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“I’m fine, Grandma Violet. I can do this.” Lilac took a deep breath, as much to convince herself as her grandma. They’d begun the complaint to HR before Grandma Violet had arrived. She’d been great as some emotional support, but Lilac could stand on her own two feet withouther.
“Well, at the very least you could quit that job,” said Grandma Violet. “And just wait here in Orlando until it’s allover.”
“And let that slimeball win?” said Aunt Frankie, folding her arms over her chest. “I think not.” She’d been happy to report that Tara had kicked Earl out of their house after this had all come to light—that he’d denied it, of course, but that Tara had said it was just confirmation of all the suspicions she’d kept buried deep insideher.
“If you’re sure,” said Grandma Violet, taking Lilac by bothshoulders.
“I am,” said Lilac, embracing her. “Thank you for being here forme.”
True, she’d told her parents not to cancel their trip—they’d moved on to Japan now, and Lilac had made poor Pembroke a bit jealous by showing her her parents’ vacation photos, though it wasn’t like Lilac herself was there—but it had still felt weird to just talk to them over the phone about it. Her daddy had seemed indignant, pacing back and forth in a hotel room and rambling about the disgusting “P.O.S.” who’d done that to his “baby girl,” but neither had fought that hard about not canceling their trip to be there for her. Her daddy had quickly shifted gears to tell her all about the Shinto ritual they’dwitnessed.
It was just as well. Lilac would have felt more self-conscious about it all with a house full of relations. Heaven forbid Nana Abigail had found her way down here—she’d told Lilac it hadn’t sounded like that big a deal to her. “Just pinch those fingers,” she’d said. “That’ll get them thinkingtwice.”
She’d just wanted to know if the boss had been handsome. She’d beena touchmore sympathetic when Lilac had said he wasn’t. As if him being handsome would have made that allright.
But Lilac was happy now—she felt like she could breathe. She knew she had her family and her family’s money to thank. Without that lawyer, she probably would have just done what HR had suggested and taken a leave of absence while it was all “sorted,” but the lawyer had threatened legal action so fast, they’d scrambled to accommodate her wishes. Even so, she still felt a bit proud of herself, too. If all this could stop Earl from doing this to someone else—someone without Lilac’s resources—then it would all be worthwhile. And she’d actually looked forward to coming to work eachday.
“I haven’t seen you here in a while,” said the shuttle driver as she slid in toward the back, her big box on her lap. She smiled and nodded, quickly turning away from the young man’s mischievous grin, thankful for the wave of “campers” who filed into the shuttle and filled the space betweenthem.
Gyu-ri had told Lilac that her accusation was all the talk among staff back at Tent Tildy—even as far as the Ballroom. People were probably talking about it all across Tildy World beneath those smiles and between those cheerful, rehearsed lines that they used forguests.
When they arrived at Tent Tildy, Lilac was the first one off, keen not to be left alone with the driver, who might ask her more about the situation that had rocked Tildy World behind the curtain. She walked briskly through the resort lobby, heading straight for Tildy’s Tots, which she got to withoutincident.
She bypassed the line of parents and kids about to check in, turning to the woman at the desk. “Gyu-ri sent me to give these toTanya.”
The woman looked up and Lilac was certain her bored expression grew alarmed when she took in whom she was talking to. She nodded. “Go ahead,” she said, clicking a button on the desk to unlock the hiddendoor.
Lilac took in the room around her, the laughing kids, the brightly-colored screens flashing games andcartoons.
“No running!” called one Tildy Scout, and Lilac chuckled at the fact that that seemed to be a refrain of all people who worked with small kids. She’d said it more than a few times herself during herlicensure.
“Lilac!” It had taken approximately half a minute for little Landon to zoom in on her. Lilac hadn’t even seen him coming. She just felt him slide in under the box she was carrying and squeeze her legstightly.
“Oof,” said Lilac. “You’re going to grip the air out of me,buddy.”
He laughed and she shifted the box higher so she could see his face, though it strained her arms to do so. He grinned up at her, a tooth conspicuously absent from his line of pearlywhites.
Concerned, Lilac put the box atop a squishy rubber chair made to look like a tree stump. “Did you lose atooth?”
Landon let go of her legs to run his fingers over the gaping hole, as if just discovering it was missing. Then he grinned some more. “I fell,” he said. “Off the jungle gym at the park. WithWillow.”
“You fellwithWillow?”
“A meanie boy said I was too slow and he pushed me,” he said. “Willow hit him and he grabbed her hair and I fell, but Willow grabbed me.” He looked almost proud then. “She has casts,” he said, pointing to his leg and to hiswrist.
Lilac knelt down to his level and put her hands on his shoulders. “Your sister broke her arm andleg?”
Landon nodded, chewing on histhumb.
She hugged him then, her mind racing over the texts she’d exchanged with Nolan since… Since the day they’d last spent time together. He mentioned it being hectic by him, a “mini family emergency,” but he hadn’t said… Then again, she’d hardly told him what had been going on with her. But her lawyer had advised her not to share it with anyone. She’d only told Gavin, Brielle, and Pembroke that she was filing a complaint with HR about what had happened and she hadn’t gone into more details—though Gavin already knew. He was so proud of her, like her reporting a creep was equal to saving someone from a burning building or something. Fortunately for Lilac, who’d just wanted to be happy, to do things that made her happy, he’d spent most of the week telling her all about work. AndGabriel.
Hoping it all worked out for the best for him, she’d invited him and a “guest” to come stay with her and Frankie and hit the parks—even Disney, if she must, so he could find his Gaston. But they’d agreed to wait until they knew how things were going with Lilac and after Gavin’s internship wasover.
“Is she okay?” asked Lilac, a dumb think to ask about someone who’d broken twolimbs.
Landon nodded, though. “She went back to school,” hesaid.
Lilac let out a breath of relief. No wonder Nolan had kept his texts brief—he’d been busy. Lilac wondered how Nolan and his dad had managed to get time off work to nurse Willow, oriftheyhad.
