Beautiful Flowers

(Violet)

Nona hated everyone in the world except me. I remember Davis’ mother - Suzanne - once telling me that I looked like Nona’s sister who died when she was sixteen. That’s why Nona took to me. Whatever it was, the elderly woman was forever grabbing my hand, telling me stories, and planning my life with Davis. She was wealthy, too, and was the one who paid for all the school dances, dresses, transportation. She funded a few vacations that I was invited to go on, including one after high school to Cancun where Davis spent the week drunk and puking while I admired the scenery alone.

Her health had been in decline for a while and the stubborn old woman fought hard, but knew when her time was being called. Pain in her chest revealed she had pneumonia and she knew she wasn’t going to make it back from that. So she demanded to go home and pass in her bed.

When Davis told me she was asking for me, he wasn’t lying.

I drove straight to her house and it was like stepping back in time.

Being a teenager and Davis awkwardly holding my hand, telling me that his grandmother was super mean. Telling me to just keep smiling and answer all her questions. Walking into the house and having her look at me, up and down, and then throwing her arms open to hug me.

This time was very different.

Davis stood on the porch of the house, looking frustrated. He looked different, well, the same as his picture online. But different from the boy that I had fallen in love with years ago. His hair was messy and he looked worn out. When he saw me, he charged off the porch and came right for me.

We hugged for a quick second.

“She’s been asking for you for all day,” he said. “I think she’s holding on for you.”

“Why me?”

“She always loved you,” Davis said. “She held it against me that we never… whatever.”

Davis led the way into the house. There were some nurses inside, talking to his parents - Suzanne and Bill. Bill was in a fancy suit, the usual attire that I remembered him in. He was a lawyer, forever busy, forever tired. Suzanne had been some executive for an oil company, but she quit to stay home. Time had not been kind to the both of them, but I wasn’t there to admire who aged well and who didn’t. I wasn’t sure if they ever really liked me or not. I think they had hoped Davis would find a woman who fit their intellect.

They both looked at me and gave a courtesy wave.

Davis paused at the bottom of the big staircase. It was a dream staircase. Wide, curved, opening at the top to a huge upstairs.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked me. “You don’t have to.”

“She was important to me,” I said. “I should say goodbye. I drove all the way here.”

“Yeah, you did.” Davis grinned. He then touched my face for a second. “You came here when I asked you to do it. I knew you would. I knew it would matter. That means so much to me.”

I backed away, almost cringing at him touching me.

There was a look in his eye that bothered me.

The voices murmured through the downstairs, everyone seemingly talking about what was going to happen after Nona passed away. Everyone seemed so calm and ready. Davis just stared at me with hunger in his eyes.

He finally turned and started to walk.

I followed him.

With each step I took I thought about Mason. I left him a note and slipped it under his door. I put everything into his hands for the moment. I wasn’t going to change my life because of him. For him? Sure. But not because of him.

At the top of the landing, Davis stopped again. He turned and grabbed for my hands.

“Do you remember this spot?”

“What?”

“Right here. We stood here and kissed, remember that? Like we were getting married or something. This big beautiful house and my dream of giving you that.”

“Davis…”

He leaned in. I thought he was going to kiss me. Thankfully, he didn’t even try.

“The dream is still there, Violet,” he whispered.

I had no idea what Davis meant or what was happening.

But I suddenly felt like I was in trouble.

* * *

Davis sat on the couch with a glass of scotch. He drank a little and put it down on the table. He undid another button on his dress shirt.

I leaned against the giant archway to his parent’s living room. They were really cool pocket doors where you pressed a little metal button and piece of metal shot out. You then hooked your finger into it and pulled the door from the wall.

“She’s gone,” Davis whispered.

“I’m really sorry,” I said.

I saw Nona, but she was sleeping. I took her hand, said goodbye to her. She then squeezed my hand back. I stayed for a few minutes and then had to leave. Davis begged me to come back to the house with him. Five minutes into the drive, the call came that she had let go and passed.

His parents were staying at the house. I just wanted to go to my parent’s house, but I didn’t want to leave Davis alone right then.

“I don’t know why it bothers me,” he said. “She never liked me.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true. She only liked me when I was with you.” He stood up. “Oh, she was so nasty to me when we broke up. And even when she met Ana. She hated Ana. Everything I warned you about Nona came true with Ana. You know more than once Nona looked at me and told me that Ana wasn’t good enough? She wasn’t you, Violet.”

“I guess that doesn’t matter now, does it?” I asked. “At least Nona can be in peace. And you…”

Davis shook his head. “No.”

“No, what?”

“You’ve been following my posts online?”

“No,” I lied. “I… I mean, I saw things here and there. I saw that you got engaged. That’s really…”

“It’s off,” Davis said.

Then there was silence. A very dead and cold silence.

