I grinned and lifted my glass to clink to hers. “Attagirl.”
With a wry smile, Violet tapped our glasses. “Thanks to you, I suppose.”
“Nah. That was all you. I was just there for support.” I sipped my whiskey. My next words were genuine. “Proud of you.”
Her eyes shimmered and she chewed the inside of her lip. “Thanks.”
It had been a big part of what ended us. Her parents wanted her to follow the family legacy and become an MD. She never wanted the grueling hours of patient care and the time away from family. When we met, Violet was pre-med, but she admitted that wasn’t really what she wanted. I encouraged her to stand up to her parents, and sat beside her at the dinner when she broke the news. It was my first time meeting her parents, and also the last.
That dinner was the beginning of the end. Those memories had to be surfacing for her too, because a tense silence fell between us.
I cleared my throat and gestured to Guy and Kitty across the room. “They finally figured it out, eh?”
Violet brightened. “Eh? Spending too much time with those Canucks?”
I stuck my tongue out and winked. “Occupational hazard.”
She laughed. “But yeah, you’re right. They worked it out.”
Words I couldn’t say hung between us. I wished we had worked it out. I wished she had never left. I wished she had let me try to earn my spot in her future.
I leaned in. “Do you have the inside scoop? I just got a surprise text one day from Guy that they were engaged and he was playing for L.A. Then I read some stuff online.”
Her eyes lit up. “I was about as surprised as you. But Kitty was surprised too when he came back.”
Violet got animated, catching me up on the details of ourmutual friends getting back together, then bringing us all to this wedding.
Then there was a lull. She played with her necklace.
My eyes flitted over every feature on her face. That pouty bottom lip. Those wide eyes, full brows over top. Her nose that I rubbed against my own not nearly enough times.
I fought to keep my voice from breaking. “It’s really good to see you again, Violet.”
She studied me, and I convinced myself it was as intensely as I looked at her. “You too. Look me up if you’re ever in Boston.”
Eight years after we fell apart, I never imagined we’d have a conversation like this. I tripped over my next words, the permission giving me a heady power. “Still got the same number?”
Violet’s cheeks flushed red. “Yep. You?”
“Yeah.”
Violet was so many things at once: the same and different, hadn’t aged a day and all grown up, familiar and strange. I ached for so much more. Every moment I’d missed with her. Every stupid second I spent wondering ifnowshe’d changed her mind and might answer my call, all to never pick up the phone and try.
“Catch ya again tomorrow.” She winked and fired a finger gun my way. She did that when she felt awkward. Did everyone else who got to stay in her life know that about her? Did they have her memorized the way I did?
“Save me a dance,” I said.
She chuckled. “Will do.”
THREE
COLTON
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WEST VIRGINIA
I saton my hotel bed, elbows on my knees and eyes fixed on the ribbon in my hands. I rubbed the fabric between my thumb and forefinger, satiny on one side and ribbed/ on the other. One of Violet’s many bows.
I hadn’t even bothered to take off my suit jacket, just marched into my room, opened my suitcase, pulled out the ribbon, and plopped down on the end of my bed.
