“I’m not teasing,” Brick said, turning her in his arms and pressing his chest against her, relishing in the release of pleasure holding her gave him. “I’m promising.” Their eyes met. Held for a beat longer than necessary before he slowly dipped his chin and reached for a kiss.
And there, beneath the trees and the full Strawberry Moon, amidst the wild revelry of Midsummer, Violet and Brick shared their first kiss.
Chapter Six
Brick loved her.
Brick loved her.
Brick loved her.
She was going to say it over and over in her head until she believed it. He showed it in the way he had played with her hair and touched the silky skin of her shoulder. He had shown it in the way he brought her food and took care of her.
But most importantly, he had said it. Declared it in front of a colorful blur of fireworks and seemingly endless glasses of grilled peach lemonade. Whispered it against her temples, his voice a sensual accompaniment to the magic of the evening.
And then he had sealed it with glorious, deeply passionate kisses. She touched her lips gently with her fingertips, delighted to feel they were still slightly tender to the touch.
Violet sighed as she heard her aunt in the kitchen, putting the coffee pot on. The sky was still mostly grey with only the early pink streaks of dawn but early starts meant early quits.
Groaning, Violet got out of bed, knowing her aunt was going to run her ragged a second day in a row as they cleaned up from last night’s moonlit revelry.
She paused as she stepped into an old pair of work jeans, briefly wondering about Brick’s upcoming news. She smiled, giddy with anticipation.
“Rise and shine, porcupine,” Eden called up the stairs. “You want to be a Race, you get to clean the place,” she said, laughing at her own wit.
Violet tugged her long hair into a ponytail. “I was born a Race,” she grumbled, reaching for the cup of coffee her aunt held. “And I’m your helper.”
“Hiya, Your Helper,” Eden said and laughed at Violet’s groan. “Hey, that’s my coffee,” she said, slapping at Violet’s hands. “Adam, get your daughter a cup of coffee.”
“Oh, hey Dad,” Violet said, hugging her father. “I didn’t see you over there. Have you been teaching Eden all your crappy Dad jokes?”
Adam Race tugged on his daughter’s ponytail. “Who do you think taught me?”
“I can’t believe I actually thought the orchard ran smoothly.”
“It does run smoothly,” Adam said. “As long as we work hard and do what has to be done.”
Adam handed his daughter a mug. “Let’s get going and start with the dishes in the barn. Your mom and Mrs. Decker will be up in an hour to make breakfast and help.”
“To breakfast,” Violet said, raising her mug to her dad’s before taking a solid sip. Perfect. Not too hot. Not too strong. Just a perfect jolt of caffeine to get her started.
“C’mon you, two,” Eden said, rinsing out her own mug. “I’m not paying you to lollygag around my kitchen.”
Adam raised an eyebrow. “Lollygag? You insult me. I was clearly dawdling,” he said.
“We’re getting paid?” Violet asked. “Cool.”
~~~~*
Social lives in small towns were limited by the friends you kept. There were three main cliques in Harper’s Mill and where you socialized depended largely on who your friends were.
The popular kids had the Trestles, an old abandoned railroad trestle that provided a quiet place to party away from prying parental eyes.
There was DiNardo’s Pizza where you could run into anyone at any time. It lacked privacy but made up for it with ready access to food and free refills on soda.
And then there was Lake Petapanke.
Stretching out from the shores of Harper’s Airport and extending miles in either direction, the beach at Lake Petapanke was the hub of warm weather teenage activity around Harper’s Mill. Whereas you needed an invite to party at the Trestles, the lake was wide open, readily accessible, and alcohol-free. Where you could easily run into your best friend’s mom at DiNardo’s, parents usually stayed away from evening beach activities and you could bring your own food.
The actual beach part lay at a secluded bend, allowing sunbathing, picnics, and bonfires without disturbing area residents.
The parking lot was scattered with an array of semi-familiar cars and trucks. Brick’s eager eyes sought out Violet’s white Jeep.
