“You look like you’re in a mood.”
Distracted, Poppy glanced behind her—she was mid-step and heading for Molly’s float. It was Blue.
“I’m just tired is all.” Poppy sighed. “Too much wine or something.”
“Or something,” Blue murmured. She held out a large envelope. “I forgot to drop these off, and I’m running late. Can you give this to Molly? It’s a bunch of coupons for the dance studio. I’d told her to hand them out to all her prospective adoptees.”
Poppy grabbed the envelope.
“Boone will be out at the lake,” Blue said quietly. “I didn’t know if you knew that or not.”
“I figured as much.” It might or might not be the reason she’d been doing crunches every morning for the last two weeks. Or why she’d chosen a bikini that showed off most of her butt and a lot of her chest.
“I didn’t know for sure until last night when Cam mentioned it.” Blue’s expression was pained. “I mean, I’ve never said anything to him about you and Boone, and he doesn’t seem to know or remember.”
“No one knew about us,” Poppy said softly, looking away, hating the tightness that crawled across her chest. “It’s like I was this secret of his.” She sighed again and squared her shoulders as she thought of him cutting Emily’s grass. “Maybe he’ll be too busy and won’t show.”
“What?” Blue looked confused.
“Never mind.” She plastered her best fake smile to her face and took a step back. “Don’t worry about me. Really. I mean, it’s a small town, so we’re gonna run into each other, and, you know, it’s ancient history and it’s kind of silly that I even spilled all that stuff to you.”
“Feelings are never silly.”
“Says the woman who keeps most folks at arm’s length.”
Blue moved in and gave Poppy a quick hug. “That’s because I’m selective is all. I know a good heart when I see one.” She turned with a smile. “See you at my place later, and don’t forget your cucumber salad. Tawny’s been asking for it. I swear we’ll need to hide the bowl, or she’ll eat the whole thing.”
“I’ll swing by and grab it.”
Poppy watched until Blue disappeared in the crowd of floats and people, then turned to make her way over to Molly’s float, which was built on the back of Nate’s shiny black truck. It was decorated with pink and blue ribbons and bows, a big blow-up bulldog, and a sign on each side that advertised the adoption event starting in a few days. She and Molly were going to hand out flyers that featured several dogs and cats and even one horse, while Mabel’s job was to look cute, but with the heat, she’d be emoting all that cuteness from inside the cool air-conditioned truck alongside Nate.
“Who’s got the twins?” Poppy asked as she paused beside Molly.
“Both sets of grandparents.” Molly Jacobs grinned. “My entire day and night are baby-free, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to get Nate alone later.” She made a face. “It’s so hard with the twinners. God knows I love them more than anything in the world, but geez Louise, they have sex radar like no tomorrow.”
“Sex radar?” Poppy giggled, feeling lighter for the first time.
“Sex. Radar. Honestly, we could probably weaponize it and sell it on the black market. It’s uncanny. The other night, Nate and I were…we tried to…” She looked around and whispered, “Have sex. Nothing fancy, just straight-up hot dirty fast sex. There wasn’t even any kissing. Just when I was almost there, like so close.” She threw her hands up dramatically. “One of the twins started to wail, and within seconds, the other was screeching, and the monitor is right by Nate’s ear. I gotta tell you, there is nothing that will mess with a man’s erection faster than a screaming child.” Her eyes widened. “And when it’s doubled? Two screaming babies? He panicked. His sex machine failed. He knocked me over, fell out of bed, and sprained his wrist.”
Poppy tried not to laugh and held her hand over her mouth as she struggled to keep a straight face.
Molly shook her head. “I need tonight. I need him to finish what he started, you know?”
“Right. You do. I get it.” Poppy nodded, because even though she wasn’t a wife or mother, she knew what a good long dry spell felt like. Seriously. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had sex with anything other than the little device tucked away in the nightstand beside her bed.
Somewhere among the crowd of parade participants, a horn sounded, and Molly grinned. “Okay. Let’s do this. We’ve got twelve fur babies to find homes for.”
Nate poked his head out the window, a sloppy grin turning up the corners of his mouth when Molly sidled up alongside the truck and grabbed his face with both hands. She kissed him long and slow, and damned if Poppy could look away. In fact, she bit her lip and felt like a grade A pervert for watching. But it was hard to look away—they were so in love, it was a tangible thing, big and alive.
It hit her then, a sneak attack when she wasn’t expecting it. Loneliness. It washed over her, gathering steam like a locomotive, and by the time Molly came up for air, Poppy felt tears sting her eyes. She had to mentally give herself a shake and push it all away.
She put Mabel in the front seat beside Nate and grabbed her stack of flyers. They moved to their place in line. She pasted a smile on her face and did what she did best: acted. Played a part. No longer was she a sad and pathetic creature with no love to speak of, pining after a man who’d broken her heart when she was sixteen. Today, she was the good friend who was more than willing to walk the streets in major heat to help out a friend and all the adorable animals that needed homes.
She got on with things. Poppy smiled and waved and handed out flyers to hundreds of folks, always looking over their heads, searching for the one face she didn’t want to see but couldn’t help looking for. She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved when they finished up back at the staging area and there’d been no sign of Boone.
She’d just waved goodbye to Molly and was about to head to her car with Mabel when she spied Elise Avery waving at her from a hundred feet away. At her side was Boone’s son, Benji, who took off at a run when he recognized Poppy. The little guy didn’t stop until he stood in front of Poppy, flushed face smiling up at her, his eyes wide and adorable as he shoved up his glasses and angled his head a bit. He held out his hand.
“I brought Harry with me.”
She looked down and spied the gargoyle she’d given him the day before. “I see that. Is Harry behaving himself?”
Benji nodded. “Yep. He’s a good little gargoyle.” He knelt. “Can I pet your dog?”
“Sure can. Mabel loves kids.”
Elise reached them and put her hand on Benji’s shoulder. “Something wrong with your ears, little man? I told you to stop.”
Benji shrugged and held up Harry. “He made me do it.” Then Benji snuck a look at Poppy. “He’s not behaving right now.”
“Is that so,” Elise responded. “Maybe I should I take Harry and put him in my pocket.”
“No, it’s okay,” Benji said quickly. “I tolded him to stop being bad, or no ice cream.”