Page 45 of Sweet Escape at Bayside
“It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever endured.”
“Ha! You liked it!” She picked up another chip and waved it at her. “And I didn’t make you buy a bunch of…What did you call it?”
Violet stifled a laugh. “Frilly stuff.”
She’d been stifling laughs all afternoon. She didn’t usually tag along on the girls’ shopping trips, although she’d shopped with Desiree before, and of course she’d gone wedding-dress shopping with Desiree and the girls. But Desiree and the others were always giggling, and Violet might be a lot of things, but she wasnota giggler.
“Right. Although I think you’d look hot in a naughty-nurse outfit with a frilly little skirt.” She waggled her brows.
“Where wasthatsuggestion when we were shopping?”Andre would love that.They had a naughty-nurse outfit in their adult toy shop, along with several other sexy options.Hm…
“Hey, do you blame me for shutting up? I was afraid for my life after I showed you the black blouse with the ruffled collar. No way was I going to suggest anything else with frills or ruffles.” Emery sat back and tossed another chip in her mouth. “I wanted to talk to you about throwing a welcome-home party for Des and Rick. I was thinking of using the community center at the resort…”
As Emery went on about the party, Violet’s thoughts turned to Andre. He was a brave man. Not many people would push her, and he’d only ever hesitated to push her with regard to one thing—making love for the very first time. She’d sensed then what she now knew to be true. They’d been so deeply connected from the start, he’d knownexactlywhat she’d needed, and he’d put off his own desires to give it to her.
At least until that proposal had fallen from his lips.
His voice whispered through her mind.I was crazy in love, and I didn’t think through any of that. All I knew was that I wanted a life with you.She smiled to herself. He’d loved her too much to hold back. She’d often wondered if she would have taken off had she not received Lizza’s message, or if she’d stayed, would they have talked about it? Would he have understood that at that point in her life she couldn’t imagine living the structured, stifled existence of a big-city wife? She didn’t have the answers, but she was thankful he was so forgivingandso wise. She wanted to show him how important he was to her, and because of him, she wanted to figure out a way to show her friends how important they were to her, too.
“Hello.” Emery touched her arm. “I said, what do you think?”
Emery was looking at her expectantly, but she’d lost track of what Emery was saying.
“Vi! Geez, what is wrong with you? Are you in for the welcome-home party for Des and Rick the night they come back?”
“Um, sure, but they’re going to be exhausted from the time difference.”
“Shoot. I didn’t think about that. But if we put it off, doesn’t Harper come back the next week, and isn’t that when Andre leaves?”
“Yeah. Thanks for the reminder,” Violet said sarcastically.
“Let’s do a joint party! A welcome home and send-off all in one.”
“Sure,” she said, puzzling out her own idea about how to show everyone they were important to her.
“Great! I’ll have the girls help me plan. Do you want to help?”
“No. I have my own stuff to figure out.” Violet pushed to her feet and grabbed her bags. “Can we go? I’m sorry, but Andre’s going to be back from the clinic soon and I have a few things I want to get done before he gets home.”
“Look at you, working your schedule around a guy. I don’t even know who you are right now.”
“Shut up and get your keys out. I have things to do.”
“Aaaandshe’s back.”
AT CLOSING TIME, the waiting room of the Outer Cape Health Clinic was still packed. Andre texted Violet to let her know he was running late, and then he worked through stuffy noses, stomachaches, injured bones, and a host of other issues. Almost two hours later, he was finishing up his note about the last patient when Perry, the office administrator, poked her head into the room. Two metal barbells pierced her right eyebrow, a ring hung from her septum, and tattoos decorated her neck.
“Did we scare you off?” she asked as she stepped into the room and set a box on the floor. Perry was rail thin, with short jet-black hair sculpted into spiky points that darted out from her head at various angles. She was a professional and efficient administrator with a friendly, though take-charge, personality. She could probably pass for being in her early thirties, but the fine lines around her wise eyes—and her twentysomething daughter, Eliza—suggested she was probably closer to her forties. Eliza also worked at the clinic, overseeing the students from the work-study program with the local high school.
“Hardly,” he said with a smile. “It was a great day. You run a tight ship, and your efficiency makes it easier to see more patients. I really enjoyed getting to know Eliza and the rest of the staff.”
“We have a good group here, and a caring community.” She reached into the box she’d brought in and lifted out a colorful face mask like the ones Violet had made for the clinic in Ghana. “We were so busy today, I forgot to show you these. A local artist makes them for us to use with the children.”
“Are they donated anonymously?” he asked.
“No. Violet Vancroft makes them. She and her sister own the Summer House Inn on the bayside. You should see their place. It’s gorgeous, and they have an art gallery, too.”
“Vi’s my girlfriend,” he said.
