Page 30

“Still.” Violet’s eyes crinkled in the corners as she gave a small quirk of her lips. “I’m glad it’s looking good. I was worried.”

“Were you?” Enough shock registered in the pit of Lando’s belly to get her attention. She’d thought Violet had been far more annoyed with the injury than concerned, but to find that thread of concern was nice. It warmed her.

“I was. I always worry about my favorite students. And frankly, after what you shared the other day, I’m far more worried.”

“Don’t be,” Lando brushed it off. She didn’t have time or desire for pity.

Violet wrapped Lando’s arm tenderly, making sure the gauze wasn’t too tight or too loose. When she was done, she grabbed Lando’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “When you didn’t ask for an extension because of your grandmother’s death, Lando, I didn’t think too much of it. You’re strong and independent. That didn’t surprise me. But am I wrong in assuming that after your parents died your grandmother was the one who raised you?”

Lando could have cursed if they weren’t having such a quiet moment. She always forgot how observant Violet was sometimes, how she could connect the dots. How anyone could, really. “Yes.”

“So her death was more like the death of a parent.” It was a statement, not a question.

Lando didn’t dare look into Violet’s eyes, already feeling the threat of tears. It had not been long enough for her to process that loss in her life fully, although in some ways she doubted she ever would.

“Lando.” Pity laced the word, and Violet reached up, cupping Lando’s cheek and turning her chin up so they stared at each other. “You should have told me.”

“No.” Lando stayed perfectly still. “It wasn’t any of your business.”

“Grief isn’t something to be kept inside. It’s something to share. Let me take on some of that load with you.”

She wanted to. That was the worst part of it all. Lando wanted to let Violet do that for her, wanted to reach around and find comfort in her arms, but she hesitated. This soft side of Violet was something she’d only ever suspected was there, but she’d focused for so long on the professional side, on the distance between them, and in the recent days that was far easier to do.

“My Nan raised me, yes. My mom died in a car accident when I was about two years old. It was a head-on collision, and my car seat was thrown from the vehicle when it happened.”

“Oh my gosh, were you all right?”

“I was fine. Car seat safety!” Lando raised her eyebrows, trying to play it off, but it didn’t sound jovial in retrospect. “Anyway, Nan raised me from then on. My dad died when I was eight of an overdose, but he wasn’t fit to care for me at any point.”

“Jesus, Lando.”

“It’s just my life. It’s how I’ve grown up, so it’s normal to me.”

“That is a start full of trauma.” Violet’s gaze softened, and her fingers curled around Lando’s. “And your aversion to drugs and alcohol isn’t just because of your father, right?”

“It’s not.” Lando’s cheeks heated with embarrassment. She hadn’t admitted that to anyone in a long time. She’d been sober for two years, since she started at the community college, since she’d started getting her life back on track. Aunt T had been essential in that turnaround for her.

“You said you were born in Kansas City?”

“Yeah, Kansas side. My mom didn’t want to be too far from home.” Lando rolled her eyes, glad for the easier part of the conversation.

“You were two?”

“Well, I was nineteen months. We had just moved to a new apartment, actually. She was supposed to start school in the city, so she’d gotten an apartment—”

“Over by Pittsburg University,” Violet finished for her.

Lando’s stomach dropped, and she had no idea what to ask. Violet drew in a breath, stared at the ceiling, and let it out slowly.

“Never would have figured that one out.”

“Figured what out?” Lando asked. “How did you know where we lived?”

“I was your neighbor.”

“What?” Lando wanted to stand up. She wanted to step away, catch the breath that seemed to be sucked from her lungs. She stared at Violet as if her eyes had been opened, as if the woman sitting next to her was not the woman she’d grown to know in the last year.

Violet shifted and stretched her back. “I’d just moved in. In fact, you moved in the same day I did. I just…Heather. I never knew your last name, and you don’t go by Heather. Damn it, I should have figured it out sooner than now.”