Page 18 of No Take Backs
Well, not completely. I do give him a bright smile before walking away with Killian still safely ensconced in my arms.
“Don’t know why I bother,” I hear Logan mutter as I walk down the hall, his voice tinged with a mix of exasperation and affection. “Every single woman in our lives is wrapped around his finger.” There’s a hint of pride in his tone, too—a recognition that his son, even at such a young age, has a power over us that’s impossible to resist. And it’s true. Killian has this way of making you forget about everything else, of drawing you into his little world where nothing matters except the next giggle, the next smile.
“It’s the red hair, Lo.” Poppy keeps talking after I shut my bedroom door, but I can’t hear what she is saying.
“Alright,” I tell Killian. “You sit right here in the middle of the bed, and I’ll change.” Setting him down in the middle of the blankets, with a pillow propping him up, I smile at the bubbles he keeps blowing while clapping his chubby little hands together.
Once I change my shirt, because there really is nothing wrong with my black leggings, I pick the baby back up and walk out of my room with a smile on my face.
“We’re ready.” Handing him back to his father, I smile at Logan’s scowling face.
Poppy claps her hands together excitedly. “Yay. I’m really happy you’re coming.”
Feeling the need to be just a little bit sassy, I raise an eyebrow and cock my hip slightly. “You realize that you and Logan are forcing me to go, right? If I had my choice, I’d just order a pizza and stay in my pajamas.”
“Looks like you’re still in your pajamas to me,” Logan pipes up as he walks by the two of us and out my still-open front door.
I glance down at my shirt and shake my head. “It covers my butt. I don’t know what he’s talking about. Leggings are pants.”
Poppy snorts and gets off my couch, patting me on the shoulder as she goes. “Yeah, they are. He’s just upset that I refuse to stop wearing mine, too. Something about everyone being able to see my ass? I dunno. I’ve bent over and taken pictures of myself, and there’s no way they’re see-through.”
The fact that Poppy tested to make sure her leggings aren’t showing her ass makes me smile, and I find myself laughing when we join Logan outside.
He’s already put Killian in his car seat and is waiting with the passenger door of his truck held open for his wife.
“Can the two of you hurry, please? I’m hungry, and he’s getting ready to go down for a nap, which means we might actually be able to eat dinner in peace and quiet instead of with your boob out and stuffed in his mouth.” He is grumbling about it, but I’ve seen him shove his son into Poppy’s lap more than once so that she can feed him, regardless of who is around at the time.
“Yeah, yeah.” I walk over to my car and open the driver’s side door. “I’ll meet you there.”
Poppy glares at me over the hood of Logan’s truck. “If you ditch me, I’m going to send you a bunch of gummy dicks in the mail.”
“That’s not a thing.”
But even as I turn the ignition and follow them to Lucy’s, I know that if there is a way for Poppy to torment me with gummy dicks, she will find a way to do it.
The fact that she is standing behind Logan’s truck with Killian in her arms and a grimace on her face when I pull into the empty spot next to her a few minutes later tells me that she doesn’t trust that I’ll show, either.
“I was going to send Logan back to kidnap you if you didn’t show up,” she tells me with the biggest smirk I’ve ever seen in my life. “I’m glad you didn’t make me call in the big guns. What’s going on with you, anyway?”
Ignoring the sudden anxiety filling my stomach, I straighten my spine and follow Poppy to the front doors.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” I admit when there isn’t anyone else around. “I’m nervous about starting the new job. I’m anxious about the change, and being around a bunch of people I used to work with is gonna be awkward. I know some have to think I’m a traitor for ditching the PD.”
“You’re fine.” Poppy laughs. “You’re not the first to leave BPD, and you won’t be the last.”
We walk into the restaurant, and the moment the door swings open, a loud round of applause erupts around me. The sound startles me so much that I nearly trip over my own feet. For a split second, I’m completely disoriented, my heart pounding as I try to figure out what the hell is going on. My first instinct is to look over my shoulder, thinking the applause must be for someone else. But as I turn and see there’s no one there, I realize the whole room is looking right at me, their faces lit up with smiles and excitement.
The realization hits me like a ton of bricks.
The celebration is for me.
My breath catches in my throat, and I feel a flush creeping up my neck. The applause continues, and I can barely muster the strength to put one foot in front of the other. My legs feel like they’re made of jelly as I force myself to walk forward, each step shaky and uncertain. I’ve never been good with surprises, and this one has me feeling completely out of my depth.
“What is this?” I think I’m asking Poppy, but she’s vanished from my side and is currently handing Killian to his father.
Abandoned and feeling ridiculously alone despite the fact that I’m a grown-ass woman, I turn around and try to figure out what is going on.
“Look up, Virginia.”