VIOLET
now good?
COLTON
yeah come on down
VIOLET
omw
I’d just pulled a t-shirt over my head when there was a quiet knock at the door.
I opened it to find Violet dressed similarly to me: wet hair, t-shirt, shorts, bare-faced. Her arms were crossed like she was cold and she looked upset.
“Hey, come in.” I stepped back to let her through. My stomach sank as it became apparent that something was very wrong. “You okay? Sit.”
I moved to my ice bucket to get her some water. She put up a hand. “I’m not staying. I just . . . wanted to talk to you about something.”
I couldn’t help it. I touched her how I would have eight years before. My hand met her upper arm as she leaned against the wall. Again I noted the soft skin on her arms. “What’s up?”
She smiled, but it was morose, sentimental somehow. “You were always so nice, Colt.”
“You’re scaring me. What’s going on? Are you sick?”
She shook her head and rolled her lips through her teeth, the pressure turning them white. “No. Nothing like that. I just came to say I’m sorry for how I ended things. I wasn’t fair to you, and I’ve regretted it a lot lately.”
This was unexpected. An apology, all these years later. I was stunned. I ran a hand through my hair, tugging on the ends. “It’s no big deal.”
“It is, though,” she said. “You were always good to me and I acted like you weren’t. I couldn’t get myself to say it earlier tonight because well, it’s kind of emotional and a lot to drop at a cocktail reception.”
I swallowed, watching her. She blamed it on the conflict with her parents, on needing their support, but it always felt like there was more than that. Like she would have stuck around if not for that one thing, and I was never privy to what the one thing was.
She went on.
“I made it seem like it was your fault, but it wasn’t you. I guess I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry. I really do wish the best for you. And,” she snorted and raised her eyebrows, “I’m sorry I didn’t apologize sooner. You deserve better.”
My heart pounded as my face relaxed.
“Anyway, I was hoping things wouldn’t be awkward this weekend.”
“Violet,” I started, but got stuck. There were so many things I wanted to say that they got into a traffic jam in my brain.
“But I can just stay away from you,” she offered. “I respect that if it’s what you need.”
“No,” I said. She watched me, eyes moving over my face like she was afraid I’d come at her. “Violet, I was never mad at you. It’s so far in the past now. You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
Her eyes got glassy, her voice high-pitched like a sped-up recording. “Oh. You haven’t given this nearly as much thought as I have. I don’t even know why I’m here.”
She shifted toward the door, her room key and phone in her hand.
“Violet.” My voice was stern and made her pause in her tracks. “I have thought about it.”
She raised her perfectly arched brow. “But you said I didn’t hurt you.”
I shook my head. “You hurt me. I’m just not mad at you. Never was.”
Her eyes drifted to the floor between us. “Oh.”
