AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He said he was falling in love withyou.” Poppy looked over at Hope. “That’s the same thing, right?”
Audrie looked at Hope, too. Maybe her sister could make sense of this.
“Basically, he told his brother off.” Poppy walked over to the chair across from Audrie. With a sigh, she sank down into it and turned it until she was facing Audrie. “He said that because of Rourke, he may have lost the best thing that ever happened to him. And when Rourke said anyone could see that he had feelings for you, Landon said he was falling in love with you.”
“He said that?” Hope stepped closer, standing next to her sister’s chair.
The words sucked the breath right out of Audrie. Falling in love with her? He’d actually said those words. She was still afraid to get her hopes up, but…
Poppy nodded. “Rourke said he knew that. That’s why he sent you two to get the contracts last night. There was no logical reason to send both of you.”
Now that she mentioned it, it didn’t make much sense that they’d gone together. She could’ve taken her own car and saved him the trip to take her back to the barn. She’d like to say she’d been too distracted by everything going on to mention that, but deep down she knew she’d given into the part of her that wanted to be with him.
“Who’s Rourke?” Hope asked, looking from Audrie to Poppy. It hit Audrie just how much her sister had missed.
“He owns Sugar Cookie Productions,” Poppy said.
“Well, he and Landon own it,” Audrie said. “That’s something that came out today.”
“Yeah, what a surprise that was.” Poppy looked over at Hope. “Apparently, the main reason Landon pushed Audrie away was that it was upsetting their main actress.”
“It’s all about the money,” Audrie said, hearing the bitterness in her own voice. “Losing their main actress means losing money.”
“Landon told his brother he’s putting every dime of his investment into eventually starting his own ranch with the woman of his dreams.” Poppy nodded in Audrie’s direction and smiled. “That would be you.”
Audrie took a deep breath. Yes, it was tempting to get caught up in what Poppy was saying. She’d gone down this road many times before, and Hope had been right alongside her.
Hope would pull her back. She’d remind Audrie how many times she’d gotten hurt by falling for this sort of thing.
“That’s so romantic,” Hope said.
Those words caused Audrie to shift her chair until she was partly facing her sister. “What are you talking about?”
Hope put her hands on her hips and stared her sister down. “This guy is obviously in love with you. I have to meet him, of course. But it sounds like you’ve found someone who’s going to fight for you.”
“That remains to be seen,” Poppy said. “He probably thinks she wants her space.”
“If he really wants her, he’ll fight for her,” Hope said.
“But you can only fight so hard.” Poppy looked at Audrie. “If he thinks you don’t feel the same, he’s not going to go all stalker on you and show up on your doorstep.”
Audrie shook her head. “They never do. Relationship after relationship.”
“How many relationships have you had?” Poppy asked.
“Not that many.” Hope dropped her arms to her sides, narrowing her eyes at her sister. “You had a couple of bad romances in the past few years, and both were long distance. Clearly, they were the wrong guys. It was obvious right away.”
“It was not,” Audrie said.
“Not obvious to you,” Hope said. “But I warned you.”
“You did.” Audrie took a deep breath as she thought back on the many times her sister had politely tried to urge her to walk away. “But both times, it seemed like I’d found the perfect guy. In the beginning, they’re always charming and doing everything they can to win you over, and then time goes on, things start to get more serious, and they start pulling away. The next thing you know, they’re not returning your calls or calling you at all, and you end up looking like some sort of whackadoo because you keep trying to get in touch.”
“You thought it was a great relationship…and then it suddenly wasn’t.” Hope looked over at Poppy, who was returning her stare.
They just looked at each other for a long, quiet moment. Audrie couldn’t read in their expressions what they were thinking. And then suddenly, they both shook their heads.
“That’s dating,” Poppy said. “If I had a dime for every time I went out with a guy, even for a couple of months, sometimes longer, and he just decided for whatever reason it wasn’t going to work out… Sometimes, I decided it. You just don’t know until you start getting serious with someone.”
