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Violet nodded. “Cia had a lot on the line that night. What if her paintings didn’t sell?”
“What if my family attacked her again?” I added.
“What if someone criticized her art, which was very personal to her?”
I crossed my arms and lowered my head, thinking a hundred miles an hour. For ten weeks I had been digging around in those questions without finding answers, and this crazy person had just given me those answers as if they were there for everyone to see.
Seeing her today had made one thing clear to me. I wasn’t over her and I needed to talk to her.
“How do I get her to give me a second chance?” I asked
“I think you’ll need patience,” Violet answered.
“I’m moving in three weeks. I can’t be patient, I need to fix this now,” I said, tapping my right foot with nervous energy.
“In that case, you might be out of luck.”
I felt chills down my spine. “Why? Is she seeing someone else?”
Violet was quiet too damn long. “Is she?” I repeated with a slightly raised voice.
“Those are things I can’t tell you.”
“So much for you being a psychic,” I said with a combination of sarcasm and desperation. “Why don’t you use your special powers and tell me how to win her back?”
She watched me closely for a few seconds before she spoke in a low voice. “I could tell you if I wanted to, but…”
I cut her off. “I’ll give you three hundred dollars, if you tell me.”
Violet tilted her head with a small smile. “Show me the money.”
“I don’t carry cash, but I promise I’ll get you the money.”
“I’m afraid I don’t give credit. Get me the money and I’ll tell you how to win her back. But I warn you: you might not like what I have to say.”
I was back with the money ten minutes later and handed Violet three hundred dollars.
“So tell me what I need to know to get Cia back.”
Violet picked up the money and put it in her bag before she spoke.
“The first step is to apologize.”
“I can do that,” I said decisively just as a group of women with high pitched voices and loud grins passed the tent. Violet waited for the women to pass before she continued.
“The second step is to convince her you can give her what she needs.”
“Okay.”
“The third step is to empower her to take another chance on you.”
I summed up the steps. “Apologize, convince, empower… got it, but how do I do that?”
“Well, first of all, you need to know what she needs. Do you?” She drummed her fingers on a stack of tarot cards.
I thought of our time together at the camp and all the things I knew about her childhood. “She needs someone to love her unconditionally,” I said.
Violet nodded. “Don’t we all?”
