Falling for the Bridesmaid

‘I trust facts!’ Violet shot back. ‘How I found out doesn’t matter—except that it wasn’t from you. If you want my trust, you have to give me the truth.’

‘How could I tell you this?’ Tom asked. ‘Violet, you’ve been hiding away here so long, so scared of what people might think or say, you don’t even know what trust looks like any more. You wouldn’t even talk to me about whether we were in a relationship! I was falling madly in love with you and I couldn’t even say the words in case I spooked you. In case you jumped to exactly the conclusions you ran to today.’

‘The right conclusions,’ Violet countered, conveniently ignoring all his other points.

‘No.’ The anger faded, as fast as it had come, and all Tom was left with was that cold, hard certainty. ‘You’re wrong about me. I made a mistake ten years ago. But since I’ve come here the only mistake I’ve made was believing that you could move past your mistakes, your history, and find a future with me.’

Violet stared at him, her eyes wide, and for just a moment he thought she might actually listen to his side of the story. Then she held out his phone and her thumb grazed the play button again.

‘Do you think...were there signs? Ones that you missed?’

His own voice, pressing Rick for more answers, a deeper admission of guilt.

Violet’s face turned stony at the sound.

Rick’s heavy sigh echoed around the studio.

‘Probably. But then again, maybe not. When an addiction takes hold...sometimes it can be a slow build towards cracking again, but more often it can just be one moment, one instant that flips you from recovery to addict again. There’s such a thin line...and sometimes Jez liked to walk it. To put himself in the way of temptation.’

She pressed ‘stop’ again and dropped the phone to the table as if it were poisoned.

‘I’m not ignoring the signs,’ she said, each word like a bullet. ‘And I’m not staying anywhere near temptation. I want you to leave. Today.’

‘Your father—’ He couldn’t go. Never mind the story of a lifetime; if he left her now Tom knew Violet would never let him back in, no matter how fast he talked.

‘Will understand when I explain exactly what you’ve done.’ Her eyes were cold, her arms folded across her chest like a shield. ‘You’re just a reporter. I’m family. Trust me on this. I know which one he’s going to choose.’

So did Tom. And he knew when he was beaten.

He gave a slight nod and reached for his phone. ‘I’ll pack now and be gone within the hour.’

He’d gambled everything on this being more than a story. Time to admit he’d lost.

‘Goodbye, Violet.’

CHAPTER TWENTY

VIOLET STOOD SHAKING in the middle of the studio for long minutes after Tom left. She needed to move, needed to talk to Rose, needed to explain to her father what she’d done. But how could she when she felt as if her heart, along with some other essential internal organs, had been ripped out?

She’d known, from the moment she saw that story with his name on it, exactly how the day would go. Had known she’d be standing here alone again at the end of it. Seeing Tom abuse her father’s trust and exploit his grief for a story had only made it easier.

She’d made the right decision. She’d got out before Tom could tear her life apart again.

So why did she feel so broken all the same?

‘Violet, honey?’ When had her dad come in? How had she missed that? ‘Where’s Tom? Your mum said she just saw him walking out the front with a suitcase.’

‘I told him to leave.’ The words came out as barely more than a whisper. Would Dad be mad? He’d invited Tom here, after all. He was his guest—his employee, really. It hadn’t been her place to send him away.

But what else could she do?

His expression cautious, Rick put his arm around her and led her over to the sofa, away from the chairs he and Tom had been sitting in when she’d entered the room. How long ago was that now, anyway? Time seemed strange. Confused.

‘What happened, honey?’ he asked, sitting beside her. ‘Tell your old dad.’

Violet frowned, trying to find the right words to explain. In the end, what came out was, ‘Did you really ask him to interview you about Jez today?’

‘Why, yeah. I did.’ Rick’s eyebrows lifted with surprise. ‘Is that what all this is about? Vi, honey, it was my choice. When you asked me earlier about going on stage this weekend...I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I figured talking it out some might help. And Tom, well, he’s a good guy, right? And since all this will probably end up in the book eventually anyway, I wanted to get it down—how raw it feels right now. In case it helps anyone else going through the same thing.’

In case it helped someone else. Sometimes Violet wondered if her parents thought too much about that and not enough about themselves. But that was who they were and she loved them for it, all the same.

‘Are you sure it was a good idea?’ she asked. ‘I mean, everyone wants that interview, and you don’t know what Tom is going to do with it now he’s—’ She broke off with a sob before she could reach the word gone.

Rick tugged her closer and she buried her face in his shoulder. ‘Do you want me to get your mum? Or your sisters?’

Violet shook her head against his top. ‘No. I just...I jus

t need a few minutes.’ A few minutes to let the misery out. To let go of all the hope she’d clung to over the last week or so. The chance that her future might be different to her past.

Uncle Jez had probably had that hope too, and look where it had got him.

That thought set off another wave of tears, and Violet didn’t try to fight them. She might be all grown up these days, but sometimes a girl still needed her daddy’s shoulder to cry on.

Eventually, though, the sobs faded and her tears dried and she knew her dad was going to want some answers.

‘You sent him away,’ Rick said. Not a question, not even a judgement. Just an opening, to show he was listening if she wanted to explain.

‘I found something out about him,’ Violet replied, unsure how much she really wanted him to know. Except this was her dad. He’d been there through everything. He’d understand, right? He’d want his little girl safe and happy. ‘I know you thought he was a trustworthy journalist, I know that’s why you picked him to write your book. But Dad, he wrote a story once. A story that destroyed a girl’s life—just like Nick destroyed mine.’

Rick stilled, his arms securely tucked around her. ‘You’re sure?’

‘Very. He admitted it.’ Well, sort of. ‘He claimed it wasn’t the same but then he would, wouldn’t he?’

Rick sighed, deep and heartfelt. ‘Then I understand why you did what you did. But Violet, I need you to remember something very important, okay?’ He pulled back to stare into her eyes, and Violet gave a small nod. ‘Your life wasn’t destroyed. Remember that.’

Shame filled Violet’s chest. Here she was complaining when Uncle Jez’s life was gone for ever. And she’d give anything for him to be caught up in a sex scandal right now, even if it meant the papers dragging up her own sordid story all over again.

‘I know. Compared to Uncle Jez—’

‘That’s not what I mean,’ Rick said with a sharp shake of the head. ‘Think about it, Violet. You still have your home, your family. They took your confidence, and I’ll never forgive them for that. But you’re still you. You’re still my daughter. And you are still loved.’