Page 61 of A Spot of Trouble
Violet winced. She hated the thought of disappointing her father. Even after the Emmett fiasco, he hadn’t blamed Violet. Ed March had reserved every last drop of his ire for anyone with a Turtle Beach Fire Department logo on their clothing.
This was part of what she needed to leave behind, though. Her dad didn’t need to baby her. They should be able to talk about these things like adults, just like Violet should feel comfortable asking questions about her mother. She’d let the March men nurture their overprotective streak for far too long. Enough was enough.
“I’ll deal with Dad. And from now on, I’ll deal with my own life in my own way.” Sprinkles leaned against her leg in solidarity, which reminded Violet that she wasn’t completely without fault in the current scenario. “The next time I think someone is kidnapping my Dalmatian, I’ll take care of it myself. And from this point forward, I want you both to treat me the same way you treat each other.”
Josh and Joe exchanged a dubious look.
“I’m serious,” Violet said.
“We heard about bingo night too. You supposedly lit Sam on fire?” Josh’s expression dripped with incredulity.
Right. That. “It was a teensy accident. He’s fine. I guess you didn’t hear about the part where I put out the fire? I saved Sam’s life.”
Why did everyone completely ignore that important fact?
“So, see? I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I extinguished Sam all on my own, even though there was another firefighter present.” Come to think of it, she was still waiting for a thank you from Sam. Ugh.
Violet would deal with that later, after she’d finished putting her brothers in their place.
She gestured at her Dalmatian. “And look how nicely Sprinkles is behaving. We’re fine.I’mfine.”
Violet didn’t need a pair of guardian angels dressed in police uniforms any more than Sprinkles needed to go to obedience school.
Josh glanced at Joe, threw his hands up and heaved a weary sigh. “We tried. I give up.”
Violet beamed with triumph as she aimed a questioning glance at Joe.
“One last thing,” he said.
Violet held up her hand. “No.”
“Are you sure? It’s really important, Vi.” Joe’s eyes narrowed.
He was goading her, but Violet wasn’t about to fall for it. Not anymore.
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”
***
Perhaps it was the run-in with her brothers outside the firehouse, or perhaps she’d decided that a little payback was in order after the sprinkler incident, but when Violet arrived at the senior center, she marched into the building on a mission.
The Charlie’s Angels were seated in the living room area of the lobby, half an hour early for the senior center’s bi-weekly trivia game. It was an unspoken rule of Turtle Beach’s over-seventy crowd that if you arrived right on time for a scheduled event, you were late. Therefore, anything on the senior center’s activity calendar that began at ten o’clock was already packed by nine-thirty, sometimes even nine-fifteen.
“Violet?” Ethel called as Violet strode across the lobby’s smooth tile floor. Ethel, Mavis, and Opal exchanged worried glances. “I think you have the wrong day again, dear. Yoga class is tomorrow. The only thing on the schedule this morning is trivia.”
“I’m well aware of what day it is,” Violet said. She’d shown uponetime for yoga on the wrong day of the week, and she’d yet to live it down. It was like her accidental free dog grooming business all over again.
“So you’re here for trivia, then? How nice! We can probably make room.” Mavis scooted closer to Ethel on the sofa.
Violet flashed her friends a smile. “No, I’m not here for trivia, either, but keep that space free. I’m inviting a special guest.”
She spun around and headed for the hallway that led to the residents’ living quarters.
“Where is she going?” Mavis said to Ethel and Opal while Violet was still within earshot. Then, once she’d apparently caught on to Violet’s devious plan, Mavis called after her. “Violet! Tell us where you’re going right this instant.”
Violet kept on moving down the hall, and within minutes the three older women were trailing behind her as if she were the grand marshal in a walker parade.
When she reached the door to Larry Sims’s apartment, she crossed her arms and waited for Ethel, Opal, and—most importantly, Mavis—to catch up.
