Page 13 of Against All Odds (Ember Falls #3)

nine

Violet

“ A ll right, everyone, please take your seats,” I say, calling the class to order.

A few students look away, but they at least do as I ask.

I pull up the topic of today’s lesson on the smart board and hear a collective groan. For the first two weeks of school, I took it easy on them—not anymore. It’s September and we are ready to get down to business.

I fight back a smile. “Do we not like Shakespeare?”

One of the boys groans. “No.”

“Why do you dislike him, Bryan?”

“Because he’s boring as f—” I raise a brow and he stops there.

“Boring or not, he’s one of the best storytellers that has ever lived,” I say, loving this topic, and Romeo and Juliet is my absolute favorite to discuss.

“Thank God he’s dead,” Bryan says, and the class joins in laughing. He then turns and claps his best friend Mike’s hand.

“Ahh, but his words live on,” I say and click the button to slide to the text portion showing the balcony scene. “This scene is one of the most iconic, but it’s not my favorite.”

“It’s not?” Jessie, my quiet and top student in the class, asks. “It’s so romantic, though, Romeo speaking to her, professing his love. It’s so beautiful.”

I nod. “It is, but while they’re declaring their love at this moment, I don’t think it’s actually the most romantic or poignant.”

Jessie shakes her head. “The wedding?”

“That’s one, but I actually think the most profoundly beautiful scene is when she awakes to find Romeo beside her, dead.”

There are varying degrees of surprise on the kids’ faces. “You think them both dying is beautiful?” Bryan questions. “Nice.”

I laugh because boys are all the same, no matter the age.

“Imagine, right now, you have someone you love. You’re in high school even though Romeo and Juliet were around fourteen and seventeen years old.

Now, back then, they’d be living in a time when you’d be thinking about marriage and courting, so let’s age them up to what you are now.

Bryan, do you have a girlfriend?” I know he does, as he’s sitting next to her.

His eyes move to Samantha and he smiles. “I do.”

“Okay, Samantha, can you imagine awakening from faking your own death to be with Bryan, your one true love, the man you would defy your family, society, hell, the world to have, only to see him lying beside you, having killed himself because the sheer idea of a world without you was too much for him to bear?”

Samantha stares at Bryan. “Would you do that for me?”

His eyes widen. “Umm . . .”

I take pity on them and step in. “Imagine, Samantha, because, trust me, you wouldn’t want him to do that.”

Her eyes go back to me. “Right.”

Okay, maybe she would. “My point is, Juliet, being young with an entire life before her, would rather follow him to heaven or hell than be walking on earth without Romeo. It’s beautiful and tragic and incredibly sad, but the depths of their love is what leaves generations reading, watching, and discussing this story. ”

Lord knows I’ve dreamed of it myself. I idolized their love, the sheer strength of it. How two people were willing to give up everything they knew and their families just to have each other.

Even though they ended in tragedy, they loved in a way that was so deep.

“Okay, but the dude offed himself for a girl,” Bryan cuts in.

Jessie talks. “He loved her.”

“I love a lot of things. That doesn’t mean I would die for them. Sorry, babe,” Bryan says to Samantha.

She shrugs. “It’s fine. I wouldn’t for you either.”

This is going to take a bad turn, and I regret calling them out. “The point is, it still can elicit such deep and strong feelings as we talk about it. It’s why love stories are still written. Why we hope for a love that would make someone give up all they have for another.”

I turn to start writing on the smart board, and when I turn back around, half the class is on their phones.

“Guys, do I need to bring out the phone basket?” I ask.

A few students, at least, look chagrined, but the others are staring at me with a mix of horror and ... pity.

My stomach drops, and I can only imagine what the hell they’re staring at. “What is it?”

Samantha shakes her head. “Nothing, it’s stupid.”

I doubt that very much. I glance around the class. “Clearly it’s something if you’re all looking at me.”

Jessie gets out of her seat and hands me her phone.

When I see the headline, it feels as though I’ve been punched through the chest.

Sitting on my screen is the headline: “Dylan Leone and America’s Sweetheart Are ENGAGED!”

“Hit me, Max,” I say to the bartender as I sit at the corner of the bar. Max is my new best friend. I came in about an hour ago, and since it was literally just me and him, we spent that time chatting a little.

It’s been a day.

A really horrible day.

It didn’t start that way, but it sure as hell is ending that way. I still haven’t said any of it aloud, because I still can’t believe it.

He’s engaged before the ink is even dry.

Max places a vodka and diet down in front of me and leans against the counter. “All right, Violet. Let’s hear it.”

