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“Have a cup of coffee with me and explain it,” I offer, nodding at Dunkin’. Such an odd franchise for this part of town, given the number of mom-and-pop shops littering the streets, but it does surprisingly well.
“I don’t want to have coffee with you. I don’t even want to be here, on this island. But I came, even though my best friend told me something sounded off. I thought, it’s an island with a population of less than a hundred people, what could possibly happen?” She snorts sharply, narrowing her eyes. “Just when I was starting to forget about you.”
Her words are a barb aimed directly at my heart; it sinks inside the muscle, flaring so it latches on tightly and refuses to relinquish its hold. I rub at the ache they cause, taking a step back, wondering if I should go back inside and leave her be after all.
“This is your problem, Kal. You want to force a relationship by fixing what you feel are problems. I didn’t ask for your help, and I know damn sure my dad didn’t, either.”
I bite the inside of my cheek in silent protest. Her dad.
Not ours.
I don’t reply, letting the weight of her words pull them down between us, anchoring them to the space where I once stood.
Finally, she exhales, mimicking my movement backward, shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand. “Did you... did you really kidnap that girl?”
“Keeping tabs on me, sister?”
She scrunches up her nose. “You can’t go anywhere back home without hearing about it. She’s a mafia princess, Kal. What are you even thinking?”
Part of me almost laughs again at the condescension seeping from her tone.
Like I’m afraid of the fucking mafia.
“I know who she is, and I didn’t kidnap anyone. Elena married me of her own volition. If you want the sordid details of how she pursued me, then I her, I’ll give them to you as soon as you cash one of my fucking checks.”
“Wasn’t she supposed to marry someone else? Some news reporter, or journalist?” Violet tilts her head, studying me. “You know they found his body, right?”
Annoyance burns hot on the back of my tongue. “I’m not sure why that would concern me.”
She presses her lips together, glancing down at the Birkenstocks on her feet. “It probably doesn’t, and that’s part of our problem.”
Slipping my hands from my pockets, I reach up and tug at the collar of my dress shirt, shaking my head. “Actually, we don’t have a problem. In fact, per your request, we don’t even have a relationship.” I start to head in the opposite direction down the street, pausing once to see the astonishment coloring her features.
“I’ve been poor, you know. Most of my life, that was my identity. It sucks, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Not even on the man who still to this day won’t recognize me as his own.” Violet blinks, reminding me so much of the little girl on the doorstep all those years ago, staring up at me like I was a stranger.
Which, I suppose I am. Even now.
“I’ll tell Jonas you’re no longer interested in working here,” I say, moving back toward the front door of the Flaming Chariot. “See to it you’re off my island by sundown.”
And with that, I head back inside.
