Page 75 of Half Baked

I’m leaning in to kiss her when her question stops me abruptly. I wonder if we aren’t in a place where stop-ins are anormal thing. “I wanted to see you,” I tell her cautiously. She couldn’t have changed her mind in one day, right?

“Oh, that’s sweet,” she breathes, bringing her hands up to loop around my neck.

Her embrace settles my racing heart. Taking her face in my hands, I stare into her eyes. “What’s going on?” I watch her try to look anywhere but at me. When she doesn’t reply, I guess, “Is this about the show?”

“Yes.” She bites her lip and gives a small nod.

Just this morning, the world felt brighter. The sunrise more stunning as I sat on my surfboard and basked in the pale pink light. Now, the sunset is blazing through the front window of the bakehouse, and I hate the darkness that is settling over Poppy’s features.

“I need you to tell me what happened,” I urge, catching her hand in mine to stop it from picking at the loose thread on her apron. “Please.”

“Tara came in.”

“Today?”

She nods again.

“And you didn’t call me?” I hate the idea of Poppy getting cornered, even if I’m confident she can hold her own. She shouldn’t have to all of the time.

“Tara asked me not to. Her angle was to get me to agree behind your back, clearly.” She pauses to roll her eyes. “She tried to make it sound like we would have a simple chat, businesswoman to businesswoman. It was insulting how she thought she could trick me with such an obvious approach.”

With our fingers intertwined, I pull Poppy to the prep table in the back and sweep her up to sit on the metal surface. My hands settle on either side of her, the table feeling ice cold after the warmth of her hand. But it’s better this way, having her eye to eye with me for whatever we are about to wade through.

“What did she say?”

“The show is over. It’s not happening.”

A knot tightens in my gut. “I have a feeling you’re leaving out some important details—like how that decision came about.”

“The price was too high to pay, so I made the call. Although Tara really didn’t take it well. She told me she’d be back with enough lawyers to crush mylittlebakery.”

“What about us making this decision together? Don’t you trust me?” I lift a hand to drag it through my hair and turn away, looking out the front window and watching the golden hour paint the wharf in its glow.

“I do, I trust you. But?—”

“But you made this call without me? Does this at least mean you will let me help you or?—”

“I didn’t have a choice,” she replies with force.

“Explain it to me then.” My voice is shakier than I expected. Straightening, I pace back and forth across the kitchen. If she doesn’t let me help her now, she’ll lose this bakery. She’ll lose out on the most important thing to her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her jump down from the table. She closes the distance between us and takes hold of my arm. Pulling me back towards her, she is softer when she speaks again. “Stop moving, Hayden. How am I supposed to talk to you when you are prowling around like that?”

“I’m not prowling. What does that even mean?” I mutter, lifting my gaze to stare into those beautifully disarming eyes. She places a palm over my heart and my own hand automatically rises to close around hers.

“Tara told me that the only two options were to plaster your family story as the headline, or not do the show at all. And there’s no way I’m going to use you like that.”

“Poppy,” I whisper. “Do you realize what you are doing?”

Sliding her hands up to cup my jaw, she levels me with an amused look. “I believe it’s called a gesture, Baywatch.”

I rest my forehead against hers and sigh. “You can’t do this for me. I know you were counting on the money to keep the bakehouse open.”

“Why can’t I? It’s about time this”—she lifts a hand and moves it from her chest to mine—“goes both ways.”

My mouth is on hers in an instant, desperate to show Poppy what this means to me. Because I don’t have the right words to tell her. She chose to protect me. She pickedme. And there’s nothing in this world that could ever feel better than Poppy Wheeler picking me.

Chapter 34

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