Page 44 of Wallflower in Bloom

“Shay…” Violet cleared her throat, not wanting to look at her.

She didn’t want to offend Shay, but she had to know. She had to learn from somebody who had it all together.

“How do you have so much confidence? I hope it’s okay I’m asking that. I just want to be like you and…I’m so sorry, forget I asked.”

Shay let out a loud laugh, throwing her head back. “Honey, I came out this way. I’ve always been unapologetically me. I don’t know any way else to be.”

That made sense to Violet. She tried to change herself, be like all the other girls, make friends easily, care about clothes, and not escape into her pretend worlds. But she was just herself and had difficulty changing that.

Violet ran her hands down her hips. “I’ve tried to dress this way before, but it’s never turned out like this.”

“Do you like it?” Shay pointed to Violet’s outfit.

It was romantic and vintage-inspired, which she liked. It felt like she was wearing a costume, and being a different version of herself was okay. Maybe a bigger, better, bolder version.

Her breasts were eye-catching, propped up in the off-the-shoulder, sweetheart neckline that plunged to reveal cleavage. And her butt looked like the letter C as the skirt molded to her thighs and hips.

Violet chewed her lip. “I like this, but I feel like sometimes there’s just…too much of me.”

Shay spun her around and grabbed Violet’s hands. Her large brown eyes stared with serious intensity. “Honey, the world needs all of you. Every single inch of your body, your personality, all of it. We need more Violet in this world, so don’t you dare hold it back from us.”

Violet nodded quietly, eyes wide. All of her. It was unthinkable.

“Thank you,” Violet said quickly, feeling bad Shay had to go through all this trouble. “I’m—"

“If you say sorry one more time, young lady”—even though she was pretty sure Shay was younger than she was—“I will make good on my promise to burn those overalls.”

Violet shut her mouth and smiled.

Shay called out as they walked down the stairs. “All right, youngest sister. She’s ready.”

Lily squealed as Violet came into view. “Shut the fuck up. Where’ve you been hiding all of that?” Lily circled her, looking her up and down.

Violet could hardly contain her smile, she was so pleased. Being the center of attention and feeling confident she didn’t look like a weirdo was a new feeling.

Lily pulled her to the downstairs powder room. “Come on. Let’s get makeup shellacked onto you.”

Lily did some magic with a brow brush and color palettes. Violet wasn’t one for makeup, but she liked the idea of putting on another shield.

They were holed up in the downstairs bathroom for better lighting, and Violet came out wanting to show Shay the final product.

She jumped as she made eye contact with Jack for the first time in two days.

His gaze fixed on her as if she had three heads. “Fuck,” he whispered. He stood stock-still as they locked eyes, and her breath caught.

Did she look okay?

The chicken he’d been taking to the microwave slowly slid off his plate and smacked onto the floor.

“Oh, shit.” Realizing Todd was already gnawing on the chicken, he dropped to the floor. “No, you scoundrel. The vet said if I fed you more people food, he’d castrate both of us.”

Finally standing up, he caught his breath and walked to her. “Darling, you look stunning.” A growl in his voice reminded her of the last time they’d seen each other, watching very inappropriate things.

He leaned down to kiss her cheek, but Lily threw herself between them with a hand on Jack’s impressive, sweaty chest.

“I spent too long on her face for you to mess it up. Wait until after the pictures, Romeo. Now, we need to do a quick pass over her hair.”

“Why?” Jack asked, his eyes scanning Violet’s enormous fluff of auburn curls.

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