Page 132 of The Disasters of Dating
“Poppy?” I take a step toward her. But I don’t have to go any farther because she launches herself into my arms.
“I was hoping it was you.” She whispers into my neck.
I hold her a little tighter. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wasn’t trying to trick you.”
“I think I’ve known for a while now but maybe didn’t want to accept it?” She shakes her head as I lower her to the ground. “Which makes no sense. But none of this makes sense.” She waves her hand between the two of us. She looks up at me from beneath her lashes. “Why, Keaton?”
I take a breath. “Do you want to talk about it over ice cream? Or do you want the explanation first?”
She pulls her adorable bottom lip between her teeth. “I think I need an explanation first.”
I’m so thrilled she hasn’t cut off all communication. I’m willing to do almost anything she asks.
“It started completely as an accident.” I sit on the hood of my car (don’t worry, it’s a rental), and Poppy sits next to me as I explain how Lincoln came to be. When I finish, she leans over and takes my face in her hands.
“Thank you, Keaton Lincoln Barrington.”
Whatever I thought her reaction was going to be, it wasn’t this.
“Whatever for?” I mean, I’m not trying to put ideas into her head, but I can’t help but wonder why she isn’t screaming at me. “I tricked you into telling me things for a month. How do you not hate me?”
She actually chuckles. I have a brief—very brief and don’t tell her about it—moment where I wonder if she’s high? What else can account for her reaction?
“Thank you for being a safe place for me to voice my feelings. Lincoln is—was—one of the only people who understood me. Ever tried to understand me. For the first time in a long time, I felt seen.”
I frown. “But why could you talk to him and not me? Why wasn’t I safe? I’ve tried to see you…to make you realize how incredible I think you are.” I’m not going to lie. I’m a little hurt by her confession. “Why was he so safe?”
“You did make me feel safe and seen. I wouldn’t have asked you to come to dinner last night, if you weren’t my safe zone.” She releases a breath. “But Lincoln was different. I think because he was anonymous. I couldn’t see if there was judgment on his face. And for the first time, I was talking with someone who didn’t see me as a hippie or flowerchild. He just knew what I told him. No first impressions based on looks.”
I nod. When she says it like that, I kind of understand what she’s saying.
She sucks in a shaky breath, and I see the tears coming again. I reach out and take her hand in mine, not sure what else to do.
“No one in the world would have known that was the picture to get me.” She wraps both her hands around mine. “But you knew. Whether as Keaton or Lincoln, you know me.” She leans against my shoulder.
“Poppy?”
“Hmm?” She hums against my arm.
“I think I might love you.”
She sits up and looks at me, a huge grin on her face. “It’s okay, Keaton. I think I might love you, too.”
I put my hands on her face and bring her lips to mine. It’s a soft kiss, shorter than the others have been. I think it’s because I know this isn’t the last time. There will be many more of these to come.
“There’s one other thing,” I say when I pull back.
Poppy drops her head to the side and looks at me with confusion. “What more can there be?”
I grimace. “I kind of promised Dan that Paisleigh would go out with him.”
Poppy drops her head back and laughs. “Dan? Why?”
I lift a shoulder. “It’s the only way he’d agree to be my delivery guy last night.”
She laughs. “My mom said he was the best-dressed delivery guy she’s ever seen. And had the nicest car, too.”
I take her hand and pull her off the hood of my car and toward the ice cream shop. “Do you think Paisleigh’s going to kill me?”
