Page 82 of X's and O's
X:
That would be so hot.
Violet:
I’m going now. I have to go to work.
X:
Goodbye, my lover.
X:
That’s where you say, ‘Goodbye, my friend.”
Violet:
Are you quoting James Blunt songs?
Ididn’t want Violet to be afraid of me. It was the one line from her texts that I kept getting stuck on.
I’m scared of you.
I picked up the phone and called my mom.
“Hey, Knoxy. How you doing?”
I sighed. “Does Dad make you feel safe?”
“Of course. Every day. Why?”
“How?”
“How…how does he make me feel safe?”
“Yeah.”
“I mean, there’s the obvious things. He checks the house every night before we go to bed, making sure all the locks are in place. If we’re walking down the street together, he always walks on the side closest to the cars. He never lets me go out alone at night, but he doesn’t stop me from leaving the house either. If I want to go for a walk, he comes with me. If I go out with friends, he always drops me off and picks me up. That sort of thing.”
“And you like that?”
“I like a lot of things about your father. I like how gentle he is. How he cares about the people around him. How he’s always been so good with you kids, and now the grandkids.”
“Violet doesn’t have any kids for me to be nice to.”
Mom laughed. “Oh. This is about the woman you stole my flowers for?”
“She didn’t like those much.”
“No? I’m questioning her taste in florals now.”
“Might have been the way I delivered them. I’ve been told I’m a bit over-the-top.”
“Sounds about right. But the thing about you, my love, is you’re a lot like your father. You love big. You just need to find the right sort of woman who can appreciate that. If that’s not Violet—”
“It’s not Violet. It’s me. I can be better. Do the right things.”
She sighed. “I love you. If she’s the right woman for you, you won’t need to change for her.”
