Page 49 of Love & Other Disasters

Nineteen

For days, Elle’s voice echoed in her mind all night; she tossed and turned unable to sleep. She rethought every life decision she’d made to this point. And she cursed all of the recent ones. If she’d had the sense to behave, she would only have one disaster to deal with right now. What was it about that man that caused her to do stupid thigs?

A rapid banging on the door made her jump. If this was J.P., she would kill him for showing up uninvited again. Through the peephole, the person was much shorter with long blonde hair in a bun. She pulled open the door.

“Is that what you sleep in?” Jill asked, face screwed into disgust.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Violet looked down at her comfortable knee length nightshirt.

“Is J.P. here?”

“No…”

“Well then, I don’t guess it matters. Please tell me you have something sexier for when he comes over.”

“Why are you here?”

“I need your help,” Jill said as she pushed past Violet into the tiny foyer. She wore a black shirt, black skinny jeans tucked into black boots.

“What kind of help?”

“Geoff and I broke up,” she paused as if this information should illicit a response.

“Sorry?” Violet said.

“Right,” she scoffed, “Look, I need help collecting my stuff from his place.”

“He has a place?”

“On a farm with the rest of the order.”

“You know that’s a cult, right?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Get dressed, and let’s go.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“It’s almost eleven.”

“I know. I have to get them tonight.”

Violet sighed and trudged back to her room and dressed.

They rode in silence for a while. Jill took the interstate west. Violet twisted her hair up into a bun and wrapped a ponytail holder around the knot of hair. They drove away from the city, the road narrowed from four lanes to two and became lined with trees. Where was this place?

“So what are you going to get?”

“My stuff from his place, like I said.”

“But why in the middle of the night?”

“This is the best time to do it.”

“What kind of stuff?”

Jill huffed and pushed the accelerator harder.

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