.
She smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
Her heart was beating so hard, so loud, she was sure he could hear it as they walked to his truck and he helped her inside. The moment she settled in the seat, the delicious aroma of hot chocolate drifted up to her nostrils. She looked to her left and saw a to-go cup and a brown paper Brewed Awakenings bag.
AJ climbed in the passenger seat and, without sparing her a glance, said, “It’s for you.”
“For me?” Her mouth watered as she opened up the brown bag to find a toasted everything bagel with light butter. Her teeth sank into the bready goodness, and she nearly had a foodgasm. She was happy to have her appetite back, at least for today.
“How did you know I haven’t eaten breakfast?” she asked as she chewed.
“You stayed up past ten last night, so you hit snooze at least twice, which meant you rushed around to get ready because you wanted to get started early this morning. Also, you didn’t do your grocery shopping yesterday because Zoya was over last night getting ready for the festival, so you are probably planning on doing it later today, so you didn’t have anything quick to grab, and you thought you would grab something later for lunch.”
Poppy knew that AJ couldn’tactuallyread her mind. He may not even be particularly intuitive, he just observed her behavior and took note. Still, it was unnerving to have someone who paid such close attention to every minute detail of her life. She’d never experienced that before. He’d done that the first night they met when he talked about what her house said about her. It was difficult to explain, but he made her feel not just seen but important. She tried to remember that it wasn’t about her.
The past few weeks, he’d gone above and beyond anticipating her every need. Frankie had mentioned to her at the party last night that AJ always had a strong sense of right and wrong. His sister didn’t know that she was telling someone who was carrying his child, but she was.
In AJ’s mind, the right thing to do was to take care of Poppy right now. His attentiveness was more about her condition than it was about her, which said a lot about his character considering he never wanted to be a father. Knowing his motivation should make her separate herself from him emotionally because it wasn’t about her, unfortunately it was having the opposite effect.
AJ pulled up to Poppy’s house and felt his body tense. He knew this time was going to come, but he’d compartmentalized it in his mind for a future worry. But now the future was here. This could go either very badly or very good, he didn’t see a world where it wouldn’t be in one of those extremes.
Poppy was fully aware he’d been working on the house, but she didn’t know the extent of his labor. He hadn’t lied to her, he just hadn’t been forthcoming with all the details. They’d discussed the scope of work the day she got her keys. He knew her line-item budget. He knew where she wanted to spend her money and how much she had to spend. He just hadn’t discussedhisbudget with her.
He helped her out of the passenger seat, and as they walked up the path, she stopped. “Something looks…are those new windows?”
“Yes.”
She looked over at him. “You installed new windows?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“These are double-pane.”
She shook her head, her brow still furrowed in confusion. “So.”
