Page 34 of Love, Magic and Misfortune
Bang-bang-bang.
Violet sat upright in bed with a jolt. She blinked, her eyes and mind both foggy from sleep and a little too much wine. She rubbed her palms against her face, groaning. After a moment, she dropped her hands in her lap and sat still, stuck in that strange space where she wasn’t sure if she had actually heard a sound, or if she’d only imagined it.Can you dream sounds?
Bang-bang-bang. Violet started. “Okay, not a dream…” Lazy, she swung her feet over the side, then donned a robe and slippers. She moved into the hall and toward the front room, yawning. If this was another Freddie intrusion… Violet really should answer and make it plain that she had no interest in talking to him aboutanything. This was getting ridiculous.
Or maybe it was perfect? She could ask him about the greenhouse. Nothing had happened since, but if her number one suspect was standing on her doorstep, she should probably take advantage.
When she got to the front door and looked through the peephole, her jaw dropped in complete shock. It was Jasper. Without a second thought, she unlocked the door and swung it open. He was wearing a navy-colored duffel coat with a large hood, the latter pulled up over his dark head.
His face. In all the time she’d known him (notwithstanding the fifteen-year gap in their relationship), she’d never seen this expression settled on his usually gentle demeanor. In his typically bright but serene eyes.
He was fuming. Startled, Violet swallowed. “H-Hi… What are—”
“Whywere you in my house last night?”
Violet took a breath, the tone of his voice unfamiliar to her as well. “How—how did you know I was there?”
“Because I know.Why?”
“I forgot my laptop charger and I needed to get it. I’m really sorry, but I tried knocking, and—”
“Do notevercome into my house without me letting you in.”
“I understand, but Jasper—”
“No,” he said, his frown intensifying. “You don’t understand, Violet. You just—” He took a breath, shaking his head as he lifted his hands, raking them through his hair and knocking his heavy hood back in the process. He looked truly exhausted. Without the shadow of his hood as a cover, the dark, heavy circles underneath his eyes and paleness of his skin made him appear ghostly.
He turned and took a step away, dropping his shoulders with his back to her. Violet seized his pause as an opportunity.
“I’m sorry I broke into your house, okay? I—It seemed like a good idea at the time, but that was definitelynotsocially acceptable behavior. I was wrong, but I needed my laptop charger for work later today and I’d forgotten it in your study. Jasper, honestly… It would be better if you just talked to me instead of being so mysterious and anxious—”
“Anxious?” He whipped his head to the side. “I’mnot… Fine, I am anxious. Very. But I havereasons.”
“Okay, yes, and this is the mysterious part. How am I supposed to navigate your quirks if I don’t even have a roadmap? I don’t know how to avoid the landmines.”
“Not breaking into my house is one surefire way.”
“That’s fair, I agree,” Violet said. “But what did I do yesterday that made you kick me out? I have no idea.”
“It’s complicated. Youcan’tknow—that’s why you… you shouldn’t even be coming to my house. This is all because of Gloria’s meddling and I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m being a complete idiot and…” Jasper shook his head, but then his tired, steel-gray irises were serious when he looked at her. “Don’t come to my house anymore, Violet. I can’t do this with you.”
They watched each other in the stillness, and something inside of Violet—something small and fragile that maybe never quite had a chance to properly heal—came rushing up to the surface.
As she took a breath to ease the tightness in her chest, Jasper turned and rushed down the path and away from the front door. Violet lifted her chin, shouting, “Jasper Oliver Laurent, come back here! We’re not finished.”
“I’m scoldingyouthis time,” he yelled over his shoulder. “Don’t try to flip the script.”
“Oh no, no, just wait—darn it.” He was moving too fast and Violet was standing there in her robe, house slippers and not unlikely, with crust in the corner of her eyes. She slammed the door and went back inside to dress… And probably wash her face as well.
* * *
If you wenton foot and walked the path through the woods, Laurent House was less than ten minutes away. It was very cold out, and Violet considered driving, but the road wound along the perimeter of the forest, then through the town circle (where there were pedestrians, stop signs and other things that would inevitably prove a great inconvenience in Violet’s present circumstance).
She brushed her teeth, threw on jeans, a sweater and her coat before trekking through the woods and over to Jasper’s house. They weren’t finished with this conversation. Not like this.
He’d disappeared from her life fifteen years ago. But not really. She always knew where he was. But he was so complicit in not seeing her. Not even trying to rebel against the adults’ wishes (Violet would have fully supported him in staging a prepubescent coup).
They’d gone from four years of practically spending every single day together—afternoon picnics in the meadow with homemade croissant sandwiches and fresh fruit teas; sunsets in the forest, running and climbing when everything around them was drenched in firelight; holidays, birthdays and even mundane school days only made special by their beingtogether. So much joy and camaraderie, and then absolutely nothing. Cold turkey.
