by Colbie Kay
We pull up to a tiny little bar that reminds me a lot of Bubba’s. Julien holds his guitar as we step inside.
The moment we reach the counter, the bartender glances up. “JP.” He smiles.
“Hey, Trevor, can I play?”
“Sure. Stage is all set up.”
Julien leads me to the front table. “Sit here.” I do and watch as he steps up onto the stage. He sits down on the stool and adjusts the microphone.
I begin to hear the whispers of the patrons, growing louder the longer he stands up there. “JP Pierce!” Whistles and catcalls come from the other people in the bar. They’re all excited to see him.
“Hey, y’all. As some of you may know, and others don’t, but this bar was the first official gig I played and got paid. And this guitar here...” He holds it up. “I found in a dumpster and taught myself how to play.”
“What happened with the tour?” A man shouts from the audience.
“You guys know I’ve been doing this a long time, and at some point in time over the past several years, I lost myself.” People begin to sit down while others move closer to the stage. “I needed a break, and I needed to go back to where I came from. I needed to find myself again and figure out what really mattered. So, I went to my hometown, where I had to leave the girl I loved fifteen years ago. She was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, and as we were growing up, we went our separate ways for a while. What she doesn’t know is that I watched her all the time when we were younger. I watched her walk down the halls at school, and I watched her from my bedroom window whenever she was outside. I loved her at eight-years-old. To my surprise, when I returned home, she was still the girl next door, but my time had finally come to get her. And she’s here tonight.” His eyes find me. “Stand up, P.”
When I do, the crowd claps and hollers, and I quickly sit back down. My cheeks heat from all the eyes on me. I don’t know how he does it because I couldn’t have all that attention on me.
He continues, “I’m not gonna play one of my songs tonight, but I’m gonna play the one I used to sing to her to make her fall asleep.”
Tears brim in my eyes as he begins to play, but when his voice sings the lyrics to Travis Tritt’s Best of Intentions, they cascade down my cheeks. He immediately begins Gonna Be Somebody afterward. He certainly did become somebody, and together, we have the world at our hands and wishes to make.
A fter Poppy and I got married, we couldn’t agree which house to live in, but when her parents returned, the decision became considerably easier. We chose to live in mine. We traveled back and forth to Nashville whenever I needed to for work because I did return to my music career. This time though, I’m doing it my way and being true to myself.
“J, it’s time.” Poppy’s voice startles me, causing me to jump off the couch.
Scrambling around the house as if I don’t know what the hell I’m doing…because I don’t. We’ve gone over the plan, I don’t know how many times, but those words coming out of her mouth have made my mind suddenly go blank.
“It’s time! It’s time! Oh, Goddamn, it’s time,” I yell as I’m still trying to find what we need.
“Julien?” Poppy questions with a grin as I’m racing around like a crazy person.
“I can’t find the keys. Where are the bags? How long do you have? Is he coming right now?” Holy shit! I’m gonna be a dad!
She waddles over to me and cups my cheeks in her hands. “Calm down.” She smiles, and that smile does me in every time. “I have the bags by the door, and the keys are right here.” She holds her finger up, and sure enough, they are dangling from it.
“How are you so calm?” I shake my head.
She grins. “It’s not the first time I’ve done this.” I’m exceedingly proud of how far she’s come in the last year. She’s able to freely talk about Serenity, and her therapy appointments have been going great. “I’ll call Mom and Ashley on the way. Let’s go.”
I speed all the way to the hospital, and from there, everything is a blur between getting her prepped and checked in.
“It’s time to push, Mrs. Pierce,” The doctor tells her, and Poppy does exactly as she’s supposed to. Ten minutes later, our son is born, and they take him over to get him cleaned up.
“I’m so proud of you, P.” I kiss her forehead.
“I love—” Her words are cut off as her eyes unexpectedly close.
“Poppy?” I question.
The doctor shouts, “She’s hemorrhaging! Get her to the O.R. STAT!”
Everyone begins to rush, and they roll her out of the room. I’m chasing after them, but I’m stopped at the door. A nurse says, “Mr. Pierce, you have to stay here.”
My legs give out, and I fall to the floor. My heart beats wildly as my body shakes. I stare at the tiled floor, trying to find a reason, an explanation, something to tell me what happened. I have nothing except the sinking feeling of my soul being ripped away from me. “Mr. Pierce, we need you to go to the waiting room.”
Like a zombie, I trek to the place where her family and Ashley and Billy are waiting.
“Julien?” Her mom calls my name, worry evident in her tone. She and Ashley jump from their chairs. “Julien, what’s wrong?” Her mom asks.
“I don’t know. She was bleeding more than she should. They took her to the O.R. I tried to go, but they wouldn’t let me.” I’m staring at nothing, attempting to wrap my head around what’s going on.
“The baby?” Ashley questions.
“He’s okay. They were cleaning him up.” Ashley runs out of the room.
Tears pool in my eyes and begin to spill over.
“She’s going to be okay.” Poppy’s mom wraps me in her arms as I sob.
We wait and wait and wait to hear something until finally, the doctor enters. “Mr. Pierce, may I speak with you privately?”
“Where is she? Tell me here! Tell me now!” I storm over to him.
“I’m sorry; she didn’t make it.”
My heartbroken screams fill the waiting room.
