A Strange Call

(Violet)

I grabbed the sheets and the pillows on the opposite end of the bed. It all felt so fresh inside me. Mason had opened his heart and poured it out to me. Looking at him, you’d never guess a man like him could feel what he felt. Or go through what he did. Not that it made anything he did right, it at least made some sort of sense of it.

I hugged everything in the bed tight and that’s when I noticed the letter.

I popped up and grabbed the piece of paper, my heart racing.

Violet -

Just went for a little ride. Need to clear my head. Thank you for being you. Never stop caring, babe. No matter how bad I fuck things up.

At least with Mason I could believe in his honesty. Then again, didn’t everyone fuck up in a relationship? That was the point of it all. Finding out how much it was worth being with the other person. That’s what made the adventure fun, wild, hard, but at the end of the day - worth it.

With a sheet around my body, I walked to the kitchen and made coffee and something to eat. I felt at home. I was supposed to be living in Mason’s apartment already. But then his wife fucked that up. Well, I fucked it up, too, by leaving in such a hurry. Not that it mattered now. I knew the truth. I knew the story. And I knew that he had met with lawyers to make that marriage go away.

So, it was all going to work out.

I smiled, remembering Dad telling me that in life you have to learn to walk through the storm. When things happen you can’t run and hide and wait it out. That sometimes you have no choice but to walk right out and just keep going. That no storm lasts forever, no matter how bad it is or the damage it does.

Well, I went through the storm. One hell of a storm.

And was it all worth it?

Yeah, it was.

I finished my breakfast and went to my laptop that was still on the counter. I answered some emails for the investors, chatted with Victoria, and settled into the morning by realizing that everything was working out. We had the money to back the next rollout of the app. I had submitted my techie stuff for the other apps. And we were still getting paid for all the work.

For the first time in months, I was able to take a deep breath and ask myself what I wanted.

Buy a car? Buy a house? Take an expensive vacation? Buy Dad a new truck? Buy Mom something really nice.

“A hot shower,” I whispered.

That’s what I really wanted.

A long, hot shower. Without a worry in the world. Without a care in the world.

So that’s what I did.

I got in the shower and just enjoyed it.

I lost track of time.

So much so, that I didn’t hear Mason enter the bathroom. When he opened the shower curtain I let out a scream that sounded like a horror movie sound effect.

“Violet,” he said. “It’s just me.”

“Shit, Mason!” I yelled. “I was… you scared me half to death.”

“Hey, babe, you left your phone out on the counter.”

“Yeah? So what? I wanted to take a shower without a worry. Why not, right?”

Mason nodded. “Yeah. Exactly. Hey, uh, your phone was ringing like crazy.”

“Probably Victoria,” I said. “Or the investors. I’m taking the rest of the day…”

Mason reached into the shower and turned it off. The sudden loss of hot water made me shiver. He grabbed a towel and quickly draped it over my shoulders.

“Hey,” he said. “Look at me, Violet. It rang a lot. The same person. So I answered it. It was a strange call and I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t invading your privacy, I promise.”

“Who called?”

“Your mother,” he said. Then he swallowed hard. I shivered even more. “There’s some news about your father…”

* * *

I sat at the dining room table, feeling cold. So fucking cold.

Mason walked from the kitchen and brought me a fresh mug of coffee. He stood behind me, my protector. My lover. My everything.

Mom and Dad were at the table, silent.

I couldn’t remember a time when we sat at the table in silence. The dining room table was where we sat to eat dinner and talk about our day. We’d laugh, vent, and just be a family.

“We didn’t want to say anything over the phone,” Dad said.

I looked at him. “How bad?”

“Eh, it’s not all that bad,” he said.

I looked at Mom. “Mom?”

“It’s spread,” she whispered. “That’s all I really heard.”

“Violet,” Dad said. “Look at me. They found that some of it started to spread. Keyword… started. That’s all. Good news is that they are ahead of things. Yeah, sure, finding the first cancer was a shock, but this? Doctors are going to poke at me for the rest of my life. I won’t be able to get a head cold without a team of doctors attacking me. Which is a good thing.”

I felt Mason’s strong hands touch my shoulders.

Dad looked up at Mason.

So did Mom.

Hell, even I looked up at Mason.

Somehow he became the final piece in my family.

“So what’s the plan, Hank?” Mason asked.

“Fight it,” Dad said. “Whatever they say to do.”

“What did they say so far?” I asked, trying to hold it together.

“More treatment,” Mom said. “Heavier treatment for a month or two. And then see how his body reacts.”

“I need to move in here,” I blurted out.

“No,” Dad said.

“Yes,” Mason said.

“Yes?” I asked, looking up again.

“Of course,” Mason said. “This is your family, Violet.” Mason looked at Hank. “Don’t be stubborn on this one, Hank. Let people help you. Don’t run from it. Trust me…”

I felt Mason’s hands shaking.

I reached up and put my hand over his.

“I want normal,” Dad said. “I don’t want doctors here. I don’t want special treatment. If I give in then I give up and I lose.”

I glanced at Mom.

“I’m going part-time at work,” she said. “I talked to my boss. Everything is okay.”

“What about… the bills…” my voice trailed off.

“Violet,” Dad said. “That’s not your worry.”

“You’re right,” I said.

But I had a plan in my head. I had enough money to take care of my parents. So they could focus on each other. Focus on healing. Whether they liked it or not, I was going to take care of them like they took care of me.

Silence fell again.

Dad finally slammed his hands to the table and pushed, forcing himself to stand. “Well, I for one am not going to sit at this goddamn table and be upset. Now, I’m hungry.”

“Let me make you something,” Mom said, popping up.

“No,” Mason said. He reached into his pocket and took out some cash and threw it to the table. “Pizza. On me. We sit and talk. We tell stories. We laugh.”

“I love it,” I said.

“Yes,” Dad said. “Yes. I’ll tell you about the time I pulled my own pickup truck out of a ditch. With my bare hands.”

“And a tow truck,” Mom said. “He paid the driver…”

“Barb,” Dad said.

“I want to hear about Violet,” Mason said. “I want the most embarrassing stories.”

“The makeup pictures,” Dad said.

“No,” I said. “No, no, no…”

“Makeup pictures?” Mason asked.

“Stop. Everyone stop.”

“When Violet was eight she decided she wanted to wear makeup,” Mom said. “But she didn’t know what it really was.”

“She used food,” Dad said. “Ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce…”

Mason laughed.

I threw a high elbow and dinged him in the stomach.

“Okay,” Mason said. “Let’s order some pizza and then embarrass the hell out of Violet.”

Everyone agreed on that. Except me.

Even though secretly I was loving it all.

Mom called for the pizza while Mason and Dad went to the kitchen. I watched the way Mason walked next to him. Close enough to help him but not actually helping him. Just there for comfort and just in case.

That was why I loved him so much.

Mom caught me staring and gave me a wink that made me blush.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang.

I looked at Mom, surprised. “That was fast…”

“Pizza time,” Dad announced. “Hey, Mason, did you know that I know how to throw dough in the air and catch it? Spin it on my finger?”

“What he forgets to tell you,” Mom said, as I walked toward the door, “is that he could do that with a toy pizza. The kind that came with Violet’s kitchen set when she was a kid.”

Mason and Mom laughed. Dad let out a grunt of annoyance.

I opened the door with a smile on my face.

But it all faded fast.

It wasn’t the pizza guy at the door.

It was Davis.