Page 8 of Poppy Kisses (Return to Coal Haven #3)

She had said she’d hire me, or I could start my own clinic. I’d been too enraptured by the idea of being my own boss to get hired again. There was a niche in the area, and she’d even had to turn down the school’s requests for her to hold workshops for the teachers.

“You know what you want to do, and you know what you’re afraid to do,” Violet said. “But it’s you who has to decide.”

* * *

Jensen

I put the lid on the stain and admired my work.

The cabinets were mine, for the shop I was trying to keep functioning and filled with projects.

As it was, I had four old chairs—none of them matched—and two tables I was refinishing for a previous client.

Bit projects like that helped supplement income, but they wouldn’t sustain a career.

I’d found an old set of cupboards at the thrift store in Dickinson. The irony that I was staining them to later mount so they could hold all my stains wasn’t lost on me. The small dose of humor kept the dread at bay.

Job hunting sucked, but I was getting closer to filling out applications.

Much of it was seasonal or required that I be away from home before school and beyond.

I had Mom to help, but she went south for the winters, and if I told her an inkling of my issues, she’d cancel all her plans.

I couldn’t have that. I would not be the adult son holding his mom back.

I took my phone out and snapped a few photos of my efforts. My website needed new blood—and a fresh set of eyes, but I hadn’t heard from Poppy. I had looked forward to hearing from her again—about an answer of course.

I couldn’t believe I’d suggested we marry. Who’d have thought I’d entertain the idea of saying vows again? I didn’t have an issue with the vows themselves. It was that the other party hadn’t been interested in upholding them, but the agreement Poppy and I would have mitigated that.

An engine sounded from outside.

Had Mom stopped by? She usually waited for when Auggie was out of school, but maybe she needed to talk to me about something private. Like that “friend” of hers in Phoenix she constantly referred to. Dad had passed almost twenty years ago, and Albert was the first man I’d heard her mention.

I popped my head out the door. Poppy paced next to her SUV.

My heart sank, yet I soaked her in. She wore a different set of pants today that didn’t mold over her ass nearly as thoroughly as her running tights.

They were black sweats that cuffed at the ankle that she paired with a long-sleeved shirt.

Now that thing hugged her curves, draping over her tits to pool around her generous hips.

Poppy looked like she had thighs that could crush a man’s head while he begged for it.

“Hey.” I might as well get the rejection over with. After the radio silence for the last two days, I had assumed she was avoiding me and I’d never see her again. She’d decide she couldn’t live in a town where she might run across a guy who’d rather marry her for tutoring than pay her.

Poppy jolted and spun around. “Hey.” Her gaze jumped from the house to the shop. The old farmhouse was white, but between Mom and then me as the owners, it’d been well cared for. The floors inside creaked like an old place, same with the stairs, but it had all its charm.

She twisted her fingers together. “Can we talk?”

“Come on in.” I pushed the door open wider and waited for her to enter.

When she did, she slowed to a crawl, her wide gaze taking it all in.

I had different sections of cabinets. All served a purpose, but had also been for marketing images to show off my skills.

Her attention landed on a bar in the corner with an immaculate granite countertop and a TV mounted over it.

Rows of juice packets and mineral waters lined the back instead of liquor bottles.

The corner of her mouth tipped up. “A juice bar?”

I laughed. “I never made that connection, but yeah. It keeps Auggie entertained when he’s home. If he’s home sick, I have a chaise lounge under that tarp he can lie on.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” She crossed her arms, pulling her shirt tight over the swells of her breasts.

I waited for her to start, but she just rocked on her heels, a nervous energy circling her.

I’d rather have an answer than wonder how much better I could do if I didn’t fuck up my name in emails. “It’s all right if you say no. I mean, it’s a wild proposition, right? I just thought, you know, two birds, one stone. I’d hate to see that house—”

“I’ll do it.”

I shook my head, making sense of her words. Just like that I was engaged again, and I had no fucking clue how to feel other than I was glad it was with a friend this time. “You’ll do it? Get married?”

Color leached from her face, but she nodded. This had to be just as weird and confusing for her, but her reaction made her look ready to vomit. Mutual benefits weren’t enough if the idea made her miserable.

“Poppy, clearly you don’t like the idea—”

“I haven’t had… Men have let me down.” She swallowed, and vulnerability shone from her eyes. “I was never what they wanted, and I’d resigned to never getting married. But this is a business arrangement. Right?”

Her earnest question caught me off guard. She sounded like she needed it to be nothing but a business deal. It was.

So why was there an emptiness inside my chest? “I’ve been through one empty marriage before,” I said carefully. “I don’t care to do it again. So, yeah, just a contract. We each hold up our end and we’re good.”

“We go our separate ways after a year?” she asked cautiously.

But she’d still be in Coal Haven? My neck was tight when I thought she could leave at any time. “In a year, we go our separate ways.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

We eyed each other.

She cocked a hip out. “I’ll let Aunt Linda know. And I’ll have to tell my parents. My siblings know what’s up, but everyone else will have to believe it.”

“Except Auggie.” My son had already seen one failed marriage. I wasn’t going to let him think I’d let down another woman, nor could he start thinking he wasn’t enough for the women in his life.

