by Tonya Kappes
“I know.” Elizabeth kept a hand on the wheel and shifted with the other. “I heard he was getting worse.”
“Mama told me that she tried to contact me several times, but Rob kept her letters from me.” Poppy ran her hands down her dress. Keeping her hands busy kept her from crying.
“Bastard,” Elizabeth muttered under her breath. Poppy couldn’t help but look over and smile at her friend. Even if Rob had turned out to be the greatest guy on earth and he’d done Poppy dirty, her friends would always take her side.
“I can’t believe it.” She shook her head. “You do know that if I’d known, I would’ve been here.”
“Yes, I know. You love the Coach and so does this community.” Elizabeth’s words gave Poppy a little more comfort to add to her guilt. “The real issue is that jackass Rob Ellington keeping you from us.”
“It was as if he was a magician.” Poppy’s voice cracked. She swallowed the lump of tears. “One minute I was here and the next minute there with no one.”
“Aw, honey.” Elizabeth flipped her blinker on and pulled into the church parking lot. “You were so busy. I know you kept us in your heart. We all know the real Poppy Bailey. Not some Harper Ell-ing-ton.” Elizabeth fully opened and closed her mouth on each syllable.
“You sure do know how to make me feel better.” Poppy looked up, surprised they were already at the church. She had been so caught up in what had happened with the Coach, she hadn’t paid a bit of attention to Elizabeth’s driving.
“There you are.” Ted Bailey opened Elizabeth’s passenger door as if he’d been waiting there for Poppy and Elizabeth to pull up. “I heard my little girl had come to her senses and come home.”
“Daddy!” Poppy jumped out of the car and wrapped her arms around her father. “I’m so sorry.” The lump she tried to swallow came right back up. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Oh, Poppy.” Her daddy curled her closer and ran his hand over the back of her head with a soothing touch. “You couldn’t have done anything anyway.”
She pulled back and looked up at him.
Ted Bailey was always so handsome. He always had a nice tan from working outside on the Coach’s farm and fixing up the rental properties they took care of while her mama did the paper- and office work. His blue button-down shirt made his crystal blue eyes stand out. They were settled deep within crow’s feet and his hair had a little more white around the edges.
She loved the fact that she’d gotten her mother’s height and not her father’s, only for the fact that when she looked up at him, she still felt like the little girl who stood on his feet with her arms tightly snugged around his waist while he danced around their kitchen with her attached.
“Hello, Mr. Bailey,” Elizabeth said.
“Hi there, Elizabeth. I hear I’m coming to a big wedding in a couple of weekends.” Poppy’s dad had always been a nice southern gentleman. He kept his arm around his daughter, sturdy as a rock.
He’d always been the voice of reason between Mary Louise and Poppy’s fights. He was good at communicating both sides of their arguments, but in the end, Poppy knew her daddy wasn’t going to go against her mama. It was just the way it was, but she’d still fought like hell.
“I hear there is a big wedding.” Elizabeth let out a deep sigh, not without Poppy noticing how uncomfortable responding seemed for her. “I’m going to go on in.”
“Okay.” Poppy lent a sweet smile toward Elizabeth.
“That doesn’t look like a happy bride.” Ted Bailey put his hands behind his back and rocked back on the heels of his rubber-soled black shoes. He’d politely nodded and stepped next to Poppy to let all the churchgoers pass. “I mean, when you got married, you never stopped grinning from ear to ear.”
“Every girl dreams of her wedding day.” A tad bit of jealousy stuck Poppy in the gut. Elizabeth was way smarter than Poppy. She had been willing to push down any doubts about marrying Rob in order to have that show-off wedding.
“Not that one.” His head nodded in Elizabeth’s direction. “She doesn’t look a bit happy.”
Poppy glanced over at Elizabeth, who had gotten stopped by a few engagement-ring gawkers.
“About that wedding.” Poppy’s daddy’s voice was low but bucked like a bronco between them. “I know you are a grown woman. Normally, I’d tell you that you made your bed, now lie in it and keep my mouth shut, but you are my daughter.” His brows lifted over his staring eyes. “And this is my monkey and my circus.”
