When 17-year-old Rune returns to Blossom Grove, he’s desperate to know why Poppy—the girl he loved and who promised to wait—suddenly stopped talking to him. Her silence broke his heart. But when he finally learns the truth, Rune realizes the pain he’s felt is nothing compared to what’s coming next. What secret could hurt more than goodbye?
Her skin was warm from dancing in the wind, yet shivering at the same time. I knew it was because of me. Closing in the rest of the way, I pressed my lips over her galloping pulse, tasting her sweetness, feeling my own heartbeat race in tandem. Alive. Life being so truly and completely lived.…
When my mouth was just a hairsbreadth from Poppy’s, I moved to kiss her cheek instead. It was soft and gentle. But it wasn’t enough. Shifting upward, I pressed another kiss, and another, to every inch of her cheek, over her forehead and across her nose. Poppy shifted beneath me. As I drew back, I…
Poppy framed her face with her hands and batted her eyelashes in exaggeration. I shook my head, fighting a real laugh this time. When my laugh had calmed, Poppy was still smiling at me. “Only you,” I said. Her smile softened. Inching down, I pulled the collar of her coat closer to her neck. “Only…
My words became trapped in my throat and I closed my eyes. When they opened again, she was watching me. “I’m not scared,” she assured me confidently, and I could see that she meant it. One hundred percent meant it. My Poppy. Tiny in size but filled with courage and light. I had never been…
In her outstretched hand was a pink heart. Only this heart wasn’t blank. It was full, both sides. This heart’s ink was pink, practically disguising the message. Poppy pushed her hand further out. “Take it,” she insisted. I did as she asked. Sitting up, I shifted into the path of light. I focused hard on…
The anger within me dimmed slightly, but it came back as I thought of those lost years. Years I’d spent drinking and partying away my pain, while Poppy was sick. It almost made me shake with rage. “I don’t know,” Poppy said, then shook her head. “That was a lie. Because I do know. It’s…
I’ll stay away from you. You stay away from me. We’ll finally put us to rest… But I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave her. She couldn’t leave me. She needed me and I needed her. I didn’t care what she had said; there was no way I was leaving her to endure this alone. I couldn’t…
Moonbeam hearts and sunshine smiles. I ran my mamaw’s mantra through my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to repel the pain trying to flood in. Tried to stave off this ache in my chest, the ache that told me what I didn’t want to believe. That I had done this to…
“Let me go!” I shouted again. Rune leaned in. “No, tell me. Explain yourself!” he shouted back. “Rune—“ “Explain!” he shouted, cutting me off. I shook my head faster, trying, to no avail, to escape. “Please! Please!” I begged. “Poppy!” “NO!” “EXPLAIN!” “I’M DYING!” I screamed into the silent grove, unable to take it anymore.…
Poppymin. My Poppy. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t leave me behind. She couldn’t leave any of us behind. Nothing made sense if she wasn’t around. She had more life to live. She was meant to be with me for eternity. Poppy and Rune for infinity. Forever always. Months? I couldn’t … she couldn’t… My body…