Page 56 of Mariposa
He’s right about this moment we shared being over, though. I have an early drive tomorrow, and I’ve been looking forward to reuniting with my grandparents. I still need to pack, and the list of things that I still need to get done comes back to haunt me.
I turn around and spot Booker. I don’t know when Slater joined him, but they’re both searching for me.
“I guess this is it, then?” I say, my eyes still on Booker.
Whipping back around, the butterflies die when I realize I’m alone.
Kade is already halfway to his vehicle.
21
VIOLET
The drive to Greenville, South Carolina isn’t far from where I’m stationed. It’s about a four-hour drive. I miss the town that’s settled in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. I listen to a true-crime podcast the entire time and keep myself awake with a large cup of iced coffee. Kade crosses my mind every few minutes, and it’s like a lightning strike to the chest. We don’t have each other’s numbers. I don’t have social media, and I refuse to make one to stalk my ex-boyfriend’s dad.
But I can’t get him out of my head. I can’t talk to anyone about what happened, and quite frankly, I like knowing that the moment we shared is a secret. Still, I need to focus on my career. It’s just begun.
Kade and I share that same interest. Work before feelings.
Before I left, I prepared to surprise my grandparents at the hospital. I don’t doubt that if my grandmother’s health hadn’t been declining, she would’ve been there at my graduation ceremony. The only familiar face that showed support was…Kade’s.
He doesn’t know how much that meant to me. The urge to seek his approval is there, and I hate that he has that effect onme. I think he had that effect on everyone in the course. He knows how to push people, break them, and build them back up. I came out of the course a changed woman, and my self-confidence has soared.
I’m about an hour away from Greenville when I have to fill up with gas. I pull up to an empty slot and take out my phone before I climb out of the car.
Grandpa:
Happy birthday, Violet! I can’t wait to see you.
Penny:
Happy Birthday! Adam told me you graduated! I’ve already got your gift wrapped. Please call me when you have time to talk. Congratulations again on making Special Forces.
Adam:
Happy Birthday! Are you coming to Greenville?
Please answer me. I miss you so damn much.
Unknown:
It’s Booker—happy birthday from all of us instructors.
A mixture of emotions floods me. I wasn’t expecting a text message from Booker. I gave him my number last night before I left on Christmas leave. I guess he and I are sort of…friends?
Penny has always been kind, a second mother to me, and I don’t have it in me to ignore her. I can ignore Adam, but not her. She hasn’t done anything wrong. I may have broken up with Adam, but I don’t want to lose my relationship with Penny entirely.
Guilt seeps its way into my pores. How would she feel knowing that her ex-husband, a person she’s villainized this entire time, was my instructor? A man I met and have gotten to know over a year, and shared intimate moments with?
I swallow as my hand shakes while holding the phone. I really have to keep this to myself. I didn’t think any of this through! I wasn’t thinking.
Who kisses their instructor? Their very hot off-limits instructor who tongue fucks like a god?
Me.
That’s who.
I was acting out of emotion. He makes my thoughts blurry, and I’m a bleeding heart at the end of the day. Kade made me feel good, and I think a part of him felt the same; either way, I’ll never know truly what goes through his mind because it’s done. We’ve gone our separate ways, even if he haunts me.
