Page 93 of The Me I Left Behind

“Oh, I’m not too hungry.”

The older woman tossed her the side-eye. “I didn’t ask you if you were hungry.”

A not-so-subtle message. Poppy wanted her to eat.

“Fine. I’ll have some. Right after I pump.”

“Good. There are no breast milk bottles in the refrigerator. Only that stinky formula. I swear, I think that gives him gas.”

Lilly nodded. “I know. Max is home, so I switched, but I shouldn’t have.”

Again, Poppy glanced at her from the stove. “Man needs to stay out of woman’s business.”

“I know.”

She’d made the mistake of telling Poppy a while back Max didn’t want her to breastfeed Leo. Poppy hadn’t taken too well to Max after that. And if she knew how he’d treated her today, she wouldn’t have liked that, either.

They’d both seen enough abuse of women—physically and emotionally—living on the station in the outback. Poppy had left her partner because of it years ago, and moved to the city. She wouldn’t stand for it now, either. Lilly had also seen her fair share of violence between her parents, and others, too.

So, she wouldn’t say a word about any of it to Poppy.

“The man and you argue this morning?”

Well, shit.“No, Poppy. Leo was just fussy, and I was aggravated.”

“Hmpht.”

She didn’t believe her. Whatever.

“You working today?”

“I canceled my showings. I’ll reschedule. Wanted to check with you first to see if you can come tomorrow or Friday.”

Poppy turned. “You know I can come whenever you need me, Lilly. Just say.”

She knew that. “Tomorrow then. Can you come early? I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have plans.”

“Plans?” The woman’s face lit up as she turned toward her. “You and that baby are my plans, you know. You are my life.”

Lilly’s heart just about jumped out of her chest. If she wasn’t attached to the breast pump, she’d have bounced up to hug Poppy. “You’ve been my friend for a very long time. Thank you, dear Poppy.”

“I’ll be here at eight.”

“Good.”

Poppy dished up the eggs and sausages, then looked at Lilly. “More than friends. Family.”

Lilly smiled. “Yes. That’s right.”

“Now, you finish up there and eat this. I’ll fix you a cuppa, too. Then we talk.”

Lilly looked up into her friend’s soft gray eyes. She’d been looking into those wise eyes for most of her life. “Thank you, Poppy,” she whispered. “You’re a gem.”

Poppy lifted Leo out of his seat and started singing to him as she ambled toward the sliding glass doors leading to the deck.

They spent the rest of the morning chit-chatting about this and that. Lilly didn’t let the conversation turn to Max, no matter how much Poppy wanted to talk about him and kept nudging her in that direction. It was too fresh for Lilly. There were too many things she needed to ponder, consider, sort out.

Tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow.