Page 115 of Indecent Lies

It took only several weeks or so for Poppy to realize the town of Armado Springs was a close-knit community despite its city feel.

The people were inquisitive.

And they demonstrated wariness for anyone new.

They also looked out for one another.

She was used to being asked now if she was Texas’ girl.

It happened in the pharmacy, the grocery store and a quaint little bookstore she stopped inside just to browse.

And when she told them that yes, she was Texas’ girl, they got this look on their face.

Either one of awe, this was usually from women. She couldn’t blame them, because Tait was the hottest man alive. The other look was suspicion. This one she took offense to and didn’t engage with those people.

She avoided seeing Paige that day when she was coming out of the library with another woman. They were laughing together and the sight of her ex-boss made Poppy hide behind a wall until they passed by.

And because she was having a cringe-worthy morning already, she decided to go for the full package and she called her mom.

Yeah, that reception was lukewarm, at best and her heart jolted inside her chest. Even though she knew her parents and wasn’t wholly surprised.

“I need you to tell dad to have my account unfrozen. What he’s done is unfair.”

“You brought it on yourself, Penelope.” Her mom’s toneless voice said as though she were already bored of the conversation and thathurtbad.

This was usually the part where Poppy would back down.

She always did.

She didn’t want to do pageantry for eight years, her mom said it was good for her, so she did it. She didn’t want to spend summers in Boulogne at an all-girls finishing school, her mom insisted and Poppy gave in.

“How did I do that, mom? By not wanting to marry a man who I didn’t love?”

“It’s whom, dear.”

Oh, my God. Poppy looked to the sky and prayed for patience and understanding. Her mom was a different generation, she did have an arranged marriage, if you can believe that. She always thought her parents loved one another, now she wasn’t so sure of that anymore.

“I need money, mom. Dad had no right to lock my account. That money was from nana, it has nothing to do with him.”

She had money now, thankfully, but her mom didn’t need to know that.

Several days ago Tait found her looking at the wedding gown hung up in his bedroom, she’d unzipped the bag and let the lace fall out. It truly was a beautiful dress. His hand touched her waist from behind and he said, “bet you looked gorgeous in that, little girl.” She’d blushed. “You wanna put it on?” She’d balked at the suggestion, unsure why at first. “No, I don’t want you to see me in a wedding gown,” what she meant was, she didn’t want him to see her in another man’s wedding gown. She wanted to wear a wedding dress meant for him, meant to walk down the aisle to him. He palmed her bottom, told her he still thought she’d look sexy and then told her to do what she wanted with the dress.

That day she put the dress on Craigslist for 10 grand, less than 9 thousand that was paid for it. Within the hour, it was sold and picked up.

Now she had money, but this was the principle of the thing.

She needed to pay Tait back.

“It has everything to do with him when you humiliate us and our name.” Evelyn Astor imparted.

“Is that really all you’re bothered about? You don’t ask how I am, how I’m even living with no money. Just so long as I don’t blacken the family name…”

“Penelope, I don’t care for your tone, it’s so unbecoming, dear. Your father is only looking out for you and he said when you’ve gotten over your silly tantrum, you can come home and we can fix this.”

Poppy’s eyebrows shot up into her hair. “Fix it how?”

“We’ll have a sit down chat with Ronnie and his family.”