Page 20 of Sweet Escape at Bayside
“Are you okay?” Desiree asked, putting her arm around Violet’s shoulder.
Emery pushed in closer. “That was intense. I thought you were going to fall apart, and that wasterrifying.”
“They love you, Vi,” Serena said. “Both of them. In different ways, obviously, but,girl, you have been keeping secrets from us. What’s up withthat?”
“I didn’t mean to hit on your man! Please don’t kill me,” Chloe pleaded.
Violet threw her arms up and out, breaking free from their grasps. “I’mfine. I’m not falling apart, and I’m not going to kill Chloe.”
“Thank goodness.” Chloe slapped a hand over her heart.
“So, did youknowhe was coming here?” Emery asked.
“The queen ofdirty deedshas a lot of explaining to do,” Serena said. “You were all over us about our love lives. Time for some payback. You had two dudes wanting to protect you. I was waiting for a brawl.”
“Or a threesome,” Emery said with a laugh.
Violet glowered. “You’re not getting any more details about my sex life, so dream on. And no, I didn’t know Andre was coming here, and he had no idea I washere, either.” She explained what she’d already told Desiree about Ghana and Andre’s arrival on the Cape.
“Lizza sure knows how to stir the pot,” Emery said. “And we all thought you were inBali.”
Violet rolled her eyes. “That’s because y’all gossip and get things all twisted up. I told Desiree I wasmoving my life back to Bali. That doesn’t mean it’s where I was before I came here. I means it’s where I would have gone if I’d left instead of staying here.”
“Well, now that he’s had his say, he’d better be done yelling at you. Or he’ll haveusto deal with,” Emery insisted.
As the others jumped on the protect-Violet bandwagon, she wondered how they didn’t know they were already there. They were her saving graces, but she owed her sanity to Desiree most of all.
She took Desiree’s hand and guided her a few feet away from the others. Gazing into her sister’s worried eyes, she said, “I’m okay. Really, Des.”
“I wanted to go to you, but Rick wouldn’t let me. He said it was better to let you hash it out. I’ve never seen you like that. You looked like you wanted to cry, run away, and hit something all at the same time.”
Violet smiled. “It turns out youdoknow me pretty well. Rick was right, but yesterdayIwas wrong. When you came up to the studio to talk to me, I took out my frustrations on you. I’m sorry. The truth is, I couldn’t have found my footing after I left Andre if it weren’t for you.”
“You also wouldn’t have left him if it weren’t for Lizza using me as an excuse.”
Violet lowered her eyes and said, “I would have, eventually.” She looked up again and said, “I couldn’t have gone to Boston and survived the life he used to live. I would have lost my mind and he would have regretted ever knowing me.”
“I don’t think that’s true. No matter what you might have faced there, you would have made it work. You made it work here with me, and you stayed when you weren’t sure you could. That’s love.” Desiree opened her arms and said, “I’m going to hug you, and I might tear up, so just go with it.” As she embraced Violet she said, “How come you didn’t even flinch when Justin hugged you?”
Violet groaned. “Don’t start. I have no idea why I do anything.”
“So, Emery,” she heard Chloe say, “just how longisJustin’s you-know-what?”
And just like that, Violet knew things would go back to normal, at least around the inn. She had yet to figure out whatnormalmeant where she and Andre—and the people they had become—were concerned.
Chapter Six
ANDRE STOOD IN front of the gallery where Violet had been working for most of the afternoon. From the outside it looked like the other three cottages on the property of the inn, except it had a hand-painted sign above the door that read,DEVI’S DISCOVERIES, surrounded by snaking vines boasting orange and purple flowers. His mind traveled back to what it had been like working at the clinic overseas. Violet had been in and out of the facility, visiting with children and dropping off little clay and cloth animals she’d made for them. He couldn’t imagine her being happy working in a gallery and not surrounded by children who needed her, or so lost in concentration while doing her artwork that nothing else existed.
The late-afternoon sun cast shadows across the driveway, the tips of which touched the gardens Desiree was weeding. She looked cute with her blond hair pinned up in a ponytail, her jeans tucked into bright green rubber boots, and a Summer House Inn sweatshirt that hung past her waist. He’d noticed her keeping an eye on him, and he wondered when she and Rick were leaving for their honeymoon. Lizza had told him she was leaving so Desiree wouldn’t feel the need to stick around, but clearly Desiree still did.
She glanced over, catching him watching her. “Are you going in, or just checking out the architecture of the cottages?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.” He smiled and crossed the driveway to her. “I’m sorry about making a scene this morning.”
Desiree stood up and smiled. “We’re used to scenes around here, just not scenes involving Violet. She usually keeps her private life to herself.”
“Like I said, I’m sorry.”
