Chapter 8 Violet
Violet
Icried on the way back to Silver Springs. This pregnancy had turned me into a weeping willow, and I honestly didn’t mind anymore. It felt good to let it out.
I passed the diner where I knew I’d find Colt’s mom, but chickened out. The call of Dolly’s key lime pie almost won out, but first, I really did need to get my security situation figured out.
“Hi there.” A beautiful brunette woman stood from behind the receptionist desk of Montgomery Defense. “I’m Mae. How can I help you today?”
“Hi, Mae. I’m Violet. I just moved back to Silver Springs.
Still not sure if it’s a permanent thing, or just a ‘for now’ type of thing.
” My hand landed protectively over my belly, which I swear was bouncing from the baby’s latest round of hiccups.
“In any case, I’ll be here until after this little guy comes, and I’d really love to have a home security system installed. I heard you offered that service here.”
“Awesome. There are two guys here today, but I’ll buzz back to my fiancé.” I must have given her a strange look, because she smiled and laughed. “The other guy is nice enough, but can be a little rough around the edges. You can take a seat if you want, I’m sure it will only be a minute or two.”
I nodded, but instead of sitting down which I’d done enough of in Colt’s office, I walked a little deeper into the building. It very clearly wasn’t just a home security business. There was a fully stocked gym with a boxing ring just beyond Mae’s desk. Interesting.
“God, I just finished talking to Beau. Apparently Beckett is being a terror. I’m so thankful Hawk and I had the night away—” I recognized the frazzled voice the second she started talking.
Jessie Ford. Colt’s youngest sibling, and his only sister. We stayed in touch sporadically over the years. Enough for me to send a gift when she had her baby boy two years ago. But I hadn’t reached out about my own pregnancy…Had Colt told her?
“What are you doing here?! Oh my God, Violet! You’re pregnant!!” Her eyes sparkled with tears as she made her way over towards me.
“I am. Can you believe it?” I let out a watery laugh, my emotions mirroring hers instantly as we hugged. “It feels so surreal.”
“It feels surreal that you’re here. I mean…When did you get in? How long are you staying? Oh my gosh, are you going to raise the baby here? Does my brother know? Shit…I need you to spill everything!”
I looked over at Mae, who was doing a very good job of studying her computer screen as if Jessie wasn’t talking so loud that everyone in the building could hear her.
“Oh, God. I’m such a bad friend. Vi, did you meet Mae? I mean, of course you met her when you walked in, I just mean…” Jessie tugged on my hand and we walked back over to Mae’s desk. “Mae, this is my sister-in-law, Violet. She’s Colt’s wife.”
“Ex-wife,” I say at the same time.
“God, right. It’s only been a freaking decade. You’d think I’d be used to saying it that way. His ex-wife.”
Mae smiled and nodded. “You’re the tattoo.”
“Sorry?” I replied. I didn’t have any tattoos.
Before she could respond, a man walked out from a separate hallway, smiling at Mae before nodding at Jessie and finally turning towards me.
“Hi, you must be Violet. I’m Stone Lawson, one of the founding members of Montgomery Defense. Mae mentioned you’re looking for home security?”
“Vi?” Jessie squeezed my hand.
“I’m staying at my old house. My parents never sold it after they moved to Arizona, and my dad couldn’t part with it after my mom died.”
“I imagine it could use some added security.”
“You could say that.” I tried to laugh, but it sounded forced to my ears. I’m sure everyone else noticed as well.
“Okay, well I don’t want to keep you from Stone, but please tell me you don’t have plans later on?”
“The only plans I have these days involve soaking in the tub and going to bed early.”
“So, you’re free around, say…six tonight?”
“Free for what exactly?” I laughed.
“Dinner with me! I want you to meet Hawk and Beckett! Oh my God, our kiddos will grow up playing together! Please say you’ll come to dinner!”
“I’d love to.”
“Good. Six. The ranch.”
“Did you and Hawk build?”
“No,” Jessie smiled, “we’re in the old homestead. Hawk fixed it up for me while I was pregnant, and it’s just so perfect! I’ll have you over sometime to see it.”
