7. Thank You For The Push

"Ineed to know how it went," Poppy said, running into her office on Monday morning and shutting the door. "All the details."

Sage looked up, expecting this reaction. She wanted to tease her boss. "You mean from Friday night? Or from Saturday?"

"You had two dates?" Poppy asked, doing a fist pump.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the push."

Poppy did an exaggerated bow. "You are most certainly welcome. I'm good at giving pushes. Ask Ivy. She's thanking me nonstop now."

She'd heard how Ivy and Brooks had met when there was a break-in at her place the night Heather and Luke had gotten engaged and that Ivy needed a little boost to seek the older man out.

Not really that old, but nine years older than Ivy and in his late thirties.

"She should be. She's super happy with her life right now."

"And we are going to get you there too," Poppy said.

"I'm very happy with my life," she said, putting a forced smile on her face.

No, it wasn't forced. It was real.

Maybe she didn't feel that way for months with anything other than her job, but the past weekend made her almost giddy.

She had to tell herself to slow the hell down because the last time she rushed she ended up looking like a fool and being the talk of the whole company. Not to mention the hit to her judgment and self-esteem.

Yeah, not happening to her again.

"Maybe you are," Poppy said. "But there is a much bigger smile on your face today. I hope it's a man that did it."

"It is," she said. "But I know to not let a man be the only reason it's there. I can't let someone carry that much weight ever again."

"Ahhh, sweetie. I know that feeling. I don't know what happened to you and it's not my business."

"It's not that," she said. "I haven't told too many. It's just...sometimes you want to put it behind you. I've done that."

"Not completely if it"s still lingering enough for you not to let go and move on."

"I'm getting better," she said. "I let go this weekend and had a blast."

"I'm so happy," Poppy said. "Do you want to share? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"What have you done to Poppy McGill? Who are you?"

Poppy laughed. "I'm learning too. I can't always be so intrusive, as my sisters remind me."

"We love you for it though," Sage said. "I know I haven't been here long, but you're all great."

"When someone clicks, they just do. You might have only worked for us for six months, but we've known you longer. You know that."

"I do," she said. "And the clicking thing. I always believed in it, but maybe my judgment is slightly off."

"You'll figure it out," Poppy said, waving her hand.

Sage knew Poppy wanted some information so she decided to share. "Friday night we met out for dinner and drinks. It was nice. He's funny. More outgoing than I ever thought he'd be based on how I remembered him."

"I wish I could see a picture of him before and after. Are you going to bring him to Heather's wedding?"

"No," she said. "We've had two dates and I had already RSVP'd as a single. It's too soon to bring him anyway. It's fine."

"I understand," Poppy said. "You mentioned Saturday?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "You'll appreciate this. So even though I'm a little out of the game and not so sure of myself, I'm having some fun. I gave him a simple little kiss at the end. I knew he wouldn't do it. Then we made plans for Saturday but didn't set them. I left him hanging."

"Sweet," Poppy said. "Those are the fun times."

"I thought so. By ten I hadn't heard from him so I asked what his plans were and if he was up for an adventure. When he said yes I sent him the link to the escape rooms."

"Ohhhhh," Poppy said. "Big tough man to save you."

"That had been the plan, but he was the one screaming more than me. It was hilarious and he had a great sense of humor over it."

Poppy was laughing. "Good for him."

"He mentioned he liked to be able to control things or plan them out. I know a lot was out of his control as a kid. I feel bad at some of the things he's said."

"I won't ask even though I want to know, but I'll be respectful of that. The fact he told you is interesting though."

"I thought so too, but I think he thought I knew some of it. I try not to listen to gossip and didn't pay attention."

She wouldn't share any of that with anyone. Not unless he said it was okay to do it and she wouldn't ask either.

"I wish I didn't pay attention to gossip as much. It would have saved a lot of hurt feelings in my life."

"I get that. We all learn," she said. "When it was done we were laughing in the parking lot. He joked about needing a big meat-filled pizza to be more manly and grow hair on his chest." No reason to say anything more than that.

"That is funny," Poppy agreed.

"After two hours we could tell they wanted us out to make room for other customers. In the parking lot I decided to give him a better goodnight kiss."

"Good for you!"

