Page 80 of Merry Mayhem
I know that Muriel will get Andi to the point where Andi will give her a number. The number won’t be accurate, though. It will be way less than these two carts are worth, but there will come a point where Andi will want to shut Muriel up.
“Well, this is going to be amazing.” I look at Josh. “Though I think you might be right about having the bigger, stronger charioteer,” I tell Muriel.
“Prepare to eat our dust,” Muriel says, settling into her shopping cart like a true royal.
We have about ten minutes until the obstacle course starts, so we push the carts over to the starting line, and Josh asks if I want some hot chocolate.
I’m contemplating if I can finish a whole cup of hot liquid before I have to run up and down this football field when I hear our names being called.
“Thea! Josh!”
We both turn at the sound of my mother’s voice.
What the…
Shock washes over me.
My mom, dad, both grandfathers, and my daughter are all striding toward us with huge grins.
But I don’t focus on any of them.
I only have eyes for my sister.
“Violet!” Andi exclaims.
Andi and Everly both look at me. “Violet’s here? Why didn’t you tell us?” Everly asks.
I don’t even realize that I have reached out and grabbed Josh’s hand until he squeezes mine. “Breathe. It’s gonna be okay,” he says softly.
I pull my eyes away from my gorgeous, upright,conscioussister and look up at him.
Of course, it’s going to be alright. Violet is here. She is obviously out of the hospital and doing well.
My family is surrounding her, and my dad has her arm tucked in his, but she’s walking on her own. She is wearing sunglasses, but otherwise doesn’t even show signs that she’sbeen in the hospital with a serious concussion. In a fucking coma.
I realize quickly that my family was trying to surprise me with this.
Clearly, they woke Violet up yesterday. There’s no way they brought her out of the coma and then let her come home within the past hour or two.
As they get closer, Violet looks from me to Josh, and her smile gets even bigger.
And that’s when I realize they weren’t trying to surpriseme.
They were trying to surprise Violet’sboyfriend.
“Hi!” she exclaims.
I step forward, instantly putting my arms around her. “Oh my God, Violet, I am so thrilled to see you.”
She hugs me tightly. “Me too.”
“Are you really okay? How do you feel?”
“I actually feel really good.” She pulls back and looks at me. “I woke up yesterday. I know Mom and Dad didn’t tell you. That’s on me. I wanted to…” She glances at Josh. “I wanted to see you here, not at the hospital.”
She’s talking to him. She didn’t wanthimto see her in the hospital.
“I know that's silly,” she says, laughing lightly. She pulls back from me to face him. “I mean, you’re the one who pulled me out of the car. You saw me at the worst of it.”