“Hey, Brick, how are you?”
“Mandy,” Brick said with a smile. He waved at Marie. “Looks like the party is getting started.”
“It is now,” Mandy said with a flirtatious giggle.
Brick rolled his eyes in amusement. “Come on,” he said gently. “I know you aren’t interested in me. Now, Violet is already here and I need to find her.”
“You two finally talk?” Mandy asked.
“A bit,” Brick said, not really wanting to confide any further in Mandy. Violet had made it clear the two girls were not friends and Brick navigated this water with caution.
The three of them passed through the entrance and were assaulted with the scents of grilling meat and tunes from a local radio station. It was summer once more in Harper’s Valley and it was time to celebrate.
Brick gazed at the familiar faces, shaking hands and sharing the occasional fist bump with old friends. He was never a jock and never really one of the popular kids in his grade, but anyone with a car knew Hamilton Auto was the best place to have your car worked on.
He scanned the crowd – it seemed everyone between the ages of 15 and 25 was at the lake for the start of summer party.
There! The last bit of sunlight caught on the halo of Violet’s hair, making it appear like copper in the evening’s waning light. He shouldered his way through the crowd, determined that before Violet left for the shore, she would know about his plans of joining the Navy and leaving Harper’s Mill for the next several years.
“I know you,” he said as he snuck up behind Violet and greeted her with a gentle kiss to the neck.
“Mmm,” she giggled while Amy rolled her eyes. “Do it again, quick, before my boyfriend finds you.”
Brick growled. “Tell him you’re mine.” She spun into him and let him fold her into his arms.
“Hey, big boy,” she said, brushing her nose against his in gentle greeting. “I belong to you.”
“Damn straight you do,” Brick said with a self-satisfied grin.
“Oh, gag me,” Amy teased. “I knew it. You two are going to be demonstrative and make everyone else around you uncomfortable, aren’t you?”
“Maybe,” Brick said with a grin.
“Only for the first year or two,” Violet said, throwing a look over her shoulder.
Amy groaned but grinned to let her friends know she really was happy for them. “I’m going to grab some colas.” Her eyes glowed cerulean and her gaze moved to Brick.
Brick nodded in understanding, thankful that Violet missed Amy’s unwitting tell. His secret was out and Amy was going to force his hand.
He propelled Violet to a quiet corner where the rising moon danced on the edges of the gently lapping water. “We need to talk. Now. Tonight,” he said.
An odd thing about water, he thought a moment later. Sound carried in strange ways.
“You sound so serious, Brick. What is it?”
“This was my last year in college,” Brick said.
“I thought you had one more year. Are your grades okay?”
“My grades are fine,” Brick assured her. “But I wanted to tell you about –”
“Let me go!”
Violet and Brick broke apart as Mandy strode up next to them with a trailing Marie tugging on her sister’s top.
“Stop, Mandy,” Marie chided.
“I just want to congratulate them,” Mandy said, again brushing off her sister’s grip. “Jeeze, it’s not every day Harper’s Mill gets to gain a war hero! When are you going to leave for boot camp?”
Brick stilled and suddenly, there was only the deep inhalation of shock as Violet realized Mandy knew what Brick had been trying to tell her.
“Fuck,” Mandy said softly as her eyes opened wide in realization.
Chapter Seven
“You told her first?” Violet asked, hurt and anger pulsing off of her in waves. “Whatever this big secret is, you told her first?” she asked, challenging Brick.
“I believe we’re about to find out why the expression ‘calm as a redhead’ doesn’t actually exist,” Mandy said.
Violet’s eyes narrowed at her. “I’d suggest you shut it,” she said. She turned back to Brick. “Well?”
Brick looked lost for a moment and Violet momentarily felt sorry for him before remembering just how hurt she was that he had discussed his– no, not just his life, but their lives, with Mandy Jones.
He sighed and nodded.
“Friday. On your date,” she guessed.
He nodded again.
