AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yasmine leaned forward, waggling both eyebrows. “Speaking of boats, you went for a ride on one and were pretty scarce on the details. Why is that? Because it was full of love.” She winked, giggling.
I chortled. These two were clearly on a roll. “It’s true I’ve lusted after him for eight years, but we’re not at the L-O-V-E stage. I haven’t even met his parents.” I nodded toward the vase because my hands were full of flowers. “Case in point. I’m putting this beautiful arrangement together to make sure I give the best first impression possible.”
“They’re going to adore you,” Yasmine cooed. “Flowers or not. They’re going to see how sweet, smart, and nice you are and fall madly in love on the spot, just like their son. It’s going to be a slam dunk.”
“I love slam dunks!” Poppy squealed. “Can either of you sprinkle some slam-dunk powder on me? Please?” She held her arms out. “Tell me that exists. In fact, I’ll take some right over and dump it in Leo’s latte. Yes, the man likes a mocha swirl latte with oat milk. No judgment.”
Both Yasmine and I giggled.
“No judgment here,” I said. “But I’m pretty sure slam-dunk powder does not exist.”
“Maybe I should just hire a witch?” Poppy contemplated that, sitting on the stool next Yasmine. “There’s a new crystal shop down the street. They employ Wiccans, right? They must have some sort of love potion. Or have a mortar and pestle that can crunch up some crystals. Crystals provide good chi, then love naturally flows, right?”
“I don’t think that’s how chi works.” I chuckled.
“I take it things are still not great with Leo?” Yasmine said. “That man doesn’t need any love potion. He needs to be sat down and told he’s about to lose a hell of a woman if he doesn’t get his act together.”
“His act is in disrepair,” Poppy replied glumly. “I’m like a broken record with this, but it bums me out. Not ready to give up, yet. But getting close. Very, very close.”
“How about going on a double date with me and Matt?” Yasmine asked. “He’s coming in next week.” She could not mask her excitement. “He’s only here for the weekend, but I think this is going to be the big decider. We’re going to choose if we want to be in a committed relationship or not. Once we do, all bets are off. We’d love to have dinner with you and Leo while he’s here, though. That would be so fun.”
“Oh my goodness!” Poppy clapped. “That’s great news and such a generous offer. But I wouldn’t even know how to ask Leo to come out with us. It would be awkward. We were supposed to meet yesterday, and he didn’t show. I got an apology text from him later, saying he was taking care of some business. No further explanation.”
“That’s hard,” Yasmine commented. “What if Matt and I simply stop by the bar while you guys are working? Then we just casually roll it into all of us going to get something to eat together. That could work.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” I encouraged.
“Yeah, maybe,” Poppy said. “Let me think about it.”
“Just text me,” Yasmine said. “I’m happy to help.”
“I appreciate that,” Poppy said. “I’m such the downer these days. I apologize to you both. I feel like I have my hat constantly out to accept tokens of kindness. What I should actually do is move on with my life. But, then again, he’s still giving me mixed signals. When he is focused on me, life is very good. He dotes on me, he teases me, he looks at me like he wants to eat me for breakfast. My tummy gets all fluttery, my heart races, my pits sweat. It’s wonderful. Then, the next day, it’s like a cyborg clone is at the brewpub instead.” She shook her head. “He’s distant, unexpressive, distracted by his phone. He’s just a whole ’nother guy. I have no idea what to think.”
“It sounds like he might be dealing with something stressful,” Yasmine said. “Maybe a relative is sick, or something’s happened he’s not ready to share yet.”
“That could very well be,” Poppy replied. “But I don’t think so. I’ve asked enough probing questions. He dodges most of them, but if it was a family member, I think he would say something. I’m pretty sure it’s his ex, Pamela. I just have this feeling. She broke his heart once already, and if he picks her again, everything we’ve been working toward is over. All the flirting, all the closeness, all the time spent together will have been for nothing.”
“It hasn’t been for nothing,” I assured her. “You’ve been building up a nice foundation, becoming friends first. He’s not picking his ex over you. He might be dealing with some things now, but he’ll come around.”
“I’ve only met the guy a few times, when I’ve stopped by the pub,” Yasmine said. “But he doesn’t strike me as a guy who would lead you on for no reason. He seems well aware of himself and wouldn’t want to be in a toxic relationship again. Pamela might be trying to seek his attention, and he’s dealing with it. It makes sense that he wouldn’t want to tell you that his ex is giving him a hard time. Because you’re not in a relationship, you’re going to have to be patient until he works it out and is ready to share the details.”
“You’re right,” Poppy lamented. “I just wish he felt like he could share this with me. I’d totally be supportive.”
“As we know from experience,” I said, “men tend to keep emotional issues close to the vest. Not all of them. That’d be a gross generalization. But it happened to me, and it happened to Summer. Xander didn’t readily share everything that was going on with him. Marco was too concerned about hurting my feelings to tell the truth. Leo’s probably worried that you’ll opt out if you know what’s happening with him behind the scenes. He doesn’t want to start something with you until the other stuff is finished.”
“Why can’t they be more like us?” Poppy made a pouty face and crossed her arms. “We talk excessively about our issues. When something’s wrong, we spew word diarrhea everywhere.” She splayed her hands across the table. “It’s an emotional mess, but such a relief at the same time. It’s so cathartic to get it all out there, we do it again and again.”
I giggled. “He’s going to come around. I know he will.” I threaded the last myrtle stem into the vase. It looked phenomenal. A few peach-colored roses, and it would be complete. I walked to a cooler and pulled open the door, grabbing three roses. Then I took my shears to the thorns and placed the stems in the vase. “How does it look?”
“Like pure joy,” Poppy said. “For real. Gorgeous.”
“It looks like it was assembled with love,” Yasmine said. “Just plain old caring, empathetic love. Not the L-O-V-E kind. I honestly can’t wait for you to meet Marco’s parents. We’re going to have to go out for coffee in the morning, because I’ll want to hear all about it.”
“Let’s do breakfast.” Poppy clapped. “Summer can probably make it, and Jenny might be free. She’s working a more normal schedule these days, something like eleven to eleven. Dang, they make those doctors-in-training work hard.”
“Breakfast it is,” I told them. “I’ll text the group chat tonight with a few highlights.” I set the entire vase on a shelf in a cooler. I was meeting Marco in a couple hours. Then we were picking up food and heading over to his parents. They lived in a suburb about twenty-five minutes away. I had a ton of nervous energy, but I was extremely excited.
“Don’t be overwhelmed when Aleah breaks out the photo albums,” Yasmine cautioned. “She loves to reminisce, and the pictures of Marco as a child are utterly precious. She has a stack of them this high.” She made a wide gap between her hands. “No, probably this high.” She spread her hands farther apart. “I’m not joking.”
