Page 68 of Second Verse

Now that she had that confirmation, Norah didn’t know what the hell to do with it. She wasn’t even sure why she’d asked. Maybe it was just the sudden realisation that she had no idea what Poppy’s sexual orientation was. It was bound to come up sometime. Poppy wouldn’t be a nun forever. She was probably fighting them off daily.

‘Speaking of dating, I assume you’re not ready to jump back in?’ Poppy asked casually.

‘Not bloody likely,’ Norah told her, suppressing a shudder. ‘I think I’ll just wait until Freddie leaves for university. I might think about it, then.’

‘Shutting up shop?’ Poppy asked with a grin.

‘Shut up,’ Norah said with an eye-roll.

They fell into silence until Poppy cleared her throat. ‘Which side of the store doyoushop at, by the way?’

‘Oh,’ Norah exclaimed, surprised. ‘Both.’

‘Yeah?’ Poppy questioned sceptically.

‘Yes, obviously,’ Norah said. She should have knownthat. Why was it such a surprise?

But Poppy said no more about it. Eventually, they pulled into the house, and Poppy said, ‘OK, gimme that thing.’

‘I could do it,’ Norah offered.

‘No, I can’t let your mum think I don’t own my mistakes,’ Poppy said.

Norah thought that was a rather intense reaction to a scratched floorboard, but she handed her the pen.

They went in, and Poppy set to work with the pen (after watching a YouTube video several times).

Norah checked it out. ‘Perfect.’

‘You reckon?’ Poppy asked anxiously.

‘Yeah. Let’s get my mum in and watch her try to find fault with it. It’ll be fun.’

‘If you say so,’ Poppy said with a nervous smile.

‘Mum!’ Norah yelled.

Her mother came in from the back garden. ‘Yes?’

‘Poppy fixed the scratch.’

Her mother raised a cynical eyebrow. She pulled up her specs from a chain around her neck and slid them on, bending down. ‘Where was it?’ she asked.

‘Exactly,’ Norah said with deep satisfaction.

Her mother gave her an irritated look. She got up and turned to Poppy.

‘I think that’ll probably do.’

She left. Norah turned to Poppy, who looked oddly ecstatic.

‘I don’t know what you’re grinning about,’ Norah said. ‘We’ve still got to unload the rest of the van.’

‘Ahh, fu...dge,’ Poppy said with a glance to Freddie, who’d built a large castle in their absence.

‘Iknowwhat she was going to say,’ he told them smugly.

Twenty-Six

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