Knox's Girl (Carmichael Series #1)✔️

Breaking the News

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**Edited**

Poppy's POV

I squeezed Knox's hand that wasn't on the steering wheel as the knot that'd formed in my stomach continued to grow. I couldn't think of any feeling worse than this; being privy to important information that you had a moral duty to tell someone, but knowing it will break their heart when you do.

If I had any tears left to cry, I knew they'd be flowing right about now. It seemed as if that was all I'd been doing the last two days; just crying. My eyes were puffy and red from it all, but I brushed the thought away as I tried to come up with exactly what I was going to say to my mom when I saw her. She'd returned my call five minutes ago to tell me she'd taken Tansy shopping but was on her way home. By the time Knox and I made it back to my parents' house, she should be there and I was positive my dad would be back to work. That meant I only had the remaining car ride left to figure out how to break the news.

I couldn't just tell her and rip the band-aid off - that would be cruel - but I also didn't want to sugarcoat it. And what about what I tell her? Do I include the necessary but gory details? Do I tell her I found her husband getting it on with his employee on our family dinner table? No, I couldn't possibly say that.

This was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to do. Lord, give me strength.

I sighed deeply as we pulled into the driveway I'd walked up a little under an hour ago. Instead of getting that warm, fuzzy feeling at the sight of the house, I felt sick to my stomach. Seeing my mom walk by in one of the front windows only made the entire situation more real than it already was. My heart felt heavy in my chest.

"Do you need a minute to gather your thoughts, Flower?" Knox asked quietly, giving my hand he was holding a reassuring squeeze. I gulped, shaking my head and turning to look him dead in the eyes. His gaze softened before he leaned down to press a chaste kiss to my forehead and lips, his thumb subconsciously fiddling with my engagement ring. I blew out a large breath through my lips, vaguely aware of him getting out of the car until he opened my own door for me. Neither one of us spoke as he reached his hand out for me to take and helped me out of the truck.

We sauntered up to the front door slowly and I rang the doorbell, not wanting to waste time searching for my keys yet again. I heard the chime echo around the front entrance cheerfully as if mocking me in a way. My mom answered seconds later, a huge smile lighting up her face when she saw Knox and me. Oh God, I was going to be the cause of that smile leaving her face I thought to myself as my nausea worsened.

"My little girl!" she shouted happily. "And you even brought your hunk of a man with you!" she continued. I snickered shortly at the nickname she'd given Knox before the sound quickly died on my lips after remembering why we were here in the first place.

"Hi, mom," I murmured, trying my best to muster up even a smidgen of cheer into my voice. She stepped out of the doorframe and ushered us inside.

"Tansy is going to be so excited that you both stopped by. Especially you, Knox!" she exclaimed as we followed her into the kitchen - my food fighting its way up my throat to try and make a reappearance at being in the same room everything had happened in. "No offense, Poppy. You know she loves you because she gets to see you all the time, so," she explained, trying to lessen my possibly hurt feelings. Her sweet consideration made me feel that much worse. I felt myself questioning my dad's disgusting actions for the millionth time. He had the best woman he could ever hope for and he can't even appreciate her.