“Why didn’t you tell me,” she said. He opened his mouth to argue but she held one hand up in the universal symbol of don’t even think of arguing with me. “Even before this weekend, I thought I was your best friend. How could you just,” her mind sought and discarded words in her search for the right ones. “How could you just reject me like that? Betray me?”
“I didn’t,” Brick said. “I was trying to protect you.”
“Protect me? By discussing our future with Maggot Jones?”
Mandy’s inhale was sharp and deliberate. “Don’t pull me into this, Violet Race. If he was that much in love with you, he wouldn’t have asked me out on a date in the first place.”
Direct score, Mandy thought as Violet turned an effective shade of red.
Brick opened his mouth to say something but was pulled away by Amy. “No, this fight has been a long time coming,” she said softly. “Let them have their say. Beg for forgiveness later.”
“I didn’t do anything to require forgiveness,” he muttered. “Except make conversation on a crappy date.”
“With a girl other than Violet,” Amy reminded him tartly.
Brick was quiet a moment. “Will I need flowers or candy?”
“What did I ever do to you, Mandy? Why did you make my life living hell for years? What is your problem?”
Mandy rolled her eyes. “My problem? What about yours? You’ve been in love with a boy since you were in a diaper.”
“There,” Violet pointed out. “That right there. Why is who I love or like any of your business?”
Mandy sighed and looked out over the water. It was almost fully dark now and the noise of people preparing the bonfire echoed in the small valley. “You’re a Race. You know how you all are,” she said.
“No, tell me,” Violet said.
Mandy rolled her eyes. “You’re all just so. Ugh. Earnest. Sweet. Simpering.”
“Happy,” Violet returned. “Yes, my entire family seems to be happy and to truly care for each other. The horrors.” Anger coursed through her. Sweetly, stingingly pure anger the likes she had never experienced before. She reached for it, grabbed it and held on for all she was worth. She would ride this anger through and settle this feud with Mandy once and for all.
Marie sighed and for a long moment the two sisters stared at each other in a mute defiant battle. “What did she do to you?” Marie finally asked, breaking the silence.
“You, too?” Mandy sighed, finally saying, “It was health class. Maybe fifth grade, or so. And you were just going on and on about finding true love and living happily ever after and I just wanted Mrs. N to get on with it. Get to the interesting stuff. And there you were. Violet Freaking Race, so pathetically sweet and naïve you made my teeth hurt.”
“You tortured her for the last seven years because she believes in true love? Have you met her parents? I’d believe in true love if I had her parents, too,” Marie said, sounding slightly wistful.
Shame shadowed Mandy’s features and she bit her lip before saying, “It was enough. And I wouldn’t say I tortured her. Made fun of her a little, maybe.”
“You told everyone I wore diapers!”
“So I teased you a lot.”
Marie arched an eyebrow at her sister. “You bullied her.”
“Oh, please,” Mandy said, shrugging off her earlier shame like a sweater on a hot day. “You were utterly ridiculous, Violet. Everyone knows true love and happily ever afters only exist in books and movies.”
“Maybe I was just a goofy middle school kid,” Violet admitted. “More caught up in playing with dolls than makeup, but so what? How was I a threat to you, Mandy?”
Mandy’s smile was smugly amused. “Did you take a bite from your crazy aunt’s apple tree and get some premonition about true love, Violet Race? You don’t know anything, you’re just so.” Mandy huffed. “Immature.”
“I was a child,” Violet defended. “And you were a mean, spiteful girl who didn’t want to see anyone happy!”
“Well, maybe if you had parents like mine, you’d know that true love is a myth.”
“Don’t blame your parents for telling people I was born a boy and getting me kicked out of gym glass,” Violet said, her eyes alight with energy and raw fury of hurt too long subdued. “You were a petty, mean girl and it amused you to mock me and put me down.”
“Well, after a while it became more like a habit I didn’t want to break,” Mandy said with cool detachment. “You always did have such thin skin.”
