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Poppy’s breathing grows steady, her eyes fluttering closed. “Finn?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“Now that Sunny is gone, should I go home?”
“No.”
She grins sleepily. “You didn’t even think about it.”
“Because I didn’t have to.”
She snuggles against me, her fist gathering my shirt. Her words have gutted me.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever feel sturdy again. And then I met you. This is the only place I’ve felt safe since my dad died.”
This.
This is what I’ve wanted in our relationship for so long, and as I sit with her in my arms, I’m almost too scared to let go.
No, Poppy, I don’t want you to leave because you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Because I love you.
Because if this is where I start, to recognize just how good my life is right now, I know with absolute certainty … I’m already damn lucky.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Poppy
“Do you have any questions for me?” Ann asks, taking her black-rimmed glasses off her face and setting them on her desk.
The sun shines brightly, illuminating Downtown Chicago sitting stories below Ann’s floor-to-ceiling windows. It’s an amazing vantage point, and I can’t imagine coming to work every day and not feeling like you’re literally on top of the world. I’ll be leaving this office shortly with that feeling rattling around inside me.
I look at Ann, then at Kennedy, her assistant. Kennedy and I met this afternoon and have the makings of a new friendship. She’s smart and funny, and we both love O’Dells.
“I don’t have any questions right now, although I’m sure I’ll have a hundred as soon as I get home,” I say, laughing. “So much information has been thrown at me today, and I’ve tried to take as many notes as possible, but this is really like speaking a new language.”
Ann nods. “It’s a lot. I know it’s a lot. But you’ve got a great mission statement and the initial funding. I think our next steps are to get with the accounting and legal teams and have them take a look at our plans.”
“I agree,” I say.
“It’s always better to get their go-ahead before you get too far into the process,” Kennedy chimes in. “Especially in this case. We need to see whether it would be better for Finn to contribute the endorsement money directly to the foundation rather than sending it to you personally. It’s not my area of expertise, nor Ann’s, but the tax implications may be massive if mishandled.”
“Yes,” Ann agrees. “It’s much easier to get a foundation right from the beginning, no pun intended, rather than to untangle problems later. You wouldn’t believe how much initial transparency and organization can affect the longevity and success of a project.”
I nod along, agreeing with everything they’re saying. So much, in fact, that my mind begins taking these lessons and applying them elsewhere.
Mostly, to Finn.
My heart skips a beat as I imagine his handsome face. It’s bothered me for a while that I haven’t been completely transparent with him about my past. I’ve wanted to. I’ve opened my mouth so many times with the words on the tip of my tongue, but before I could press them into the world, I stop.
I don’t believe Finn will be angry with me for not telling him, and it’s not that I specifically think he’ll judge me. He’ll be angry and will probably have strong opinions on the matter, but they won’t be aimed at me.
That’s not Finn.
What I’m concerned about, mostly, is that the way he looks at me won’t quite be the same. Right now, I’m just the Poppy Quinn that I’ve shared with him. Fun. A little goofy. Loyal. A good time who is up for anything, who had previously dodged emotions and relationships. Although when I asked him to remove the “fake” element from our relationship, he’d been so quick to say he already had. And then he’d been so quick to tell me that he didn’t want me to go home after Sunny left. And when I confessed that he was the first person I felt safe with since losing Dad, he didn’t budge. Didn’t blink. He just held me tighter. He’s just so … certain about everything. About us.
