She’s in tears now. “I’m not…I promise…I’m laughing at them. And how extra they are.”
“Mhmm sure, Vi.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, I’m like 90% flattered.”
“And the other 10%?”
“I feel bad that they were picking on you. I know I was equally a mess at the time.”
“Shut up there’s not a single moment where you didn’t look beautiful.”
My words make her blush, but she pivots from the compliment. “Well since we’re sharing embarrassing stories, I had a pretty awful date like…a year ago. Some random guy I matched with on Bumble. We agreed to meet at some nice-ish restaurant in the North End.” She pulls out a water bottle from the fridge before sitting on the countertop next to me.
She eyes me, looking for confirmation that it’s okay to continue her story. I wasn’t thrilled to hear a story about her on a date, but friends talked about this sort of thing. I give her a smile, encouraging her. “Nothing super fancy, but you can still imagine my surprise when he showed up in a New York Rangers jersey.”
Ha. I liked this guy. “No way. Near Bruins territory too? That’s ballsy.”
“Oh, it gets better. You wanna take a guess whose jersey he was wearing?”
“Hmm, maybe Connor’s?” I try my best to hide the smile.
“Yours.” She rolls her eyes. “I did my best to ignore this, but then he asked where I was from and I was stupid enough to say Castle Harbor.”
I have a shit-eating grin.
“Listen, I know. Rookie mistake. Trust me you have no idea how much I wished I could take it back. But anyway, he spent the rest of the night asking if I knew you, if I ever saw you around town, and whether I could get him an autographed photo for his man cave. I debated climbing out of the bathroom window to escape.”
“Sounds like a solid plan to me. Did you?”
“No, I just slid out of the backdoor like any self-respecting person would.”
“You ditched my number one fan? That’s cold.”
“I can probably find his number if you want to meet him. I’m sure he’d be much happier to hear from you than me.”
I turn off the stove and Violet goes back to sitting at the dining room table as I place the tomato, sausage, and basil frittata on some plates and bring them over. “Careful, the bottom’s hot,” I caution as she reaches over to help me.
“Is this your mom’s recipe?” She blows on her fork before taking a bite, answering her own question.
“You know it.”
“So how exactly did this whole coaching thing happen?” Violet asks.
"I needed a job, and the one thing I knew like the back of my hand was the game. The position is technically provisional pending how much I’m able to help the team. Lots of people would be better for this job, so I gotta prove my worth in these next few games. "
Violet shakes her head “That, my friend, sounds like a classic case of imposter syndrome. Trust me I would know. I’m a grad student, it’s basically a requirement for us to have it.”
“What are you talking about you’re insanely qualified.” Frankly, I couldn’t imagine anyone who deserved success more than Violet. The moment she set her mind on something she would give it her all, often give her whole self, to achieving that goal.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t stop someone from feeling like an imposter. It’s actually pretty common among people whoarereally qualified. You feel like you got lucky, and you don’t really deserve your success or that you’ve somehow tricked other people into believing you’re super smart and capable.” She looks down nervously and fidgets with the hair ties on her wrist for a moment before continuing, “I’ve definitely had a lot of moments where I’ve struggled with it, especially during my first year with all that…drama that went down, but I think you just have to remind yourself that you have worked really hard and to not listen to the negative voice in your head.”
I was in complete awe of the woman in front of me. This wasn’t the first time, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. The way she managed to fully encapsulate what I was going through while also making me feel less alone meant everything to me. “You’re pretty incredible do you know that?”
“I mean obviously.” She winked, brushing off my words.
“I’m serious Vi. In case no one has told you how amazing you are recently. I want you to know it.”
A small blush creeps up her neck as she gazes down at her soup, “Thanks, Mason.”
