Because his game is off too.
Hopefully, Jean-Michel’s annual pool party will smooth down the sharp edges of his mood.
Now is it still technically winter? Yup.
But California weather means that it’s nearly ninety degrees outside. Warm enough to swim—especially since the pool is heated.
Not that the kids—orthe hockey players—mind.
It’s chaos in the best possible way.
There are kids and adults everywhere, dogs running around, burgers on the grill, music drifting through the backyard, and enough floaties in the pool to make it look like a toy store exploded.
Chloe is having the time of her life, laughing her head off as Rhodes threatens to toss her in the pool.
“She belong to you?” I hear.
I turn and see a woman with long brown hair and striking green eyes, and smile. “The little speed demon in the pink swimsuit?” I nod because sheismine in everything but blood. “Chloe never stops. Her new best friend yours?”
She laughs. “Yup. Holly is the tiny tornado in the purple one.” She extends her hand. “I’m Poppy.”
We shake. “Finn.”
Poppy nods toward the cat hair clinging to my black cover-up. “Did Chrissy con you into adopting a cat too?”
I chuckle. “Not today. This is just evidence from one of the kittens Chrissy’s dad and his wife are fostering.” I attempt to brush off the hair, realize it’s futile and shrug. “The little kitty decided I was her personal jungle gym.”
She laughs.
Then we get to talking.
About her adopting a cat from Chrissy’s rescue, and how once Chrissy’s got an idea, she rides it through to the end…
That end now being Chrissy setting up a huge rescue center just outside of Cedar Hollow.
“When I mentioned the land was for sale, I didn’t think it would work for her,” Poppy says. “Cedar Hollow is small and a little isolated, but when Chrissy came out and looked at the plot, she said it’s perfect—near enough to Harrisburg so she can draw in the city folk and not too far from Cedar Hollow, along with Redwood Bluff and Crest Harbor.”
“I haven’t been up there, but...” I tell her about my show at Bits & Bobs.
“Oh, you’ll love it,” Poppy says with a smile. “Cedar Hollow is one of those special places—small and quaint and everyone knows everyone (sometimes to a ridiculous extent). But it’s…home.” She sighs, her eyes drifting from mine, her thoughts suddenly seeming to be very far away. “I think there’s something in the water that makes people not want to leave.” A beat. “Oralmosteveryone, anyway.”
I study her closely.
And wonder who left her.
She seems to shake herself, plaster a smile on her face. “And thus concludes the tale of how I’m somehow now part of a cat rescue.”
I laugh. “Welcome to the club.” Then I lean closer. “And be careful, or soon enough you’ll be waylaid by Rory and her adorable pups.”
“Then adopting them too,” Poppy quips.
“Exactly.”
I glance over at the pool where Chloe is laughing so hard she can barely stay upright, Holly right beside her. Rhodes is nearby, keeping an eye on them both.
My heart squeezes.
He’s such a good guy.
