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Her meeting had gone on much longer than I’d anticipated, but the rain had tapered off a while ago, so, unlike me, Violet managed to enter the apartment looking just as good as she had when she’d left it.
However, her face, usually plastered with a wide, genuine smile, now looked as though she’d seen a ghost.
“Vi?” I asked, pausing the TV and climbing to my feet. “You okay, girl?”
Violet just nodded, moving with the slow, disjointed steps of a classicRomerozombie as she made her way to the lone chair in our small living room and sat down, her body seeming to deflate as she did so.
“Violet?” I asked, reclaiming my seat on the couch so I could see her face. “Everything go okay downtown?”
“Yes,” was all she said.
“Um.” My mind floundered for something helpful to say, but saying the right thing was Vi’s forte; I had always been the master of saying exactly thewrongthing at exactly thewrongtime. “That’s good, then, right?”
Violet nodded, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the TV, the pale glow emanating from the screen doing nothing to combat the eerie demeanor and somber mood that my friend and roommate seemed to be stuck in.
“You wanna tell me what happened?”
She continued to stare, a small furrow appearing between her eyebrows, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure she’d even heard me.
“Aunt Edith,” Violet started, her words soft. “She... she left me...”
“What, Vi?” I prodded, seriously hoping she really hadn’t inherited a whole passel of cats. “What did she leave you?”
Finally, Violet turned to me, blinking several times before she ultimately focused on my face. Licking her lips, Violet swallowed hard, seeming like she was steeling herself to even say the words.
“Everything,” she breathed, like she couldn’t even believe it herself. “She left me... everything.”
Whoa.
“That’s... I mean, that’s good, right, Vi?”
Violet shrugged, her face a picture of innocent confusion.
“I guess. To be honest, the whole thing feels a little surreal. Like, didn’t she have any other family or anything? The woman barely knew me. I met her one time, when I was just a kid.” Shaking her head once more, Violet frowned. “Why me, Ricki?”
“I don’t know, babe. But this conversation sounds like it could use a whole lot more alcohol.” Popping up from the couch, I moved over to where Violet sat, placing one hand on her arm, my tattooed fingers looking almost garish against her creamy skin. “What do we do when things don’t go our way?”
Violet blinked again, and one corner of her mouth kicked up in a half-smile, the first sign of one I’d seen from her since she’d gotten home.
“We wash it away with awhiskey day.”
“Damn right, we do, girl.”
Heading back to the kitchen, I reached for the whiskey bottle, disappointment rocking through me when I found it empty.
“Oops.” I held the bottle up, shrugging. “I guess I finished it already.”
“You had awhiskey day, too?” Violet asked, her concern for me overtaking her shock about the dead aunt thing. “What happened?”
“Meh.” I shrugged, trying for nonchalant. “I got fired.”
“What?” Vi shrieked, and I winced. “What did that jerkwad do this time?”
Violet had no love for my boss—formerboss—Murray. I guessed that was what happened when I spent the last three years complaining about his sexist ass every night after work.
“I’ll tell you. And you can tell me all about the lawyer’s office, too. But first, we need more booze.” Grabbing my bag from the hook beside the door, I slid my feet into a different pair of boots—because my precious Venus fly trap ones were currently drying over the air vent—and headed out the door. “Change into something comfy, and I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
“Don’t forget to take the empty,” Violet called, already halfway to her bedroom. “If Leona’s behind the counter, she’ll give you a discount for the exchange.”
