Live for You (24 page)

“
What’s that?” Here it
comes. This is where Miss Violet tells me that someday I’ll find
another person to love or be with, and she’ll be perfect for me.
The timing will be right.

“
You can’t let
you
keep
you
down.” She picks
another handful of broccoli. “There’s some real truth to the saying
that we’re our own worst enemy.”

Not what I expected at all.
I flounder for a moment before finally saying, “You think I should
fight for her?”

She walks back to me.
“Heck, yes.” Her hand presses against the center of my chest. “With
your whole heart while using your head.”

Just as I let those words
sink in, Rae’s dad comes walking up. He lays a hand on my shoulder.
“Son, we need to talk.”

Yeah, I knew this was
coming.

*** *** ***

Violet

“
That wasn’t too bad, was
it?” I say as Cole and I sit on the front porch. I’m snuggled
against him while his arm rests along the back of the porch
swing.

“
Oh no, it was
great.”

“
Poor thing, being grilled
over dinner. And that leg of yours, shaking so hard that Nana’s
china dishes started rattling. I thought it was kinda cute you were
so nervous,” I tease but he doesn’t smile at all. “I’d be happy to
make it up to you.”

Cole keeps staring straight
ahead. “You don’t owe me, Rae.”

Startled by his answer, I
try again. “What do you think about the invite for Violet Lynn to
play at the Coliseum in Charlotte next month? Kelly, Parker, Wyatt,
Lacey and even Beau are invited. I’ll give y’all backstage passes.
Does that sound good?” I sound desperate and like a deranged Little
Miss Sunshine.

“
If you’re happy, then I’m
happy for you.”

“
Oh…what’s
wrong?”

He finally looks at me.
“You can’t stay here forever, Rae. Eventually you have to go back
to Nashville and do your thing.”

“
I know that, but I
thought you and I could—could work out a plan or
something.”

“
A plan?” he asks, his
brows raising. “Like you’ll pencil me in? Thanks but no thanks,
darlin’.”

I can’t believe what I’m
hearing. “Pencil you in? I don’t even know what to say to
that.”

“
Then let me do the
talking.” He stands, shoves his hands into the pockets of his
jeans. The slight breeze ruffles his dark hair. His blue eyes are
blank, emotionless and scare the crap out of me. I’ve never seen
him like this. Ever. “You and me won’t work. Ever.”

Then he walks away, get in
his Jeep and drives off into the sunset.

Without me.

And I let him. Because I’m
too damn stunned do anything.

My phone vibrates. Out of
habit I read the screen.

Cole:
I’m so sorry, baby. Please don’t hate me. It’s for the
best.

My dad joins me on the
porch before I can respond to Cole’s text. As if I could respond to
that text right now.

Davis looks at me, the
empty space by my side, and smiles sadly. “Guess finding out he’s
been dating a celebrity was a bit too much, huh?”

Until now I’ve always
trusted my parents to have my best interests at heart. They’ve
never taken more than their cut as my managers. They’ve always made
sure that no one else took advantage of me too.

“
Did you tell Cole to
break up with me?”

Davis holds up his hands.
“Now, Violet, don’t—”

“
How could you? I love
him.” Jumping to my feet, I slip my phone into my back pocket. “You
don’t have the right to dictate whom I’m allowed to
see.”

“
He has an arrest record,
going back for years, honey. His mother, too, and she’s been in and
out of rehab a half dozen times. God knows where his father
is.”

“
Don’t be so judgmental.
Not everyone gets to grow up like you and me,” I snap, thinking I
had sounded exactly like that when I’d said those words to Cole. I
so don’t deserve him.

“
Rae, I grew up without a
father and yet somehow I made it through life without being
arrested.”

I don’t bother pointing out
that I grew up with both parents and had been arrested. “But you
have Nana. Cole doesn’t have anyone.”

“
I’m not arguing with you
about life choices, Violet.” Davis rubs his jaw, something my dad
does when he knows he’s said or done something wrong. “I was only
looking out for you. A lot of important people are taking a chance
on you. Why give them a reason to doubt you’ll deliver? I didn’t
talk to Cole for selfish reasons, honey. I love you. So does your
mother. We only want what’s best for you and your
career.”

I close my eyes and count
to twenty before answering. “I know you’re doing this out of love
and concern, but you could have talked to me first. You could have
asked what I wanted.” I smack my chest with the flat of my hand.
“Me, Violet Rae Givens, your
daughter
, not Violet Lynn,
your
moneymaker
.”

“
Not fair, Vi. Not at
all,” he says.

I shake my head. “You told
the one person who loved me for me that I was better off without
him. That’s what’s not fair.” Then I shove past him, race inside
and begin to pack.

***

“
What’s going on, Vi?” My
mother stands the doorway, a hand on her stomach. It doesn’t hurt
as bad as I’d thought it would to see her so glowy and so obviously
pregnant.

“
You and Daddy decided to
dictate whom I’m allowed to date.”

“
Oh baby girl, I’m so
sorry.” She steps into the room, stopping at the edge of the bed.
“I had nothing to do with that. The last time we encouraged you to
date someone, Jaxon Hunter happened.”

The shirt I was getting
ready to stuff into my duffle bag falls to the floor. “You know he
cheated on me?”

“
Easy enough to figure out
when he doesn’t come to see you and your best friend doesn’t
either, then they end up engaged to each other.”

Shame and embarrassment
heat my face. “That means a lot of other people did
too.”

“
Who cares what other
people think? She’s his problem now, not yours.”

A giggle escapes me. “He
sure is. Wonder if they’ll fight over who has the best hair?”
Kimberly sits down on the bed and gives me a tentative smile. I’m
not sure how to respond to her. “Aren’t you going to ask me where
I’m going?”

