“You’re right, you’re right.” Nolan raised his hands in mock surrender. “Shall we stop by your parents’ place first? Just to make sure they made it through the storm without any issues?”
Poppy’s face instantly fell. “Oh, God no. I got a text from Prue earlier saying they were fine and they wanted to see me, but that’s a hassle I’d rather put off for as long as possible. So it’s sweet that you offered to start there, but no. Let’s end there after a long, long day.”
Fuck.
I began grinding my teeth, and I definitely wasn’t horny anymore.
Okay, so that was a lie. I was always horny around Poppy. But a little deflated. I’d spent the whole morning thinking Poppy hung around because she wanted to be with us.
Last night had been so good, so amazing, and had made it easy for my brain to bring all those old feelings right back to the front of my mind again.
It was kind of sad—in a pathetic sort of way—that I almost had myself fooled.
But her words brought everything into focus for me.
She didn’t necessarily want to spend time with us, we’d just provided a bit of fun and a convenient excuse to keep her from dealing with her parents. Sure, she might not have minded and she might’ve even enjoyed herself, up to a point, but we were convenient and good for a fun distraction, and nothing more than that.
And that reality hurt worse than a punch to the gut.
Chapter Thirteen
Poppy Evans
We spent a couple of hours driving around town, stopping first to check on friends and acquaintances as well as some of Cooper’s and Nolan’s relatives that still lived in the area.
Our last stop of the day was the grocery store at the end of Main Street. Set at a low point, it was especially prone to flooding when the town got too much rain. And the night had been far too much.
“Y’all got quiet again,” I sighed as we pulled up to the store. The parking lot was mostly underwater, and some of it would have made its way inside the store if not for the line of people hauling sandbags and tarps. “Don’t tell me big, bad Cooper Price and Nolan Reed are suddenly sleepy after a half-day of work.”
I’d meant for it to be a lighthearted joke like the ones we’d been slinging back and forth between each other all day long. Instead, they both seemed to force a half-smile. We piled out of the truck and offered our help to the store manager, who looked like he might’ve been ready to have a nervous breakdown if only he had the time for one.
“Don’t worry,” Cooper called out to him with a wave. “You’ve got a lot of good help here already. We’ll get this place cleaned up before the sun’s gone down.”
“That would be incredible, Cooper, but I won’t hold—”
Whatever the manager had been about to say, I didn’t hear it due to the screeching of my internal alarm as I spotted my dad in the line of helpers hauling sandbags.
I tried to slouch down between Cooper and Nolan, but I’d always been a tall, curvy girl. And while that might be a great combination for plus-size modeling, it wasn’t so useful when it came to blending in with a crowd.
Especially when that crowd was filled with people who had known me all my life.
Just as I ducked down and hoped to find an invisibility cloak lying on the ground, I heard someone call out my name.
“Poppy? Poppy Evans?”
“Shit.” I cringed as the man next to my dad, a family friend who lived down the street from them, pointed directly at me.
“Look, Ezra—over there.” He pointed until half the sandbag brigade was peering toward me. “Isn’t that your daughter? That’s gotta be Poppy!”
“Looks like someone is a hometown celebrity,” Nolan murmured with a smirk as he nudged me forward. “Don’t hide. You know damn well he isn’t going to stop pointing and hollering.”
As much as I wanted to pretend otherwise, Nolan was right. The parking lot wasn’t going to open up and swallow me. The loud neighbor wouldn’t stop pointing and shouting. And I wouldn’t be able to postpone a confrontation with my dad any longer than I already had.
I took a deep breath, smoothed a hand over my damp, mud-splattered top, and across my unkempt hair—no doubt leaving both with a few extra streaks of dirt from my hands in the process. Finally, I put on my best don’t-you-miss-me smile and took a couple of steps forward. “Hi, Daddy. I’ve meant to call all day, but...” I looked around as I swung my arms out either side of me. “Storm clean up.”
The lie died on my tongue as he frowned and half-turned away from me. He muttered something to the guys standing on either side of him, then turned back to give me a hard look.