A crease formed between her brows. “Of course. I wouldn’t want him getting hurt in the process. Whatever you need to tell him, I support.”

Her care when it came to him hit me down deep. “Okay.”

“Okay.” She nibbled on her lower lip.

Could a guy do that while kissing her? Just pull that plump flesh between his teeth and—

“I should tell my parents first. How should we say we met?”

“Won’t the truth work?”

“Your son is a client. Confidentiality.”

“It’s fine.”

“Would Auggie care if people knew? Some kids are really private.”

He might not. He’d been doing sessions for two years. It was a normal part of life for him now. But that she asked? My appreciation grew. She’d shown him more consideration than his own mom. “We can just say we met through Debbie and let people fill in their own blanks.”

Relief crossed her face. “Yeah. That’ll work. And we don’t have to live in the house. Aunt Linda won’t rent it out if we’re renovating. I just have to have been married at least a year to get ownership, but I’m sure she’ll let me work out of it if I’m married.”

Wild rules. “You can live here until the year is up.”

Her mouth dropped open. She closed it. Blinked a few times. Had she not thought about living arrangements? Had wrapping her head around marrying me been that overwhelming?

But then I’d been married before. She hadn’t. “Will you want a wedding?”

“A wedding?” A look of horror crossed her face.

“God no. All that planning?” She shuddered.

“Lily, Violet, and Alder all did a justice of the peace wedding. Well, Violet and Evander had an early ceremony so they could get the house faster and had a reception the next summer. So no. No need for a real wedding.”

She might not want the planning, but there was a longing in her expression that suggested she’d like something more than stopping in an office downtown.

“So?” she asked. “Are we doing this?”

Her gaze stroked down my stain-splattered hoodie that read “Hollis Cabinets,” then lower to my carpenter jeans with a hole in the knee. I leaned against my workbench and crossed my arms. “You don’t want to.”

“I don’t want a relationship, but it’s hard to separate the idea of a marriage with one. Feels wrong.”

“Why?”

She scrunched that pert nose of hers. “I thought you would understand.”

I scratched behind my ear, muddling through her retort.

The curiosity was apparent, but the bitterness was a mystery.

Had she been hurt before? “Because I’m divorced?

” When she nodded, I shrugged. “I still believe in the idea of love and marriage, but I’ve also seen that love doesn’t make it work alone.

Now I have Auggie and he’s my main concern, so no, I’m not after a relationship either. ”

Her gaze was stricken. This wasn’t easy for her, but she wanted the house. I could help with that. “I get a house. You just get some proofreading.”

“I get a respected project under my name.” I pointed to the Hollis Cabinets sign.

In case that wasn’t enough, I had more. “Mom spent much of my early years in school defending me and herself. I couldn’t read well.

I shouldn’t be obsessed with graphic novels.

My books shouldn’t have so many pictures. ”

Poppy held her hand up. “Who the hell said that? Who complained that you weren’t reading and then when you were, in fact, reading, complained about the format?”

“Mr. Gilding.”

Poppy rolled her eyes. “He needed to retire before we even started school.”

“That.” I pointed at her. “That’s why I’m willing to do this. I’ve never had to prove myself to you.”

“We were in competition all the time.”

“Because you were intimidating as fuck.”

She barked out a laugh. “I was not.”

“You were smart and you could kick my ass on the playground. I never could kick as far as you in kickball.” I’d tried. “I used to practice at home, and Dad would help.”

“I learned to boot from soccer. And I used to practice too.”

Pleasure infused me. I’d gotten to her enough that she’d put in extra time to show me up? “Yeah, well, it was impressive and I’d tell Dad that you made it to the swings.”

The corner of her mouth tipped up. “Should I admit to practicing with Clover because you were getting better and better?”

A chuckle burst out of me. “My whole life has been trying to keep up with women.” The humor slowly dwindled.

My time with Hassie had been nothing but me trying to keep pace with her, be good enough for her, only to fail over and over.

“Anyway, it’s a year, and like kickball, we both have a goal and are using each other to improve.

I’ll refurbish the Perez house, and you’ll fix my company. Maybe my brain while you’re at it.”

“Your brain doesn’t need fixing,” she said earnestly.

“I can’t fix your company because I doubt it needs fixing either.

And we can start lessons whenever. I’m subbing for Debbie.

I’d like to talk to the school about doing some workshops over the summer and next fall, but I haven’t been trying to build a client base until I knew which zip code I’d land in. ”

“You’re in my zip code now, four-ten.”

Her left cheek twitched. “I’m a little taller than that these days.”

“You sure about that?”

She scowled, her lips forming that mutinous pout that brought back memories. “I’ll call my parents and tell them the news.”

“I’ll talk to Mom. She’ll have to know the truth.” She had been supportive of my marriage, but she wasn’t Hassie’s biggest fan. “I can’t let her think I’m just going to ruin another marriage.”

“Fair. Then we’ll talk to Linda about when we can get into the house.”

Her use of “we” wasn’t lost on me. Us. We. I had been single for years, but before that, those words had been more like a manifestation. In reality, there had been no us. No we. Just her and whatever she wanted.

No. As much as Poppy fascinated me, I wasn’t ready to dive into a relationship. But maybe I could at least experience a marriage that was balanced for once.