Page 41 of Prime Time Romance

Fifteen years and still oblivious.

13

Brynn

I wake to the sound of repeated knocking, growing louder and more agitated by the second.

With the grace of a newborn calf, I roll out of bed, then stumble down the hall and stairs, bleary-eyed and bushy-haired. I pass through the kitchen to the back door, where I pause with my fingers on the lock, my city-girl instincts forgetting for a moment where I am.

“Who is it?”

There’s the sound of a deep sigh on the other side of the door.

“Only the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

It’s a female voice.

A voice that I’d know anywhere.

I fling open the door.

“Poppy?”

She stands poised with her hands on her hips. “The one and only.”

Again I get that now-familiar thrill at seeing in the flesh a face I stared at on TV for years. Poppy was—and apparently still is—Sloan Edwards’s best friend. They met in the ninth grade when Poppy’s dad got a promotion and moved Poppy and her twin brother, Peter, to the island from Minnesota. She knows all of Sloan’s secrets and is Sloan’s unwavering ride-or-die (with the exception of the first half of season two, where she had a brief relationship with Spencer).

“It’s so good to see you.” I take in the sight of her. “You look—”

She holds up a finger. “Choose your words wisely, woman. There is only one correct way to finish that sentence.”

“Exactly the same.”

She does. Poppy Bensen looks as iconic as she did at sixteen. Her hair is cut to shoulder length now, but it’s still her signature cherry red, as is her lipstick, expertly applied and as meticulous as the quiet luxury look of her Chanel jacket.

She crosses her arms and sighs again, but there is a satisfied smile on her lips. “I was thinking absolutely fabulous, but I’ll take it.”

“Seriously.” My eyes roam over her still-perfect complexion. “You haven’t aged a bit.”

Poppy breezes past me into Sloan’s kitchen with a laugh. “Well, if you’re talking to Chad, the reason is Pilates and the fact that sixty percent of my diet is bone broth, but between us girls, Doc Martin is doing Botox out of the back of his shop. You should stop by.” She cups my chin with her hand, the pad of her thumb smoothing the spot between my eyebrows. “He’s really quite excellent.”

I ignore what might have just been an insult, too caught off guard by the diamond ring I just noticed on her finger.

“Oh, so you and Chad are still…”

Poppy holds out her hand, wiggling her fingers. “Sixteen years of wedded bliss, or whatever.”

“Wow!” I attempt to school my shock. “That’s really great.”

Poppy and Chad were a huge controversy both on and off the show. After the Watermelon Festival incident with Luce and Spencer, Poppy started to lose interest again and dumped Chad a second time. Instead of just confessing his feelings like a normal jilted ex, Chad proposed. Two episodes later, they were married in a very elaborate beach ceremony at the tender age of seventeen. NBC got so many angry calls from disgruntled parents that they sort of avoided any storylines that directly referenced their marriage and pretended it never happened the entire last season.

I and a majority of the Carson’s Cove fan forum assumed they would have broken up immediately after high school. Apparently, we were all wrong.

“So.” Poppy takes a seat on one of the kitchen barstools. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but you know me, no filter whatsoever.” She leans forward, fixing me with her stare. “You’ve been back in the Cove for twenty-four hours now and have yet to call, text, visit, or send a carrier pigeon. I am starting to feel like you’re avoiding me. Are you avoiding me?”

“No. Not at all. I was going to—”

“Good,” she interrupts before I can finish. “Because Chad said I was acting like a psychopath and that you were probably still getting settled, but I needed to come right over and clear that up. Because Poppy and Sloan are back! And not a moment too soon. You would not believe some of the things I’ve been putting up with around here lately.” She holds up a perfectly manicured hand and examines it.