The difference was that she probably didn’t spend any time thinking about what had happened, she’d forgotten us and moved on, but I decided to keep that observation to myself.
“Okay, so...” I paused to choose my words carefully. I wasn’t looking for another argument, no matter how right I might have been. “We’ll go to her parents’ house. Knock on the door. Hope she answers. And... what next?”
“Then we’ll take it from there.” Cooper shrugged. “Look, you want to plan this out, I understand that, but so much of it depends on how she reacts and what she says. Will she even answer the door? Until we have some answers, we don’t know what the hell we’re going to do. That’s just the way it is, dude.”
“Yeah.” I sat back against my seat and stared at not out the passenger window. All I saw was the wet window and my reflection, which was fine with me. I was done talking for a while. “That’s just the way it is.”
He could keep wishing and hoping and holding out for a miracle if he wanted to. But no matter how much Cooper hoped his dreams would come true, the truth had become pretty clear to me.
Even if we’d all grown up and changed for the better over the past six years, none of it mattered unless Poppy decided it mattered.
And right now?
Coop and I didn’t matter to her, not one bit.
Chapter Six
Cooper Price
We’d been driving forever in the pouring rain. What would have ordinarily been a twenty-minute drive out to Poppy’s parents’ place had taken over twice that long already because of my cautious pace. And we were barely over halfway there.
The all-terrain vehicle easily handled the rain-washed roads; that wasn’t an issue. The lack of visibility was the problem as the rain pounded against the windscreen in the pitch dark country lanes. I didn’t want to hit something that I hadn’t seen until the last second.
I wasn’t in any hurry. I didn’t imagine Mr. and Mrs. Evans being thrilled to see us after we had accidentally gotten their daughter into such big trouble in high school, especially outside their home in the middle of a storm.
On the other hand, I was anxious for a chance to talk to Poppy as soon as possible. It had already been years and that was too long to wait. But seeing her had brought up all sorts of feelings and memories that I’d been telling myself I was completely over.
“Do you see something up ahead?” I leaned forward, squinting through the rain-streaked windshield. “I can’t quite make it out, but—oh, shit!”
“What the hell—”
The truck swerved and fishtailed down the middle of the road as I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel from side to side, trying to regain control. “Hold on!”
We skidded to a stop a few feet away from a car partially submerged in a stream that currently flowed across the road into a deep ditch.
“Jesus!” My eyes went wide as I reached for the door handle. “Is that Prue’s car?”
“I think it is,” Nolan already had his door open as well. “Come on!”
He didn’t need to tell me twice. But God, I only hoped the girls were okay. The last thing I was prepared for was to see either of them in pain.
“Poppy?” Nolan yelled as he dashed toward the driver’s door. “Prue?”
The door opened just wide enough for me to see a sliver of Prue’s face. “We’re in here,” she called out. “We’re stuck, and the car won’t start.”
Nolan made it to the car first and waved me over. “Let’s get them out of there and into the truck. Then we can figure out what to do with the car.”
“Are you both okay?” I asked as we helped the two women out of the beat-up, half-drowned car. “It looks like you might have hit something.”
“That’s how Prue’s car always looks,” Poppy deadpanned.
She earned an eye roll from her sister and a laugh from us. It was good to see her with a sense of humor despite all this.
A few minutes later, we had them bundled up in the truck and had pushed the small car to the side of the road where it would be less likely to get hit by another vehicle or get washed away, although no guarantees on either of those.
Of course, it meant getting drenched from head to toe in the process, but it was worth it to see Poppy safe and actually smiling.
In fact, her smile improved my whole night, and judging by the sudden spring in Nolan’s step; I figured she’d had the same effect on him.
Damn, we were predictable. Couldn’t help it, though. Even all those years ago, even in my half-developed teenage boy brain, I was certain she was the only girl for me.