“Daddy, not now.” Poppy put her hand on her dad’s arm. “I just want to go in there and enjoy Louetta’s homemade spaghetti dinner because I’ve been eating potato chips, MoonPies, and sipping Ale-8 for the past forty-eight hours.”
“You better figure out when, because that boy’s lawyer keeps calling the house, badgering your mama and me about your whereabouts.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked forward. “I told the man I didn’t know your whereabouts and that wasn’t a lie. I knew you were in town but wasn’t sure where you were until your mama told me you stopped by the office.”
“Daddy…” Poppy knew he was upset she hadn’t contacted them when she first got into Hudson Hollow. “I would have come by earlier, but when I saw the farm was in shambles, I had to get it somewhat fixed up because I was planning on staying there.”
“You do understand why we had to sell it?” her daddy asked her.
“Yes. I do.” A lump gathered in her throat. “And I’m trying to figure out who bought it before you sign the papers. It can’t be sold. I’ll buy it.”
“With what?” her daddy asked. “From what that boy’s lawyer says, you don’t have a dime to your name. You signed off all your rights to his money and your money when you married him.”
“That boy?” Poppy’s brows drew together. Her daddy had never referred to him as his son-in-law. It had always been “that boy.”
“He’s never gained my respect.” Her daddy’s words hit her just as hard as her seeing Rob in bed with Melanie. “He never came to your mama and me to ask if he could marry you. All he did was come here and make fun of your upbringing.” Her daddy wiggled his finger in her face. “The one thing the Coach always told you was to never. . .”
“‘Never forget where you came from,’” Poppy whispered. “Well, I’m home now.”
“For how long, Poppy?” Her daddy didn’t seem to be buying what Poppy was trying to sell him. “When you get a little hankering for the big life, are you going to go run off? Not call home for months?”
“Listen, I never knew you called me. Rob never gave me the messages.” The more Poppy heard of how Rob had treated everyone from her past, the more she realized she was only a possession to him, like all his other trophies and the horses in his life. All he cared about was winning, and he sure did win her.
“Y’all all right out here?” Mary Louise called out in a friendly, warning tone from the door of the church. “Supper is served, and from the looks of it, everyone wants seconds. So y’all better hurry up and get in here.”
Poppy’s dad gave her one last, long, good look before he turned toward the church.
“I’m starving.” He put his hand out. “What do you say we go get our bellies full?”
“Sounds good, Daddy.” Poppy took her daddy’s hand. When he squeezed it, she knew everything was going to be all right. It might be rocky getting there . . . but eventually was what was keeping her going.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I’ll see you over at the Not Much for a drink,” Poppy told Lily Jane and Elizabeth, both of whom she had talked into going to the hole-in-the- wall bar with her to make good on her promise to Chester Castle, her new boss. “I’ve got a quick errand to run.”
“What?” Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. “What are you up to, Poppy Rose Bailey?”
“Nothing.” Poppy put her hands in the air. “But can I borrow your car because you drove and you can drive on over with Lily?”
“Sure can.” Elizabeth threw Poppy the
keys. “You aren’t skipping town in my car, are you?”
“No!” Poppy exclaimed. “How many people are going to ask me that tonight?”
Poppy’s belly was full of delicious homemade spaghetti and her ears were full of hearing everyone she passed ask her how long she was going to be in town, followed up by a “we’ll see you next time, if there is a next time.”
Poppy walked through the church undercroft one more time and said her good-byes to everyone before she left. She even told them how she was doing a little morning radio gig on the HH FM, and to be sure to tune in. Her mama and daddy told her it was too early for them, but she knew they’d be listening along with everyone else in the room. If not out of much more than curiosity and gossiping.
Elizabeth’s old yellow convertible VW Bug was easy to spot in the church parking lot. She had gotten the car when she was sixteen. Every weekend, the three of them would pile in the old convertible with the top down and cruise up and down Main Street, with all their laughing and carrying-on. Elizabeth would forget to check the gas gauge and many times run out. Luckily, the Coach always came to their rescue when their parents told them to walk home. And Poppy knew it was her time to come to the Coach’s rescue. He needed her now more than ever.
