Chapter Six
7 days to Maggie’s wedding...
Rose woke in the morning excited about seeing Gray. The man knew how to kiss. And how to make her want him. She couldn’t wait to see him again. It made her smile to think he’d asked to meet for brunch. Not lunch. Not dinner. But the first available time he had today.
The warm glow filled her to bursting through her shower and getting ready for the day, but with three hours until her date with Gray, she couldn’t keep her thoughts and feelings about being home at bay.
She stood in her childhood room overwhelmed with memories. She tried to grab hold of the good ones, but they were wiped out by the dark ones. She could hear her father’s demeaning words laced with threats, both spoken and unspoken. They were as real as the chill in her bones when she thought about how she’d had to tiptoe through this house and her life back then, praying she didn’t catch his attention. She’d tried to be so good, but nothing she ever did was good enough.
He hurt her. He tried to destroy her.
But in this room, in the quiet where she could hear the whisper of her own voice, she’d told herself he was wrong. She was good. She did her best. She tried.
She didn’t know what made her turn around. A shift in the air. A thickening of the atmosphere. The tension that washed over her. But when she faced the door and found Poppy, she wasn’t surprised at all that Poppy was the cause of the disturbance.
“He haunts this place.” The words held all the pain and anger in Poppy’s eyes. She leaned against the door frame, arms crossed under her breasts, her black hair hanging down to her chest and partially cloaking her face. “He’s ruined it like he destroyed me.”
“Oh, Poppy. Don’t let that be true.”
“It is.”
“It doesn’t have to be. Don’t let him continue to hold you back and rule your life. He’s gone. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“What the hell do you know about any of it?” The flippant remark, said with such anger, felt like a slap in the face.
A rush of adrenaline made Rose’s heart pound harder. “Who stood between you and him for a decade? Who did he go after when he hit one too many red lights on the way home and needed to rail against someone? Who did he berate and demean and shove and push over and over and over again? I think I know better than anyone what you went through when I left.”
Poppy pushed away from the door, her arms going straight at her sides, fists clenched. “Then why would you leave! How wasI supposed to protect myself when I never learned how because you always did it for me?”
Those fierce words smacked Rose right in the face and made her head snap back. “Are you seriously blaming me for shielding you? For real? You think I should have let him pick on you, my baby sister, and not done anything about it?”
“Maybe then I could have stood up to him.”
“You’re doing just fine with me. I have no doubt you tried to hold your own against him. I know how frustrated and angry you were because he always made you feel like nothing you said, nothing you did, not even being right was good enough. He dismissed you. He underestimated you. He never listened. He didn’t care. He didn’t see how amazing you are. He was your dad and he didn’t love you.” The ache in her chest saying those words and knowing they were true made it hurt to breathe.
Poppy wrapped her arms around herself again in a protective hug, her head down, dark hair shielding her face.
Rose recognized the gesture. So often she physically closed in on herself as a means of emotionally holding it all together. “I know exactly how you feel. I’m sorry you’re angry and hurting and you feel stuck. But that’s on you. He’s gone. You can do whatever you want to do now.”
“Maybe you’ve been able to forget the past, but I can’t.”
“Oh, I remember all of it. Just being here brings it all back into focus. It took a long time for me to break free of the habits that kept me scared and even longer to get his voice out of my head. But I did it. You can, too.”
“You just don’t get it.” Poppy held tight to her petulant attitude.
Rose didn’t fall for it. “I don’t know exactly what happened between you and dad, but I know you’re still scared. You need to break free of that fear.”
Poppy’s head shot up. “I’m not afraid.”
“Really? You were too angry at me and afraid to leave here and come stay with me.”
Poppy’s gaze dropped to the floor.
“Is this the life you want? No friends. A dead-end job at a fast-food sandwich shop. Living at home with Mom. Unhappy. Unfulfilled. Angry at the world because you were dealt a crap hand. Dad ruined your childhood. Don’t let him ruin the rest of your life, too.”
“I did that all on my own!” Poppy rushed out of the room.
Rose stared after her, not shocked by the outburst but by what Poppy said. She had no idea what Poppy meant.