Page 27 of A Spot of Trouble
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Did he just wink at me?
Violet’s face burned with the heat of a thousand suns. What did Sam think he was doing? He was supposed to be groveling right now. He was also supposed to be completely flustered by the #FreeCinder movement. Although, could she really call it a movement when she’d practically had to beg the seniors to wear the T-shirts?
In any case, Sam was playing things way too cool for her comfort. And from where Violet stood, it seemed to be working. Barbara had been livid when she’d heard about Sam shutting down bingo night, and now it looked as though she were batting her eyelashes at him all of a sudden.
Violet’s vision went hazy and an uncomfortable knot formed low in her belly. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she might be jealous.
Ha.The very idea was laughable.Ha ha ha ha ha.
Sam could turn on the charm all he wanted, and it might be effective with Barbara, but it would never work on her. Never ever. It wouldn’t work on the residents either, particularly Mavis, Ethel, and Opal. Why did people always underestimate senior citizens? They’d been around the block a few times, and were far too perceptive to fall for the charms of afirefighter, of all people.
“Gather ’round, everyone,” Barbara called as she sashayed past Violet toward the sitting area dotted with plush recliners and an overstuffed sofa. “Marshal Sam is here for a visit, and he’s got a fire safety demonstration for all of us to enjoy.”
It was all Violet could do not to snort. What could possibly be enjoyable about a fire safety demonstration? This was going to be the lamest apology she’d ever witnessed. She almost felt sorry him.
“Are you staying, Violet?” Opal asked.
Mavis nodded. “You really should. It sounds like it might be fun.”
Ethel tucked her yoga mat into the basket on her walker and pointed the aluminum legs in the direction of the sitting area where Sam was standing with Cinder leaning calmly against his leg.
Violet glanced down at Sprinkles, who’d just begun chasing her tail. Violet’s face burned even hotter.
“Maybe I should,” she heard herself say. Not that she wanted to stick around for a fire safety demo, of all things.
She couldn’t leave before Sam’s bigmea culpa, though. She’d thought of little else for the past sixteen hours or so. And even though an alarm bell had suddenly started sounding way in the back of her head, she couldn’t leave. She wouldn’t.
It was an apology, followed by a boring lecture about the fire code. What could possibly go wrong?
Sprinkles collapsed in a wiggling heap at Violet’s feet, spent from her tail-chasing efforts. Her ears flopped back like spotty little airplane wings and she opened her mouth wide and let out a squeaky dog yawn. And for a brief, shameful sliver of a moment, Violet wished that just this once her dog would act dignified. Not robot-dignified, just a tad less like a topsy-turvy swirl of black-and-white spots.
Violet immediately felt terrible for wishing such a thing. She loved her dog—completely, wholly, unconditionally. Sam was to blame for the sudden disruption of her equilibrium. Ever since he’d strolled into Turtle Beach with his perfect dog, his perfect face, and his near-perfect batting average, she’d been thrown off balance. Up was down, down was up. She’d willingly gone inside the firehouse…with cupcakes, no less.
No more. She straightened her #FreeCinder shirt, clipped Sprinkles’s leash onto her collar, and joined the group in the sitting area. There was no reason to be nervous. Sam’s dog wasn’t actually perfect, and neither was his face. In fact, when she looked at him hard enough, she could see a tiny scar near the corner of his left eyebrow. See? Not so perfect after all.
Except he probably got that scar rescuing someone from a burning building. Perfectly imperfect in every way.
Sam’s eyes narrowed as he watched Violet watching him. Her face went even hotter, burning with the heat of a thousand and one suns. Possibly one thousand and two.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” Barbara clapped her hands and then gestured at Sam with a Vanna White-style flourish.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Sam.” He shifted from one foot to the other in an endearingaw shuckskind of way.
Violet glanced at Sprinkles.Can you believe him?But the Dalmatian wasn’t paying her the slightest bit of attention. She was too busy gazing at Sam with hearts in her soft brown eyes, the canine embodiment of Violet’s favorite emoji.
Violet seethed while Sam continued.
“First off, I want to apologize for closing your bingo game the other night. I did so purely out of concern for the safety of everyone in the building, but if I could go back in time, I would have handled the matter differently. I’m truly sorry.” He pressed a hand to his heart, and Violet wanted to vomit. Surely no one here besides Sprinkles was going to fall for his humble act.
But then Sam arched a brow at Cinder and she covered her face with one of her paws, as if she too was completely embarrassed by the bingo night fiasco. The seniors let out a collectiveawwwwwww.
Wow. Just…wow.
This apology wasnotgoing the way Violet thought it would. The residents were falling like dominoes. Even Mavis, Ethel, and Opal were grinning at Sam from ear to ear.
She took a deep breath. Okay, fine. That move by Cinder had been super cute, but one dog trick could only go so far.
