Page 29 of Wallflower
“What other thing?”
I nod at her hip to indicate the phone in her back pocket. “The call you were on when I got here. Something serious?”
“Oh.” Her hand touches the phone in her jeans, giving me a valid excuse to rake my eyes up her long legs to the curve of her hip. “That was a personal call.”
“With your boyfriend?”
A sweet, self-deprecating chuckle dances across her lips, and the sound makes me stand a little straighter.
“Ah, no. I don’t have one of those.”
“Girlfriend?”
Violet gives me an amused frown, and I cock an eyebrow in return. So fucking cute.
“No. I don’t have one of those either.”
“So, the serious conversation with the not-your-boyfriend and not-your-girlfriend was with your…”
“Neighbor.” Her expression is bemused, but in a good way, if the way she’s trying not to smile is anything to go by.
“About your…”
She’s still trying to work me out, but the crease that pops up between her brows doesn’t sit well with me. “My dad. He’s—”
The phone in her hand rings again, and she looks at it with alarm. “I’m sorry. I really have to take this.”
“Go ahead.”
I mean for her to answer it here where I can keep an eye on her, but Violet interprets my permission as a dismissal and hurries into the house.
My stomach clenches as she walks away, and I’m so damn disappointed to watch her go. It’s a small thing in a seriesof small moments that shouldn’t feel so significant, but the disappointment is what tips me over the edge.
I love the sound of her laugh. I could waste an entire day waiting for her smile. I crave our accidental moments together, and I like how I feel when she’s near—warmer, somehow. Less guarded. More myself.
The struggle to stay away has become more of a distraction than pursuing her, so why am I trying to fight it? I want this woman, and if chasing her makes me weak? If it flaunts the rules I imposed on myself this year? Then fuck it. I’ll deal with the fallout later.
Rules were made to be broken, and I’ll break them all to make this girl mine.
fourteen
Violet
DAY 10 AT SILVER LEAF... ONLY 76 TO GO
I end my nightlycall with Dad and immediately tap out a text to Jennifer.
He seemed a little down. He says he ate dinner but I’m not sure I believe him. Do you know if he’s been walking in the mornings?
I curl up against the pillows on my bed, hug my legs, and wait anxiously for the ping of a return message.
I saw him go out this morning, so it may be nothing. We all have bad days, after all. I’ll invite him around for a meal tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
Jennifer’s text loosens the worry in my chest. I’ve enjoyed being at Silver Leaf more than I thought I would, and I feel guilty that I don’t think enough about my dad. There’s too much to distract me here. The fresh air and wide, open spaces. The fact that I don’t have to see Courtney every day. The ridiculously hot hockey player who has no idea I watch his swim in the mornings but whodoesknow how to read a sky full of stars.
It’s just so nice to live my own life for the first time ever, but when Jen called me earlier to talk about how Dad has been coping on his own, I started to panic. My first priority has always been my father—he’s more than my only family, he’s my best friend—and I hate myself for letting it slide even a little.
I send a text.I appreciate that. Thanks, Jen. I don’t know how I’d do this without you.
