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“It beats working in the garden,” Charlie said, kissing her cheek.
Violet rolled her eyes. Charlie had not found any joy in working in the front garden of the house. He was color blind to proper mulch colors and hated weeding with a passion.
“If you think you can fuck me out of going outside today, you’re mistaken,” she told him.
Charlie laughed and rolled off her. She was covered in sweat, but it didn’t matter. She did have a strange and rare Saturday meeting with Dr. Jones, but she could shower before then.
Since they had officially started dating, the only thing that changed was the bedroom Violet slept in. She had moved into Charlie’s room, with its warm fireplace and built-in bathroom. Sure, they also kissed and had sex, but they still split the responsibilities of cleaning and cooking. Violet still worked on the house and Charlie took on the cat clean up duty that Violet hated.
As the weather warmed, Violet had gotten into gardening. She would chat with the neighbors on the weekend, and she made friends with all the morning walkers who passed by while she was working on the garden. Charlie would bring her coffee and sit with her when he got back from his morning run.
It was bliss.
Violet made true to her promise and went to work on the front garden after breakfast. Violet had strong armed Charlie into picking black mulch over red at Home Depot, telling him how bad red would look against the white and black exterior. He had given up about thirty minutes into the fight.
It took about an hour for Violet to lay it all out, and once she did, Charlie came outside with coffee, eyeing the new work with a frown.
“Okay, I’ll admit it," Charlie said. “It was good we didn’t go for red.”
Violet stepped back, sweaty, and tired from all the work she had done. But it looked amazing. The black mulch matched the newly painted shudders and brought out the bright white of the siding on the house.
“Thank you," Violet said, smiling at him. “I knew I was right.”
“You always are,” Charlie muttered, but he kissed her sweaty forehead. “Blegh, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Aw, don’t you want to give me a hug?”
“I mean, always… but maybe not now.”
“Come here," Violet said.
Charlie backed away. “No, no. I just showered after my run.”
“You can take another one!” Violet yelled, chasing after him. She grabbed him as he turned to open the door. Charlie groaned dramatically but his arms came to wrap around her like they always did.
“Are you happy now?” He muttered.
“Always," she replied. Her phone beeped, and she sighed. “I need to get to the school. Dr. Jones wants to see me.”
“Kind of stupid that you have to go back in on a Saturday.”
“At least I’m not going in for long. It’s just a meeting,” she replied. “I’m going to shower.”
“I guess I’m joining you," he muttered.
After their impromptu shower, Violet arrived at work feeling refreshed. She had worked hard to remove the shame she used to feel when thinking of her job, even going as far as blatantly telling her mother she wasn’t going to talk about it.
That conversation had been a difficult one. Her mom never apologized or admitted she was wrong. Violet knew she had no choice but to distance herself. Now, her mom didn’t reach out much and Violet had to deal with it. She had been working herself up to formally introducing herself to Charlie’s mom, but after finding out his mother knew about their fights, she was nervous about it.
Dr. Jones was in his office, looking at something over his computer. He had been so thrilled when she announced she was staying that she almost regretted considering it. She could only hope this meeting wasn’t bad news, but he hadn’t given her much context.
“Ms. Moore, please sit down.” Dr. Jones said.
Violet nodded and sat, her heart racing.
“I have some good news. A student of yours, Jason McMaren, spoke highly of you. His mother too. I forwarded the praise to the superintendent, who wants to offer you a summer position as the head of a new camp for disadvantaged students in the area.”
“Wait … what”
