Once that was done, I collected my things and headed to the gas station. My poor little Audi could only go so far before I had to fill it up, and since I was out, I figured I might as well top it up. The little blue car I'd seen earlier was parked in front of the grill, but the owner was clearly inside. If he'd come back this way, then he had to be very lost.
I was pondering that when I went inside to pay - because these antiquated pumps didn't have a card reader on them! "I need fifty on the..." My voice trailed off when I saw the woman behind the counter.
It was Meredith, and she was glaring daggers at me. This was why I never went off-property anymore. Today was quickly going from bad to worse, and I was so not in the mood. Thankfully, another woman was with her, clearly in the process of training Faith's mom at her new job.
"Fifty?" the woman asked, making me turn to look.
Of all the people in the world, Maisie Hall stared back. Three girls had bullied me. Oh, they'd encouraged others to jump in, but there had been three who were the ringleaders. April McBride, the same woman who'd tried to make Faith's flower girl dress. Jodi Thompson, who was clearly one of Meredith's close friends since she'd been the maid of honor at the wedding. Then there was the last one, Maisie Hall, and now this bitch was training Meredith at what seemed to be her new job.
"Hello, Maisie," I said.
"Violet," she greeted me. "I heard you were back in town." She glanced back to Meredith, making it clear how she'd heard and why she knew my new name. "That was fifty, right?"
"Yeah," I said. Then I looked over at Meredith. "So, Faith's back at school. She likes a few of her classes, but she's still being bullied."
Meredith just pulled in a long breath. "Is Luke ever going to let her come back home?"
"She is home," I assured her. "Meredith, he's a good father. He loves his daughter more than you can imagine, and we're not going to let anything ruin that for him."
"We?" she asked. "You sound like a damned cult!"
"Meredith." Maisie warned.
"Please," Meredith snapped. "This whole town knows that she's nothing but plastic surgery and photoshop."
"It's actually an eating disorder after being bullied for years," I admitted. "Took a lot of therapy to pull myself back together. That's why we're so worried about Faith. It seems that just losing a few pounds is never enough." And I looked back at Maisie.
"Look, I'm not proud of those days," she assured me, passing back my card. "Jodi, April, and I don't really talk anymore. We were kids, and we were stupid, ok? I'm sorry for what we did, Violet. When we cornered you behind the school, we thought you'd just cry. That was the big plan. We were going to pick on you a little - and I know that doesn't make it any better - but then Jodi lost it, and I didn't want her to turn on me."
I nodded. "Well, you got what you wanted, right? I went away and didn't come back."
"Until now," Maisie pointed out. "And you've kinda been rubbing the whole town's face in it for what three stupid kids did. These aren't bad people, and this isn't a bad place."
"Explain to me about my best friend being attacked outside the grill then," I said.
She swallowed. "Most people aren't bad."
"Exactly, but whenmost peopledon't stop the few who are, someone gets hurt. Back then, it was me. A couple of weeks ago, it was my best friend and my boyfriend. Next, is it going to be Faith? Your kid?"
"I don't have any kids, actually," Maisie admitted. "Spend most of my time right here, working." She offered me a weak smile. "I wanted to go to college, but we couldn't afford it, and my parents weren't approved to cosign a loan. Made too much for grants, you know? So, I'm the daytime supervisor now. Not really what I dreamed of as a kid. I figure it's karma."
"Sounds like it," I agreed, putting my card away. "And Meredith, your PI has been stalking my place. He's not going to get anything from there. Sorry."
"Saying there's something to get?" Meredith asked.
I just smiled and waved at her as I walked my ass right out of that dingy little store. Of all the people to run into, Maisie and Meredith? Together? There was no way that was good. Granted, Maisie sounded like she'd learned a few things, but I didn't buy it. I couldn't count the number of times those three girls had been nice to me just to set me up for a bigger fall.
I was done being the joke. I was tired of the foolish games people around here played. The fact that I couldn't get electricity for the cabins was going to be a problem, but I could work around that. The next time, though, I had a feeling it would be worse. Some contractor would take my money and run without doing the work. Some service in town would cancel on me with no explanation.
When I'd left, it had been because they'd bullied me out of here. When I'd come back, I'd promised myself that I wouldn't let them win again, and I wouldn't. Unfortunately, we weren't playing the same games. That was what Dan had tried to tell me. It was why the man at City Hall had changed his mind when I'd mentioned jobs. They only loved me if they could use me, but that was actually one thing I could work with.
So, while I headed back to Southwind, I made a call - and hoped this would work. It didn't take long before the woman I wanted answered.
"Beverly Bigsby," she said.
"Hey, Bev, it's Violet." I paused until she sucked in a little breath, making it clear she recognized my name. "I have a problem, and I don't know who else to talk to."
"What do you need, Violet?"
