Poppy's Picnic (Poppy's Place Short) Read Online Free PDF Page A

or lingering anger, but when Trevor returned to the pea patch, he’d been all sorts of perky. There’d likely been some make-up sex. He fiddled with the hem of his loose khaki shorts. Maybe he should pick a little fight.
    The door slid open behind him. Cody pushed to his feet to help, but Trevor stepped out carrying a tray heavy with meat.
    “Poppy needs your help inside,” he said, heading for the grill.
    “If there are vegetables involved, I’m out.”
    He strode inside the house, his muscles tired and sore from bending all day. Stopping at the fridge, he grabbed a bottle of beer. After hours in the pea field, he’d been called to the barn to check a steer. Fresh from his hot shower, he was ready to eat, drink his beer, and hit the hay.
    He found cups, plates, chips, and other food set out, but nobody stood at the counters or sat at the large table. The girls were still with his parents, baking a special treat for after dinner. Dee had mentioned Baked Alaska. He could only imagine what that was, but since Alaska was cold, he hoped it was ice cream—maybe like fried ice cream, only baked?
    “Poppy?” he called.
    “Down here.” Her muffled voice came from the basement.
    He set his beer on the table and rolled his shoulders. The only thing she could need his help with down there was carrying stuff. What was one more load, really? He stepped down into the cool, open space. Poppy had taken over the basement kitchen for canning, but the long counters were empty of the usual slug of glass jars for him to heft. He checked the left side hall where they kept storage items and followed a light to find Poppy stretching for a high box.
    “Hey, I got it.” He hurried to her side and grabbed the precariously perched tote, but it was too late.
    Tiny clothes fell all over him, even as he kept the plastic tub from landing on either of their heads. He set the tote to the side, surrounded by a mountain of clothes he hadn’t seen since Lola was a newborn.
    “Oh, thank you.” Poppy kissed his cheek and started tossing items back in the box. “I should have waited, but I got kind of excited.”
    “Yeah, wait next time. Is that the one you needed?”
    “It sure is.” She held a tiny yellow pajama set against her stomach. “This would work for a boy or a girl, don’t you think?”
    He tossed more clothes in, wondering if his beer would still be cold when he made it back upstairs. “Sure. Who’s having a baby?”
    “Me.”
     
    Poppy waited for Cody’s reaction. She’d wanted privacy, and in the small storage room, they had it, at least for a while. Still flying high from Trevor’s amazing reaction, she expected Cody’s to be good. When he slowly stood up, eyes wide and a growing grin on his face, she squealed.
    She leapt into his arms, kissing everywhere but his mouth until their lips collided. She teased his tongue with flicks. The towering boxes around them trembled and toppled. She leaned left to dodge a comforter, but didn’t let him go.
    He pulled back and looked around. “Ah, screw it.”
    The world spun, before she found herself on her back, surrounded by winter linens.
    Cody planted his hands on either side of her shoulders. “How many weeks?”
    “Nearing two months now.”
    He nodded. “San Antonio. I guess I have to quit bashing Texas. Some amazing beginnings have happened there.”
    “So, you’re happy about this?” She ran her fingers through his hair, still damp from his shower.
    “Very.” He pressed a dry peck to her lips. “Are you feeling all right?”
    “Just tired and goofy.” She winced. “And apologetic over the pea patch. We can really let them go if you hate them.”
    “No way. It’s baby food. If I don’t have to eat it, then I don’t mind keeping it going.” He relaxed against her, the weight of his body welcome. “Damn, this is good news. Who else knows?”
    She wrapped her legs around his waist. “Well, you, Trevor, and your parents—who knew before I told them, by the