Page 52 of If You Dare

Mom laughs. “Not a single thing grew, but she was out there every day.”

I swallow down the lump in my throat.

“Is that Violet we just saw?” Dad asks, like she’s an old friend and not our worst enemy.

“Yep.”

Mom sinks to the ground beside me. “Did you get to have a nice chat?” she asks in her soothing honey voice.

“No, Mom, it’s Violet.” I grab a shovel and stab into the ground. “We don’t have nice chats.”

“You used to,” Dad says, as if I need the fucking reminder.

“I’ve always thought you and Violet would make an adorable couple.” Mom plants a sapling in the shallow grave I dug, patting the soil around it.

“I know.” There was a time I wanted Violet. Wanted her in every sense of the word. But that’s never happening now.

Mom grabs my hand, hers covered in dirt because she forgot gloves. Or she didn’t want to bring any, hoping the cool earth between her fingers would make her feel closer to my dead sister on what would’ve been her twentieth birthday. “I just want you to be happy.”

“We both do.” Dad pats his shovel against the soil where he’s planted a sapling on the other side of Chloe’s grave. She’d love to be here doing this with us.

“Not sure how to be,” I admit, staring at the words on her headstone until they start to blur.

“You start by forgiving Violet,” Mom tells me. I open my mouth to object, but she cuts me off. “Violet is a good girl, Wes, and she was such a great friend to Chloe. She genuinely feels bad about what happened.”

“She should.” I still don’t get how they can forgive her so easily. How they can just shrug off Chloe’s death like someone else didn’t cause it. Like herbest frienddidn’t betray her in the worst way possible.

Mom faces me, brows furrowed but gaze tender. “You can allow yourself to feel happy, Wes. That doesn’t mean you’ve stopped grieving your sister or love her any less.” I can’t swallow down that fucking lump in my throat now. “You and Violet are both grieving someone you loved so much. You can help each other through this, but instead, you’re making her loss worse for you both. Chloe would be so upset if she knew you were closing your heart off to her best friend just because you’re ashamed of feeling happy.”

Chapter21

After

Violet

“Where’s your short story, Violet?”

I freeze, Professor Tate hovering by my desk.Shit. I completely forgot about the assignment. Everything going on with Wes and the Devils has completely distracted me.

Sorry, Professor. I meant to do the assignment, but then I got hunted down by a group of masked men in the middle of the night and forgot about it.

“Um. Sorry. I forgot to do it. I can get it to you tomorrow.”

Professor Tate’s lips thin. “I’ll extend your deadline this once. If you don’t get your story to me by tomorrow, you’ll receive a zero for this assignment.” I nod, but Professor Tate isn’t satisfied. “There is very little graded work in this class, Violet. Failing to turn in any of your assignments could easily lead you to fail this course.”

Sweat pools under my arms when I imagine Mom’s disappointment if I fail any of my classes and need to scrounge up thousands to pay to retake them. “I understand. I’ll definitely get it to you by tomorrow.”

I have no idea how I’m going to manage that when I haven’t written a single short story that quickly all semester. But I’ll just have to sit down and do it, even if every word feels like yanking a tooth from my gums.

As soon as class is over, I head for the library and duck behind the circulation desk. My stomach twists when I spot Wes and a few of the Devils shove two tables together and crowd around them. Wes actually has a textbook open while most of his teammates elbow each other and bark out laughs.

“Boys never change.” Edith tsks, peering at them over the rim of her glasses, the latest Nora Roberts installment open in her lap. “Wait until they’re men, Violet. Then they’ll be worth your time.”

“I thought you were just telling me the other day how much you love their attention,” I tease.

“I’m sixty-nine. Of course I do. But just because I wouldn’t mind having one in my bed doesn’t mean I want to marry one.”

I chuckle and shake my head. Edith snaps her book shut before waving it in the air. “I’m going to read in the back. Do you think you can handle this place?”

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