“I’m sorry, Ash,” she finally murmurs. My head snaps in her direction, heart stuttering as my eyes widen. Violet turns and meets my gaze, and that’s when I notice the emotion welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry for the way I acted when I found out about you and Finn. I was…shocked, to say the least, but I should’ve handled it better.”
“I’m sorry too.” My eyes sting as I watch the first tear spill over and roll down her cheek. “I should’ve been upfront with you from the beginning. You didn’t deserve to find out the way you did.”
Shaking her head, Violet swipes her hand over her cheek, wiping away the moisture. “Why didn’t you?” she asks. “And not just about Finn. About all of these hurt feelings you’ve been harboring all these years.”
My throat is tight, and I swallow against it, hoping my voice doesn’t crack. “I don’t know how, Vi. It felt so stupid, and Ididn’t want you to feel bad. Then everything kept growing and intensifying until I couldn’t stand it.”
Quiet for a moment, the air around us is suffocating. Finally, my sister looks over at me, tears streaming down her face that match my own. “I knew about Sam,” she admits, those four words knocking the wind out of me. Her bottom lip quivers as she adds, “I didn’t know about anybody else, but I had a hunch you liked Sam.”
Confirming what I’ve suspected for a while now, it should feel like a relief, but it doesn’t. It feels like a punch to the gut. “If you knew, why’d you date him?”
Violet shifts her gaze down to her hands in her lap. “Because I was a selfish teenage girl who liked the way he made me feel.” A choked sob flies up her throat. “It was shitty of me to do, and I’m sorry, Ash. To be honest, until you called me out for it a few weeks ago, I don’t think I ever even fully admitted it to myself.” She huffs out a dry laugh. “Actually, it wasn’t until Finn came to my house last weekend and ripped me a new one that I finally took a good, hard look at myself.”
“He did that?” I knew he went over there, but something about hearing it confirmed makes my stomach flutter.
“In the most polite way ever, yes.” She chuckles, meeting my gaze.
I try to bite back a grin, but it’s futile. “What else did he say?”
“That what you two have is forever.” My heart swells, goosebumps covering my arms. “Are you in love with him?” she asks softly.
The sincerity of her question paired with the gentle way she’s looking at me has tears spilling over before I can stop them. My brows knit as I nod. “Yeah, Vi.” A sob gets caught in my throat. “I love him so much, and I’m so sorry for hurting you, but I?—”
“Hey.” Violet cuts me off with a soft hand on top of mine. “It’s okay.”
“It is?”
She nods, squeezing my hand. “Yes. You can’t help who you love, and after truly looking at myself and the situation, I’ve come to realize Finn was right. He and I were never going to go anywhere. I let my bruised ego cloud my vision. You deserve to be happy, Ash.”
Moisture falls hot down my cheeks. “I’m so happy with him.”
“Then I’m happy for you,” she says, and I know it’s genuine from the look in her eyes, the tone of her voice. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to come around, but I don’t want to fight with you anymore, Ash. You’re my brother and I love you.”
A smile tugs at my lips. “I love you too.”
The screen door opens, pulling our attention behind us as Finn steps onto the porch, his gaze flitting from me to Violet. “I love him too,” he tells her with so much conviction.
“Of course, you were listening on the other side of the door,” Violet scoffs, but I don’t miss the smirk on her face when she adds, “And how could you not? Look at this cute, handsome face.”
My sister reaches over and pinches my cheek before I stand up.
“Alright, enough of that,” I mutter with a chuckle.
Finn nods toward the house. “Tucker and I made sandwiches for lunch. Both of you get inside.”
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on staying.”
“I wasn’t askin’,” Finn says, arching a brow at her. “You’re welcome to stay. I know your brother would love to hang out with you.”
Violet looks from Finn to me, apprehension in her gaze. I’m sure the idea of hanging out with me and her ex-boyfriend is uncomfortable. I wouldn’t fault her for needing more time to get used to it. But she surprises me when she stands up and says, “Okay, that sounds like fun.”
Finn opens the screen door, letting Violet pass by inside the house, but he stops me with a hand to the chest before I can follow. My eyes find his, my heart thumping as I take in the way he looks at me. The way he always looks at me.
“You okay?” he asks.
I nod. “Thank you for going over there.”
Bringing a hand to the back of my head, he lowers his forehead to mine. “There’s nothin’ I wouldn’t do for you, Ash.”
