"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.
I knock on the open door as I look inside, seeing Stevie sat behind his desk, on his computer. My knocking grabs his attention.
"Come in, close the door behind you" he requests. I do as he asks and then take a seat across the desk from him.
"Is everything okay?" I ask hesitantly. I never know why I'm getting called in here. Is it because I've done something wrong or because Harley's done something wrong?
He ignores my question and answers with his own instead. "I heard you got married? Congratulations" my eyebrows pull together. He called me in here to say congratulations?
"Y-Yeah I did, thank you" I stutter out. I pick at my cuticles as I hold my hands in my lap.
The office is messy as it usually is, papers everywhere and Stevie's desk is cluttered with all kinds of junk.
"So... is there anything else?" I ask slowly. This room stinks, I want to leave.
Stevie turns his attention back to me and away from his computer.
"Well, yes, I wanted to ask you something" I nod my head hesitantly to go on. "Now that you are married, the next step is children" I feel my entire body lock up, no shot he's actually asking me this. "Are they coming anytime soon?"
For a moment I struggle to form words and then finally when I find them I have to take a deep breath to withhold my anger.
"Why is that important?" I ask. I don't mention that we have no plans for babies anytime soon because whether I want a baby tomorrow or never it shouldn't change the end result.
"Well, you know-" his face twists up in a way that shows he's uncomfortable to voice his thoughts as his hands gesture to me, hoping that I get what he's trying say.
"No, I don't know" I cross my arms over my chest and don't hold back the tinge of anger in my tone.
Stevie picks up on it and leans back in his desk chair, spinning a pen between his fingers.
"I need to know if maternity leave is somewhere in the future so that I can make the best decision for Darby's" I can feel my ears heating up and my fists clenching by my sides as I take in his words. How dare he.
"Are you saying if I were to have a baby that you would file a report to the government recommending I be fired to avoid paying maternity leave?" I seethe. Stevie shrinks into himself as I become red in the face. He seems to realise how rude his words come off when I sum it up plain and simply.
"I've got to do what's best for Darby's, Poppy" he raises his hands in surrender but I'm already up and out of my seat, heading towards the door.
I pull open the door with force - harder than I thought I could - with the intention of walking back to the bar but once again Stevie opens his mouth and spills words he should really hold back.
"C'mon, Poppy" he sighs like I'm overreacting.
"No, don't 'c'mon Poppy' me" I mock him as I stand in the doorway. I'm talking louder then I should be and I can feel Harley and Sarah's eyes glued to my back but I can't help it, I'm angry. "What I decide to do in my personal life is of no concern to you, especially children".
I slam the door closed behind me. I don't know why I'm so angry. Maybe it was the fact he thought he had access to that part of my life or it's the internal maternal instinct to protect babies that may never exist that had come over me.
I sigh as I make my way over to the bar, not meeting Harley or Sarah's questioning gaze's.
"Hey, what happened?" Harley asks as I brush past her. Harley reaches out to touch my arm as I pass but I pull away and grab my bag from under the bar. I knew my phone would be ringing and when I grab my bag I can feel it vibrating inside. "Poppy?" Harley grabs my shoulder again, stopping me from moving away.
"He's just an idiot" I shake my head and rummage through my bag for my phone.
"Who? Stevie?"
"Yes, Stevie!" I hiss between my teeth.
"Alright alright, calm down. What'd he do?" I find my phone but the ringing had stopped so I just hold it in my hand, ready for the second call I know will come through any second.
"He-He wanted to know when I planned on getting knocked up!" I exclaim in disbelief.
Harley's face turns from curious to down right furious in seconds. It doesn't take long for her to connect the dots and see what Stevie had been hinting at.
"He what!" She hisses before turning on her heel and planning to walk in the direction of Stevie's office.
I push my own anger aside to stop Harley and pull her back. She's already walking a fine line with Stevie and doesn't need to push it any further.
Her eyes are squinting in anger and locked on Stevie's closed office door as I pull her back by her arm.
"No, leave it Harley, he's not worth our time" she doesn't listen and when I let go of her arm she takes off again.
"Harley!" I hiss quietly and follow her, catching her just in front of the door. I spin her around and walk her back to the bar. The cameras along the ceiling move to follow us and it only infuriates me further knowing that Stevie is watching us from behind the door.
"Bastard" Harley mumbles. My phone starts to vibrate again in my hand. Surprisingly, it took longer for Hex to call back than I expected him to.
"Hex is calling me, please don't go into Stevie's office" I state firmly to Harley, trying to find her eyes but she avoids me and grabs a random glass to clean in the sink, dish water splashing up the sides. I look to Sarah as she stands behind us, looking on confused. "Please don't let her go into Stevie's office".
I leave before she can answer but I don't doubt she'll stop Harley if she needs to. The phone in my hand had stopped ringing again and I look down as I walk through the back, trying to call Hex back. I nearly trip over an empty box that had been in the middle of the path.
I push through the back door and the cool breeze hits me in the face. It helps with the anger that still runs deep in my veins and the heat on my cheeks.
"Hi Hex" I breathe when he picks up the phone.
"Poppy?" I pull back the phone to make sure I had actually called Hex and I had but that's not Hex's voice.
"Hello?" I say, surprised.
"It's Clyde" my heart drops to my stomach. "Hex cut his hand open, he's fine but he's at the hospital. Just thought I should call and let you know" his calm voice relaxes me slightly. If it were bad I doubt he would have been able to hold himself back from panicking.
"Cut his hand on what? Does he need stitches?" I inquirer further as I chew on my fingernail and pace the concrete ground.
"A razor blade and yes, he needs stitches. He tried to get the bleeding to stop with a rag but it wouldn't" I smack my hand against my forehead. More stitches? How may times does this man need to be stitched up?
"Okay, thank you Clyde, I'll head to the hospital now" I sigh as I rub my forehead.
"No problem" he replies before we say goodbye and hang up.
I groan to myself before going back inside Darby's.
I should've known the good days we shared over the weekend wouldn't last forever.