“Won’t I see it tonight?” I asked, suddenly confused.
“No. Once a week Hawk and I take Beckett over to Colt’s house for dinner. You can meet us there!”
My mouth popped open, and she just laughed.
“Jessica Ford. No.”
“It’s Jessica Morgan now, and you already promised! I’ll see you there at six, Vi.”
“Can I get you some water?” Stone’s eyes dropped to my belly, but only for a second.
I was still wrapping my mind around how I’d fallen for Jessie’s trick, and trying to think of every way possible I could somehow alert Colt that I was, in fact, going to show up on his doorstep after I’d made such a big deal about not doing that exact thing an hour ago.
“No, I’m fine, thank you.”
“Okay, well, why don’t we start with your address and maybe what you’re looking for in your security system.”
I rattled off my parents’ address, Stone smiling as I said the road I lived off.
“Are you familiar with that area?” I asked.
“A little. We drive out to see Hawk and Jessie a lot. The Silver Ridge Ranch almost feels like a second home at this point. Or, well, a third. Maybe a fourth.”
“How many homes do you have?” I laughed.
Stone smiled. “It’s complicated. We have an apartment here in this building. But we also have a house out past Silver Springs proper. And then we spend a lot of time on the ranch here, but also a lot of time in Montana with one of the guys who we founded the company with.”
“Sounds lovely, to feel at home in so many different places.” I held back the shudder I felt bubbling up from my stomach. But I must not have hid it well enough, because Stone switched into serious mode.
“Where were you before you came to Silver Springs?”
“New York City.”
His eyes went wide. “Wow. This is quite the change.”
I nodded in agreement. “I prefer it here. There were just a lot of painful…memories I was running from. I wanted somewhere that wouldn’t make me think of home.”
Stone nodded. “Did it work?”
“Not at all,” I laughed, but there was no humor behind the sound.
“But now you’re back, and I imagine with a baby on the way, you want just another layer of protection.”
“I really wasn’t going to…even after my dad suggested it. But Colt mentioned there had been some teens breaking into places, and I had a bit of an issue with someone in New York before I left. I just feel like, yeah, maybe I do need something to put my mind at ease.”
His fingers stopped typing. “What kind of an issue with someone in New York?”
“Oh, nothing that I think will spill over here. Everything in New York happened under my pen name. I…” I leaned back, the baby kicking my side letting me know he wasn’t happy with the space I was giving him.
“I’m an author. And I really did try as best I could to keep Violet Murphy separate from my author business. ”
“Okay, so this wasn’t someone who knew you personally?”
“No, God no. I think it was just a reader. Someone who sent me some notes to my business manager. Got a little too comfortable with thinking they knew me personally.”
“You responded to them?”
“No. Never. But maybe they came to a signing or something, you know?”
Stone’s jaw clenched. “Okay. So, only ever mailed to a PO Box?”
“Mhm.” Shit. No, shit. How had I not realized?
“Violet?”
“The last note…uh, why I decided to get out of New York for a while…it came to my apartment. I think I have it here…” I looked down to the folder in my lap, my hands shaking as I tried to rifle through the papers.
Stone stood from behind his desk, but I still hadn’t found the paper I was looking for by the time he came to sit next to me.
“Here. Why don’t you take this, and I’ll look through those?” He held out a water bottle to me.
“Oh, no. I mean, it’s not that big of a deal. I can find it.”
Again, his eyes dropped to my belly. “I’d feel better if you took a drink of water. You’re looking a little pale.”
“I’m being ridiculous. It’s just that…I didn’t think about the apartment being in my name. My real name.” I took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry.”
“No need to apologize. You’re scared. And that’s okay.
You’re in the right place to make sure you’re protected at home.
I don’t know if Mae mentioned this, but I’m also a paramedic.
Of course, I’d really like to not have to use those skills today.
So maybe you can take a sip of the water for me while I look these over? ”
I nodded, unable to get my voice to work as I handed over my folder and accepted the water bottle.