“
Nope,” she
says.

“
But aren’t you supposed
to?”

She shrugs. “I think by the
time a woman’s twenty she ought to have a lot of say in where’s she
going and what she’s doing without parental
interference.”

“
What if I don’t want to
sing anymore?”

“
That’s up to you, but you
are required to fulfill any contractual obligations.”

I roll my eyes. My parents
are all about honoring their word, verbal or written. Not that I’m
much different. I hate breaking a promise to anyone, even for the
things out of my control. “I know that. I think—no, I
want
to take some time
off, maybe go to college or make indie records
without
a contract or producer. Or
managers.”

Kimberly leans over and
grabs my hand. “Whatever you do, just know that your father and I
will support you.”

Fresh tears well up, but at
least this time they’re not sad. Suddenly my momma gasps, winces
and I panic.

“
Oh God. Is it the
baby?
Pleaseletitbeokay
,” I moan, my words running together as I fumble for my
phone. I have to save this baby. I can’t let what happened to me
happen to—

“
No, no…Oh Violet. They
baby rolled, that’s all.”

“
So you’re okay? The
baby’s okay?” I press my hand to her stomach, closing my eyes as I
feel small feet kick my palms. Still moving. Still
alive.

It’s not me, lying broken
in a field. Staring up at the stars while the jagged edge of the
windshield tears into my womb and kills what’s inside of
me.

“
You were pregnant?” My
mother’s hands cover mine, squeezing them.

I hadn’t realized I’d
spoken the words out loud. “Yes,” I whisper.

“
And that butthole still
cheated on you?” Startled by my mother’s cursing, my mouth drops
open. Butthole is tantamount to my mother saying the F-word, in
church, while the pastor is praying.

“
He didn’t
know.”

Her lips flatten. “Well, I
guess that’s a good thing. Why didn’t you come to us? We would have
supported you, honey.”

“
I didn’t know, not until
I’d come out of surgery. Doctor Benson told me before he brought
y’all in. He wanted to know what he could and couldn’t share with
you.” I shrug helplessly. “I thought it was my
punishment.”

“
You think you were
punished?”

I look down at the quilt,
star pattern blurring as I blink. “Don’t you? I drank excessively,
then got behind the wheel of a car.”

“
Oh honey, it was a freak
accident,” she says, gathering me close. “I think you’ve punished
yourself enough, don’t you?”

“
That’s what Cole said,” I
sob. “He loved and accepted me for me. He doesn’t care that I can’t
have kids. He said that he wasn’t with me for my
uterus.”

“
Now he’s a keeper.” I’m
not sure why my momma has this positive outlook at this moment.
Maybe this is her way of handling it. Maybe this is how she’s being
strong for me.

“
He’s gone,” I remind
her.

“
I assume you know where
he lives.”

“
Yeah, but do you think
Daddy’s just going to let me walk out of here?”

“
My dramatic daughter.”
She leans back and brushes my hair out of my eyes.

Out of the corner of my
eye, I see my dad standing in the doorway. His face is drawn and
his arms are crossed.

“Everything all right in
here?” he asks.

My mother sighs.
Dramatically. “I’d really like some ice cream, honey. I think I’ll
take Violet with me to the Piggly Wiggly.”

“Good,” he says. “Maybe you
can talk some sense into her.”

“Doubtful,” she says with a
wink, then she lowers her voice. “Is Cole’s house on the
way?”

My eyes widen.
“Yes.”

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Violet

Cole’s sitting on the back
steps of his house, smoking a cigarette and staring up at the sky
when I find him.

“
Hey.”

He looks at me, his face
betraying nothing. “Hey, yourself.” He grinds the end of the
cigarette on the heel of his boot and tosses it in an old
jar.

“
I got your
text.”

“
Lapse in
judgment.”

“
So, you’re not
sorry?”

“
No, I’m sorry all
right.”

I place my hand on his
shoulder, his muscles tensing beneath my palm. “You only did what
you thought was right, but I think you should have talked to me
about it first.”

He shrugs off my hand and
straightening to his full height, towering over me as I stand on
the hard ground. Then he exhales. “Fine. I don’t think it’s a good
idea for us to keep dating anymore. Your thoughts?”

This is so unlike him. “I
think you’re being an ass right now.”

“
Yeah, well like father
like son.”

I cross my arms over my
chest. “I don’t know your dad, but I’m pretty freaking sure that
you’re nothing like him.”

“
Everett Morgan, your
producer, is my dad.”

I gasp. I can’t help it.
“But he’s married and has a kid,” I say stupidly. As if that ever
stopped anyone from cheating.

“
And?” He rubs a spot over
his ear and I want to hug him. I want kiss him and tell him that
it’s okay.

“
And nothing. I don’t care
he’s your dad or that you and Jaxon are…step-brothers,
half-brothers…whatever you are, it doesn’t matter to me who your
dad is. I’m not with you for your DNA.” I grin, tossing the
familiar words back at him.

“
What did you
say?”

Smile falling, I take a
step closer to him. “I said that I’m not with you for your
DNA.”

“
Not that part. The part
about Jaxon being my step or half-brother.” He jumps down the steps
to stand beside me and grabs my arms. “What the hell do you mean by
that?”

“
I mean that you’re
Everett’s kid and so is Jaxon, so I’m not sure how that works. Or
if it even matters in the grand scheme of things. I don’t want to
be with him. I love you, Cole.”

“
Jaxon Hunter, your
ex-boyfriend, the one who cheated on you and got you pregnant is
the son that asshole actually wanted?
Motherfucking hell
, Rae. Why didn’t
you tell me?”