Page 43 of I Promise You
“I know your birthday is March 27th.”
This means so much. This was the grandest of gestures. I’ve been isolating myself from everyone for the past month and seeing the people I care about come together at once feels so good. He locks his lips with mine again and I get lost in him, forgetting where we are. He does that to me.
“Oh, get a room already! I want to drink without having to look over my shoulder to see if your tongues are down eachother’s throats,” Meredith shouts, crossing her arms with a wineglass in her hand.
Everyone bursts into laughter, but not my mom. She’s conservative as ever still and rolls her eyes, shaking her head disapprovingly at Meredith’s outburst.
I step aside from Danny and glare at her. Everyone approaches us ecstatically. Violet drags me by my arm into the center of my living room and hugs me tight. It feels great to be reunited with one of my patients. A patient that has turned into a close friend of mine.
Happy birthday wishes pour out of everyone’s mouths, and I’m trying to engage in every conversation thrown at me left and right.
I look over Emilia's shoulder, and Danny stands with a glass of whiskey. He lifts the glass to his lips and winks.
I mouth the wordsthank youto him, and I’m smiling so hard my cheeks are cramping.
For the first time since the attack, I’m happy.
I’m okay.
14
ARI
We’re sitting on my couch in the living room.
Danny, Kane, Rooker, Lopez, and Zeke stand outside on my front porch. Danny and Rooker are smoking cigarettes, as they’re all deep into a conversation. I’m watching them through the large window that allows me to see my front yard. It’s my favorite place in the house to relax and read books when I have a view like that.
“Violet, I still can’t believe you’re here. How the hell are you?” I ask her. Violet has healed, at least physically. I’m not sure about the battles she has to endure mentally.
“I’m doing better.” She sighs, drinking a sip of her beer.
“And you’re here with Zeke?”
I see the way they look at each other. There is definitely something going on.
She nods.
“He has helped me in a lot of ways. We’re friends,” she murmurs while taking another swig of her beer, and I know there’s something more than she’s letting on. As she drinks more, she looks through the living room window. The blinds are pushed up entirely, and my dark green curtains are pushed on either side.
Nobody looks at someone like that if there isn’t intimacy being shared.
I want to bring up Damon, but how? I want to share my condolences. Her story broke my heart, and I prayed for his return every night. Knowing the outcomekills me.
I don’t want to imagine what it’s doing to her.
“I’m sorry about your baby.” Violet turns to me with a glimpse of sadness in her eyes.
I stiffen when she mentions my son.
The thought of looking down at my c-section scar makes me cringe. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m instantly angry, curling my fingers on my scrub top, but I know it isn’t fair. She didn’t do anything.
I can’t think of the child I lost because a part of meblames myself.
Maybe I should have put Shane in jail way sooner and not let our history or his upbringing affect my judgment. I was stupid. So fucking stupid to think he was not capable of murdering me.
Then another part of me…
Blames Danny.
