3. Violet
Despite the odd lunch with Ethan, I still have work to do, and I finish the rest of my meal before recognizing that he’s not going to return to the diner. Not that I’m waiting around on it. I barely make it out of the diner and back to my office when I receive a text.
Ethan: Don’t answer any calls from my parents until I talk to you! Where are you?
I stare at the strange text as I enter the front of my office, half acknowledging the receptionist’s cheerful greeting under the banner of green garlands hanging from the low ceiling. My thumbs fly over my phone.
Me: At the office. Why? What happened?
Plopping my purse down on the desk, I watch the message bubbles manifest with a knot of apprehension forming in my gut. I can’t remember a time when I’ve ever seen him like this.
Oh, Ethan, what did you do?
I didn’t like the way he flew out of lunch or the gleam in his eyes, as if he was up to something I wouldn’t approve of.
Ethan:Can I come by, or are you busy?
I wasn’t planning on staying at the office, so I don’t really want to wait around for him.
Me: Give me an hour, and I’ll meet you at the park.
He sends me a thumbs-up emoji in confirmation. The next few minutes are consumed with website updates on my house and property listings, but my mind is on my best friend and what he said to his parents. Even in the worst-case scenario, it’s hard to imagine the mild-mannered Ethan doing anything untoward.
I gather my belongings about forty-five minutes later, bidding goodbye to the other real estate agents in the building and the receptionist before heading out to Spruce Crossing Park on foot.
The light snow stopped again, the early afternoon traffic barely existent as I make my way across the back roads toward the spacious park at the edge of downtown Spruce Crossing. As I arrive, I pull out my phone to text Ethan, but I hear my name called in the distance as my phone rings simultaneously in my purse.
I turn to see Ethan hurrying toward me from near the community center. My phone continues to ring, and I move to answer it. But before I do, Ethan calls out, “Just leave it!” The name on the screen registers immediately when I look to see who’s calling. It’s the hardware store’s number on my phone screen.
Here’s that call he’s dreading. But why?
I guess I’m about to find out.
Puzzled, I keep the phone in my gloved hand and wait for Ethan to join me, apprehension growing inside me as he finally does. My head tips back to look up at him, Ethan towering over me by eight inches. At six foot one, he’s a giant compared to me, but I’ve always felt secure having him at my side.
“Who is it?” he asks breathlessly, nodding toward my phone.
“It’s your dad, I think,” I say, thrusting the device toward him, but it has already stopped ringing.
“Oh, no,” he sighs, gesturing for me to follow him further into the snowy interior. “Is this the first time they’ve called?”
Frowning, I peer back at the phone. “I-I think so? I don’t think I have any other missed calls from them.”
He exhales, and we end up finding a bench by the frozen pond, Ethan leaning against the backrest as I sit upright to stare at him warily.
“You want to tell me what’s going on now?”
“Don’t freak out, okay?” he offers slowly.
My jaw twitches, and I feel my temperature spike. Nothing good has ever begun with that sentence. “When you say it like that, it makes me want to freak out,” I inform him dryly, but I still can’t reconcile that Ethan, my Ethan, has done anything that will make me angry.
He meets my eyes solemnly. “I should’ve taken more time to think through my idea.”
“Okay?” The more he speaks, the less I understand. “Think through what?”
I continue to stare at my friend expectantly.
“Ethan…”
He releases an enormous sigh. “I may have told my parents that we’ve been dating… and that I just proposed to you.”
The words don’t register at first, and I simply stare at him, waiting for him to say more.
“Did you hear me?” he asks, concern coloring his face. “I told my parents?—”
Then the words sink in like a ton of bricks.
“What?” I sputter, cutting him off. “Why? Why would you do that? What were you thinking?”
He releases a heavy, defeated breath. “I didn’t mean to bring your name into this at all,” he explains again, sliding down so that he’s sitting at my side now, but I slip further down the bench to gawk at him in disbelief.
“Explain!”
“I had an epiphany,” he begins, his cheeks reddening, although from cold or embarrassment, I can’t tell.
“Is that why you ran out of the diner?” I try to make sense of why he would tell his parents that. I’m drawing a blank.
Ethan nods.
“But you knew it was a bad idea,” I chide him furiously. “That’s why you didn’t run it by me.” He stares down at his gloves like a reprimanded child, and I immediately let up on him. It’s clear he feels stupid enough about this. I take a second to compose myself, but I do it. “Okay, tell me what happened.” He eyes me warily, but I nod encouragingly. “Tell me so we can figure this out together.”
“I told them I was seeing someone, and that I had just proposed to her,” he rushes on.
“But why, Ethan? What was that going to do?” I demand.
“I thought if they believed I was focused on starting a new life with someone else, they might understand if I wanted to focus on a different future than taking over the store.”
My head spins at his logic. “Okay… so what happened when you mentioned this mystery woman?”
Ethan’s cheeks flame redder now, and I see that he’s truly mortified. “My mom took the news really badly, like I was lying to her, keeping this secret girlfriend from her.”
I study his remorseful face and understand now how it played out.
“Your name was the first one that popped into my head,” he concludes. “I mean, we already spend so much time together, so it’s not that big of a stretch. We just have to do a bit of acting.”
