Page 13 of The Perfect Deal
Poppy’s fork clattered against her plate. “Wait—Liberty isn’t scarfing her food down and licking the plate. My god, what in the world is the matter with you?” she asked me, a true look of concern on her face.
Laughing, I shook my head at her and took a sip of my tea. “Nothing. I’m just a little nervous about this situation with Joshua, that’s all.” I could hardly say his name without blushing. I’d already talked to Poppy about camp the other day, when Joshua had first asked me to be his new photographer, but we hadn’t spoken about it in detail. These days, it was difficult to keep Poppy focused on anything other than the wedding. Not that I blamed her. I would be excited if I was marrying my childhood sweetheart as well. Feeling a pang in my heart, I tried to remind myself that it might happen for me as well—someday.
“It sounds like an amazing professional opportunity,” Poppy said. “I’m super happy for you about that. But then, it also seems like a great chance for you and Joshua to get to spend some time together and not have to worry about Landon catching you.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know what his deal is. Every time I try to hint to him that the two of you would be great together, he seems blind to the fact that Joshua doesn’t think of you as a kid sister.”
“I know,” I admitted, wrinkling my nose. “I’ve never said anything to Landon about it because I know he’d be furious, and I don’t want to drive anything between him and his best friend, but this is getting old. You’re right. Maybe without Landon hovering, Joshua and I will finally have an opportunity to chat and see if we could ever make us work.”
Poppy took a sip of her water. “Joshua has always been such a good friend to Landon. It’s too bad he can’t see that Landon isn’t doing him any favors by using the excuse of your ex to keep everyone away from you, including him. I love Landon, but sometimes he can be so stubborn.”
“And selfish,” I muttered before catching her eyes to see if she was upset by that.
“You’re not wrong,” Poppy said with a shrug. “So, I say, go for it. After all, Landon is your brother. He’s not in charge of your life.”
“You’re really encouraging me to do something that could make your fiancé absolutely crazy right before your wedding day?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
With a laugh, Poppy said, “He’ll get over it. He might be my fiancé, but he’s not in charge of my life, and he’s certainly not in charge of yours. He loves both of you so much. Whatever happens, he’ll come around. He can’t keep putting boundaries on your life.”
“Ha! Try telling him that,” I said, and we both laughed. She was right, though. Both Joshua and I cared so much about Landon. We didn’t want to hurt him, but we were modifying our own truths to protect his feelings, and that just wasn’t right. Still, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of what was going on right before the wedding when that wasn’t necessary. We could always wait until after the happy couple returned from their honeymoon to make Landon’s life a living hell.
“By the way, Landon and I have decided to do something crazy,” Poppy said with a grin. “I told him not to tell you because I wanted to tell you myself. Did he let it slip?”
Shocked, I stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out what it could be. “My god, are you eloping?” I blurted, my eyes as wide as saucers.
“No!” Poppy exclaimed, laughing hysterically. “Are you kidding? After all the planning that has gone into this wedding? There’s no way in hell we won’t be getting married as scheduled. No, we are taking all of you on a trip to Florida—the entire wedding party—just to get away for a few days. It’s our gift to you for being in the wedding party. Isn’t that amazing?”
Again, I had no words as I fought to process what she’d just said. It didn’t seem to make any sense to me. “Wait,” I began. “When?”
“Between your camp sessions with Joshua. It was the only time that fit the schedule,” she said as if it was no big deal that we were going on two trips this summer, and she was getting married, all within a few weeks of one another.
“Okay,” I said, knowing it sounded like a question. “That’s—fun.” I wasn’t sure how else to put it. “What brought that on?”
“Well, a couple of things,” she began. “We know we’ll all be going to Bali with Luke and his family, but the whole neighborhood will be there, so it won’t be as intimate. We were afraid we wouldn’t get to spend as much time with our close friends. And then there’s this beach I really want to do wedding photos on. I know it seems silly since our wedding isn’t at the beach, but I’ve always loved those romantic beach photos, so I bought a simpler white gown, and I got a photographer. I’ve got simpler versions of the same maid of honor dress for you and the bridesmaids as well.” She shrugged. “Do you think it’s dumb?”
“No, I don’t think it’s dumb,” I told her quickly. “I think that all sounds very romantic. I would love to come. Thank you for doing this for us.” I reached over and squeezed her hand. While I did think it was a lot, I was glad to be able to go to the beach with my best friend and the other people in the wedding party. It didn’t hurt that I knew Joshua would be there.
I just thought it was a lot. That meant we had one less week to get things done here, and with all of us already planning to go to Bali right before the wedding, if something went wrong, we wouldn’t really have much time to fix it.
That just meant we needed to make sure that nothing went wrong.
After we finished our brunch, we headed out to a nearby florist that grew their own flowers. Of course, Poppy wanted her wedding flowers to be completely organic, wild and free, and it was my job to help her pick the right ones to match the wedding colors and gowns, all of that sort of thing. I didn’t mind at all because I loved spending time with her, but I knew her taste in flowers was way different than mine. I’d be more of a sounding board and yes-woman in this situation than I would be there to offer my opinion. That was quite all right with me.
After several minutes of wandering around, seeing what they had to offer, Poppy stopped in front of a large pot full of wild orchids. “These are gorgeous,” she said, gently fingering one of the blooms. “I’m afraid they wouldn’t match the dresses, though.”
“I do love that purple color,” I said, “but I think you’re right.”
“What about all white flowers?” she asked. “Would that look silly?”
“I don’t think anything you do will look silly,” I assured her. “Although you could do something with that saying Grandma Eleanor said to you, you know, the one about being a sunflower and not a rose?”
“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Poppy said, squeezing my arm. “There are some beautiful antique roses over there, and of course, they have a ton of sunflowers because they take such little care.”
We headed over to look at those particular flowers, and while we were discussing options, a middle-aged woman with a kind smile walked over to us. “Hello there. Can I help you two ladies with anything?”
Poppy smiled and began to tell the woman what she had in mind for her wedding flowers. Mary, as her name tag read, listened attentively and gave Poppy several suggestions. We followed her around for a few minutes, looking at different combinations of flowers, and then Mary went to get an iPad so she could take some notes. She came back and wrote down everything Poppy said about the different flowers, her wedding date, how many bouquets and other arrangements she needed. The woman was very thorough, and I was impressed with her. She even went over different sorts of bouquet holders and ribbons.
While the two of them were talking, I began to tune them out. Not on purpose, but I knew that Poppy had something specific in mind, and as long as I was capable of nodding and smiling, this would all be handled without much help from me.
Instead, I began to think about Joshua. That wasn’t anything new. I spent a great deal of time picturing his handsome face in my mind, thinking about his warm green eyes and how that dimple formed on his left cheek whenever he smiled. I bit down on my bottom lip, trying not to seem too distracted, but god if he wasn’t unbelievably hot. I wanted more than anything to have the opportunity to find out whether or not we could make it as a couple.