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Chapter 46
Violet
“Oh my god, she’s so adorable.” I smile at the stage. Lucia twirls in her little bear costume.
“And how about that tree,” Deb whispers.
My eyes roam to Dominic standing proudly at the back with his little arms up as br hes.
“Best tree I ever saw.” I giggle.
We are at the kids‘ play at school. There you are, Violet.” I turn to see Felicity Fox shimmying through the row of seats to get to me. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Ugh…the most annoying woman to ever walk the earth. She’s the head of the PTA of the kids‘ school She’s wearing a tight white Adidas tracksuit, and her long dark hair is up in a high ponytail. She’s gorgeous and immaculately groomed and the best Stepford wife in Greenville. Except just without the husband, he ran off a few years back and she’s been making everyone else’s life in town a living hell ever since.
“Ugh,” Deb mutters under her breath.
“Hi, Felicity.” I force a smile. “How are you?”
“I’m great.” She drops into the seat beside me. “I noticed you haven’t signed up for the bake sale.”
“Yes.” I shrug. “I’m just so….busy at the moment.”
“We’re all busy, Violet,” she replies flatly. “But you are going to help on Wednesday, aren’t you?”
“I have to work.”
“What do you mean?” she gasps. “But you help every year.” And it’s the worst day of my life.
“Yes, but this year I’m too swamped.”
A total lie, I have Wednesday off, but I can’t deal with spending an entire day with this woman. I swore to myself that last year was the last.
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“Can’t you get the day off?” she snaps.
“No.”
“This won’t do at all.”
“It’s a bake sale, Felicity,” Deb chips in. “Not the end of the world.”
“Yes, but we need Violet because of…” She hesitates. “Well…because of the obvious.”
“What obvious?” Deb asks.
“Well…she can’t bake, so she has to serve.” “I can bake,” I snap.
“Oh, come on, Violet.” She rolls her eyes. “We all know you buy your cakes every year.” You do?
“Why else would I be forced to throw your cakes out?” “You throw my cakes out?” I gasp.
“It’s a bake sale.” She widens her eyes as if I’m stupid. “Not a buy sale. If we wanted supermarket cakes, we would ask for them.” She gives a
condescending smile. “But I know what you’re like by now.” I begin to hear my angry heartbeat in my ears.
“What am I like?”
“You know.” She laughs. “All Violet Colemanish.“
“Un–fucking–believable,” Deb mutters under her breath.
I bite the side of my cheek to stop myself from telling her where to go.
I hate this woman with every fiber of my being, she thinks she’s so perfect…it kills me that she is.
“Well, I’m very busy and I can’t do the stupid bake sale that you are obviously obsessed with, and
now that I know you don’t like my cakes, I won’t even bother buying them.”
“Oh, how sad for your children that their mother won’t support them at school.”
My blood boils as the sky turns red.
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Chapter 46
“Are you…”
Deb hits me on the leg to silence me. “Goodbye, Felicity, we’re kind of busy right now.” She gestures to the stage.
Felicity rolls her eyes and shimmies through the seats again.
“If I ever get that boring, shoot me,” Deb whispers as she watches her disappear.
ladly.”
It’s just on 9 p.m., the kids are tucked safely into bed, and after working today, cooking dinner, and
then washing up, I’ve only just showered and sat down for the first time.
I flick through Netflix, looking for a new series to watch.
I’ve been so preoccupied since Gabriel came back that I’ve done nothing but worry.
I guess that now he’s gone, I can finally relax.
My phone beeps a text in the kitchen, who’s texting me at this time of night? I get up and grab it, it’s
from Gabriel.
Hi
I frown, what does he want?
I text back.
Hi.
My phone instantly rings, and the name Gabriel lights up the screen.
What the hell?
“Hello,” I answer.
“Hi Vee.” His voice is soft, cajoling. He only ever used this voice with me when we were alone in his
office.
“Hi.“I frown. “What’s up?”
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Chapter 46
“I just…”
I listen as I wait for him to finish his sentence, he doesn’t.
A weird feeling comes over me, something is wrong with him.
“Where are you?” I ask softly.
“In my office.”
I get a vision of him standing at the window and staring out over the view of twinkling lights as we
speak.
“Working late?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
I wait for him to elaborate, again he doesn’t. I get the feeling he has something to say but for some
reason won’t.
“The kids are in bed,” I tell him.
“Okay…are they alright?”
Him asking if they are all right makes me get a lump in my throat. “Yes.” Silence…
What the hell is going on here?
“They were in a play this week at school. Lucia was a bear and Dom was a tree.”
“Yeah?” I can hear the smile in his voice. “What was the play, when a bear shits in the woods?“
I giggle. “Something like that.”
We fall into an awkward silence again.
“You know, Gabriel, I’ve been thinking.”
“What about?”
“Maybe…” I pause. “Maybe I was too over the top.”
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Chapter 46
“What do you mean?”
“If you ever want to tell them who you are and come and visit. Just come home and do it.” Silence.
“It’s not up to me if you want them in your life. It was selfish of me to think that it was. I just…” I pause as I get another huge lump in my throat.
“You what?”
aybe
Maybe I am the most selfish person on earth,” I whisper through tears. “I just got sca
know?” Silence.
We both hang on the line, waiting for the other one to say something, eventually he does.
“Good night, Vee,” he whispers.
“Good night.”
The line goes dead and I stare at the phone in my hand.
What the hell was that?
Gabriel
…you
I walk into my penthouse just on 11 p.m.
I’ve had the worst day in history and it’s about to get ten times worse.
I find Ariana sitting on the couch, she looks up at me and smiles. “You must be tired, you work too
hard.”
I nod and sit down beside her. “We need to talk.”
“What about?”
“I can’t marry you.”
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