"Oh yeah. Then I left it in his hands again to reach out this time. He took a bit longer, but he did text me yesterday afternoon. We are going to try to get dinner one day this week. He'll let me know as his schedule could hold him up. I said I was pretty open to anything."

Poppy wiggled her eyebrows. "I'm so happy for you now."

"Me too," she said.

"Are you keeping this a secret?" Poppy asked.

She knew that Poppy had a hard time doing that but would if asked. "No," she said. "But I'd like to tell Violet myself. She'd be hurt if she heard it from anyone else."

"I will leave you to it," Poppy said. "When you're done sharing your good news, why don't you come in and meet with Rose and me? We've got an idea we wanted to run by you."

"I'll be down soon," she said. "It won't take me long to tell Violet."

They didn't pay her to sit around and talk.

When Poppy left, she grabbed her laptop and went to see Violet and then would go over to meet with the sisters afterward.

"Hi," Violet said when she was in the flower shop. Violet was walking around and watering the plants and pruning them like she did daily. She'd take some out and either re-pot them or mark them down.

"Do you have a minute to talk before you open?"

"Always for you," Violet said.

"I went on a date Friday night. And Saturday."

"Oh," Violet said. "Two dates in a row. I need to hear this."

She filled her sister-in-law in with everything that Poppy knew. No way she was leaving that out.

"He's so nice," she said.

"Good," Violet said. "You need a nice guy after Henry."

She sighed. "You're the only one here that knows what happened. I don't really want others to know, but Poppy suspected that I had a bad breakup."

"More like an asshole dickless man," Violet said. "Do you know that Trace and your father were going to knock on his door and give him a piece of their minds when they found out the reason he moved."

Her shoulders slumped. "I'm glad they didn't," she said.

Her father was the one who found Henry. He'd just up and quit his job. The place where they worked together. He hadn't even told her he was thinking of moving. Nothing. Just said he was leaving and broke up with her.

She'd been stunned speechless. She was already in the firestorm trying to salvage her reputation. When he went and did that it was as if he poured more gasoline on wood and tossed a few more matches her way leaving her to clean up the ashes when the fire was finally extinguished.

The meaning of heartache was something brand new to her. Piling on humiliation was a weight she struggled to carry.

Then came the need for revenge when her father discovered what he had.

That only plumped her up for more juice in the gossip grapevine at work.

The final straw was being in her office one day. Two women outside her door whispering. They always whispered when it was gossip and she did her best to tune it out even if it meant turning music on or putting her fingers in her ears.

But when she'd heard the name Henry and fatherhood, she put her hand over her mouth to stop her lunch from coming back up.

The reason for the fast exit out of her life and his job made a lot more sense when she'd found that part out.

It didn't work and she got up from her desk and made a beeline to the bathroom and emptied her stomach.

There were so many lives Henry ruined and in more ways than one. Not just broken hearts but shattered dreams.

But Henry didn't even care what he did to anyone and only thought of himself so she had to learn to stop caring too.

"Your mother talked them down from it."

"I'm going to have to tell Mom about this," she said. It just occurred to her that by telling Violet, who would tell Trace, that their mother would get it out of her brother without him knowing.

Usually by calling him when he was in the middle of writing and was distracted.

"You should," Violet said. "Especially if it's someone you went to school with. Do you think your mother knows what happened with his family?"

"I bet she does," she said. Sage wasn't sure why that hadn't occurred to her.

"You'll be fine. Your mother will be supportive as she only wants you to be happy."

"I know," she said. "They are great. Nonna will love it."

"Speaking of Nonna. She was the one who was going to lead the cavalry to Henry's. You should know that too."

Sage started to laugh imagining her grandmother pushing her father and brother out of the way and decking Henry when he opened the door. Good thing her grandmother hadn't known all the facts of what was really going on at that point. They didn't find it all out until months later.

"I can just see it," she said.

"It was funny. I'm glad you can laugh about it now."

"How come no one told me before?" she asked.

Violet shrugged. "You wanted to put it behind you and then the job offer came from Blossoms. We all hoped it'd work out and then you'd move on."

"I'm trying to," she said. "Thanks."

Violet hugged her. "Let me know when it's okay to tell your brother."