“Can I call someone for you? I’m sure Jessie and Mae would be happy to sit in with us? Or maybe I could call Colt?”
“No!” I almost jumped out of my seat in my hurry to answer. “No, that’s so kind of you, but I’m perfectly fine. I was getting thirsty, so thank you for the drink. You’re more than welcome to look through the file. I already showed it to Colt before coming here.”
That seemed to surprise Stone. “Alright. And he didn’t say anything about the person knowing your address?”
“I only thought of it just now. I left New York because of what the note said. I was so worried about it, that the fact it came to my apartment instead of to my manager completely slipped past me. But I’ll tell him.
I really just want to be able to say there is someone coming out to install the system and my cabin is safe.
” God, I was second guessing my decision not to accept his help.
“He tried to get me to move back home with him, and it’s all just way too complicated for that. ”
Stone nodded, his eyes still focused on papers in front of him.
“Okay, well, I’m going to work up a package for you.
We’ll need to come out and survey the property.
It would be helpful if Colt was there.” I opened my mouth to argue, but Stone lifted his hand, effectively silencing me.
“I know you probably think that’s overstepping, but we normally work very closely with the Clarence County Sheriff’s Department.
And since Colt is a close friend of mine, who’s already aware of your concerns and is wanting to make sure you’re safe, I think it’s for the best that we loop him in. ”
I swear the damn cursor was mocking me. While ghost writing during my marriage is what got my foot in the door, I’d been writing for myself since my divorce.
Probably because there were so many things I couldn’t figure out how to say out loud before leaving, that were then easier to pour into my stories once I had some distance.
What was once a dream of publishing even a single novel has turned into an entire career for me.
But since the day I heard back from the fertility clinic about my positive pregnancy test, I have had to force the words out.
In the last few weeks with my anxiety growing about giving birth on my own, and all the unwanted attention from my—God, it felt terrible to say stalker, but maybe that’s exactly how I needed to start addressing the situation as—safety issue, the words would not come.
I was questioning everything, and sitting in front of my laptop just made me want to pull my hair out.
The baby gave me a kick at the same time my phone rang. The picture I had saved in my phone for Ryan’s number popped up. I smiled, loving the way we both were laughing in the picture.
“Hey, Ry.”
“Wow, Callie. You remember who I am?” He knew my legal name, but always chose to use my pen name. “For a second there, I thought I was going to have to come all the way down to Arkansas to see for myself that you were still alive. I thought we agreed you would keep me in the loop?”
I cringed. “I’m in Texas, and yes, I’m alive.”
“No sign of trouble?”
“No, thank God.”
“And the words? How are they coming along?”
For all the ways I loved Ryan as my manager, sometimes he was a little too focused on the goal line and not enough on me as a human.
“They’re…”
“Cal, we talked about this. I know you were wanting to get ahead of schedule before the baby comes, but—” A loud honk interrupted him. “Hey! I’m trying to walk here! Maybe don’t almost run me over? Yeah, up yours, asshole. Shit, Callie, you still there?”
“Yeah,” I laughed, “I’m still here.”
“Well, as much as I’m sure living the small town life is excruciatingly boring, at least you don’t have people trying to run you over all the goddamn time.”
“That is true. The citizens around here are very good about not jaywalking.”
“Oh, is that how we’re going to play this?” he laughed. “Fine, you caught me.”
“Look, I’m working my ass off. I know they want the draft done in a few weeks, but with everything going on, my mind is just…”
“Blank?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re already on extension. They’re going to throw a fit if I try to get your agent to ask for another,” he reminds me.
“I know. I know. I promise, I’m prioritizing it. I’ve unpacked. I’ve settled in. And now I’m going to get down to business.”
“That’s my girl. Love hearing that. Alright, don’t forget to call me if you need my help, okay? That’s what I’m here for.”
“No help needed. I promise not to let you down.”
“You never could, Callie.”
“Bye, Ryan.”
I stared at the cursor still taunting me before my eyes drifted towards the clock. I needed to get ready for my dinner with Jessie and her family. At my old house. Where Colt would be.