Page 88 of Awakening the Sheriff

Dani shrugged. “I don’t wanna share with you either, so that’s fine.”

I nodded. “Makes sense, so that’s something we’ll try to achieve. But that means we’d need five bedrooms at least, and that’s difficult to find.”

“What do we call you?” Milton asked Auden.

Before he could say anything, Dani spoke up. “We call my mom’s fiancé just Jason. They’re getting married next year. He’s really nice, and Mom says I should think of him as a bonus dad. So we could call your dad Keaton and you call mine Auden. Right, Dad?”

Sometimes I loved how easy kids could make things.

“That’s what I was gonna suggest, sweetheart,” Auden said with a smile.

“What about you, Byron? Do you have any concerns or questions?”

He shook his head.

“I have a question for Byron,” Violet said. “Or more of a statement, actually.”

Uh-oh. The atmosphere in the room grew tense as Violet squared her shoulders, her eyes ablaze with determination.

Auden shifted in his seat. “Keep it nice, Violet.”

“Dad, if you want us to get along, we have to talk about stuff. That’s what you always tell us, to voice our opinions. Well, I have some things I want to say.”

“Go ahead. Just keep it civil.”

Violet focused on Byron. “What you did to Gabe was rude and mean. He’s my friend, and you hurt him. He’s still not over it because he doesn’t understand what he did wrong.”

Byron inhaled sharply as if he wanted to say something, but she cut off Byron’s impending retort with a dismissive hand gesture. “I wasn’t done yet. I don’t know why you were being a dick to him—”

“Violet, language.” Auden’s voice was stern.

“Dad, hewasa dick. Don’t know how else to put it. What do you want me to say, asshole?”

I hid my smile behind my hand. She was a handful, that one, wasn’t she?

Auden sighed. “Just… Whatever. Go on.”

Undeterred, Violet forged ahead. “Maybe you had a reason, I don’t know. And I’m willing to give you a second chance because for the last few weeks, you’ve been different, and you weren’t such a pretentious”—she looked at her father, reconsidering her words—“faker. It must’ve sucked being new here, so I’ll cut you some slack for that. But you hurt Gabe again, and we’re gonna have a problem. I don’t tolerate bullies, not even if his dad is dating mine.”

She crossed her arms, and in that moment, she was Auden’s daughter through and through. Her confidence, her innate sense of right and wrong, her standing up for the weaker person. I recognized the same traits that made him such a remarkable man.

Byron cleared his throat, looking as if someone had slapped him. “Fair enough. I don’t have a problem with him.”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

“Thank you.”

Violet looked confused. “For what?”

“For giving me a second chance. I know I was a dick, okay? I was going through some personal sh…stuff.”

Violet’s eyes softened, displaying a depth of understanding beyond her years. “I know.”

“You do?”

“You wouldn’t have run away otherwise.”

No one had mentioned it since it had happened but leave it to Violet to bring it out in the open. I had to admire her guts, even if that part of her character reminded me a lot of her biological dad, who didn’t have much of a filter either.

---