She grinned. She knew Violet was good at keeping secrets. No one had known Violet's true identity here after she'd been living in Mystic for five years. It wasn't until Trace came to town that the truth came out.

If anyone could keep a secret it was her sister-in-law.

"Can you give me a week or so for another date or two to see if it's worth bringing it up?"

"Sure," Violet said. "But the smile on your face says it all when you talk about Knox."

She shrugged with a big grin, then left to go to Poppy's office. Rose was already in there.

"Morning, Rose."

"Morning," Rose said. "Did Poppy tell you what this was about?"

"No. She just said you both wanted to talk to me."

Rose was frowning. "It's Poppy's idea."

"You liked it too," Poppy said. "Why are you acting this way?"

"Because Lily isn't here," Rose said. "I don't like doing these things without her."

"What is it?" Sage asked. "If you must know I still pass things by her if I need to. If I'm doing anything new. She left instructions for me to do that. I don't want to tell her no even though she is out of work."

When you owned a company you were never completely off. She knew that from her parents.

Poppy started to pout. "Ha ha," Rose said. "Poppy thought she was going to pull one over on Lily."

"Sorry," she said. "But what is it?"

She looked at Poppy who wasn't talking, then turned to Rose.

"Poppy had this idea to reach out to any celebrities we could and send them samples in the hopes that they wear a piece of jewelry or an accessory. Maybe they'd be in a shot with it on and get our name out there. She thought you might know of some agent to send things to."

"I do," she said. "It's something I've thought of. But I have another idea. I've sat on it because I'm not sure how anyone will feel and it could get touchy."

"What?" Rose asked. "We don't want you to get into trouble."

"It's not that. I thought, maybe Kate. I know that the fashion shows she is going to aren't the same as what we create, but you know, if maybe a piece of jewelry or a bag was made for a show. If she knew a designer who wanted something special donated. Something that fits our style and image."

The two sisters looked at each other. Rose would be the tough one here, she knew that.

"I'm all for it," Poppy said. "But I understand it might be difficult for you to ask. Kate is a family friend."

"And I don't want her to feel as if this is a favor. I'd approach it like I would anyone else and would present it that I was going to her first. If she says no, no hard feelings. But you'd have to agree. All three of you. I figured I'd bring it up to Lily when she returned."

"I don't know," Rose said.

It'd been discovered that Kate's grandfather was the one who'd hit and killed the girls' mother when they were teens. The mystery was unsolved until Trace came to town and started to look into it. Something Kate had asked him to do when she found letters her grandmother had written.

Things her grandmother had said and not realized.

Lily and Poppy were more forgiving and didn't blame Kate. Rose had a harder time moving past it.

Rose had said she didn't blame Kate, but it was hard for her to not see Kate and think of what Kate's family did to theirs.

Sage could understand that completely and that was why she wasn't sure about doing any of this.

"I know it's hard," she said. "If you don't want to do it, Rose. I understand. I won't even bring it up to Lily. I don't want to put any of you in a position to argue."

"It's good for business if she does it," Poppy said.

"I don't want Kate to do it because she feels she owes us," Rose said, crossing her arms.

"She wouldn't," Sage said. "Kate isn't that way. I'm not trying to be mean, but she takes her job very seriously. She was just as emotionally damaged as you when the truth came out. I know you lost your mother and it had nothing to do with her, but she couldn't believe the people who all but raised her and supported her when her own parents didn't could do something like that."

"It's not easy for anyone," Rose said.

"No," she said. "As I said, I don't want to create problems. It was a thought I had. I'm thinking of the business as much as you both are. If nothing came out of what Trace was doing, I'd still think to do this with Kate. That is what I told myself."

"I agree," Poppy said. "We all suffered. We've all moved on. We've had more years than Kate to get to this point."

Kate had isolated herself for months. She'd been nervous about being the best woman in Trace and Violet's wedding and facing the Bloom sisters again but pulled up her big girl panties and did it.

Lily and Poppy had acted as if it was all behind them. Rose still held a grudge.

Sage knew what that felt like too.

"We'll talk it over," Rose said. "And we'll let you know after we talk to Lily. I'm not closed off to it."

"That's better than nothing," Poppy said.

Sage nodded and left to go back to work and hoped that she'd hear from Knox soon so that she could share the news with her mother.