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I was surprised to hear her say she was stepping away. I figured maybe she was feeling insecure about being mistaken not only about me, but about Blake.
I'd spent a while the night before explaining myself to her. I told her about my job, about my specialty, about how our meeting had been planned.
She'd listened quietly while Yogurt snored at our feet, then concluded she didn't care. But I knew her well enough to know she was dissecting all our interactions, our conversations, trying to find moments when she felt she should have seen what was truly going on.
"She's stubborn," her mother declared, making me look down to find her sitting up on the couch, cradling a mug of coffee in her hands.
"I've noticed," I agreed, moving down toward her.
I'd never needed to "meet the mom" before. And this was possibly the worst situation to have to do so, but we were all just making the best of a shitty situation.
"She said she's stepping away for a while," I told her.
"Good. I think that's good. She might not have processed it all yet, but this is going to crash down on her sooner or later, and she is going to need time to process it all."
"Yeah," I agreed, hoping she would come out of it as emotionally unscathed as possible, but knowing there would be damage. Of course there would.
"I'm really glad you will be here to help her through it. I know you have gone through a lot in life as well. I think you have a certain insight that I won't have. And I'm really happy she will have that with you. But," she said, giving me a hard look. "But if you end up hurting my little girl, your body will be fed to hogs. I heard somewhere that it is the best way to get rid of a body."
"You have to pull the teeth and shave the head first. Pigs won't eat those."
To that, her mom's smirk spread. "Good to know," she said, toasting me with her mug just as Poppy's office door opened.
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked, suspicious, a little uncomfortable with her mom and boyfriend having a private conversation without her, possibly about her.
"Oh, nothing. Just how to dispose of Finn's body if he does you wrong."
"Did you settle on hogs or lye?" Poppy asked, giving us a small smirk, clearly glad we weren't rushing to ask her how she was, treating her with kid gloves.
See, I knew Poppy.
And while, outwardly, she wanted everyone to treat her like she was fully capable of handling anything that came her way, in private, she liked to be comforted and reassured.
I could give her that.
"Oh, honey, where would I ever find any lye?" her mother asked, rolling her eyes. "I do, however, get my meat from an organic farm a couple towns over. I imagine their hogs are always ready for a snack."
"God, we probably all need therapy," Poppy declared, letting out a small laugh as she lowered herself down on the couch. "Hey, I was held captive and beaten. I should have sympathy coffee in my hands right about now. And no," she said, giving the two of us a look, "I am not too proud to use my kidnapping as an excuse to be waited on hand and foot."
"That's what you have a man for," her mother said, patting my knee in an 'up-to' motion.
So I up'd-to.
I got her coffee.
I would gladly wait on her hand and foot.
Because she was mine.
She saw it all, all the ugly shit, all the half-truths, all the full-lies, all the flaws, all the shit I never considered acceptable. And she accepted it.
The amount of love I felt for the woman was almost terrifying. Because I knew what it felt like to almost lose it. And I never wanted to feel that again.
"So," she said after her mom headed out a while later, leaving us on the couch, watching Jane Austen movies for some reason. "What's next?" she asked.
"What's next for what?" I asked.
"For us," she clarified.
"I have no idea." But I hoped to hell it wasn't anything near as dramatic as a kidnapping "But I can't wait to find out."
"Me either," she agreed, resting her head on my chest.
Poppy - 1 week
I'd gotten some blowback about stepping away.
People were pissed that I refused to give them the gory details about Blake, his obsession with me, and his killing spree that led me to stabbing him in the eye with a bucket handle.
I had to relive it all for the detectives already when they had me in for questioning. And I'd given the details to Finn as well.
I didn't want to do it again.
Maybe that made me a coward. And it was a monumentally stupid thing to do career-wise. The amount of money I could have made off of Youtube views alone would have set me up for many years.
