Hidebound

Chapter ThirtyTwo

"Good to be back at work?" Harley teases as she passes by. It's Monday morning and even though I work every Monday, I was not ready to leave my love bubble with Hex.

Harley's voice snaps me out of the memories that play through my mind on replay as I rest my elbows on the bar and stare into space. The memories of walking down the aisle, the memory of saying I do and the memory of Hex loving every inch of me that night. Even though the wedding had happened on Friday, it felt like a weekend long ordeal, at least between Hex and I. And that's the way we liked it, just him and I.

I push up off the bar and instead lean on it as Harley comes to my side. "My dad came to the wedding". I don't know why I brought him up, he hadn't even passed through my brain since he walked away. I hadn't even told mum or Hex that he had been at the wedding.

"He did?" Harley pauses what she's doing to look at me. "I didn't see him".

"Yeah, he wanted to walk me down the aisle. I told him no and sent him on his way" I explain as I take a clothe that was lying about and wipe over the spotless counter just to keep my hands busy.

"He wanted to walk you down?" Harley scoffs like she can't believe it. "The audacity" she shakes her head.

I chuckle "tell me about it".

The front door clicks open and Sarah walks through, her coat taking up most of her small body as she puffs out her cheeks from the cold.

"Morning" I sing to her from across the bar. She pushes off her hood and and shakes her hair out.

"Morning Mrs. Rose" she grins cheekily and then repeats her good morning to Harley. Once she's out the back I pick up our conversation again.

"I don't know if I should tell mum" I exclaim. "I mean, I don't think she'll be upset. She'll be angry if anything but we don't talk about him. We haven't talked about him in months and I honestly feel like that was the last time I'll ever see him so what's the point?" I ramble, looking for Harley's advice.

She takes the clothe off of me and throws it in the sink across the bar to stop me from fiddling with it.

"I don't know how much I can help. I mean, I never had to confront my dad, he was just gone" Harley explains. I look at her side profile as the guilt starts to eat me but she doesn't seem bothered at all. She had stated a fact and that's all it was, she felt no particular way about her biological father. I guess Hex thought the same because he had not once mentioned his father besides saying he left shortly after Harley was born.

"Oh, I'm sorry Harl-" I start but she cuts me off with a shake of her head.

"Don't be stupid Poppy, I don't care for that man, he's not my dad" she gives me a small smile and it makes me smile too.

"Guess that makes two of us" she laughs and holds up her hand for a high five as I slap my palm against hers.

Harley's mouth opens to speak but a shout cuts her off. It makes both of us jump and our heads turn quickly in the direction of Stevie's office. There he stands, in the doorway with his hands on his hips.

"What the fuck?" Harley whispers so only I can hear.

"Poppy!" His voice booms across Darby's, rudely. He turns and walks back into his office once he sees he's got my attention.

"What does he want?" I ask the rhetorical question to Harley and she just shrugs in reply.

I take off my apron and hang it from a hook on the wall before walking in the direction of Stevie's office. Thank god Darby's is empty because someone seriously needs to inform Stevie of how rude it is to shout across a room.