“No, that’s the thing. I want to! And Gramma wouldn’t let me stay, anyway. It’s just hard, you know? She needs help getting out of bed. Her body’s really stiff from the arthritis. Gramps is usually the one to help her, but with him being sick, I’ve been doing it.”
My heart aches for her. And for Gayle. “Getting old sucks.” Being sixteen and feeling like a caregiver to your elderly guardians isn’t any easier. “I’ll bet they love the extra time they’re getting with you though.” I open the tailgate on the SUV so Violet can toss her bag in.
“Yeah.” She bites her bottom lip as she peers back at the house. “They were going to sell this place and move to a retirement home before my mom got sick.”
I know. But I can’t admit to knowing that because then I’d have to admit to Dyson digging into her grandparents and I’m not sure how Violet would feel about that, jokes of invisible flying robotic eyes aside.
“Oh, crap! I forgot something. I’ll be back in a sec.”
I get settled in for the long drive while Violet runs into the house, only to return empty-handed thirty seconds later.
“What’d you forget?”
She digs into her coat pockets to pull out a portable speaker and earbuds. “Hopefully, the walls are thicker at this hotel than the one in Aspen.”
“Oh my God.” My face burns as I put the SUV in Reverse and back up. “Don’t worry, Henry made sure the bedrooms are far apart.” He was visibly horrified to discover that his daughter heard us having sex, and Henry has never been bothered about having an audience.
Violet shucks her coat and adjusts the radio station. “Did I ever tell you that Becca Taylor and her friends cornered me with, like, a thousand questions after the play?”
“About what?”
“They asked who Henry is and if you’re his wife, that sort of thing.”
“What’d you tell them?” I ask warily. They must not recognize us.
“Don’t worry, I stuck with the story. He’s ‘a cousin’。” She air quotes. “But do you know what they started calling him?” She snorts. “The DILF.”
“That’s my great-grandmother’s restaurant.” I point at the Pearl, where a couple sits at a window table, giving their order to Ryleigh, the new teenage server Aunt May hired before Christmas. She wears too much eyeliner for Mama’s liking. Garland still hangs around the door, a residual of the holidays.
“It’s cute.” Violet’s curious gaze absorbs the many storefronts as we drive down Greenbank’s bustling main street.
“My aunt runs it now. She offered to host the shower there, but it’s way too small.” It sounds like every female in the congregation plans on attending today, so Celeste booked the church hall. “May is the best cook. Seriously, her lasagna is to die for. Even Henry made a comment about it.”
“Can we come back and eat there?”
“Yeah, definitely.” My fists tighten around the steering wheel. “Listen, there are a few things you need to be prepared for. Mostly about my mother.” We pass by the feed mill. Lloyd Hornback is out front, loading a bag of pellets into someone’s truck. I wave at him, and he stalls before waving back. He didn’t recognize me in this high-priced SUV.
“What about your mother?” Violet watches me expectantly.
“Right.” Where do I begin? “For one, she has very strong opinions on things.”
“What things?”
“All things.” Even that which she doesn’t understand, having lived a sheltered small town farm life. “And she’s very devoted to her church and living a good Christian life.”
Violet nods slowly. “I’ve been to church once. Somebody in our family was getting baptized or something. I don’t know. It was a really long time ago.”
Audrey and Violet would be labeled heathens by Mama’s standards, but I keep that part to myself. “Mama goes every Sunday, without fail. And she reads verses from the Bible every night. Her best friends are Reverend Enderbey and his wife, Celeste. She is against drinking, cussing, and premarital sex. She thinks having too much money is a sin and wealth should be shared. She makes all her choices based on being in God’s good graces.”
“Wow. Huh.” Violet seems to process my words. “What does she think about Henry?”
It didn’t take long for Violet to connect those dots. “Mama’s not his biggest fan. She is getting better.” Especially after Henry suggested holding a second reception in Greenbank so the town could be a part of the celebration. And despite his worries, we did not wake up with her standing over our bed with a claw hammer on Christmas Day, but she did ask Reverend Enderbey to say a special prayer during the barn service for those who fall to temptations of pride, greed, and the flesh. His gaze was squarely on Henry while speaking the words. “But there are still a lot of things about Henry that she does not like and never will. She’s still hoping that Jed and I will get back together.”