Poppy looked up before she got into the car. The stars dotted the night sky. The weatherman had predicted a lot of rain for the week.
“No rain tonight, just like the Coach always said.” That was one old wives’ tale that had always held truth. If the stars were out, it wasn’t going to rain. Many time the farmers around Hudson Hollow would plan their crops and days around the calendar in the Farmer’s Almanac.
Poppy opened the car door and popped the manual levers to peel back the convertible top before she got in and headed down Main Street toward the Walmart. The wind whipped in her hair as she breathed in the crisp night air. Her heart jumped when she felt the beginning of a faint smile show up on her lips. It was a pure joy she hadn’t felt in a long time.
In the past, she’d push the gas and fly down Main Street; tonight she found downtown Hudson Hollow curling around her, allowing her to take in all the things she’d left behind. A welcoming hug to her bruised heart.
The horn honking behind her reminded her that she couldn’t just stop at a green light in the middle of town.
Poppy gave a quick, friendly wave and headed toward her destination. Walmart was the only store open for twenty-four hours and the parking lot was empty. It was time she got a cell phone and got in touch with the rest of the world. Poppy knew it was time to move on, and that started with telling Sid.
She was happy to see that the electronics department was not busy because she wanted to get in and out. She just wanted a basic phone. Nothing fancy, like she’d had or she’d easily fall back into being glued to it. When she’d entered Pine Crest and they’d taken her phone and iPad, she had felt like her lifeline to the world had been snipped with a pair of scissors.
“Hi.” Poppy smiled at the young, pimply teenage boy behind the counter.
“What can I do for you?” the boy asked.
“I’m looking for a basic phone.” She pointed to one of the smaller flip phones in the glass case.
“That won’t get you data.” The boy pointed to the latest iPhone. “Now, that beauty will get service anywhere around here. And it’s on sale for six hundred dollars with a two-year contract.”
Poppy’s skin crawled when she heard the word contract. It was something her agent always started their conversations with: “Poppy, you have to fulfill your contract. Poppy, it’s in the contract. Poppy, we can get a bigger contract.”
“I don’t want a contract.” Poppy’s words seethed out of her mouth.
“Oh-kay.” The boy’s brows narrowed. “But if you are wanting something basic like you said, why don’t you do a data plan?”
“Data plan?” Poppy questioned, feeling really stupid. After she’d hired her agent, the agency had taken care of those things. Plus Rob had gotten her the latest and greatest phone available and paid the bill but quickly snatched it up from Pine Crest when she walked in. Along with every other device she had.
“Yeah, like Snapchat and stuff.” The boy pulled out his phone from his pocket and showed her the picture of a yellow ghost.
“I don’t need all that.” If Poppy had gotten the data, the first thing she would’ve done would be to Google herself, and that was something she was sure wasn’t good for her. Over the last few days, she’d surprised even herself by her lack of interest in the rest of the entertainment world, or even about what they were saying about her.
Usually that was the first update she got from Benji when she walked into the studio: what celebrity magazine she’d been featured in or where the next big gig might be.
“I just want a phone where I can make and take a few calls.” Poppy knew it was time not only to have a way to contact the Coach and her parents but to get in touch with her agent too.
As much as she wanted to just stay at the farm, go to the new little radio gig, and maybe help out her parents, she still had an obligation to Sid, and she wanted to know about her retirement account.
“All right.” The teenager sighed. “You’re gonna have to pay for the phone, and here is the amount for the plans.”
Within minutes, Poppy had bought a thirty-dollar phone and a thirty-dollar prepaid phone card and was out the door.
“Well, shit.” Poppy had unflipped the phone when she got into the car and saw there were no bars for her to make the call. She flipped it closed and stuck it in her purse. “Maybe it’s a sign.” Poppy sighed, wondering if she should wait until morning to call Sid.