I t’s been eight years since I lost Poppy, and not a day goes by that I don’t miss her. I’m raising our son in Wishing like Poppy would have wanted, but we travel a lot when I’m on tour. Poppy’s parents eventually put their house on the market to return to the road. Ashley’s been a lifesaver throughout the years, and I can see why she was Poppy’s best friend.
Mason is growing into such an amazing young man, and Poppy would be proud. I know she’s up there watching over us. I throw my arm over his shoulders while we sit in the grass, waiting for night to fall. “I hope you had a great eighth birthday, Mason.”
His head lifts to meet my gaze. “I did, Dad, but why are we sitting outside?”
I smile. “Because we’re waiting for night to fall. When your mom was your age, her grandpa told her a story, and now, I’m going to tell you. Wishing, Kansas got its name because this is the only place you will ever see fireflies all year round no matter what. So, you take this mason jar.” I hand it over to him and continue, “Go catch as many as you can, then bring it back here with the lid on, and once you make your wish, you release the fireflies. They’ll fly up to the heavens, and all of your wishes will come true.”
As I watch our son run around the yard, I think back to when we were eight. I miss Poppy so damn much, and I wish she could be here with me now, raising our son, I wish she didn’t have to miss this. I stare up at the stars. “I love you, P.” The wind blows against my skin. She’s here with us now.
“Hey, Mason, whatcha doing?” The little girl from next door with blonde hair and blue eyes skips over to him. I grin because she reminds me a lot of Poppy. Since she moved into Poppy’s old house, she and Mason have become best friends. I’d almost venture to say that time is repeating itself.
Mason smiles brightly at her. “Hey, Piper. I’m catching fireflies. You wanna help?”
She giggles. “I don’t have a jar. My mom might, though.” She runs back over to her house.
“I
caught so many, Dad!” Mason plops down next to me.
“Yeah, you did!” I laugh and throw my arm around his shoulders once again. He makes his wish just like I told him too.
“What did you wish for?” I question curiously.
He smiles up at me, and it’s huge. “That I’m gonna marry Piper one day.”
I burst out laughing. “I wished for the same thing with your mom.”
“And it came true!” He states excitedly.
“It sure did, Mase.”
“Hey, Dad, when I release them, do you think they will fly all the way up to Mom and my sister?”
Piper returns, sitting down next to Mason with her jar in hand.
My throat feels tight. “Yeah, I do.”
He opens his jar, and we watch the fireflies fly away.
THE END
Grandpa “Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days”- The Judds
American Honey- Lady Antebellum
I’m Gonna Be Somebody- Travis Tritt
Best of Intentions- Travis Tritt
Gonna Be Me- N’SYNC
Someone You Loved- Lewis Capaldi
King of Shadow- Kat Cunning
You Say- Lauren Daigle
Faded- Alan Walker
This Woman’s Work- Maxwell
Call You Mine- The Chainsmokers, Bebe Rexha
Small Town Boy- Dustin Lynch
Greatest Love Story- LANCO
Maria Vickers- always my rockstar! I love your face so much for everything you do to help me with each of my stories. You love me even when you hate me!! I am honored to be able to work with you, and I’m so happy to be able to call you a friend.
My husband- as always for dealing with the kids and holding down the house when I’m locked away. Thank you for supporting me always and dealing with the late nights and my sometimes ranting about these characters.
T.E. Black- This cover! I had a vision and you brought that to life! I am always so excited to see the next one and you never disappoint. Your talent is simply amazing!
My Betas- I might have fist pumped for making most of you cry with this one! Thank you for all that you do to help my books weave into the stories they become.
Readers- Thank you for reading Poppy and Julien’s story! I hope you loved them as much as I loved writing their story. I love every single one of you and I have to thank you for being the reason I get to do what I love every single day. All of your support and kind messages telling me how much you loved one of my books keeps me going! Keep reading and I’ll keep bringing the stories.
Bloggers- thank you for all you do for us authors! We couldn’t do what we do without you all.
Colbie Kay always had a love for reading and wanted to pursue writing. In 2015 she made that dream come true when she published her first book. Since then she has become a stay-at-home mom, writing full-time and bringing her passion to life through the words she creates.
The most fulfilling part of being an author for Colbie is to take readers into a fantasy world between the pages of her books. Becoming an author has also given her the opportunity to fill another passion of hers, which is traveling. She loves being able to attend book signings and meeting everyone that shares her love of books.
Colbie has many more stories to share with you, so be sure to connect with her and keep up with what is coming next.
Connect with Colbie Kay
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Satan’s Sinners MC Series
City Lights
Quiet Country
Night Sky
Returning Home
Changing Lanes
Runaway Love
Finding Hope
Fate’s Falling
The Betrayed (A Rocker Series)
Saving Dawson with novella Saving Grace
Surviving Colton
Georgia Peaches Series
(Co-Written with Chianti Summers)
Sweet Southern Secrets
Sweet Southern Satisfaction
Sweet Southern Summer
Cobras MC Series
Double Crossed
ScentSations Empire
Lily
An Assassin’s Love Series
(Co-Written with KB Bennett)
Tainted Souls
Table of Contents
Full Page Image
Copyright
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
I. Poppy
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
II. Julien
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
III. Poppy & Julien
16. Julien
17. Poppy
18. Julien
19. Poppy
20. Julien
21. Poppy
22. Julien
23. Poppy
24. Julien
Epilogue
Play List
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Colbie Kay