Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Violet. Her name was Violet.” Silence surrounds us, the game forgotten. With a heavy sigh, I sit back in my chair, reach for my beer, drain it, place it back on the table, and start to talk. “I grew up in foster care. In and out of the children’s home until the next family came along to snag me up as a paycheck.”
The room is deafeningly quiet.
So, I keep going.
“My parents were young, addicted to drugs, and didn’t make it past my second birthday. There was no family that the state could find. They’re not even sure my parents used their real names. Either way, I ended up in the system.”
Still, just silence. I’m staring at the wall. I can’t look at them, but now that I’ve started, I can’t seem to stop. “In high school, I was with a family that got into some trouble with drugs. They got busted. My social worker pulled me back to the children’s home, and I was struggling. I was playing sloppily, taking out my aggression on my teammates during practice. When Coach Pruitt asked to speak to me, I was sure I was getting cut from the team. What I didn’t expect was for his wife, Hope, to be in his office. I didn’t expect them to ask me to come and live with them.
“At first, I refused. I was angry, and I didn’t want their pity, but they kept trying, and finally, I gave in. For the first time in my life, I had my own room. A bed with sheets and warm blankets. I could shower anytime I wanted, and if I was hungry, I had free rein in the kitchen for whatever I wanted. It was new to me, and although I felt safe, I spent every single day, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Was this going to be the day that I woke up and they said, ‘Sike,’ and yelled at me for a long shower, or for sneaking downstairs for a peanut butter and honey sandwich at midnight on a school night?”
Landry shifts in his seat next to me, and I know this story is the hardest for him to hear because of his wife, Rowan, and her own experience with foster care and living in the system. Yet, I keep going.
“Coach and Hope, they helped me with school, and to apply for colleges. I got a scholarship, and finally, I felt like my life was starting to feel real, you know? Like it was mine, and I was willing to work hard and put in the work to make my dreams come true. I had to be the one to do it. Nothing had ever been handed to me—well, unless you count the kindness of Coach and his wife.”
“That’s where you met Violet? College?” Reid asks.
I nod. “Yeah, freshman year. She was this gorgeous girl who didn’t know me. Didn’t know a single thing about my past, and I craved that. She wanted me for me, you know? One night, when we’d been dating for about a year, we were drinking at a party with some of my teammates, and I spilled my guts to her about my past and told her I loved her. She said she loved me, too, and that was it. No pity, no ‘I’m sorry’ with a sad look, just ‘I love you, too, Foster.’”
I let out a humorless laugh. “I was living on cloud nine. Fuck, she was my world, and she didn’t care where I came from. Another year passed, and we made plans. I was declaring for the draft. She wanted to go to medical school and was going to follow me and work on her dreams, while I supported us with my salary. We wanted the house, the kids, the dog, all of it. She participated in those conversations. She made plans for us, together. We were both all in, or so I thought.”
I clear my throat and wish I hadn’t drained my beer, but I’m not stopping. I need to finish this. “Draft day came. She was by my side. The call came in, and she cried happy tears, or at least, at the time I thought they were happy tears. Hell, maybe they were sad because she knew she was going to end things. Either way, once the celebration died down, it was just the two of us. I was still riding the high of all my hard work paying off, and the love of my life was by my side when it happened. I asked her to marry me that night, and she said no.”
Fuck. I rub at my chest, at the ache that still hovers there at her rejection. “She didn’t want to be in the spotlight. She wanted a medical school that wasn’t close to Nashville. She’d applied and didn’t tell me. I told her we could figure it out, that I would do anything to be with her, but she didn’t want me. Honestly, I’m not sure if she ever did. I think it was all just an act, one that I fell for like a fool.”