Chapter 23
Poppy was roused out of a deep sleep by what she thought was more knocking at the door. She opened one eye and stared at the digital clock. It was already after 9:00 a.m. Rod’s late night appearance had interrupted her sleep pattern so she had been deprived of her usual eight hours. She closed her eye and rolled over on her side, not quite ready to get out of bed and check on Rod, when she heard it again.
She was not mistaken. Someone else was outside the door to her apartment knocking. She couldn’t believe it. Poppy once again crawled out of bed, threw on her robe and slippers, and walked out into the living room, where Rod was curled up on the couch, still sound asleep with the blanket over him. He was no longer snoring and was very still, but Poppy knew when he eventually did finally stir awake, he would be nursing a massive hangover.
Before she reached the door handle, someone rapped three more times on the door. Before unlocking it, Poppy asked gruffly, “Who is it?”
“Sam.”
Poppy’s heart skipped a beat.
Sam Emerson.
What was he doing here?
Poppy twisted her head around to look at Rod, sprawled out on the couch.
How was she going to explain that?
She would just have to be honest.
After all, nothing untoward had happened.
Except for the fact that Rod Harper had proposed to her. Twice, she reminded herself again.
Poppy took a deep breath and opened the door a crack.
Sam stood outside, looking refreshed and sexy as all get-out in his manly plaid shirt, rugged jeans, scuffed cowboy boots, and weathered brown leather bomber jacket. His mustache was full and gray, and just the sight of him caused Poppy to swoon a little bit. He had a big, warm smile on his face that wavered slightly at the sight of her still in her nightgown.
“Poppy, did I wake you? You’re such an early riser I was sure you’d already be up and about,” Sam said apologetically.
“No, Sam, it’s fine. I was unexpectedly up late last night so I just decided to sleep in a little later than normal. What are you doing here in Palm Springs?”
Sam lived in a cabin up in Big Bear and ventured down from the mountain only when absolutely necessary.
“I had some business to take care of in Palm Springs today, so I thought I’d stop by to see if I could take you to breakfast,” Sam said, still sporting that sexy, inviting smile.
“Right now?”
Sam glanced at his watch. “Last time I checked it was still too early for lunch.”
“I’m not sure I can today, Sam. . . .”
She casually averted her eyes back to check on Rod and was surprised to see he was no longer on the couch. She frantically looked around for him but he was nowhere to be seen. Then the toilet in the bathroom flushed. She whipped her head back toward Sam, praying he hadn’t heard it.
“Is this a bad time?” Sam asked, slightly concerned.
“No . . . I mean, yes . . . I don’t think I can join you for breakfast today, Sam. I’m sorry. Can I have a rain check?”
“Of course. Is everything all right? You look a little nervous.”
“Nervous? Me? No, I’m not nervous. What would I have to be nervous about?”
Sam studied her suspiciously. “You tell me.”
Then, with the world’s worst timing, she heard Rod come out of the bathroom and practically yell at the top of his lungs, “Hey, where do you keep the toothpaste?!”
There was no way Sam hadn’t heard that.
In fact, he was now craning his neck to peer through the crack in the door to see who had said it. Poppy bowed her head. There was no hiding the fact any longer that Rod Harper was in her apartment. With a heavy sigh, she opened the door all the way and turned around to see Rod, his shirt open, standing in the middle of her living room.
She looked back at Sam, whose eyes widened with recognition. “Rod?”
Rod had to squint in order to focus on the tall, handsome stud standing in Poppy’s doorway, but it took only a few seconds for him to figure out who it was. “Sam? Sam Emerson? My God, I haven’t seen you in over thirty years!”
Rod bounded over, almost pushing Poppy out of the way, to shake Sam’s hand. Sam was still taken aback by Rod’s presence in Poppy’s apartment, but he made a valiant effort to hide it. The two men pumped hands and Rod even went in for a half hug.
Rod, who remarkably showed no apparent signs of a hangover after his bender last night, clapped a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “How’ve you been, buddy?”
“Pretty much the same. Living up in Big Bear now,” Sam said, with one eye on Poppy.
“So you’re no longer consulting on cop shows?” Rod asked.
“Hell no. I got tired of the Hollywood scene when Bush Junior was still in office,” he said. “I’ll be happy if I never have to drive west of Riverside again.”
“Smart man,” Rod said, grinning. There was a slight pause as it finally dawned on Rod. “What are you doing here? I didn’t know you and Poppy were still in touch.”
Poppy could feel her pulse racing. She had no idea how to handle the situation except to just stand by silently and let it unfold naturally.
“We see each other now and then,” Sam said, trying his best to be diplomatic. “I came by to see if she was hungry for some breakfast.”
“Well, I’m starving,” Rod said before turning to Poppy. “What do you have in your kitchen? If you’ve got eggs, I could whip us up some omelettes.”
