“I don’t like your tone.”
“I don’t like this conversation. Can’t you just let it go?”
“As your mother, I have a right to know what’s going on in your life. I’m just concerned is all. That man isn’t good enough for you.”
“In your eyes, no one is good enough for me.”
“Is it so awful to want the best for your child? You’re special, Poppy. You deserve someone equally impressive.” Chin up, Serena looked as if she were spoiling for a fight. “Boone Avery didn’t see it back then, and I don’t expect him to see it now.”
Poppy was done and didn’t care anymore. Her mother was going to get her wish and to hell with the consequence. If she wanted a fight, for once, Poppy wasn’t standing down.
“Boone was just a kid back then. God, he was only two years older than me. And come on, do you honestly think I’m the only girl in Crystal Lake who had her heart broken as a teenager?” Surprised as the words fell from her lips, Poppy took a second to consider them. He had been only a kid. An eighteen-year-old boy who’d only now hinted at some dark things in his life. How could she hold that against him? “You don’t know anything about him. Not then and not now either.”
“I know he used you, took your virginity like it meant nothing.”
“What? How would you know that?” Shocked, she stared at her mother, mouth open, thoughts whirling. When things settled a bit, she slowly shook her head. “You read my diary?”
Her mother continued on as if she’d never spoken, which was in and of itself an admission of her guilt. “If Mrs. Crabtree’s observations are correct, he’s using you again.”
“So you think Boone’s spending time with me, not because he likes me, but because he’s using me for sex?”
“Don’t be so crude,” her mother retorted as her cheeks flushed a dark red. “And please tell me you’re not sleeping with a married man.”
“He’s separated.”
“Do you know that for sure? Men lie about those things all the time.”
Technically, Poppy had no idea if Boone was legally separated or not, but she wasn’t letting her mother in on that.
“His ex lives in New Orleans, and he’s here with his son.”
“Well, that’s another thing. Have you really thought about what it means to get involved with a man who has a child with someone? They’ll always be connected, and she will always be the mother of his child. And you can’t—”
Pain twisted inside Poppy. A big, heavy, and hard kind of thing that smashed against her rib cage until she found it hard to breathe.
“And I can’t have any?” The words were torn from Poppy. It hurt that her mother would bring up something so painful and personal. How could she? Blindly, Poppy turned and started to walk away.
“Poppy, I’m so sorry. I never meant…”
Poppy paused, but didn’t bother to turn around. “You never mean anything, but you do it all the same.” She blew out a breath and took one more step before something occurred to her. “Did Boone come to see me that fall? Did he call the house?”
Seconds ticked by. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Oh, but she does, Poppy thought. She heard the hesitation, the guilt and maybe remorse that colored her mother’s words in a flat tone.
Poppy didn’t bother to reply and pushed past a few folks who’d stood by pretending not to listen. She moved ahead and didn’t answer when she heard Molly Jacobs shout her name. In fact, it spurred her into a run, and she took the path that followed the river, slowing to a walk once she was out of sight. She kept walking until the sounds of the park faded, until there were no more voices or laughter on the wind. Until the town disappeared and she realized she was near the forest on the other side of the old mill. Without hesitation, she continued down the path that cut through the thick stand of trees, and when she reached the big boulder full of names and dates that went back generations, she took a sharp left down a barely used path and eventually came to an elevated clearing that overlooked the river.
By this time, she was breathing heavily and sat her butt down on a fallen tree trunk. Hot, angry tears, the same ones that had threatened to fall since the park, gave way and tore tracks down her cheeks. She didn’t bother to wipe them away, but let them fall as her thoughts took her back to a dark time and place. To a rainy night and an angry man; the night her dreams were smashed into a million pieces.
“No,” she said hoarsely, jumping to her feet. “I’m not going back there.” She’d learned to let go, to take back her power from a man who’d controlled her with his jealous rages and weepy, pathetic apologies.
It was then that Poppy realized exactly where she was. Boone’s clearing.
“Oh,” she said softly, turning in a full circle, unable to banish the images and memories from her mind. She closed her eyes and let them wash over her, welcoming them so that she could hold them close once more.
She’d been so in love with the boy who’d grown into the man she’d fallen for all over again. And she had fallen. There was no doubt about that now. Not when it was accompanied by all this emotion, this worry and excitement and anguish and anticipation. This need to dance in his circle of light and hold him close.
That was the thing about love. Sometimes it was a visitor, drifting in and out of a person’s life, giving them great joy for as long as they wanted to keep it. Then leaving when they were done or ready to move on to another kind of love. Other times, it stayed with a person forever, the kind of love that, like the fireflies, flickered and brightened, then diminished to a soft glow so translucent, it was hard to see. But it was always there, even when covered by darkness, and it was the kind of love that lasted forever.
It was what she felt for Boone. What she’d always felt. And now she knew, without a doubt, that it was never going away.
Poppy shook out her limbs and let those memories invade her mind, because right now, she felt more comfortable in the past. In a place and time when the world was still filled with endless possibilities.
“What is this place?” Poppy whispered, letting Boone lead her through the dark.
“It’s my place,” he replied. “Just wait. We’re almost there. Close your eyes.”
His hands found their way around her waist, and he held her in front of him, prodding gently from behind. “Are they closed?”
She felt silly but didn’t want to tell him that, so Poppy nodded and whispered, “Yes.”
“Good.” His warm breath fanned her neck, and instantly, her young body responded, blood rushing, heart pumping, an ache blooming between her legs. They’d been having sex for weeks now, and it was all she thought about. The idea that another human being was inside her body consumed and fed Poppy’s romantic notions until she fell asleep every night with thoughts of Boone Avery drifting beside her.
She nearly tripped over a root, but his hands kept her steady, and when he stopped and pulled her close, she all but melted into him.
“You can look now.”
Slowly, Poppy opened her eyes, and what she saw astonished her. A tent was set up on the far side of the clearing, strung with solar patio lanterns that glowed softly and cast shadows. Fireflies flickered and danced in the darkness beyond, and a firepit was set and ready to go with kindling. A log had been dragged to the side of it to sit.