“Maybe I don’t want special,” she sulks, staring out the window. “I just want... I don’t know what I want.”
“You will when you find him.”
As we head farther out of town, thankfully the conversation turns away from my little sister’s virginity and to safer subjects, mostly about tonight’s party. Mom wasn’t all that thrilled to let me throw another after the mess my New Year’s one caused, but she didn’t really have a leg to stand on seeing as she allowed Letty to have one, and as I pointed out, I’m only going to turn eighteen once.
In the end, she conceded and has booked herself into a hotel for the night with the strict instructions that by the time she returns tomorrow afternoon that the house will look exactly like it did when she left it. I told her it would, obviously, but we’ll see how that goes.
As we get closer to Harrow Creek, the scenery begins to change. Gone are the big houses and perfect front yards from our side of Rosewood, and in their place are trailers and beat-up old cars.
When I was young, I thought this was how everyone lived. I had no idea that just a few miles away there were houses with pools and home gyms and all the other luxuries that come along with having money.
“Regretting it yet?” I ask Poppy when her and Harley’s conversation comes to an end.
“Never,” she says, reaching over and squeezing my hand in reassurance. “I don’t care where you come from, Zayn, so stop worrying.”
I smile at her, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. I don’t want to be ashamed of this place, but I can’t help it. I know it made me the person I am today, but I don’t have great memories of the place, and I’m more than happy to be away from the kinds of people who live here, and I’d more than happily never introduce Poppy to most of them.
The gravel at the entrance to our trailer park crunches under my truck’s tires and we make our way toward our old home.
I glance over to see Poppy’s eyes flitting around everything.
“You know, it’s not as bad as you made it out to be.”
“Appearances can be deceiving.”
As I pull up out the front of Dad’s trailer, movement in my rearview mirror catches my eye, but when I look up, I don’t find anyone there.
“Ready to meet Dad?” Harley asks.
“I am,” Poppy says eagerly, pushing the door open and jumping out.
I do the same and walk around the car to join them. It’s not until we’re all standing together that the person who was behind us shows his face.
“Shit,” I mutter, my arm instinctively reaching out, my hand wrapping around Harley’s so I can pull her behind me.
“Zayn, why the fuck are you... oh,” she says, clearly looking over my shoulder and seeing the same thing I am. “What the hell is he doing here? I thought he left.”
“Me too.”
My eyes hold his angry ones as hate crackles between us.
“Um... what the hell is going on?” Poppy asks hesitantly. “Who is that?”
“No one you need to know,” I bark, as Harley says, “Kane. He doesn’t like us very much.”
“You don’t say,” she whispers, clearly sensing the hostility coming off him in waves.
“Let’s get inside and get out of here as soon as possible.”
Ripping my stare from his, I spin around and gently push both Poppy and Harley toward the door. The last thing I want to do today is get into it with Kane and everything that happened.
“Happy Birthday,” Dad shouts loudly as we walk up to the door. He jumps down the steps and pulls me in for a hug. “I can’t believe you’re a man now. I swear it was only yesterday you were toddling around in diapers. And you were—”
“Dad,” I say, cutting off whatever embarrassing memory I’m sure was about to fall from his lips. “This is Poppy.”
His eyes leave mine in favor of my girl.
“Harley’s friend, right?” he asks, proving that he does listen to Harley’s stories when we visit.
“Yeah, but she’s...” Harley starts.
“Also, my girlfriend,” I state proudly, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her into my side.
“Girlfriend?” Dad asks, his eyes wide. We might live in different towns now, but he’s more than aware—mostly thanks to Harley—about my... ways.
“Yep. Girlfriend. Now are you going to invite us in or what?”
“Oh... yeah. Poppy,” he says, turning to my girl, his eyes still as wide as saucers. “It’s good to meet you at last. Harley talks about all the time, unlike this one who’s just blindsided me.”
“It’s good to meet you too, Mr. Hunter.”
“Oh, please. Call me Rob.”
“Okay, will do. And don’t be too hard on him, this is all new territory for him.”
“Hey,” I complain, following behind as we all pile inside. As I reach out to pull the door closed behind us, my eyes lock with Kane’s once more. His narrow in anger but all I can do is smile. I had nothing to do with the beef he has with my family, although hell knows I’ll do everything in my power to protect them if he decides he wants his revenge.
Shaking my head at him, I close the door and turn toward the living area of the trailer I used to call home.
“Whoa, Dad,” I say, taking in all the banners and balloons.
“What? I couldn’t let my boy’s day go by without doing anything special. Here,” he says, pushing a gift over the table toward me.
I take a seat beside Poppy and rip open the paper.
“This is stunning.” I stare down at the Rolex in my hand. “How did you afford this?”
“That doesn’t matter. Happy Birthday, Son.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Right, cake!”
38
Poppy
I’ve seen Rob in pictures a few times over the years, I know what to expect looks-wise, although I wasn’t quite prepared for seeing another set of Zayn’s eyes staring back at me. While Zayn mostly has his mom’s African American features, his eyes are all his father’s. And the way they light up when they looked into mine that first time warmed my heart.
I’ve heard stories about this place, most of which Harley and Zayn have been reluctant to tell me about, but so far, aside from the creepy guy who was staring at us outside, it seems... fine.
Okay, so there are none of the fancy houses and well-tended yards I’m sure the two of them have become accustomed to over the past few years, but it’s not so bad, at least not on the surface. They gave me the impression we were driving into the center of Hell or something.
I sit back and watch as the three of them banter together while Rob cuts up the cake he bought for his son’s birthday.
“So what are the plans for the big day then after visiting your old man?”
“Party!”
“Your mom’s allowing that after the last one?”
“Of course.”
“Jeez, you always did have her wrapped around your little finger.”
“What can I say?” Zayn says with a shrug.
We chat away for over two hours before Zayn stands and announces that we need to get back. His dad’s face drops and my heart aches for him that he’s got to keep watching his kids walk away when he clearly cares about them so much. It makes me wonder why he would have chosen to keep this life when he could have had a better one in Rosewood. But I guess not everything is about money, and this place is where his heart is.