Okay. Either he’ll love it, or it’ll go down like a lead balloon. But I don’t want to die wondering.
She cleared her throat, and Max looked up, pulled from whatever contemplation he’d been lost within.
“I got you this,” she said as she thrust the box across the table, the words coming out in such a rush that she wasn’t sure he’d be able to understand.
“What?” he said, staring down at the box without taking it. “What for?”
It wasn’tquitethe reaction she’d been hoping for, but to be honest, it was pretty much the reaction she’d expected.
Determined, she pressed on.
“Because you saved me from a head injury,” she said. “In the kitchen, when you caught me.”
Max shook his head. “You really didn’t need to –”
“Andbecause it reminded me of you, and I wanted you to have it,” Poppy continued, her voice firm. “Because I like you, dammit, and are you going to take it already, or am I still going to be sitting here and holding it out to you tomorrow?”
“Ah. Okay. Sorry,” Max murmured, taking the gift and turning it over in his hands, examining it. Sadie at the gift shophad wrapped it in plain brown paper and tied a bow around it with string, but somehow the simplicity of it just seemed to work.
It probably helps that Sadie wraps presents like a pro, whereas my attempts look like a toddler did them,Poppy thought, fighting the urge to bite her nails as Max continued to inspect the wrapping for what seemed like a truly unreasonable amount of time.
At last, he slid the string off the gift, before carefully peeling the tape back.
Normally Poppy would’ve been impressed by the amount of care he was taking, but she was at serious risk of exploding from anticipation here. Couldn’t he be a bit more… well,ruggedabout it? Maybe tear the paper off with his teeth, or something?!
Perhaps there’s something to be said for caveman types, after all.
She heaved an internal sigh of relief once the paper was finally,finallygone… only to be hit with a wave of frustration as she realized that he still had to get past the gift box, which bore no indication of what was inside.
Have I just been emotionally cockblocked by a gift box?!she thought in despair.Come on!!
But maybe Max had realized her state of turmoil, because he opened the box at a non-glacial pace, his eyes widening as he looked inside.
“What do you think?” Poppy couldn’t help but ask, desperately trying not to look like she was fidgeting too much.
“It’s beautiful,” said Max, as he held the pen with an almost reverent air, turning it over to admire the deep swirls of wood. “I love it.”
Poppy tried not to betooobvious with her relief, but she was pretty sure she let out an audiblephew. Still, Max seemed to betoo entranced by the pen to notice, and Poppy’s heart sang at the sight of him enjoying something she had given him.
She watched as he unscrewed the pen and inserted the cartridge, before putting it back together again. He looked around the room, and Poppy quickly realized what he was looking for.
“Here,” she said, reaching into her purse and pulling out the notebook that Sadie had given her. “Courtesy of the fine people of Gunter’s Gulch.”
“Are you sure?” Max asked, but apparently the look she was giving him was enough to convince him not to argue. He flicked open the book and began to write, clearly experienced in the use of pens like this, the ink flowing smoothly.
It certainly doesn’t hurt that he has really nice handwriting,she thought dreamily as she watched – what little she’d seen last night had been hurried scrawl, whereas this was some pretty fancy cursive.Maybe the whole ‘nineteenth-century poet’ thing really wasn’t all that far off. Maybe he fell through a time portal, and has had to adapt to modern life.
A mental image of Max in an old-timey suit and cravat, wire-rimmed glasses perched upon his nose, popped into her head without warning, and Poppy had to resist the urge to fan herself. She wasn’t sure what he had against cravats, but she definitely wouldn’t object to seeing him in one!
And then out of one,the voice in her head added helpfully.
She leaned forward, intending only to get a better view of his handwriting – but suddenly he hunched forward a little and curled his arm around, clearly not wanting her to see what was on the page.
Surely he couldn’t have written anythingtoosecret in the past ten seconds? His actions were having the opposite effect of what was surely intended – instead of putting her off, he was making her curious.
“What does it say?” she teased. “Is itMax luvs Poppy 4 eva? It’s okay, you can tell me.”
“It’s not that,” he muttered, the slightest hint of pink adorably tingeing his cheeks.
