Page 38 of Wicked Love

“Yay!” Becca does a little dance that she learned from Cassidy and Audrey. “Dance, Dad.”

I chuckle and do a little hip shake, which thrills Becca.

Next, she goes over and carefully picks up Martha. She’s really great with her and Fred was right about Martha, she’s been angelic with Becca. The first few days we had her, I watched like a hawk and told Becca over and over how to approach the dog, how to pick her up, how to leave her alone while she’s eating…but Martha is so easy, I’m not sure it matters.

“We’ll go for a little while and when it’s time to go, I want you to not give me any fuss,” I tell Becca. “We’ll have fun and be happy, and then we’ll leave and be happy.”

I’ll repeat this again on the drive over and when we get there.

“No fuss, I be happy,” Becca repeats. “Let’s go, Daddy.”

I groan and pump my fist in fake excitement. This is probably a huge mistake, but I’m in it now.

When we arrive at Briar Hill, Becca speed-walks into the building. It’s only then that I consider Poppy might not even be here today. Maybe the fun activities will be distracting enough that Becca won’t mind. Who am I kidding? She’ll totally mind.

Janice is thrilled to see us when we walk in the door. It makes me question whether this was a good idea, seeing her level of excitement. But then she seems to get ahold of herself and calms down, walking us through our options.

“I was wondering if we could speak to a Poppy Keane,” I say.

She looks surprised and a little disappointed. “Oh, sure, yes. Poppy is with a group right now, but if you'd like, I can show you around the building, and by the time we get done, Poppy should be available.”

“Great,” I say.

She walks us through Briar Hill and it's an impressive building. A lot of kids are here and they look happy as they do various activities. It’s encouraging to see that the kids are well supervised. Many of the staff are stepping in to help them participate in activities that might be difficult for them elsewhere. I try to stay in the background and not be a distraction, because several of the directors, when they see me, seem to go into shock.

Becca wants to try volleyball and flag football. She's also interested in swimming, even though I remind her that she can swim in our pool any time. My girl has had swimming lessons since she was little, so she's a great swimmer, but it is never quite enough. She would live in the pool if she could.

We come to the end of the tour and are rounding the corner, back to where we started, when Poppy walks through the doorway. She comes to a standstill when she sees me and then looks at Becca, her face breaking into an excited smile.

“Becca, hi!” she says.

“Poppy!” Becca yells.

I don't even bother to remind her about inside voices because they won’t be surprised by her loudness here and she's too excited to see Poppy to hold back. She stops in front of Poppy and stares up at her.

“Ooo, ice lashes,” she says, pointing a little too closely at Poppy’s eyes.

Poppy's head tilts back, and I step closer to make sure Becca doesn’t accidentally poke Poppy in the eye. From here I can see that Poppy has white on her eyelashes instead of black mascara. The look is different, but it works on her. I thinkanythingworks on her.

“Ice lashes,” Poppy repeats, looking puzzled. She lifts her fingers to her eyelashes and freezes. “Oh no, did I not put onmy mascara again? Ugh,” she groans. “This is the primer to make my lashes healthy, and I keep forgetting that it's not the last step because it feels like mascara.”

“Pretty,” Becca says adoringly. “Ice lashes,” she repeats in awe.

Poppy laughs. “Well, I'm afraid I won't have ice lashes for much longer, but I love that name for it. I'm going to get my mascara and fix this. But—oh my God!” she says, suddenly noticing Martha on the leash behind me.

Martha chooses this moment to move forward and sit down at my feet.

“Who is this?” Poppy says, eyes wide. She bites her lip and gives me a funny look.

“This is Martha, our new dog,” I say.

“Wow, she is something,” Poppy says.

“She so pretty,” Becca gushes.

“I love her hair bow. I've never seen a dog like her,” Poppy says, trying to say all nice things when I can tell she really wants to laugh.

Somehow Poppy doesn't make me as annoyed as everyone else who has made fun of Martha. But I don't question that right now.

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