AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shakes her head, looking frustrated. “I don’t know if I can trust you on this. Violet’s too important to me.”
I want to add that she’s starting to become important to me too, but this isn't the time. I haven’t even sorted through my feelings on my own yet. I don’t need to try to sort through them out loud with Hannah.
A change in subject is what we need. I scrutinize the glasses we’ve been given, estimating that they’re smaller than the ones I use. “Look at the way they’re cheating us,” I comment.
Hannah frowns at the glass. “What do you mean?”
“These glasses are only ten ounce glasses. I offer twelve ounce glasses at The Rusty Oak. With similar prices, they have a larger profit margin based on two ounces a glass. I can’t imagine cheating my customers like this.”
Hannah rolls her eyes. “Please don’t talk business to me.” But I keep talking business to her because it did exactly what I was hoping it would do. It got her off the subject of Violet.
We sit there for a while longer, sipping our beers and talking about other things. Hannah fills me in on her plans for the fall festival. I don’t know why she’s so excited for some carnival that’s meant for kids, but she makes me promise to come by her booth at some point. So, I do. I’m still her brother after all.
As we finish our beers and get ready to leave, Hannah gives me a hug. It seems as though she’s forgotten all about Violet, but then, she brings her up again. “Find someone else, Jay. Don’t treat her like you’ve treated your last girlfriends. I mean, you literally ghosted one, and you were with her for two months!
I hug Hannah back, patting her awkwardly. I don’t make her any promises, because I can’t. I don’t think it’s fair to make her a promise I won’t keep. I don’t plan to stay away from Violet at all, not when we’ve just given each other a fresh start.
CHAPTER 12
VIOLET
Idon’t know why Hannah wants to put so much effort into creating decorations for her fall festival booth, but she has always been the type of person who puts her full effort into every project she attempts. This time is no different.
So here I am on a Thursday night helping her. She texted me this morning and started talking about decorations like the chance to make them would disappear if we didn’t start right away. I’m working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so tonight was the only option.
I show up at Hannah’s apartment, and she makes a shushing motion as soon as she answers the door. She mouths, “Charlie’s on the phone.”
The words are barely out of her mouth before I hear him loudly in the bedroom talking about investment portfolios. Hannah nods to stacks of supplies on the counter, and we take them out to the little patio area.
“Do you spend a lot of time out here?” I ask her as I settle onto the bench swing looking at the patterns she has printed out.
“I’m not supposed to listen in to his phone calls because his client information is private. So, if he’s talking to someone and I’m home, then yeah, I’ll come out here. Honestly, it’s not bad.”
“What are you going to do when winter really hits, and it starts snowing?”
“Maybe I’ll invest in a great pair of noise-canceling headphones.”
I couldn’t imagine living in a place where I’m constantly trying to hide myself away, but Hannah seems happy with where she lives, so I won’t criticize it.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask.
Hannah hands me a pair of scissors. “Start cutting those out. I’m going to use them as patterns on this paper. I couldn’t print on the cardstock, but I think it will be too flimsy if I just cut that paper out and use it on the table.”
Hannah is the one with the vision, so I just follow her instructions. I’ve barely made two snips before Hannah asks me, “So, how’s Jay?”
The tone of her voice says it all. This whole decoration idea was a ruse so that she could get me over here to talk about Jay. Luckily, I get a few extra seconds to consider my response when a gust of wind blows the papers around the porch.
We scramble to gather them up and put the unused papers under something heavy. Both of us laugh, and the tension eases a little.
At least, until Hannah repeats her question. “How’s Jay?”
“Um, he’s… fine, I guess. You could just ask him yourself, you know. Just because I work with him doesn’t mean I’m standing around talking to him all night.”
I’m hoping that piling the excuses on will make it easier for Hannah to get distracted by something else and focus on that. I don’t want her to start assuming things about us just because we work together, but her question makes me think that she already is.
Hannah narrows her eyes, clearly not buying my deflection. “Violet, come on. I know you better than that. What’s going on with Jay?”
I keep cutting the paper, trying to appear nonchalant. “Nothing’s going on, Hannah. Really. He’s my boss, and we work together. That’s it.”
