Page 18 of Love, Magic and Misfortune
Violet straightened, her eyes wide. Jasper adjusted in his seat, too, and the tension in the room thickened despite the cool ambiance. But then he shrunk, looking away and bringing his tea to his mouth with his dark brows scrunched together. Violet chuckled.
“How the heck were you going to finish that sentence?”
“Iwasn’tgoing to finish the sentence,” Jasper said, still avoiding her gaze. “There is literally no appropriate way for that sentence to have ended.”
She laughed again, and this time Jasper laughed, too. He lifted his palm to his forehead and shook his head, his face changing to an increasingly familiar rosy shade of red.
Violet raised her chin. “Enough talk about my hips, sir.”
“We arenottalking about that.”
“Being back here, it’s making me think a lot about when you and I were kids. Little things, you know? Like when we’d go exploring in the woods all day on the weekends and you’d show me creepy bugs.”
“Was I the stereotype of a boy?” Jasper smirked. “Did I have toy trucks and baseball cards in my pockets, too?”
Violet chuckled. “No. Not at all. You picked the bugs up but never chased after me with them or anything. You were alright.”
“I’m glad.” Jasper smiled, his face returned to its normal shade. “Our weekends together were really great, weren’t they? Gloria would test all of her new dessert recipes and teas on us. The blueberry lemon bars were my favorite.”
“And the lavender tea she concocted that one summer?”
“With fresh honey,” Jasper added. “I remember that one—and the raspberry hot cocoa in fall. Brilliant woman. We asked her to make it so much that she eventually cut us off.”
“She spoiled us… I was so anxious and sad when Rosie, Dad and I moved here. But between Gram and you, it ended up being pretty darn wonderful.” He’d played a big part in her acclimating to a new environment—in finding a sense of joy and wonder again amidst the sorrow and drastic changes. She wondered if he understood the significance of the role he had played. If she’d ever had the chance to properly express her gratitude.
She was working up the courage to tell him, but he looked away and cleared his throat. “So… have you decided what you’re going to do?” he asked. “About Gloria’s cottage?”
Leaning on her elbow, she cradled her chin in her palm. “I’m staying. I haven’t officially announced it to my job yet, but it’s been three weeks and… I love that house. It makes me feel close to her and honestly, I feel calmer and more content here than I ever have in the city.”
“It seems like it would be boring here for you,” he reasoned. “There’s so much more variety in the city—more people your age and you have easy access to the airport to travel anywhere you want.”
“Ourage. And after almost four years of living there, I hardly took advantage of any of those things.”
“But you’ve done well, Vi. You have your own place, a high-paying job, and you’ve traveled to Spain and Greece. Those things are all remarkable—”
“Jasper, how do you know I’ve traveled to Spain and Greece? Did you and Gram talk about me?”
“Sh-She mentioned things. Just sometimes.” He reached for the kettle, busying himself with refilling his cup.
That felt unfair. Gram had been keeping Jasper updated with her life, but she’d never mentioned sitting with Jasper. Never once revealed that she talkedto him—had sat inside his house and brought him handmade chamomile tea from a special flower pot she kept separate just for him because he was allergic to mint. Gifted him one of her favorite tea sets.
Why? Why had Jasper let Gloria so close to him when he’d spent years hiding himself away? It didn’t make any sense.
“Do you have any plans to travel to Morocco?” Jasper asked. “Since you’ve always wanted to go there.”
Violet sat back, sighing. “No. Not yet.”
“May I ask why?”
“Well, I want it to be a special trip, and I don’t want to go alone. Rosie isn’t interested and doesn’t care—even though she wasliterallynamed for El Kelaa M'gouna and the Rose festival. You would think that she’d want to see the place her namesake is derived from. It’s like… growing up in Los Angeles brainwashed her. I barely remember living there because we left when I was still so young. But she tells me she used to be teased for looking different, and it was worse when she spoke in Darija. She doesn’t rememberanyof Mom’s language because she just refused to speak it after a while—even with Mom. That makes me mad. I would give my left arm to speak Arabic fluently.”
“Have you considered taking classes?” Jasper asked. “It’s not too late. And you don’t need to sacrifice your limbs.”
“I’ve thought about it time and time again, but work was insane back in the city. And when you’re paid a good salary, you’realwayson call. I’m a corporate modern-day slave and it doesn’t leave a lot of time for personal endeavors. Maybe with moving back here, I can achieve more balance.”
“You only get one life, Violet. You should do the things you really want to do.”
Violet blinked, then clapped her hands together and bowed from the waist. “Thank you, O wise and great teacher.”
