Page 16 of This Time I'm Keeping You
“Whatever, and Poppy doesn’t remember college.”
“You’re lying,” Em said.“Your shoulders are up to your ears, which is a sign you’re uncomfortable.”
“Okay, fine,” he snarled.“She remembered me and after she’s signed Gracie and Aunt Jean’s copies, she wrote in mine, ‘to the arrogant asshole I knew in college, Poppy Sylvester.’”
There was absolute silence after these words for about five seconds, which must be some kind of record, Nick guessed.Sam then let out a bark of laughter, and the others followed.
“Why were you such an asshole to her?”Em asked, recovering first.“I mean, you’re usually one of the good guys.”
“Love you too, baby sis,” Nick said.
“Everyone thought he was friends with her because she could help him pass his exams, and then one day she said she didn’t want to hang with him anymore.”
Nick glared at Sam, wishing he hadn’t told his brother everything and that his memory wasn’t as good as it was.
“I’m just telling the truth.”Sam held up his hands.
“Why did she stop talking to you?”Em asked.
“I don’t remember,” Nick lied.He was sure he knew exactly what happened, but it had taken him a while to work it out.
“You said she was in some kind of trouble?”Thomas asked.
“I invited her out for coffee after the book signing.She told me to get lost and then walked away,” he said, omitting the part about taking her laptop bag.“Someone attacked her on the street.Before I could reach her, he’d thrown her to the sidewalk.”
Em whistled while the others made several unflattering comments about the attacker.
“Is she all right?”
“Hurt her wrist, concussion, and shaken up.That’s where I’ve been, with her in the hospital.”
“You need to tell Billy in case any of her stuff turns up,” Gracie said.
“Already done.He visited her before I left.”
Thankfully, the server arrived at that moment, so there was a move toward food, which Nick hoped would put an end to the conversation about Poppy.
“So, they got her bag?”Em said, talking with her mouth full, which was an absolute no-no according to their mother.
Apparently, food was not enough of a deterrent.
“Yup.Anyone watch the Hawks game last night?”Nick said.
“Does she have friends and family looking after her now?”the most tenacious Atherton, Gracie, asked.
“No,” Nick said, only just refraining from pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You left her!”
“I will point out that we are not friends,” Nick gritted out, “but I stayed with her the entire time, in the ambulance and at the hospital.I brought her food and a drink, and then I even kissed her….Shit!”Nick lowered his forehead to the table in front of him and kept it there.He could feel the beer ring from his glass dampening his skin but didn’t care.
You never mentioned “kiss” and “woman” in the same breath when your sisters were around.Brothers, yes.They just slapped your back.Sisters, no.They got all bent out of shape if you were kissing and running or kissing and staying or just kissing and they didn’t know the woman.
“You kissed an injured woman?”
Lifting his head, Nick said, “It was a comfort kiss.Cut me some slack, Em, the woman is petrified of hospitals, and it should show how much seeing as she let me help her.”
“You gave a woman who wasn’t family a comfort kiss?”Gracie said.