“Fuck you,” Violet said, pulling herself up to her full height. “Love isn’t drivel to me and yes, your lover should be more than just some guy you met at the gym. If that makes me old fashioned and naïve, so be it. I’d rather be that than jaded and mean to people.” Her chest heaved with emotion as tears filled her hazel eyes. “Brick Hamilton is worth a dozen Dixon Lights.”
“Oh please,” Mandy said. “If he was that perfect, he wouldn’t have lied to you.”
“Lied to me? About what?”
“About wanting to stay in this Podunk little town,” Mandy said with a gleam of satisfaction in her eyes. “Your boy wants to join the military and he didn’t trust you enough to tell you.” Mandy looked behind Violet. “Isn’t that right, Brick?”
Violet inhaled and executed an about face and into the wall of Brick’s chest. “Is that true?” she asked, her hazel eyes wide with shock.
Brick glared hard at Mandy and she had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “I’ve been considering it, yes. I haven’t made any final plans just yet, Violet.” He closed his eyes and held onto her hand. “Of course, I wanted to discuss it with you first.”
Violet gasped and felt her cheeks color with embarrassment. “We spent all weekend together, Brick. We talk and text daily. Are you telling me there was no point where you could have told me? Not at any point since the idea occurred to you? Even just as a talking point? But somehow, you could talk to other people about it.”
Brick opened his mouth to answer her but she held up one hand to stop him. “Just, get out of my way,” she said, crossly. Mortification set in as she realized her argument with both Mandy and Brick had been witnessed by half the town.
Without looking at Brick, she darted around his outstretched hands and headed directly for her truck and the relative safety and quiet it offered her.
~~~
In horror and disbelief, he watched as Violet ran towards the parking lot.
He would go after Violet, soon, he promised himself. But right now, he had a few things he wanted to say.
“Why did you say that? Why did you tell her when I specifically told you I was going to talk to her about it myself?”
Mandy shrugged. “I thought she knew.”
“And you couldn’t wait to rub it in her face?”
“I honestly thought she knew,” Mandy said, looking at her shoes. “And then. Well. I guess old habits are hard to break,” she said, her voice trailing in awareness of how lame her excuse sounded.
“I didn’
t lie to her,” Brick said. “But I needed to be sure before I said anything.”
“I think Violet is the one you need to tell that to.”
“I thought we just agreed to be friends,” Brick said, running his hands through his short dark hair and down through his beard. “And yet, you just hurt my best friend for no other reason except you could.”
He turned to go but was held up by Amy.
“I need to go after her.”
“You need to let her cool off a bit,” Amy said. “And I’m going to need help dealing with the situation here before a lot of ugly rumors start that will hurt everyone.”
Brick looked around, stunned to find everyone on their phones.
“Who got the video?”
A distant voice rang out. “It’s trending locally!”
“Let’s keep it going,” shouted another voice.
“Make that video go viral!”
Chapter Eight
Violet checked Amy’s text. Maggot Jones was apparently still trending locally. Awesome. Just freaking awesome. The irony of the bullied becoming the bully didn’t escape her and she felt like crap over it.
She let Amy know she was going for a walk on the beach to relax and wouldn’t have her phone on her.
After a generous coating of sunscreen, Violet left the quiet tent that had been in her family for generations. Ocean Grove was an anomaly in New Jersey living. Small cottages which housed a bedroom with a tent that extended for summer living.
As the saying went, sneeze in Tent City and at least two neighbors blessed your health.
But still, the place was hers for a few days. A brief respite from whatever drama was going on back home.
“Violet, honey, be careful you don’t burn,” Mrs. Vitali called from her front porch.
“Thanks, Mrs. V,” Violet said, waving at her neighbor. “I’ll only be out an hour or so.”
“You have a good time, sweetie. Mr. Vitali is coming to pick me up and take me to dinner.”
Dandelion Wishes (Harper's Mill Book 3) Page 7