Henry appears a second later, tossing a folded banner in the truck bed.
“Well?” I ask.
Mrs. Calloway adjusts her glasses and glances down at the page.
“You raised almost $3000. The theater renovation fund is off to a very good start,” she says slowly.
Henry lets out a whistle. “Not bad for your first town event, big bro.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “You’re serious?” I ask.
Mrs. Calloway nods. “People believe in this place, and they are glad you came back to Lavender Creek.”
The words catch me off guard, for a long time after coming home, I felt like the guy who left, the one who walked away from the ranch. The one who tried to build a life somewhere else. But standing here now, with the town cleaning up around me, the theater lights glowing behind us, and Violet here with me, it feels different.
Like maybe I wasn’t the guy who left anymore. Maybe I was the guy who came back.
Henry clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Told ya it would work.”
I glance at Violet. She is watching me, that soft smile on her face again. The one that makes everything feel steady. The one that makes Lavender Creek feel like home.
“Looks like I’ve got a theater to finish renovating,” I say.
Violet laughs quietly. “And a town that is very excited about it.”
Mrs. Calloway waves the auction binder. “And don’t forget a fundraiser that exceeded expectations.”
The group slowly starts heading their separate ways after that, trucks pulling away one by one until the square grows quiet again. Soon, it is just Violet and me standing near the theater steps. The string lights still glowed overhead, casting warm pools of light across the empty street.
She crosses her arms lightly, glancing toward the building. “We did it,” she says smiling at me.
And for a moment, neither of us move. I look up at the theater sign, imagining the future it holds, movies playing late into the night, crowds filling the seats, and memories inside those walls.
But tonight, the memory I want to remember is her standing here beside me, watching the town slowly fall quiet after one incredible day. For the first time since coming back to Lavender Creek, I don’t feel like I am trying to fit into a life that had moved on without me.
I feel like I belong here again.
17
Violet
“Coffee before talkie.”
Monday afternoons at the café are constantly busy. The weekend rush flows into Monday, the morning regulars have come and gone, with the afternoon folk showing up needing their coffee order to get them through the day along with some sugar. The whisper of the espresso machines fill the space.
Today is just giving me too much time to think. And unfortunately, my brain has decided there is only one person worth thinking about.
Everett Callahan.
I wipe the counter for the third time in ten minutes, staring out the front window toward Main Street. The late afternoon sun stretches long shadows across the sidewalk, and a few people wander by carrying shopping bags or walking their dogs.
Two days.
It has been two days since the fundraiser. Two days since the busiest, most exciting thing Lavender Creek has seen in years.And the entire town is still talking about it. Every single person who has come into the café this morning has mentioned it.
“Best event we’ve had in ages.”
“My kids haven’t stopped talking about the petting zoo.”