“It was a stupid thing anyway,” he said. “I got caught up in the future.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I was up for a promotion at my father’s firm. Ana and I were having some issues. So we went away for a weekend. It was such a good weekend. I had bought her a ring months before and brought it with me. She found the ring by accident. The weekend had been so good, though, I didn’t want to tarnish it. The second she saw the diamond she heard wedding bells. So I proposed. Not that I didn’t love her. I just… we just weren’t meant to be… you know?”

I nodded. “I’m sorry, Davis. That’s terrible.”

“What about you, Violet? You’re going to be rich and famous soon, huh?”

“Why?”

“Your app.”

“How did…”

He smiled. “You weren't the only one snooping on the past. It was so good with us, wasn’t it?”

“Not at the end, Davis. That’s how relationships go.”

“No, that was all my fault. I lost myself for a little bit.”

“You found other women.”

Davis sighed. “I wish I never did that to you. I wish I never put that kind of pressure on you. It was stupid. It was wrong to do. I played sports and all the guys ever did was talk about who they fucked over the weekend. It was hard for me to walk around the halls in school and see those girls, you know? Knowing they were willing… but you… weren’t.”

“We’re not in high school anymore, Davis,” I said. “So it doesn’t matter. I’m actually really happy.”

“I’m not,” Davis said. “Everything I wanted fell away from me. And seeing you right now just makes that hit home even harder.”

“Davis, you’re drinking. You’re upset. I’m willing to stay here for a little while, but that’s it.”

“Are you still a virgin?” he blurted out. Then he waved a hand. “Shit. I shouldn’t have asked that. That doesn’t matter. Dammit.”

My mouth was dry. I licked my lips. “Maybe I should go.”

“No,” Davis said. “Let me try and explain things.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Please, Violet. Please.”

I stepped into the living room and sat down on a chair.

Davis stood. “My father had a couple of affairs when I was in high school. When we were together, Violet.”

“What?”

“That was part of the reason my mother left her job. He felt she wasn’t around enough. She wasn’t a wife. And my mother took it to heart. She left a good paying job to make my father happy. To basically be his servant so he wouldn’t fuck other women. And it wasn’t like he was fucking some twenty year old secretary either.”

“I didn’t know that,” I whispered.

“So all around me, at that time, it was lies, sex, pressure. I guess I put some of that on you. I’m really sorry about that.”

“Don’t. We were young. We got over it, right?”

“Did we?” Davis asked.

Silence fell again. He stared at me.

I didn’t say a word. I didn’t need to tell him that I spent years wondering what had really gone wrong. Spent years down on myself and losing time with other men that could have given me some fun, some pleasure. Yet, it all climaxed when I met Mason.

“I don’t think we did,” Davis whispered. “You know, Nona was right.”

“Meaning?”

“Ana wasn’t you,” Davis said. “After you, I tried to find you. Not you, the person, but someone just like you. Even my parents busted my balls about it. They always called my girlfriends Violet Jr… Seriously. So when I met Ana, she was the opposite of you in every way. And it just worked. It was like a bandage to my heart for a little while.”

I shook my head. “Davis, I don’t understand any of this. You hurt me.”

“You left, though. I never got a chance to talk to you.”

I swallowed hard. “You slept with some random people. You ruined our future. I had to do what was best for me. I had to get away from you. I wasn’t going to be pressured or forced, Davis. And what would have stopped you from doing it again?”

“Nothing,” he said. “You’re right. At that time, I was a total asshole. Complete and total asshole. You want to know something true? From the bottom of my heart?”

No. I don’t want to know a fucking thing about you, Davis.

I slowly nodded.

Maybe this was the closure that had eaten at me for so long.

“If I could go back I wouldn’t have done it,” Davis said.

“Bullshit,” I said.

“No, listen to me. All the women I slept with… it meant nothing. I felt what I felt, but nothing else. And I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Violet. What we could have had if I didn’t fuck it all up. You and me together. Me, your first. You, my first. Then going to college together. Getting married. A house. Kids. Just everything. And I can never take that shit back. But I would. In a heartbeat.”

Davis crouched in front of me. He touched my face. His fingertips tracing along my jaw.

I could smell the scotch on his breath.

“It could be right again,” he whispered. “Time has a funny way of doing things you never thought possible. Look at this moment. You’re in this living room. You’re with me. We’re staring at each other. We want to kiss. Right?”

My lips quivered.

Before I could answer, the doorbell rang.

Davis looked back and I took my opportunity to stand up and put distance between us.

Davis went to the door and opened it.

“Hey there,” Davis said.

“Hey,” a voice said.

The voice shot through my gut and heart at the same time. I dove from the living room to the foyer.

“Is…” the voice started to say, but stopped.

Our eyes met.

My jaw hit the floor.

It was Mason… holding a bouquet of beautiful flowers…