Page 106 of Corrupt Obsession

“Now close your eyes and make a wish!” Lynne encouraged and held up a finger. “And know that all your dreams are within reach!”

Violet dutifully closed her eyes for show and waited an appropriate amount of time before she blew out the candles.

“Woo-hoo!” Lynne cheered and turned on the dining room lights to reveal the smoking candles. “Eighteen,” Lynne marveled and wrapped her arms around Violet. “I can’t believe it. You’re all grown up.”

Violet allowed herself to lean into Lynne. Dad watched them with a fond smile.

Lynne kissed the top of her head. “You’re the best daughter. We’re so happy to have you here with us.”

Violet lowered her gaze and ignored the sudden lump in her throat. Lynne gave her a squeeze and went into the kitchen to fetch bowls and ice cream.

“Did you have a good day at school?” Dad asked.

Violet nodded and, to avoid eye contact, reached out to stroke the velvet petals of a rose in a vase in the middle of the table. “Everyone remembers my birthday since it’s back-to-back with us starting school. My friends got me enough balloons to make my backpack float,” she joked.

“Are you sure you don’t want a party? This is the first time you haven’t had one, and eighteen’s such a special year,” Lynne said as she cut into the strawberry cake.

“I don’t need a party. I’m happy with this,” Violet said, gesturing between the three of them. “And you paid for us to go to that concert. We’ll celebrate then.”

“Here you go.” Mom placed a generous slice of strawberry cake and two scoops of ice cream in front of her. “For the sweetest birthday girl.”

They had followed the same ritual for her birthday that Lynne established five years ago. She woke to one dozen pink roses and red velvet pancakes for breakfast, followed by her favorite meal for dinner and now strawberry cake and ice cream. Usually, she had a party on the weekend after her birthday, but this year she asked to skip it. The concert tickets Mom and Dad had bought for her and her friends were more than enough. Everything was as it should be. Better, actually. So, why wasn’t she happy? Why didn’t she feel anything?

She refused to look to her left, where Jesse used to sit. Even though he wasn’t there, she felt the heaviness of his presence. He was everywhere and yet, nowhere. It had been almost two months since he left. She assumed once he was gone that she would magically revert to who she’d been, only to realize that part of her was gone forever.

Her grand plans of enjoying the rest of her summer never came to fruition. After Jesse left, she shut down. She had a hard time getting out of bed and struggled to do basic daily functions. The thing that snapped her out of her zombie state was Mom suggesting she speak to Pastor Sonny or one of the other church leaders. Fear of being questioned galvanized her into action.

She thought she would no longer have to act, but she was putting on the performance of her life. All eyes had always been on Jesse. Without him to deflect everyone’s attention from her, she now had to work three times as hard to appear normal. She did what was required of her. She did her chores, went to church, and had recently returned to school for her senior year. She responded when spoken to and smiled on command, but she felt absolutely nothing. When she was alone and no longer had to pretend that she was like everyone else, she plummeted into a mental space so bleak that she worried about her sanity.

Although she’d been half expecting it, her heart stopped when Mom’s phone rang. Mom dropped her bowl with a clatter and sprinted to the counter, where the phone was charging. From her delighted expression, Violet knew who the caller was before Mom announced, “It’s Jesse!”

As her body went numb, she asked Dad, “How’s Uncle Perry?”

Dad took his gaze from Mom and focused on her. “He’s still in the hospital.” Dad shook his head. “He dropped two stories with that toddler in his arms. The kid didn’t have a scratch. Perry’s lucky he just broke his leg and not his?—”

“Violet?”

She turned her head and saw Mom holding out her cell phone.

“Jesse wants to wish you a happy birthday.”

Even as dread weighted down her limbs, making her stumble as she rose from her chair, Violet tried to look eager rather than sick to her stomach.

Mom gave her a puzzled look as she handed over the phone. “Jesse said he’s been trying to get in touch with you all day.”

Violet pressed the mute button before she said, “Really? Huh. I don’t know why I didn’t see his messages.” She put the phone to her ear and said a bright, “Hello?”

“Violet?”

The sound of Jesse’s voice unleashed a torrent of emotion that made her knees buckle. She braced her hand on the table as she bowed her head and closed her eyes to get a handle on herself.

“Thank you,” she said, as if Jesse had wished her a happy birthday and tried to inject some warmth and enthusiasm into her voice as she asked, “How are you doing?”

She hadn’t heard his voice since the day he left. She blocked his number so he wouldn’t be able to contact her, and managed to avoid speaking to him whenever he called their parents by making herself scarce or saying she would call him back on her phone and never doing so. She considered having a party just to have more people around so she would have an excuse to skirt this phone call. Stupidly, she’d hoped Jesse would forget or be too busy to call. Now she had no choice but to carry on a fake conversation in front of her parents. She would leave it up to Jesse to explain why he was unable to hear anything on his end. He was good at making up lies.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your messages. Maybe I need to get my phone checked out,” she said.

“Mom, are you there?” Jesse asked impatiently.

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