Sweeper
Page 37
My throat feels tight as I huff out an incredulous laugh. “Hiya, Poppy. I erm…hardly recognise you.”
“Oh, Book, it’s only a haircut.” She pulls back much too soon and whacks me on the chest like we see each other every day and the earth isn’t spinning off its axis right now. “I’m the same old blundering mess I’ve always been.” She looks past me, still gripping my arms for balance as she skates her way to the doorway. “Well knock me over with a feather, look at the Harris Twins! All grown up and STD-free I assume since I hear you’re both off the market?”
Cam and Tan chortle like morons. When she exchanges hugs with them, I take the opportunity to check out her backside because, well, I can’t help it, I’m still floored. She never had an arse like that in secondary school.
“You’ve come a long way from singing show tunes in the park, Pop,” Tanner says playfully as he ruffles her hair.
She beams. “Well, as you can see from the mess I’ve made, some things never change.” She looks Tanner up and down and gives his beard a tug. “I’d say you’ve come a long way from shagging girls that snuck in through the conservatory.”
“Camden did that, too!” Tanner defends, his hand against his chest in mock insult.
Camden’s got his flirty voice on thick when he adds, “Had we known you’d grow up to be such a fox, we would have kept a closer watch on you.”
He winks and Poppy’s throaty laugh pierces through my chest. Annoyance creeps over me as I watch my two brothers blatantly flirt with her. It reminds me of all the other times in my life when they took the spotlight and left me in the shadows.
My voice is gruff when I interrupt. “If you two are done sexually harassing Poppy, maybe you could grab me a broom to clean up this mess.”
Poppy’s big round eyes slant in sympathy. “Sorry about all this, Booker. I guess it’s good I leave the fancy footwork to you guys.”
Camden returns and hands a broom over to me. “No worries, Pop. It’s the strikers who have the golden feet, not the keeper. We’ll let Booker clean this up while Tan and I help you with the rest of your stuff.”
Poppy tries to argue, but the two idiots are already ushering her carefully over the marbles and down the stairs before I have a chance to catch a second glance of her. That reunion did not go at all as I expected. (continue reading Keeper…)