Page 101 of Love & Other Disasters

Thirty-Four

Violet never imagined she’d miss the days when Geoff’s atrocious behavior was the bane of her Sunday dinner existence. She made a truce with her mom and returned to the family dinner. Her mom changed it to Saturday as if the day was the problem, and it coincided with the day after Melvin’s arrest made the news.

They set the table for dinner in silence with Violet’s cell phone buzzing non-stop with texts. Former co-workers who’d snubbed her now included her on long group texts where they all speculated about the crime, where he’d been, and what he’d done with the money. Violet didn’t respond to any of it.

“Your phone keeps going off,” her mom said.

“It’s all about Melvin’s arrest,” Jill said.

“I’m turning it off,” Violet said, powering down the device and tossing it into her handbag.

“That’s the craziest thing,” her mom said. “It’s amazing that you worked directly with a criminal for all those years.”

“I don’t want to talk about Melvin or Medi-Health anymore. I’ve moved on, and I’m happy with my choice to take the job at Pure Botanicals.”

“It’s such a shame that J.P.’s no longer around. Did you really have to get rid of him, too?”

“I’m not talking about him, either.”

“Surely you can make up. He was a such a nice young man.”

“He doesn’t want to make up,” Violet said through gritted teeth.

“How do you know if you won’t talk to him?”

Violet plopped into her chair at the table with a thud. “Because he left Medi-Health and moved without telling me; that’s a pretty clear sign.”

Her dad entered carrying pizza boxes. They’d also decided on ordering out instead of cooking. “The guy changed jobs and moved because you broke up?” he asked.

“Men can be such babies,” her mom sighed.

“No,” Violet exclaimed, “I don’t know why he left, but I doubt that I was the reason, all right?”

“Well, something must have happened, because that boy was head over heels. Everyone could see it in the way he looked at you,” her mom said.

Violet took a slice of pizza and shoved it into her mouth. None of this was a subject she wanted discussed over the family dinner. She stared at the seascape portrait on the wall of the dining room and imagined that she was on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The peaceful tranquility of floating alone, in nature, eating pizza. Now that was the life.

“Violet, are you even listening?” Jill’s voice invaded her imagination. The world dissolved back into the dining room table at her parents’ house.

“Yep,” she replied.

“You were a million miles away.”

“I just don’t want to rehash what went wrong with J.P. with everyone.”

“Who’s everyone? It’s just us,” her mom said.

“I’m also not going to pretend we’ve ever had the kind of relationship where we talk about actual stuff. Let’s just stick to the superficial stuff we’re good at.”

“Are we good at it? Because I seem to recall that you didn’t like things the way they were. Now I’m trying here.”

Violet opened her mouth, but words failed her. Holy crap. Her mother was right. And she was trying something different. “Oh, yeah…you have a point.”

“You’re right, we’ve never had a close relationship, and I’ve never known why.”

She hesitated and chewed another bite before setting the piece on the plate and gathering her nerve.

“I hold back, because in the past I’ve felt judged.”

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