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Her lips twitched at the thought. It would be the perfect fuck-you to Diane, although she wasn’t sure Lando would want to work with her. She wasn’t exactly an easy boss, or person. But for the sake of data, Lando might be into it. Violet zoned out for the drive, her damp clothes chilling her to the bone as they drove. She needed to get changed and warm first thing when they got back.
Diane remained absolutely dry, having taken shelter in the car as soon as the rain started to fall. Typical. Violet inwardly sneered. Everything about Diane had set her on edge lately, all the bad parts about her childhood best friend coming out in full force. They needed a break from each other, but Violet wasn’t sure she wanted to carry on that friendship any longer. It wasn’t because Diane had told her she didn’t love her. Violet had known that—not romantically at least. But at some point, she had to give up the dreams she’d once had and realize what was right in front of her.
The house was quiet when they returned. Eli’s truck was nowhere to be found, so Violet figured she was out in the fields somewhere. Gathering her stuff from the Hummer, Violet trudged upstairs. Lando was still gone, but Violet stopped short. She looked around the room, her stomach twisting and sinking fast. All of Lando’s things were gone. She was gone. For good.
* * *
Aunt T picked her up at the airport, a permanently pitying look on her face as she drove Lando back to the house. Lando could barely look at her, everything Aunt T had said before she left coming back to hit her full force in the face. Sometimes Lando really needed to remember to listen to her.
As they got to the house, Aunt T helped Lando bring her stuff inside and flopped onto the couch. “Tell me the full story of what happened?”
“I don’t know what happened, really.” Lando collapsed next to her and put her head on Aunt T’s shoulder. “One minute I thought everything was fine—tense, but it was always tense—but fine. The next Diane fired me.”
“And didn’t pay you?”
Lando shrugged, really not wanting to explain that one. She’d already told Aunt T about the abysmal paycheck she’d gotten and how she was going to need to borrow money to pay bills on the house for the next month until she found herself a job that did pay.
“What are we going to do with you, Lando?”
Again, she didn’t answer. That day had been the longest day of her life. She grabbed her phone and sent Eli a text, telling her she was home safe, hadn’t had a drop of alcohol, and that her Aunt was staying the night with her. But being home again had washed away a lot of those tendencies she’d struggled with when out in the field. She was in her place of comfort, somewhere she knew the people, knew Aunt T would come without a second question if she needed.
“I miss Nan, you know,” Lando whispered.
“She’d rip you a new one if she knew about this,” Aunt T muttered.
“I know.” Lando gave a wan smile. “She would have done it when I left too.”
Chuckling, Aunt T wrapped her arm around Lando’s shoulders. “Yeah, she would have. And then again every day until you got home. There were a lot of bad decisions that went into this.”
“There were.” Lando sighed heavily, her head hurting from the stress of the day. “If I fall asleep on you, just shove me off and cover me with a blanket.”
“If you’re going to fall asleep, go to bed.”
Lando grunted, not wanting to explain that for the last two weeks she hadn’t slept alone, and the thought of going upstairs to her bedroom by herself was more overwhelming than she’d anticipated. She hadn’t thought having someone else right there who could help her with her demons would be so poignant, but it had. Violet had done just that. It didn’t matter if she was pissed or annoyed at Lando or at Diane, the silent support was still there.
Aunt T brushed a hand through Lando’s short hair, scraping her nails lightly against Lando’s scalp. It was something she’d done since Lando was a kid anytime she was upset or melancholy. Closing her eyes, Lando relaxed into the familiar and comforting touch.
“I’m going out tomorrow to get food and look for a job.”
“You do that,” Aunt T answered. “But also feel free to take a day to mope.”
“I don’t have a day.”
“Lando, you can afford one day.”
Keeping her mouth shut so she wouldn’t continue a pointless argument, Lando closed her eyes. She was devastated about all that had happened while she’d been gone. It hadn’t been very long, but it felt like months.
“Maybe I should get a dog.”
“Why?”
“This house is big and empty.”
“Are you lonely?” Aunt T turned her chin down. “Because you can always move into the house with me and Kyle and the kids. You know there’s a room there for you if you want. We can rent out this place, get some income off it.”
Lando had thought about that at one point, more often after her grandmother had died, but she didn’t want to intrude. They had a full house already. They didn’t need an extra person to deal with, and Lando was an adult. She needed to learn to live on her own and stand on her own two feet.
“No, but I wouldn’t mind the occasional sleepover.”