“I . . . I’m not . . . sure,” Poppy stammered.
Sam slipped his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and arched an eyebrow, still confused by Rod’s unexpected presence.
Rod quickly disappeared into the kitchen in a flash to inspect Poppy’s refrigerator.
Poppy rushed forward closer to Sam. “Sam, I know what you must be thinking. . . .”
Sam chuckled. “You have no idea what’s going through my mind right now.”
She spoke fast. “Rod came over last night and he had been drinking and—”
Rod was suddenly back. “You’ve got all the ingredients I need. And I spotted some frozen hash browns in the freezer to boot. Come on in, Sam. Stay for breakfast. We can catch up on what’s been going on with each other the last thirty years.”
“I’d settle for just last night,” Sam cracked.
Rod didn’t hear him or chose to ignore the comment. He was already heading back to the kitchen to start making breakfast.
“He just showed up at my door. He was very drunk. I didn’t know what to do,” Poppy said. “Please don’t be mad. . . .”
“I have no right to be mad, Poppy. We’ve never had any kind of discussion about what it is we have going on between us. From my perspective, at this point until further notice it’s very low key and casual, right?”
“Yes, I suppose so, but—”
“So you can do whatever you want.”
“I understand, but I don’t want you to think—”
“It’s all good.”
Rod interrupted them, calling from the kitchen. “Hey, I’m getting lonely in here. Come have some coffee with me.”
They marched into the kitchen to find Rod wearing one of Poppy’s aprons and cracking open eggs into a glass bowl.
The two men spent the next twenty minutes reminiscing about their time together on Jack Colt, PI; how Rod was still a working actor today and what shows he had guest starred on recently; how the business had so fundamentally changed and was more challenging than ever. Sam wasn’t as chatty as Rod but did talk about how leaving the business saved him from a heart attack and how he had always been a cowboy at heart, which was why living in Big Bear now was the right fit. Mercifully, neither of the men discussed their history with Poppy back in the 1980s as they took their trip down memory lane.
Rod poured on the charm and Poppy was in awe at his uncanny ability to shake off the effects of all that alcohol from the night before. She knew Rod had been downing cocktails at the bar working up the nerve to come over to her apartment and ask her to marry him. She just prayed he wouldn’t bring that up again over omelettes with Sam.
“You married these days, Sam?” Rod asked, winging the frying pan upward to flip the omelette up into the air over the stove.
“Naw, I’m kind of a loner,” Sam said, stealing a quick glance at Poppy.
“I’ve been single a while, too,” Rod noted. “But I’m hoping that might change one of these days.”
He winked at Poppy.
And of course Sam saw him do it.
Poppy wanted the floor to open up and swallow her at this point.
Luckily the topic of conversation eventually steered toward sports for a while as Rod finished making the omelettes and hash browns and sliced up some tomatoes and they all sat down at the kitchen table to eat.
Poppy ate her food at record speed, hoping to end this little buddy reunion as soon as possible, but neither Rod nor Sam seemed to be in any kind of hurry.
In fact, after they were done eating and Sam helped Poppy clear the plates since Rod had done the cooking, the two men exchanged numbers with promises to keep in contact. That was the last thing Poppy expected or wanted to happen.
Sam finally said, “I’d better get going. I have an appointment at the bank in fifteen minutes.”
“You heading toward Palm Canyon?” Rod asked.
“Yup,” Sam said.
“Would you mind giving me a lift to my car? I left it parked out on the street in front of a bar last night,” Rod said, rubbing his eyes. “What a night.”
Sam looked at Poppy with a knowing smile.
“He was in no condition to drive home and needed a place to crash for the night so he walked all the way here.... I wasn’t expecting him,” Poppy said, feeling the need to explain again.
“But she couldn’t have been more welcoming . . . the perfect hostess,” Rod needlessly added, winking at her again.
She just wanted him to stop talking.
Poppy could tell Sam wanted to say something and it was killing him not to, but he was being a gentleman and kept his mouth shut.
As Poppy ushered the two men out the door, Rod turned to her and said, “Thank you for everything, Poppy. I’ll call you later.”
He went in for a kiss, but she deftly avoided it and patted him on the back and practically pushed him out the door.
Sam, on the other hand, didn’t even make any kind of attempt at physical contact with Poppy. He just nodded, smiled, and thanked her for breakfast. She knew she would have a lot of cleanup to do later, and she wasn’t thinking about the dirty dishes in her kitchen sink.
Rod threw an arm around Sam’s neck as they headed for Sam’s car and said, “It’s so good seeing you again, buddy.”
“Same here,” Sam said.
Poppy shut the door, spun around, and leaned up against it, relieved they were both gone, and at a total loss as to how she was going to handle any of this.