AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The doorbell rang, but no one stopped moving.
“I’ll get it,” I offered, knowing who it was.
Daisy kissed me on the cheek. “I’m gonna go change.”
Dottie waved Sophie over with her hands in the universal position of a messy cook. “Come on, honey. Wanna help snap peas?”
Sophie skipped across the kitchen—seriously I didn’t know if that kid walked anywhere—and as I walked out, it was to the sound of Dottie’s gentle voice, instructing Sophie on what to do and where she could sit. I wondered if my mother would have been like this with her. I wondered how dad would have been with her too. Remembering that she only had a pack of unruly assholes and her deadbeat mother cut me to the quick. But seeing her with Dottie was a balm on the wound. Every little kindness was.
When I opened the door, it was to the knot of my brothers, who were so imposing in size, they made the front porch seem smaller than it was.
“You bring those potatoes?” I asked with narrowed eyes.
Cade held the casserole dish up from behind the other two, his hands in oven mitts and his face flat. “We’re not completely useless, you know.”
With a tilted smile, I stepped out of the way so they could file in. “Debatable.”
He rolled his eyes at me as he passed and I closed the door behind him, following them past the atrium in the middle of the house, and into the kitchen.
The room erupted into greetings, everyone wearing a smile as they said their hellos. Dottie, whose hands were now clean, hugged Carson, kissed Cole on the cheek, and took the casserole from Cade, offering her cheek for a motherly kiss that he provided.
Grant had cleaned up, abandoning his biscuit endeavor to get everybody drinks. And within a few minutes the men were sitting around the kitchen table with beers in hand while the women worked.
“You sure we can’t help?” Carson asked, not liking the imbalance of work.
Dottie waved him off. “I’m sure. We have a system.”
Jo snorted a laugh. “Yeah—the system is that we cook and y’all clean up after us.”
They looked to me for confirmation, and I shrugged one shoulder, bringing the bottle to my lips.
Dottie smiled at him. “I appreciate the offer though. Most men wouldn’t.”
I set my beer down, turning it in my hand on the table. “Forgive us, Dottie. We aren’t used to having things like this done for us.”
“Green flag,” Poppy joked from the stove.
“Green flag?” Cole echoed.
“You know. The opposite of a red flag.”
When the laughter died down, Carson said, “Seems the campaign is going well, Poppy,” His eyes betrayed his interest, and it had nothing to do with the campaign.
“I saw signs for the charity all downtown,” Cade added. “And Bettie’s windows are all soaped. She’s donating a portion of her proceeds, isn’t she?”
“She is,” Poppy answered. “It’s going well, I think. There’s a town hall meeting tomorrow night that I’ll have to argue at, but to be honest, I kinda enjoy it. Especially when I’m arguing with Doug Windbag. He has the IQ of a koala.”
My brows drew together. “Are koalas dumb?”
“They have the smallest brains of any mammal, eat food they can’t digest, and they carry chlamydia. They’re dumb as shit,” she answered.
“I gotta admit,” Carson started, “I do love watching you argue with those assholes. Might have to make that meeting.”
“Bring your popcorn,” she said, plating what was in the pot.
“If there’s popcorn, can I come?” Sophie stood next to her at the stove, poking at the bubbling peas with a wooden spoon.
“No,” several of us said at once.
Grant, smiling, spoke up. “Poppy is a machine. She single-handedly organized the entire town campaign and started a charity in such a short period of time, it gave everybody whiplash. I keep telling her she oughta run for mayor next term. Mitchell could use a boot in his ass.”
“Here, here,” Cole said, raising his bottle.
“What are we toasting?” Daisy asked as she entered in the cornflower blue dress I’d seen her in that first day, the day I started losing myself to her. I wish I’d known then what I knew now. I’d have scooped her up right then and kissed her stupid. After beating Windley’s ass, since we were daydreaming.
“Poppy for mayor,” Jo cheered.
Poppy rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Can y’all imagine what a mess that would be? I hate rules and authority. It’s a problem for me.”
Daisy, on seeing dinner well attended to, headed in my direction, resting a hand on my shoulder. When I looked up at her, she smiled, leaning in to kiss me gently. With no chairs left at the breakfast table, I pulled her into my lap, enjoying the warmth of her body against mine.
They were still talking about Poppy’s candidacy, or Jo was at least, ticking off reasons on her fingers. But I was barely listening, too busy toying with Daisy’s fingertips.