I look into his warm green eyes. “Hear what?”

“What’s got you sitting alone drinking?”

I sigh and pull my phone out, showing him the wonderful gossip rag’s story. While I wish this was a lie, the big honking diamond ring on Whitney’s hand doesn’t exactly allow it.

Max huffs a laugh. “Let me guess. You’re devastated because you’re in love with him?”

“I was,” I answer and then take a sip.

He shakes his head. “The guy isn’t all that great. I heard he cheated on his wife to be with that girl.”

My lips turn up into a sarcastic smile. “Yeah, he did. He’s also pretty shitty in bed, but you know, no one wants to believe a heartthrob has a small dick.”

I bet I could make some money off that story.

His brows lift and he laughs. “You know this personally?”

I close out the social media post and pull up my wedding picture, then show him the phone. “I do.” I laugh. “No pun intended.”

“Wait, you were married to him? You’re the ex-wife?”

“Well, current wife, actually. We’re not divorced yet. I just need another three weeks before that is done.”

Max leans back. “I’m sorry ...”

“Don’t be, it’s why I’m in Ember Falls. I filed for divorce and came here to put my life back together, but .

.. that was the happy news I learned today with my entire class.

” I take another sip. “You know, I’m starting to think that’s the way he communicates.

That’s also how I found out that he and little miss America’s Slutheart were banging during our marriage.

Why not learn about their upcoming nuptials the same way?

” I lift my glass in a mock cheers. “Here’s to the happy couple. ”

“Who are we toasting?” a deep voice asks from beside me, and I gasp.

When I turn to look, it’s Everett, a strange look in his eyes.

Immediately warmth rushes to my cheeks, and I can’t even blame the alcohol, since I’ve only had two sips. My stomach has been upset since I arrived, and when I took the first sip, I almost puked. “Everett.”

“We’re toasting to me? Well, that’s something since I don’t think I did anything worthy of it, but I’ll go with it.”

I clear my throat, dropping my glass to the bar. The last thing I want to do is show him what a loser I am.

I came here hoping I could avoid seeing him. In fact, I was hoping I’d never see him again, because then I don’t have to think about the horrific way he walked out of my room after I almost kissed him—again.

Although the almost kiss at the dinner was worse. Maybe.

Yeah, they’re both bad in their own way.

That magical moment in time when I could’ve had a romantic and beautiful kiss with a man I once loved and who loved me after he called me beautiful, stunning, breathtaking, and I—froze.

Like a loser.

The second one wasn’t as charged, but still bad. I was so grateful that he thought of me, wanted to make me happy, but then he pulled away.

Max speaks first. “Do you know Violet?”

“I sure do. We go back a long time.”

“Really?” Max asks.

Everett rests one arm on the bar. “Her grandma was Doreen Stewart.”

“No way!”

I nod. “Did you know her?”

“Know her? Doreen was everyone’s favorite person here. She used to bring brownies to the school once a week for anyone the teachers thought deserved one. It was ... my favorite thing.”

I smile, remembering baking with her as a child. She knew every recipe by heart and would just go in the kitchen and whip something up, as though it was no big deal. The best part was trying to stump her and naming some weird dessert, but somehow Granny just knew, and she’d make it.

God, I miss her so much.

I smile at Max. “I’m glad you were one who got them then. I loved everything she baked.”

Everett clears his throat. “Are you here because the heat went out again?”

“Nope.”

“Electrical this time?”

I shake my head.

“Tried to paint another room?”

I snort. “Nope, none of those. It actually isn’t any housing catastrophe this time.”

There’s not a chance I’m admitting the real reason. I don’t need to look any more ridiculous than I already do.

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why are you at the bar?”

“Why are you?” I deflect.

He points over at a table to the right. “That’s one of my teammates, Killian. We came to grab a drink after practice so he can pay me back for waking up at the ass crack of dawn to check on his horse.”

“You’re going to see a horse? And help it?”

That’s so sweet.

He chuckles. “Well, yes, I am a vet.”

“I know, but I figured you just dealt with a lot of dogs and cats.”

Everett’s smile widens. “I do that too. Do you have a thing against them?”

“Of course not!” I say quickly. “You know that since your dog and I are very close.”

He laughs. “Brutus is easily won over. If I told you I also saved a cat today, would you get all excited?”

“Yes. Duh.”

He chuckles. “All right, now that I told you why I’m here, I’d like to know what has you here.”

Of course he does. “Can’t a girl just walk to the local bar for a drink?”