Poppy was already seated in the restaurant. She was easy to spot. She was the only one with an evil smile staring directly at me. I was probably crazy, but I would have risked another night with Ash over this any day.
“Hey,” I said when I reached the table.
Her gaze scrutinized me from head to toe. “Do you have algae on your shoulder?”
I looked down at my right shoulder. There was definitely something green on there. I pulled my sweatshirt off and plopped down across from Poppy. “So what’s good here?” I lifted up the menu so I didn’t have to look at her.
“I thought this was one of your favorite restaurants?”
So she did bring me here to torture me? “Not anymore. And I think you know why.”
She reached out and pulled the menu down so I’d look at her. “Matthew, I didn’t ask you here to be spiteful. I honestly thought you liked this restaurant.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Anything Poppy did was part of some bigger scheme. But she seemed different than she had in my office the other day. Her face didn’t look as stiff. She almost looked…kind.
The waiter came over. “Hi, I’m…”
“Can’t you see that we’re in the middle of a conversation?” Poppy snapped.
Wow, okay, not kind then.
“Sorry,” the waiter said. He went to walk away.
“But we’ll have two glasses of champagne to start,” Poppy said.
He nodded before practically fleeing.
“Champagne?” I asked. What in the hell did we have to celebrate?
“It feels like a good evening for champagne.”
I had nothing to say to that.
She leaned back in her chair. “You know…both my parents passed away when I was in college.”
I was starting to wonder if evil people were bad at segues because they were so socially unaware. Or did she think talking about death was a champagne kind of thing? That wouldn’t have surprised me.
“It was a tragic accident,” she said.
I’d heard about her parents’ deaths. And I was sorry for her loss. But it was no accident. Her parents died in a shoot-out at a restaurant. I couldn’t sit here and pretend they were good people. Innocent lives were lost that night. It had been all over the news.
“Uncle Richard is really the only father figure I have left.”
“I’m sorry about that.” And I truly was. Because having Mr. Pruitt for a father was worse than not having one at all.
She smiled. “Why do you hate him so much? He always speaks so highly of you.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“It is.” Her lips pouted slightly as she stared at me. “I mean, I guess he is a little displeased with you right now.”
“About that. If he wants to hurt me? Fine. But Scarlett…”
“I really don’t want to talk about business tonight.”
“I’m only here to talk about business.”
Her eyes searched mine. “Is the thought of getting to know me that awful?”
“I fell in love with a member of your family. Mr. Pruitt killed her. And Isabella forced one of my best friends to marry her. And then after he finally divorced her, she went even more psycho and tried to have him and his wife…”
“I’m not Isabella.”
“You could have fooled me.”
She lowered her eyebrows. “I know my cousin had her flaws.”
“It was a little more than that.”
“Fine, she was crazy,” Poppy said with a laugh.
And for some reason I smiled too.
“It’s a lot of pressure being in this family. Uncle Richard is very hard to please. And honestly? I had no desire to take over the business. It was always supposed to be Isabella. There were even rumors in the family for a few months there when we all thought Brooklyn might be handed the reins.”
That never would have happened.
“But…here I am.” She shrugged. “I’m actually kind of good at it. And I enjoy the work. It’s given me something to focus on after my divorce.”
“You could just get a normal job.”
“Now where’s the fun in that? Besides, you got a legacy job. It’s not that different.”
“I earned my position. And it is different, Poppy. My job is legal.”
“So is mine.”
Did she honestly believe that? I stared at her and she smiled. It didn’t look quite as evil as before, but the message was still clear. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what kind of business she was about to take over.
“I’m no accountant though,” Poppy said. “Uncle Richard had Isabella study the appropriate subjects in college to prepare. But I was never supposed to take over. You do accounting though, right?”
“Finance is different.”
“Surely you took similar classes. All business majors do. I was going to be a teacher.”
I raised my eyebrows. I really couldn’t picture her teaching children. She’d been really harsh and distant with her daughter, Gigi.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said with a laugh. “I actually love children. Stop, I’m serious,” she said with a laugh.
I must have still been making the same face. “I’m sorry. It just seemed like Gigi…”
“Annoys me to no end? Well, sometimes. Most people see me when they look at her. But she has her father’s eyes. And nose. And I can’t help but see a cheating scoundrel. I’m going to therapy for that. I don’t want to resent my daughter the way I resent my ex-husband.”
Wow. That was…a lot. And way more insightful than I ever expected from her.
“But I do love children. And I will do my best to make sure nothing happens to Scarlett.”
“Your best? The other day you said you wouldn’t hurt her.”
She shrugged. “Like I just said, I’ll do my best. But I’m not the one in charge right now. My uncle is.”
“Mr. Pruitt said he didn’t know what I was talking about when I brought up Scarlett.”
“And who do you believe more? Him or me?”
“Neither.” I’d never trust a thing either of them said.
She smiled. “So you don’t really have much of a choice to go along with this, Matthew. Speaking of which, I’m going to need something from you in return for keeping Scarlett safe.”
Of course she was going to ask for something in return. And I knew exactly what it was. She’d certainly mentioned my career enough times whenever I’d seen her.
The waiter dropped off our glasses of champagne and Poppy dismissed him with a wave of her hand.
“Perfect timing,” she said and lifted up her champagne flute.
“Poppy…”
“Just hear me out. If we start dating, I think Uncle Richard will be more likely to step down.”
Dating?!
“Honestly, it’s suffocating with him breathing down my neck. I’m ready to take over. And if he thinks we’re going steady, he’ll feel more comfortable, I know it. Like I said before, he respects you. And your business is in my weak spot. We’d be the perfect couple in his eyes.”
I laughed. “I’m not going to date you, Poppy.”