My jaw drops, and a dubious laugh falls from my lips. “You’ve been my best friend for most of my life… but that is a big difference from being engaged.”
Shamed, Ethan looks at me. “I get it if you want no part of this. I feel kind of sick lying to them, too,” he admits. “But honestly, Vee, I have no idea how to get them off my case otherwise.”
“Tell them the truth!” I bark at him. A nearby bird squawks in protest at my loud voice as Ethan balks.
“It’s really easy for you to say,” he tells me tersely. “You’ve never had expectations like this put on you.” He’s on his feet before I can stop him, backing away from the bench before I can say anything. “I shouldn’t have put you in this position. I’m sorry, Violet. I’ll tell them that there’s nothing between us and end this now before it goes any further.”
He turns away, his shoulders sinking, and my heart falls as I recognize the dejectedness in his movements. He’s right. I don’t understand his predicament. He must have felt extremely desperate to do what he did.
“Wait!” I stop him. “Don’t go.” Slowly, he turns back, and I wave him back, also standing to face him. “I’m not happy about this,” I say, my mind whirling. “But I trust you. I want to support you—even if I suspect you’re losing your mind.”
His face brightens slightly, but he still looks worried. “You’re willing to go along with this?”
“For now…” I agree reluctantly. “But eventually, we have to tell them the truth. And I am leaving that up to you.”
A smile breaks out over his face, and he embraces me unexpectedly, wrapping me in his huge arms to swing me around in the snow before dropping me back on my feet. I lose my balance and slide a few inches before he can catch me.
Laughing, we both finally stand. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he breathes. “I promise I’ll straighten this out with my parents.”
I don’t ask him how he intends to do that when he hasn’t managed so far.
“We’re going to have to lay out some ground rules,” I add, and he nods again, but the relief on his face tells me he’s willing to agree to anything I say at this point.
“Whatever you want. You’re the boss of this thing.”
I grimace. If that were true, we wouldn’t be in this arrangement at all.
My phone rings again, and I wave it around without answering it. “What do you want me to say?” I ask nervously. “They’re going to keep calling me until I answer.”
Ethan purses his lips and shrugs. “I don’t know. You’re going to have to think of something. I really haven’t been thinking all that clearly since I let your name fall out of my mouth.”
Knowing I can’t avoid his parents forever, I respond to this call, one eye on my best friend, who paces in front of me. “Hi, Mr. Bennet,” I answer cheerfully.
“Hello, Violet.” His voice is more clipped than I’ve ever heard it. “Can you join us at the house for dinner tonight?”
“Dinner? Tonight?” I repeat, the blood draining out of my face. Ethan shakes his head vigorously, but I turn away, knowing that his parents deserve an explanation, too. “Is Ethan going to be there?”
There’s a pause after my question. “Haven’t you spoken with him?” Mr. Bennet replies tersely. I tense, realizing that this lie is already spinning out of control.
“I’ve been at work,” I say. It’s a half-truth.
Great. It’s already starting, lying to this family, who took me in and cared for me when my own can’t be bothered to drop me a text message.
A knot forms in my gut.
“Ethan should join us. He told us about your engagement today. I think we should have a discussion about it.”
“I see,” I reply without hesitation, spinning back around to look at my friend. Suddenly, I don’t want to do this anymore, but the desperation on Ethan’s face is tangible. “Well, let me check my calendar and see if I can make it.”
“We would really like to sit down and talk to both of you,” Mr. Bennet insists. “I believe you owe us that much.”
A wave of shame I have no reason to feel washes over me. This isn’t my deception, it’s Ethan’s, but I am playing into it. The Bennets have been so good to me ever since elementary school.
“All right, Mr. Bennet. I’ll come for dinner. What time, and what should I bring?” I mumble as Ethan grunts under his breath.
“Bring yourself,” Mr. Bennet replies tersely, making me feel even worse. “Seven o’clock. Please, Violet, this is very important to my wife. Don’t cancel.”
“I’ll be there.” We hang up, and I look at Ethan accusingly. “He doesn’t sound happy.”
To his credit, Ethan looks as guilty as I feel. “He’ll get over it. Both my parents love you. This is actually a great thing when you think about it.”
I roll my eyes, not buying into the justification. “If you say so.” Shaking my head, I stare at him. “So now what?” I demand. “What do we do from here?”
He returns my stare and shrugs. “I suppose we should probably go ring shopping,” he replies, and I gawk at him in disbelief.
“What?!”
“We’re engaged,” he reminds me. “You’re going to need a ring for your finger if we want to sell this to my parents.”
“Oh, Ethan,” I groan, my cheeks on fire. “You’ve seriously lost your mind.”
“I owe you for this. Large,” he cries, linking his arm through mine to lead me through the park. “I’ll get you the prettiest ring you ever did see.”
“Yeah, you do,” I concede, trying not to smile at his teasing tone of voice. He’s trying to make me laugh, and he’s succeeding despite my best efforts to stay annoyed. “It better be a nice ring.”
“That’s the spirit,” he laughs, but I read the worry on his face, and I don’t blame him. I’m worried, too.