Page 17 of Knot So Sweet
"And what happens when she leaves?" I ask, taking another sip. "Because she will, Liam. Women like Violet don't stick around small mountain towns. They fix their cars, say thank you politely for the hospitality, and disappear into the sunset."
"Maybe," he concedes. "Or she finds something here worth staying for."
Before I can respond to that particular piece of optimism, the front door opens and Garrick walks in. He looks like he's been wrestling with demons and lost.
"Coffee's ready," Liam offers, gesturing toward the kitchen.
Garrick grunts his appreciation and pours himself a mug, adding an obscene amount of sugar that he'll deny using if anyone asks. He takes the chair closest to the fireplace, then he lights it up.
We sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes, each lost in our own thoughts. The fire crackles and pops, filling the space with warmth and the kind of peaceful atmosphere that makes problems seem manageable.
It's Garrick who breaks the silence, naturally.
"She can't stay," he says, staring into his coffee like it holds the secrets of the universe.
"Why not?" Liam asks, though his tone suggests he already knows this is going to be a battle.
"Because she doesn't belong here." Garrick's tone is flat, matter-of-fact, completely at odds with the tension radiating from his shoulders. "She's educated, sophisticated, probably used to city life. What the hell would someone like that want with a place like Cedar Ridge?"
I exchange a glance with Liam. There's more to this than simple logistics, but Garrick's never been one to volunteer emotional intelligence. Better to let him work through his own reasoning.
"She seems to appreciate good food," I offer mildly. "And she didn't run when Meredith strong-armed her into accepting help."
"Desperation makes people do strange things."
"So does instinct," Liam counters. "Maybe she ended up here because this is where she needs to be or fate has other ideas for not only her, but us too."
Garrick makes a sound that might be laughter if it didn't sound so bitter. "Right. The universe conspired to bring us a traumatized omega so we could all play house together."
"Stranger things have happened," I say, though I'm already calculating the probability of this ending well for any of us. "I'm just saying that sometimes fate has a sense of humor."
"Fate," Garrick repeats, like the word tastes bad. “It’s what happens to people who don't plan ahead."
This is coming from the same guy who almost gave up baking entirely after Rebecca left. The man was a mess, not that he let it show much. Liam and I had to step in. Call it what you want, but it was basically an intervention. Still, it was Meredith who really turned things around.
She didn’t push. She just started showing up. Took Garrick out on walks. Got him back in the kitchen. Let him move at his own pace, but never let him disappear. She brought him back to life, piece by piece.
Liam and I tried, but Meredith saw what we didn’t. If it was only us helping him recover, he'd never fully trust another woman again. The only person who could help him believe in women was a woman. She introduced him to meditation, sound healing, some yoga philosophy I still don’t understand. He took to it quietly, but seriously.
Now he’s up before the sun. Not just to open the bakery. He meditates first. Focuses. Re-centers. That’s how he works now. Sharp. Steady. Like a soldier who found a new mission.
"Okay," I say instead, setting my mug on the coffee table and leaning forward. Time to take control of this conversation before it devolves into emotional chaos. "Let's approach this strategically. What are the facts?"
Liam perks up. He likes it when I go into tactical mode because it usually means I'm taking a situation seriously rather than just manipulating it for entertainment.
"Fact one," I continue, ticking off points on my fingers like I'm briefing a mission. "Violet is running from an abusive situation. She's scared, broke, and alone."
"Fact two: she's in Cedar Ridge, and doesn’t have much resources. She needs help whether she wants to admit it or not."
"Fact three: Meredith has already decided she's staying, at least temporarily. And she always gets what she wants.” I pause for effect. "Anyone want to argue with that?"
Neither of them responds, because we all know better than to bet against Meredith Blackwell when she's made up her mind about something.
"Fact four," Liam adds quietly, "we're a pack without an omega."
Both Garrick and I stare at him. He's not meeting our eyes. This is dangerous territory, the kind of conversation that changes everything.
"And we’ve been fine with just us," I say, though I have a feeling I already know where this is going. And whether I want to follow him there.
