Page 50 of Safe Place

That smile of hers—it breaks me even more knowing what she’s been through.

“Uh, yeah. I know,” I answer, keeping my tone light. “He’s a great man.”

“I don’t know why that’s so surprising,” Wyatt says, raising a brow at her. “How many Wynns do you know? We literally have the same last name, Sophie. Or is it because he’s white and I’m not?”

“What? No—no, of course not! It’s just—I’ve been following his cases for years. He’s brilliant; a real inspiration. I’ve studied most of his rulings,” she says quickly, almost tripping over her words to defend herself.

Wyatt smiles. “Relax, I’m messing with you. My dad’s white, my mom’s Black—that’s how I got this luscious caramel color.” He winks dramatically. “And you really should start paying attention to people’s last names, Sophie.”

Sophie laughs, and for a second, I almost forget the weight sitting in my chest.

FOURTEEN

You can't just decide what I need and go buy it

SOPHIE

“So, I heard you saw Wyatt yesterday?” Poppy asks, sitting across from me at our embarrassingly small two-person dining table in our tiny kitchen.

“And how exactly did you hear that?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.

A smile curves her lips. “We’ve been texting. Oh my gosh, Sophie, he’s so hot.” She’s practically glowing.

“Yeah, he really is—like overwhelmingly handsome.”

Poppy glances down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her cheeks pink. “You know, if you and Micah weren’t together, I might have been a little worried.”

“Why?”

“You see Wyatt a lot. And you’re gorgeous,” Poppy says simply. “Besides, I’d never hook up with someone you were involved with. Girl code, you know?”

I stare at her, almost laughing. It’s ridiculous—completely backwards. Poppy is stunning; she’s effortlessly beautiful and it’s impossible to ignore. She doesn’t pile on makeup or dress to show off, which is a shame because with her figure, she could stop traffic. She’s easily one of the prettiest people I’ve ever met.

“Poppy, come on. First, Micah and I are not together. And you have nothing to worry about. I’m not interested in Wyatt at all—not that he’d ever look at me that way.” She opens her mouth to protest, but I wave her off. “And I saw the way Wyatt looked at you. You two definitely connected.”

Her face brightens instantly. “We did, right? He’s so sweet. Look.” She pushes her phone toward me, showing their text thread.

Wyatt says good night before he goes to sleep, and it looks like they’ve already had coffee together once or twice. He’s just gotten out of a relationship, and he’s handsome—too handsome. I just hope Poppy isn’t his rebound. I don’t know him well enough to say if he’s the type to sleep around like I know Grant is.

But what I do know is that she has a date tonight. “Is your date tonight with Wyatt?”

“No, it’s with Chris—a football guy. He’s so funny and his body—ugh—is perfection.” She leans back, a small smile tugging at her lips. “And he’s amazing in bed. He does this thing with his hands when⁠⁠—”

I throw my hands up. “Poppy! Oh my God.”

She laughs, completely unbothered. “What? It’s fun. And Chris is upfront about not wanting anything serious, which is fine because neither do I right now. I told you, I want to meet different people, figure out what I like. I’m sure Wyatt’s probably doing the same.”

She says it so casually. So confidently, that I’m almost envious.

I stare at her, trying to mask how clueless I feel. Is this normal? Sleeping with different people while casually dating?

My chest tightens unexpectedly.

Does Wyatt do that too? Does Micah? They’re both gorgeous, wealthy, charming—I’m sure they have tons of options.

I look back at Poppy, who’s scrolling through her texts again, smiling like this is all so easy for her.

I wouldn’t know. I’ve never casually dated around. I’ve never really dated at all.