Page 2 of Merry Mayhem
Merry Mayhem is only in its fifth year this year. Sam and Violet did Merry Mayhem together every single year, and they won every time. Basically, there has never been a Merry Mayhem without Sam and Violet. Or a Sam and Violet without Merry Mayhem.
They displayed those stupid trophies on the bookcase in their living room in the apartment they shared until February this year. I don’t know if they split them up when Violet moved out,or if she took all four, or if she threw them at him when he broke things off, or what, but those damned things were important to them at one time.
“You’re doing so great,” Andi tells Violet. “So, what if he competes with someone new, right? You’re going to show him that you don’t care. That you’ve moved on. That Merry Mayhem doesn’t actually mean anything to you anymore.” She glances at Nora. “No offense.”
Nora looks like she’s in actual pain. “She can still care about Merry Mayhem without caring about Sam.”
“Exactly,” Violet says. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I’m going to do Merry Mayhem without Sam. I guessagainstSam,” my sister says, her chin tipping up.
“You…are?” I ask.
I love my sister very much. She’s eight years younger than me. Our two brothers are between us, but Violet and I are still very close. I’ve always felt very protective of her, and I’d do anything for her.
Except tell her that she could do better than Sam.
I never did that. And I should have. She absolutely could have done better than Sam. And I swear if he’d ever proposed or something, Iwould havesaid something. I just kept thinking they were young and that there was no way she was going to settle forhim.
But she did. For four freaking years. And when he broke up with her, she was distraught. Absolutely miserable. Formonths.
If he had ever come back and tried to reconcile,thenI would have done something.
Told him off. Punched him. Locked her in her room. Set his car on fire.
You know, something reasonable that would have made the point.
But he never did. He never came back. As far as I know, he never sent her even a text.
In fact, he immediately started dating Ashley.
Soon after, he brought her home to visit, and I ran into them here in Perks and Rec. And I did something very out of character—I told him he was not welcome and to never set foot inside my grandfather’s restaurant again.
He must have believed me because he hasn’t. Neither has either of his brothers.
I’m pretty proud of that, actually. I’m not really a boat-rocker. Especially in our small town.
I own a business here. I have a daughter in school. My whole family lives here.
If I go around making threats and pissing people off, it can have big consequences. So, I tend to bite my tongue a lot and quietly stew, or vent to Andi and Nora. But I don’tdothings that might make the town upset with me.
I definitely would have made an exception with Sam, though, if I’d needed to.
Violet wasted so much time on him.
“How are you going to compete against Sam in Merry Mayhem?” Andi asks. “Don’t you need a partner?”
“Yep,” Violet says. “I’ve got one.” She gives us a big smile.
“You…do?” I ask.
“Who?” Nora leans in.
Violet’s smile grows. “Remember the guy I went to that wedding with?”
“The wedding where the two women knocked the cake over?” Nora asks.
