Page 70 of Half Baked

And with no regard for the fact that he is supposed to be serving, Hayden casts a glance over his shoulder at me.Pretty girl, he mouths as Beckett shoves him out of the way to send the ball across the net instead. With a wink in my direction, Hayden turns back around and doesn’t miss a beat for the spike coming back over to him. He sends it sailing over the net with ease.

“I like him,” I admit quietly. “A lot.” Then with a laugh, I add, “How the hell did that happen?”

Chapter 31

Hayden

Poppy smells like salt water from the pool and smoke from the fire. Today’s gone better than I could have ever imagined, and I tighten my arms around her as she nestles herself between my legs. It felt like I was pushing my luck, pulling her down into the Adirondack chair with me. But here she is, pressed against my chest, wrapped under a blanket with me in the growing darkness.

Across the fire pit, Ivy yawns from Tripp’s lap. He whispers something in her ear, then the two of them rise. “We’re taking off. Thanks for today,” Tripp says, turning to me and then Beckett. All that remains around us are Wren, Stevie, and Beckett. And they stand with Tripp and Ivy.

“We’ll head out with you,” Stevie says. She and Wren look at Poppy, not so subtly asking her a silent question. They’re waiting to figure out if she’s going with them. I really hope she’s not.

“I can take you home later,” I offer, desperate for more time. I never feel like I can get enough of it when it comes to her.

She twists to look up at me. “Okay. I’ll take you up on that.”

Beckett stands as well, mumbling something about walking them out. And by doing so, he’s effectively left the two of us alone. As they disappear into the house, I tuck the blanket intighter around her. Poppy sighs contently in response, and then the only sound for some time is the crackle of the fire and the steady break of the waves beyond the cliff.

“Thank you for being here today,” I whisper after a moment.

“I should be thanking you for continuing to invite me. For not giving up on me.”

“I would never give up on you,” I say, nuzzling my face in her hair. The truth is, Icouldn’t. Even when I tried time and time again.

It hadn’t been as hard when I was in the Coast Guard, we hardly interacted before then. She was simply the pretty girl back home that I found myself thinking of time-to-time. Once I came home though, and really started getting to be around her, I knew I couldn’t leave her ever again.

“We need to talk about the show,” she murmurs. “I’m going to tell Tara no.” There’s pure determination in her tone. As far as Poppy is concerned, this isn’t up for debate.

Too bad for her.

“What happened to us talking about it?”

A fierce little huff escapes her. “Why would we consider this?”

“Have you decided to take me up on the offer to help with the bakery?”

Poppy adjusts the blanket, pulling it up to hide the majority of her face. “Not particularly,” she mutters.

“Then we find out what Tarathinksshe knows about my family.”

She turns in my arms, looking up at me skeptically. But she doesn’t press me for details. Poppy has no interest in prying me open for her own personal curiosity. I pull her into a kiss, urgent to convey my appreciation for that.

But I realize, as her lips lock with mine, that Iwantto tell her everything that happened. Things I’ve never wanted to tell anyone, not even Beckett.

“My parents weren’t going out to dinner that night,” I start, tucking her against my shoulder. “My dad was evading arrest.”

She sucks in a breath, taking my hand in hers under the blanket. I squeeze her tight and continue. “I know it came out that he was on the FBI’s radar before the accident, but it was more than that. My dad wasn’t a good man. He was embezzling customer funds, and the feds were closing in. That night, he’d gotten a tip that they were coming for him, to finally make an arrest.”

“Hayden—”

“It gets worse,” I assure her. “Beckett was out at the time, so his original plan for all four of us to flee the country wasn’t going to work. Or so he said. I always thought that was his excuse to leave us behind. Mom believed him though. She thought that the two of them would go first and then send word for Beck and me to follow.”

This is the first time I’ve said this aloud, I didn’t even tell Beckett these details. I didn’t think it would do him any good to know he had been blamed for our being left behind. I still recall all the details that night, like it was yesterday. Mom crying and hugging me, Dad rushing around and yelling at her to pack. He was frantic, an animal that was about to be caged at last.

“My parents never said goodbye to him. And really, it was only my mom that said goodbye to me. Then they were gone. I’m not sure what happened, but there were skid marks on the road and the guardrail was busted through. They found the car at the bottom of the cliff, just a few miles up the road from here. But there was never any trace of them.”

Chest tight, I can hear the strain in my own voice. Poppy must hear it, too, because she takes her hand that isn’t holdingmine and lifts it to cup my jaw. “I’m so sorry, that must have been awful to deal with alone—and that young. I just can’t imagine.”

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