was good. He was going to stick with his lie because he thought she still didn’t remember. “I meant the truth about you and me. Because I was faithful, Beau. When I so-called ‘banged’ that bartender, we had broken up because I caught you in bed with that sneaky little cow Carmella Davis.”
The previously suppressed image was suddenly incredibly clear in her mind. Her apartment. Her bed. Her boyfriend. Blonde and buxom Carmella completely naked and taking Beau for a ride... They’d fought, he’d argued it was just a little dalliance, nothing serious, and she ran out, wandering the streets distraught until she ended up in Murphy’s Pub.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Violet.”
She planted her hands on her desk and pushed herself up to glare at him from above. Her cheeks were flaming hot with anger. “When I lost my memory in the accident, it must’ve been a godsend for you. You’d lost your billion-dollar meal ticket through your own stupidity and got a reprieve because I forgot about the whole thing and you could just continue our relationship like nothing ever happened.”
This time Beau had the good sense to keep his mouth shut.
“You rushed to my bedside at the hospital. Held my hand. And all the time, thanking your lucky stars I didn’t remember what happened with you and Carmella. But the doctors said I would get my memory back eventually. Weren’t you worried about that?”
“Not really.” He shrugged arrogantly. “When you turned up pregnant, I figured it was mine and I was in the clear no matter what. If you hadn’t insisted on getting your pre-baby body back before we got married, I would’ve had you locked down long before your memory returned. Then that little redheaded brat popped out of you and ruined all of my plans.”
“That’s it.” She pointed one finger angrily toward the door. She was a patient person, but she was going to go full mama bear on his ass if he didn’t leave soon. “Get out of my office.”
“Violet—” he started to argue.
“No. End of discussion. I mean it, Beau. I want you out of my office and out of my life. For good. I don’t ever want to see you here, at my apartment, or kissing up to my parents. I want you gone.”
She held her arm stiff, pointing toward the door with a stern expression on her face until he relented. With a low growl of irritation, he pushed up from his chair and marched out without another word.
As the door to her office slammed shut, Violet breathed a sigh of relief. Beau was gone and even he wasn’t stupid enough to come back and keep trying after this. It was over. Her parents would just have to learn to live with disappointment. That was all she was to them anyway. The difference was that now, she no longer cared.
Violet was in love with Aidan and she wanted to be with him more than anything. She just had to convince him that she meant it.
Twelve
The front parlor of his mother’s house felt empty without all the knickknacks and doilies to protect the furniture no one was ever allowed to use. Now the room housed a large thrift store desk, a bookshelf and a file cabinet. The space had been christened as an office for the administrator Aidan had hired to manage Molly’s House. Ted was five years sober himself and had agreed to manage the house and its tenants for a small salary in addition to room and board at the house.
So far, Ted had been great. Not only would he be good as a mentor to the people staying here, but he previously worked in construction and was helping Aidan fix things around the house. There were so many little things that needed to be taken care of and Ted was tackling them as quickly as they were added to the list.
While Aidan had every intention of going to Violet and apologizing right after his conversation at the bar, things hadn’t worked out that way. Monday morning when he’d gone to the foundation to try to talk to her, he found she wasn’t in the office. Instead, he’d been greeted by Betsy, who’d been kind enough to act as though nothing had happened at the masquerade party. She’d happily handed him a flash drive with the database of gala attendees and a huge check with his cut of the proceeds from the successful event. Thankfully, the little scene they’d caused with Violet’s parents hadn’t hurt the charity’s chances. He was grateful for that. Betsy had also promised to let Violet know he’d come by to see her and to call him when she had a chance to talk.
While he waited for her call, he’d been focused on getting the ball rolling with Molly’s House. First, he’d put his assistant manager in charge of the bar and took off a week from Murphy’s for the first time since his dad had died. Making the most of it, he had been at the house 24/7. He’d bought supplies and some basic furniture and linens for the bedrooms and baths, paid a cleaning crew to come in and brought Ted on board. They were close enough now to opening that Ted was reviewing applications for their first tenants from the nearby rehab center.
It had taken up more of his time than he’d expected, but he decided that a cooling-off period never hurt anyway. Tonight, when he got done here, he was going to Violet’s to spend his previously scheduled time with Knox. Since she hadn’t called, Aidan wasn’t entirely sure how receptive she might be to his apology, but he figured that was as good a time as any to talk to her. Even if they didn’t repair their relationship, they at least had to be cordial enough to manage caring for Knox together. Tara had taken to going out during his visits, so they’d have the evening to themselves to chat.
He just wished he wasn’t so damn nervous about it.
“Hey, Aidan?”
He placed the plastic floor mat beneath the desk for the new office chair and looked over at his office administrator. “Yeah, Ted?”
“There’s someone here to see you.”
That was unusual, but okay. “Send them on back for me.” Aidan rolled the chair up under the desk and straightened out some of the computer cords running to the power strip.
“Aidan?” a familiar woman’s voice said.
Looking up, Aidan spied Violet unexpectedly standing in the entryway. He straightened up from where he’d been crouching and dusted his hands off on his jeans. “Hey there. I, uh...wasn’t expecting to see you here. I thought I was coming to your apartment tonight.” It was a long trip out to the house, and she’d never even visited before. That made him instantly anxious when he coupled it with the lines of uncertainty on her face. “Is everything okay? Is Knox all right?”
“He’s fine,” Violet assured him. “I suppose I could’ve brought him here with me this afternoon, but Tara was about to give him his lunch and I didn’t want to mess up his routine. He gets so crabby when he’s hungry.”
“He takes after me in that,” he said with a smile he hoped would make him feel less awkward. It didn’t. Aidan still didn’t understand why she was here, if nothing was wrong with the baby. She could’ve texted or called about most things and saved herself the trip. What could she possibly have to say that needed to be done in person?
“Do we need to reschedule tonight?”
“No. Tonight is fine. I just...” She hesitated with her dark gaze dropping to the hardwood floors he and Ted had recently refinished. “I didn’t want to wait to talk to you. I’ve already waited too long, but things got busy at the foundation this week.”