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My eyes narrowed. “I know more about love than either of you will ever know. You will always choose status over passion and money over people. I feel sorry for you.” I began ripping off the ridiculous elbow-length gloves I had on. “And… I… hate… this… dress…” I hissed, grunting as I successfully unbuttoned the back of it and stepped out of the white gown as though it were nothing more than trash.
My mother gasped and let out a moan while Avery stood in stunned silence, her gloved hands over her mouth. People were gathering from up the stairs and around the ballroom to see what was happening. To witness such a display of an ill-mannered socialite who had lost her cool.
I didn’t care.
I ripped the tiara off my head and threw it down with the dress, sobbing and staring at everyone in my undergarments. My chest was rising and falling heavily, and when my father walked in and saw me on display, he simply walked back out, my mother trailing after him.
A woman with a red dress and an updo came running forward, her heels clacking on the marble floors. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Oh, dear goodness. Let’s just get you out of here. This is no place to be in your underpants. Okay, off you go everyone. Out, out, out!” She scurried around, trying to get everyone back into their respective places while I stepped out of the rumpled gown and took off my uncomfortable heels.
Avery grimaced, her nose upturned and her chest pressed back. “You have ruined your entire life, Violet. All for what? A boy with pretty eyes? Ugh!” she scoffed. “I won’t sit and watch it. I won’t associate with trash.”
And in that moment, I knew I would never speak to my “best friend” again.
FIFTY-NINE
LETTIE
I got homebefore my parents did, packed a few items, changed into the most comfortable pair of clothing I could find, and left with only a note on the table to explain.
I’m sorry that I have burdened you and embarrassed the family name, but I can no longer pretend that I fit in here. I simply don’t belong. I belong somewhere I can be my true and whole self. Somewhere I can follow my own dreams and not the ones that someone else has for me.
I want to love whoever my heart chooses to love.
Money and objects are not my heart’s desire, and while I am grateful for all of the things you have provided me with, I long for a simple and comfortable life. I want to picnic outside and swim in water that isn’t at a country club. I want to go to a farmer’s market and bake pies and volunteer at the animal shelter.
I want to be messy.
I want to be free.
I hope that, in time, you will accept me for who I am and that we can be a family.
With love,
Your daughter,
Lettie
I left, leaving only Julia the information as to where I would be, and went to the only place I had ever felt truly at home.
I sped the whole way to Aveline, knowing I was going to head straight to Peach Street to tell Tuck I was all in. I was going to tell him I would stay in Aveline and finish my senior year while he was away and training. The minute we could, we would get married and live together on base, and if he got deployed, it would be fine because I would make friends and have a life wherever he was. We would take care of each other and love each other and nothing else in the world would matter.
It was dark now, the sun setting long ago, and when I made it to Tuck’s house, the first thing I noticed was how secluded it was. Where everyone else on the block had a light on in their house or their porch light gleaming, Tuck’s house looked abandoned.
I walked up to the front door and knocked twice. I heard footsteps and a couple of grunts, but when a man opened the door, it was, to my dismay, not Tuck.
The man flipped on the porch light, and I saw he had a long and scraggly beard with hair that touched his shoulders. It looked unkempt and unwashed, and one of his eyes was swollen shut, the color of my mother’s favorite red wine.
I tried to hide my surprise, and with a shaky voice said, “Hi, sir, you must be Tuck’s father. I’m Lettie. Is Tuck home?”
“Tuck’s not coming back,” he snarled, and then without a warning, he shut the door in my face.
I panicked. Standing in the middle of the dark porch, staring at a broken screen door. My heart was racing, and I felt my chest constrict. I ran my hands through my hair.
His dad was wrong.
Tuck wouldn’t leave.
He wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye.
