Page 83 of Second Verse

But she wasn’t going to let it go the way it had last time. The first chance she got, she was going to face this head-on, talk to Norah, and air it all out. Then, they could go back to being friends. Poppy could manage that. She was an adult now.

Right?

***

Poppy was behind the counter of The Sugar Cube, but her brain was elsewhere. She’d had a rough morning.

It had taken just about every drop of will she had this morning to convince Luna that she wasn’t going to school as Elsa fromFrozen. Luna had negotiated masterfully, saying she wasn’t going to school otherwise.

Poppy didn’t have any cards to play at that point except bribery, winning her over with a promised visit to McDonald's at the weekend. Poppy had felt like a failed parent as she took an appropriately dressed Luna to school. But she got the kid in the door, a thin victory and a draining one.

Poppy had been hitting the coffee hard as a result, and she was on the jittery side by the time Norah came in at twelve fifteen.

‘Hi,’ Norah said, smiling widely. Poppy could have counted all her teeth.

‘Hey. Missed you at the gates this morning,’ Poppy observed.

‘I was running early for a change,’ Norah said, the hundred-watt smile still going strong.

Poppy couldn’t match it. So she went the only way she knew. ‘What’s up with your face?’

Norah’s smile fell off. ‘What?’

‘You’re smiling like... It’s a bit Joker if I’m honest,’ Poppy said frankly.

Norah laughed nervously. ‘Sorry. I’m just trying to be normal. I guess I missed.’

Poppy nodded. ‘Sit down, I’ll bring your usual.’

Norah went and sat down while Poppy made a coffee.

Poppy scanned the cafe. It was not busy yet, but it would be shortly. Hard to squeeze in a heart-to-heart around the lunch crowd. She’d have to make it quick. The rush was upon her.

She took the coffee over to Norah. ‘Can I sit with you a minute?’

Norah nodded, looking slightly daunted. ‘I hoped you would.’

They were on the same page, at least. This was going to be a good old-fashioned air clearing.

‘Right, so...’ Poppy began, lacing her fingers together across the table, which was weird. She felt like she was interviewing Norah for a job. ‘So last night... happened.’

Norah nodded. ‘Yup,’ she said.

Poppy hesitated in case there was going to be more. There wasn’t. Norah was letting Poppy do the heavy lifting. Poppy didn’t know if that was fair, but she was willing to do it anyway.

‘We’d had wine, and then you watched me play the guitar, which is, of course, a known aphrodisiac,’ Poppy said, trying to keep things light for both their sakes.

A nervous giggle escaped Norah. She was quick to shut it down.

‘But that’s not... We’re not going down that road again, are we?’ Poppy asked.

It was a real question. Part of her still clung to the tiniest hope that she might not seem sure that she wasn’t travelling that way with Poppy.

‘I can’t,’ Norah said with conviction.

A little bit of Poppy shrivelled up and died. Another part of her sighed and fetched the shovel.

‘I don’t mean to implyyouwanted anything else. Like, I’m sure you’re just as... I mean, I know it was an accident for you too,’ Norah babbled.

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