“Care to join me?” Simon gestured toward the empty booth across from him.
Violet glanced toward the kitchen, wishing she’d thought to call in her order beforehand. Then perhaps she’d find Myrna strolling her way with a brown paper sack in her hand.
No such luck.
“No pressure,” Simon said, continuing to eat as though she wasn’t there. “I don’t need company to enjoy my dinner.”
Maybe Simon Jennings wasn’t as nice as she’d initially thought.
Before she could decide what to do, Violet noticed her cousin Cal heading her way, his fiancée April a few steps behind.
“Hey, girl. Whatcha doin’?” he asked, his gaze shifting to Simon, who was no longer pretending she wasn’t standing there.
“Gettin’ dinner. You?” Violet leaned around him, smiling at his dinner companion. “Hey, April.”
Cal’s fiancée flashed a sweet smile as she tucked her cell phone into her pocket. “Hey.”
“Y’all here for the chili, too?”
“It’s April’s favorite.”
“Nice try. She’s a vegetarian,” Violet said, rolling her eyes.
Cal turned, strategically putting himself between her and Simon. A move that was far too familiar. It was what happened more often than not whenever she attempted to talk to a guy. Back when she was a teenager, it had pissed her off. In her twenties, she’d found it oddly endearing. Mostly. But now… At thirty-one, it was downright irritating.
“So…” Violet forced a smile. “Y’all ready for your brother’s wedding?”
At the moment, the upcoming nuptials of her cousin, Brantley, and his better half, Reese Tavoularis, were dominating the gossip mill. Everyone in town was talking about it and just about that many people were invited to the wedding. Violet included. She’d RSVP’d and even included a plus one, although she didn’t have a date. Initially, she’d intended to take Spencer, but then her best friend refused, claiming he was not going to take the chance of ruining Brantley’s wedding since Slade was going to be there. She figured worst case, she would go to the wedding solo and skip the reception. If it weren’t Brantley tying the knot—he was one of her favorite cousins—she would’ve come up with an excuse to skip it because the last thing she wanted was to sit at one more wedding while another member of her family found their happy ever after, and she was left wishing for hers.
“One more week,” Cal confirmed. “Then I won’t have to listen to my sisters count down the days.”
Despite the sarcasm, Violet could hear the love in his tone. Cal was the youngest of her Uncle Frank’s seven children. And since Uncle Frank, like Uncle Curtis, spent a fair amount of time keeping tabs on Violet’s mother, she was close with all her cousins. Hence, the reason Cal thought it was okay to intervene, keeping her from a potential suitor.
She laughed as the word bounced in her head. Suitor. Such an archaic term, but for some reason, she liked it.
“What’s funny?”
“Nothin’.” She giggled again as she peeked over at Simon, then back to Cal. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Not waiting for her cousin to move, Violet squeezed past him, staring down at Simon as she scooted into the booth across from him.
She didn’t miss the double take Cal did before he led April toward a booth in the back where another couple was sitting.
“Did you join me to buck the system or because you can’t stop thinkin’ about me?”
No way was she admitting to the latter, so she said, “I’m a rebel, don’t you know?”
“Relative of yours, I assume,” Simon said, sitting up straight.
“Yeah.” She frowned. “How’d you know?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Seems small-town rumors are true.”
Violet laughed. “Oh, my God. Tell me Holt did not feed you thatRapunzelnonsense.”
Simon’s smile beamed as he reached for his soda. As he was doing so, Rachel came by and asked if he wanted a refill. Violet did not miss the gleam of approval in the woman’s eye.
A weird tingle of jealousy ran over her skin.
