Page 15 of This Time I'm Keeping You
Having a large family was the best, but sometimes you wanted to sit on something, mull it around a while, and talk about it when you were ready… or not.
“Spill,” Gracie said.
“Remember Poppy Sylvester?”
“The writer?”Em screwed up her face, which made her look about ten.
“Didn’t you go to college with her?”
Nodding, Nick pointed his bottle at Sam.
“Weren’t you two friends or something?”he added
“We were.”
“She left suddenly.I don’t remember why.Didn’t you guys fall out?”
“Yeah, I was a jerk,” Nick said.
“I remember those days.You thought you were the shit,” Gracie said.
“Thanks,” Nick drawled.
“How’d you meet her again today, and what kind of trouble?”Thomas asked.
As the lawyer in the family, he liked to get all the facts on the table straightaway.
“I went to her book signing.”
“Oh my God, Poppy Sylvester!It just clicked!”Gracie said.“I love her books.”
“I know and went to get one signed for you and Aunty Jean for her birthday,” he added to strengthen the reason he was there.Luckily, they bought it, because Gracie squealed.
“How’d Poppy look?”Sam asked.
Hot.Nick thought about the body beneath that dress, her lovely face, and the mass of blonde hair piled on top of her head.
“She’s good,” he said.“Anyone ordered yet?”he added.Food, to the average Atherton, was as vital as air for most people.
“Yeah, yeah.”Sam waved his hand about.
“What did Poppy Sylvester say when she saw you?”Em asked.
He sighed.
“It’s all coming back to me now.”Sam snapped his fingers.
“Oh goody,” Nick said.
“You and Poppy were sort of friends, and then suddenly you weren’t.You told me about her.”
“What’s a sort of friend?”Thomas asked.
“A friend sometimes, but only when you want something,” Sam added.“Nick was a butthead in college, remember?”
He glared at his brother.“Shouldn’t you be nice to me, seeing as I’m your blood?”
“Since when is that a thing?”Thomas said.