“Always look for a sign,” the Coach would tell her before taking his finger and tapping it on her chest bone. “Feel it in here.” She could still feel the weight of his stare.
She stuck Elizabeth’s key in the ignition and popped the old clutch to get it going. A single tear trickled down her cheek. The rain might not fall over her tonight, but her memories were raining down, and no matter how much she tried to tuck them in the back of her mind, they were fighting their way forward.
The Coach was the one who had taught her how to drive. He’d made her learn on an old tree-shift manual farm truck. “You never know when you’ll be in an emergency and the only thing you have to drive is a stick shift.”
He was right. When she and Lily had gone to a high school field party where there was illegal alcohol, Lily’s car was a stick shift. Lily had drunk too much, and when the cops came to break up the party, Poppy had to jump in the driver’s seat to get them the hell out of there. That might not have been the emergency the Coach was referring to, but at eighteen years old it had seemed like a very big emergency.
Poppy pulled the Bug into an open spot on the street. Not Much was a few doors down. She clipped the convertible top back in place and headed on in.
The big wooden door had a small window in the middle. She tugged on the black handle. The cigarette smoke rolled out of the door like the inside of the joint was on fire. Clearly Chester Castle didn’t have a no-smoking policy like the rest of the world. But this was Hudson Hollow and most people around here were tobacco farmers. They rolled and smoked their own stuff.
Poppy cleared a path through the smoke with her hand. The ruckus of chatter was already at high volume over the jukebox. The sound of laughter rang out at different parts of the bar.
“Over here!” Elizabeth screamed and waved her hands in the air. She and Lily were at a table near the pool table in the far right corner. The dartboards were located in the opposite corner of the bar and it was packed.
Poppy waved and weaved through the tables until she made it to the middle of the bar, stopping after someone called out her name.
“Poppy! Four fingers?” Bunny was behind the bar and holding up four fingers.
Poppy nodded. It’d been a long time since she’d had a four-finger pour of bourbon, but she knew she was going to need it if these memories cont
inued to creep up out of nowhere.
Poppy leaned up against the bar between two occupied stools and waited for Bunny.
Bunny polished a spot on the bar with a tea towel before she set the glass of bourbon down.
“Elmer T. needs a clean spot.” Bunny winked, referring to the expensive bourbon that was brewed and named after the brew master himself. A Kentucky celebrity in his own right, with nice, tight-tasting bourbon.
Poppy picked up the glass and took a sip, letting the flavor, balanced with fruit, honey, and vanilla with a light spiciness, give her a long, warm finish as it slid down her throat.
“Ahh.” She opened her eyes and let out a long sigh.
“Still good?” Bunny asked.
“Better than good.” Poppy held up the glass to toast Bunny and walked over to the table where Lily and Elizabeth were downing a couple of beers.
“You don’t mess around, do you?” Elizabeth winked.
“Are you kidding?” Lily drew back. “The clear in that Mason jar from the Coach’s house the other night was strong.”
“That’s because it’s so old.” Poppy took another sip and another quick one before she sat it on top the table and climbed up on the bar chair. “Still didn’t stop us from drinking it, did it?” Poppy smiled and held her glass in the air.
“Cheers!” the three yelled in unison.
“Looks like the gangs all here.” Scooter walked up behind them and put his hand on the back of Poppy’s chair. His other hand had a pool cue in it. “Poppy, your hair looks better than the last time I saw it.”
“All because of me.” Elizabeth put the beer bottle up to her lips and took a big drink. “It was pretty nasty before she stepped into the Hair Depot.” Elizabeth looked at Lily.
“Yeah, I heard that,” Lilly confirmed.
“Oh, I get it.” Poppy grinned. “Now it’s time for me to take crap for leaving town.” She put her hands up in the air as if she were giving up. “Go on.” She waved them on.
“I don’t think that’s necessary. After all…” Brett walked up with a tray full of long necks. Everyone but Poppy grabbed one. “You have redeemed yourself by taking in a mama cat and her kittens.”