“The only person who hasn’t put you first is you.”
Poppy sighed. “It’s just hard to believe someone could love me like that.”
“I love you. Your aunt loves you. Just because your dad is incapable of love, that isn’t on you.”
“He loves his other family.”
Kiki snorted. “Are you kidding? He doesn’t love them. His other family gave him access to Hollywood’s elite. How do you think he started his production company? I bet his wife bankrolled the whole thing. He didn’t marry her for love. He married her because she made him look good and gave him opportunities that your mom couldn’t.”
“I never looked at it like that.”
But Kiki wasn’t finished yet. “All these people have loved you, all these things you’ve done are amazing, your life has been great, so why are you focusing on this one negative thing?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know why I do that. I think it’s for protection. Between my dad leaving and my mom dying, I operate on a foundation of self-preservation. It’s a way to set myself up to not be disappointed.”
“Love comes with the good and the bad. You have to put yourself out there and there’s always a chance of getting hurt, but it only takes one person, right? You only need one person to be in love with. You only need the right person.”
“Yeah.”
“What if he’s your right person and you let him walk away?”
Poppy had lived through love walking away. She wasn’t sure if she could last through that again.
“Well, while you think over the most important decision of your life, it’s time to get ready.”
“For what?” Poppy asked.
“Dinner. Remember the sponsor, Kellerman? They want to film you guys using the patio furniture and Jack decided it would be a dressy dinner at twilight.”
“No. I distinctly do not remember that.”
Kiki grinned. “Hmm. I might have forgotten to tell you. Oh well, it’s in twenty minutes.”
“I’m not doing that,” Poppy insisted.
“It’s contractual. You don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to you.”
Decker would take it personally if she was a no-show. And if he knew just how deeply his words had cut her, he’d feel immense regret. That’s just the kind of man he was. Kind and sensitive and so giving to those he loved. She was just crushed that he didn’t include her in that category.
Her eyes burned at the reminder and Kiki’s smile vanished. “No tears. You know about my tear phobia. Even seeing your lashes get misty is making my right eye twitch.”
“I’m not crying. It’s dry eye syndrome.”
“Whatever, you don’t want to show up with red eyes and slathered in sun oil do you?”
“No.”
“Then get your ass up and let’s go pick a dress that will have him falling to his knees.” Kiki looked at her watch. “Twenty minutes and counting.”
“Twenty minutes? You knew all this time and you are only telling me now.”
“Tick tock, Cinderella, it’s time for me to do a little Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.”
Poppy may have takena little longer getting ready than her allotted twenty minutes, but she wanted Decker to wait. Wanted his eyes to bulge out of his head when she made her grand entrance. And it was going to be grand.
She was wearing a dress she’d bought and stuck in the back of the closet to die a sad and lonely death. But tonight, she was going to resurrect it—she was going to resurrect the courageous woman she’d become and tell him how she felt.
The go-get-’em-girl dress was silky, curve-hugging, rode the line between cleavage appropriate and not, and was guaranteed to make Decker drool. Plus, it was his favorite color—emerald.
