Page 94 of Love, Magic and Misfortune
“Just go sit down and I’ll do it.” She walked past him, snatching the bag from his grip and going to set up the tea as she grumbled some more.
When they were eating and comfortable in the sitting room, Freddie’s voice was soft in breaking the awkward silence. “You know… I’ve never left this town.”
“You’ve gone into the city at least, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, but only a few times to get supplies for the store. I’ve never gone there to like, hang out or have dinner. Wander around. Sometimes I feel like I’ll just live my whole life and die in this town.”
“Well, that’s sad.” Violet took a bite of her tart. Her eyes widened at the sweet yet zesty flavor. Simone was truly a brilliant pâtissier.
“When you left the village and went off to college, I envied you again. I always knew I’d take over the grocery store for Dad, so there was no real need for me to go away to some fancy school. Dad said he’d teach me anything I needed to know about the business. Then Dad got sick. Mama spent all her time looking after him and I had to run everything with the store. You got to leave—Gloria told me you even went to another country?”
“Yeah, Spain and Greece.”
“That’s amazing. I wish I could do that… Simone, too. You know what I like about her?”
“What?”
“She seems so free. She’s just being herself. Happy. She has this business that she made all by herself that she obviously loves. The two of you have a totally different atmosphere around you—like a halo. Even though you live in this little town just like me, you’ve experienced life. Seen some of what the world has to offer.” He sighed heavily, then took another bite of his own tart.
“I know you have the business, but can’t you take a vacation? Just for a long weekend or something?”
“I don’t have anyone who can run things as well as I can. I’m training Lawrence—he’s a new transplant to the village. But he’s not quite there yet. Plus, Mama isn’t getting any younger, so I worry. What if she fell down in the house the one week I was gone? I would feel so guilty if something happened to her. I’m all she has.”
Violet set her plate down, along with her guard. She took a deep breath. “You can’t live your life for other people, Freddie. I’m not saying you should be a selfish jerk, but it’s okay to take some time for yourself occasionally. It’s healthy.”
“My therapist says the same thing. I would love to travel somewhere for a week or two… just to experience different things and people. You know I haven’t… I’ve never been attracted to another man aside from Jasper. I don’t know what it is about him, but justseeinghim really gets me—”
“Alright, let’s not.”
Freddie laughed, sitting back and running his hand through his thick blonde hair. “Fine. But I don’t know—maybe Iwouldbe attracted to another guy if I ever left this dang town. I’d like to know that about myself. Or at least try. Gosh… My mama would probably have a heart-attack if she knew I was thinking like this. I think about it, though. A lot…”
“You need to take a sabbatical.”
“What’s that?”
“A break. A vacation from your life in this small town. Look, get Lawrence or whoever trained enough to properly look after the store, then between the three of us—me, Jasper and Simone—we can check on your mom. She’s a sweet lady despite this thing she gave birth to, so I don’t mind.” Violet folded her arms, pouting and already half regretting offering to do something nice for Freddie. Why should she? She didn’t owe him anything. And now he’d barged into her house and dumped his problems on her… At least he’d brought delicious tarts.
He sat across from her, staring with a Chris-like smile on his face. White teeth shining and a sparkle in his stupid blue eyes. “You would do that for me?”
Violet turned her head away. “I don’t know. Maybe… Maybe not.”
Freddie huffed in a clipped laugh. “You called me ‘Mr. Popularity’ before… Honestly? It always seemed empty to me. All our classmates fawning over me—laughing at the stupid stuff I did. It wasn’t anything like what you had with Jasper. It wasn’tgenuine. And I don’t even talk to any of those people anymore… Not really.”
With her arms still folded, Violet bit the inside of her lip. Freddie went on in her silence.
“I’m so sorry I was mean to you growing up, Violet Ainsworth. That was really dumb of me. Can you please stop hating me?”
“You’re pouring it on a bit thick here. Just give it a rest. I don’t hate you.”
“That’s a start.” He sat forward, taking another bite of tart. “I’d like to be invited to the wedding.”
Violet balked. “Whosewedding?”
“Yours and Jasper’s. I wanna be there when you marry my ‘unrequited childhood crush.’ My therapist calls Jasper that. She says it’ll be good for me to finally see him happy. She thinks part of my ‘affection’ for him is that I’m always worried about his well-being since he disappeared so abruptly from my life. As a kid, it was a kind of traumatic event for me and I didn’t even know it.”
“Well, you’re not alone there…”
“So, if you marry him and I see him smiling and peaceful, she says I’ll finally be able to let go and not worry anymore.”
