Page 69 of Against All Odds

“So far, it’s been great.”

Only the people in my life who actually know the real me are aware that none of it is true.

She smiles and takes my hand. “Thank you. It’s been a very strange twenty-four hours.”

“How so? You’ve had amazing sex, girl time, and more amazing sex.” I remind her of that second part again because it deserves another mention.

“That is all true. I’ve also dissected more ofRomeo and Julietwith a bunch of teenagers who are intent on making points that aren’t at all relevant, and I talked to my mother.”

I really hope Violet’s relationship with her parents has gotten better. When we were young, she was always so sad when it came time to go back with them. She loved her parents, but they worked all the time and she was alone so much.

“Are you guys closer now?”

She shakes her head. “No, it’s just the way we’ll always be. They don’t understand me, and I’m always disappointing them.” She shrugs. “It is what it is. What about your parents? I’m so sorry I didn’t even ask about them.”

I rub the top of her hand with my thumb. I don’t talk about this with anyone. I haven’t really had to, to be honest. The entire town was there, doing what they could to help me and Mom. They made meals, cleaned the house, and when I realized she wasn’t going to get better and she and I both needed to have a little separation, they were at my property every single day, helping to build the barn for her.

Some people will ask, but most know that there’s no change, and it usually sets me off to have to keep saying it.

While I’m not angry all the time about it, I also don’t go out of my way to discuss it. To tell Violet will be one of the first times in years that I’ll have to go into the entire story.

“Everett?” Her soft voice breaks the silence. “What’s wrong?”

“Six years ago, my father died.”

She instantly shifts up onto her knees. “Oh my God. I didn’t know. I’m so ... I feel like ... God, I should’ve known. How?”

Her eyes are filled with unshed tears and I pull her to me, wrapping my arm around her. There’s no way I’ll get throughthis if she starts crying. Her tears will break me. “My parents were in a car accident. It was bad. The car flipped, and Mom can only remember certain parts of it. She remembers him swerving to avoid something, I’m guessing a deer, and then the flashes of light and the sounds. She talked about the sounds a lot. At some point, she lost consciousness, and when she woke up, the car was upside down.” Violet tries to sit up, but I hold her there. “Please, I won’t be able to get through this if I have to see you sad.”

“Okay,” she breathes, staying against my chest.

I steel myself to get into the rest. “My mother said he was breathing when she woke. That he told her it was okay.” My heart is pounding, and the pain of that night comes back so intense, it aches. “That he loved her. He loved me ...” I have to stop and choke back the emotions. Violet wraps her arm around my middle, holding me more than I’m holding her. “He died at some point, and Mom screamed for so long she couldn’t speak when they found her.”

Violet moves, no longer against my chest, but now back to straddling me. She keeps her gaze away from mine and buries her head in my neck. I can feel the moisture against my skin, but her arms are like a vise around me, as if she can hold me together with her small body.

I’m quiet, letting her hold me as I tighten my arms around her.

This is why I loved her so fucking much.

She just knew what to do.

She could make any situation better just by being near me. If I was angry, she made me laugh. There weren’t dark skies when Violet was with me.

Even now, as I’m recounting one of the worst nights in my life, she’s giving me something I didn’t even know I needed.

After a few minutes, she pulls back, and saltwater tracks run down her cheeks in rivulets. I wipe them. “Why are you crying?” I ask, a faint smile forming on my lips.

“Because you loved your dad so much. He was your best friend.”

Yes, he was. My father loved me more than anyone in the world. There wasn’t a problem he couldn’t fix. Except death.

“He still is,” I admit. “I miss him.”

She cups my face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here. I’m sorry I didn’t know. It sounds so stupid to say this aloud, but if I did know, I would’ve come back.”

I lean forward and kiss the tip of her nose. “No you wouldn’t, but I appreciate you saying it.”

Violet was married, living her new life, and while I love the sentiment that she’d have been here for me, we both know that’s not true.

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