Page 51 of Meet Me in Aveline

I thought about my father and instantly knew I was grateful I’d never had a sibling. I wouldn’t want someone else to have to endure Tommy Anderson. “I never did want any. I think I would have if it were just my mother, but my father isn’t really Dad of the Year.”

She looked at me curiously. “You never talk about your parents.”

“There’s not much to say. My dad and I don’t get along, and my mom died when I was ten.

“Oh.” Lettie dropped her hand to her lap and chewed slowly. “I’m so sorry.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “She was sick. I don’t really like to talk about it.”

“No.” She shook her head, her eyes closed. “No, right, of course.”

“I mean with other people. I feel like I could talk about her with you,” I clarified.

Her face brightened. “I’d like to hear about her.”

There was a sting of silence broken with a splash as Darcy jumped into the water with a scream.

“She was really beautiful. Her hair was curly. Always kind of wild. When she woke up in the morning, it looked like she had a lion’s mane with how big and unruly it was.” I smiled at the memory. “But that wasn’t even the best part about her.”

Lettie sat the donut on the bag and scooted over to me. “What was?”

“She loved me. More than anyone has ever loved me.”

I saw Lettie’s eyes grow misty and I ran my hands through my hair.

Her voice was quiet. “What was her name?”

I cocked my head to the side. “Violet.”

Her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. “Shut up,” she blurted.

I chortled slightly. “No, really. That’s how I decided on your nickname. Everyone called my mother ‘Vi,’ and she thought it was so obvious. She told me how much she wished she could have been a Lettie instead.” I shrugged, and before I knew it, Lettie wrapped her arms around me and hugged me for a long time, holding me close to her body.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“It’s really okay, Lettie,” I chuckled from beneath her hug. “I’m doing just fine.”

She released the death grip she had on me and kissed my lips softly. “I know. It’s just, I know what it feels like to not belong to anyone.”

I placed my hands on either side of her face, my fingers getting caught in her auburn hair. “You can belong to me,” I whispered. “If you want to.”

“We can belong to each other,” she said before she pushed back a piece of my hair from my eyebrow.

After the swimming hole and consuming more donuts than should have been humanly possible, we went to the town square to watch the movie projected onto a big screen in the yard. Tonight’s showing wasThe Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which Lettie assured me was a fantastic book. We posted up in the yard, our same plaid blanket from Hidden Hollow beneath us.

“Want some tacos? There’s a taco truck over there. I can grab some and a couple of Cokes.” I stood up, gesturing to the food trucks in the street.

“Yes! That sounds good. Thank you. Hurry though! It’s about to start!”

I nodded and had stepped in line for the tacos when I felt a pat on my shoulder. Beau and Ashlynn were standing behind me.

“Whaddup, bro. Lettie’s staying for the movie?” Beau had his arm around Ashlynn’s shoulders and she was chewing a piece of gum with her hand up holding his. Beau was a bit of a player, but there was something about his blue eyes and double dimples that made every girl at Aveline High swoon. He knew it too.

“Yeah, she is. She’s been wanting to see this movie. I see you got Darcy to work for you.”

Beau rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I had to give her an extra fifty bucks though.”

I chuckled and stepped up to fill the gap in line. “Nice to see you, Ashlynn.”

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