Frowning, Dean murmured, “Agree to disagree.” He took another sip of his coffee. “Hunt, it’s obvious you’re crazy about this girl–possibly even in love with her. Are you really going to sit here and say your need to be in control all the time and only see Magnolia Sound for the rest of your life is more important to you than having a future with Violet?”
The simple answer was no.
He realized that now.
But he also had no idea to fix what he’d done.
“The difference between you and me is that Courtney never got the chance to leave,” Hunter said lowly, staring down at his coffee. “I let Violet go. I can’t imagine she’d be willing to give me another chance.”
“You’ll never know, Hunt, until you try.”
It all sounded easy, but Hunter was a realist. “I could call her and beg her to take me back. I can apologize until the cows come home.” He sighed. “But we both know how I am, Dean. In the long run, I’ll revert to my old ways and stifle her.”
“Most of my life, you all picked at me for being too cautious. Hell, sometimes you still do. Courtney knows that about me and reminds me of it almost daily. But she also encourages me to relax and open my mind a little. She’s the reason I finally took the step to open my own garage. She’s the reason we’re flipping houses.” He smiled. “And she’s the reason I’m confident I can handle all that and a baby too.”
“What?” he cried. “You guys are having a baby?” Jumping up, he hugged his brother. “This is amazing! Congratulations!”
“Thanks. We’re both really excited about it. Slightly overwhelmed, but excited.”
“Dude, what are you doing here worrying about me?” he asked with a nervous laugh. “Clearly you have enough on your plate. I’ll be fine.” He shrugged. “I always am. I’ve been through breakups before, so…”
“Not like this,” Dean said, his tone serious. “The way you looked at Violet was like nothing I’d ever seen on you before. Don’t give that up. You’ll regret it.”
“I already do,” he admitted after a moment.
“Then do something about it!”
“I’m afraid, Dean! I don’t…I don’t want to screw this up. Violet’s had a rough life, and she deserves someone who doesn’t have as many issues as I do.”
“We all have issues, Hunt. Good or bad, we all have them.”
“Yeah, well…she spent a lot of years in foster care, and…you know…I don’t want to…”
“Do you love her?” Dean interrupted.
“Of course, I do!”
“Okay then. You ask me, what Violet wants is someone who loves her and fights for her. Someone who can prove she matters more to them than anything else. The rest of the stuff? Your weird travel phobia?”
“It’s not weird!”
“It’s weird and everybody thinks so,” Dean deadpanned. “But all that aside, the other stuff will work itself out. You are going to have to make a grand gesture to prove to her that she means more to you than all your crazy hang-ups.”
“They’re not crazy…”
“Oh, my God! Enough! You are so damn annoying!”
“Great pep talk.”
Reaching over, Dean smacked him on the side of the head. “Like I said, I’m returning the favor. Now, what do we need to do to get your girl back?”
“I…I don’t even know where to begin. She wanted me to go to Nashville, but…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. You wouldn’t do it. Now you will.”
“I will?”
Nodding enthusiastically, Dean said, “Yeah. You will. And before you give me your list of excuses, I’m here to tell you none of them will work.”
His heart was pounding like wild in his chest. “What about Eli?”
“Well, I think you can bring him with you, but considering you’re going to have to grovel, it would probably be best if you go solo. That’s why Scarlett and Mason have agreed to have him come and stay with them while you’re gone.”
“But…what if I’m gone for like…more than a couple of days?”
Dean snorted with laughter. “Dude, please. We all know you’re not that advanced in the relaxing stage yet. You have five days, ideally. But I’m sure if you needed more, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Nodding, he said, “What if she turns me down?”
“Try not to talk too much. This way, we can guarantee she won’t.”
“Not funny.”
“Wasn’t joking…”
Getting up, he began to pace. “This…this is crazy! How do I even know where she lives? Do I drive there? Fly? I…how do I even get her to talk to me?”
“Katie brought her mother-in-law to the shop yesterday,” Dean explained. “We talked about this whole thing and she gave me Violet’s address.”
“Seriously?”
Dean nodded. “And she said you better not screw this up.”
“Great. So no one has any confidence in me.”
“Well…you’ve been a disappointment so far. But I guess you can turn it around.”
He felt like he was going to be sick.
“Flying will be the easiest for you. There’s a flight out this afternoon we can get you on that will have you to Nashville in three and a half hours. You give me the go-ahead and Scarlett’s standing by waiting to book it for you.”
Unsure of what to say, he paced.
“Stop overthinking this. That’s how you got into this mess. Take a chance, Hunter! Show Violet you’re willing to put in the work!” When he still didn’t answer, Dean huffed with annoyance. “C’mon, man! Say something!”
Ignoring his brother, Hunter walked to the living room and stood next to his son. “How would you like to stay with Aunt Scarlett and Uncle Mason for a few days?”
Eighteen
It was a beautiful afternoon and Violet knew she should be working, but it was too lovely out to stay inside. As she walked around the park, it occurred to her how she wished she had a dog to walk. All around her, people were walking dogs and–not for the first time–she wished she could just go to the local shelter and adopt one.
“No, dopey. You travel too much. How fair would that be to a dog?”
It didn’t stop her from wanting one, though.
Well, a dog, a husband, a couple of kids, a house with a white picket fence…yeah, damn Hunter Jones for opening her eyes to a life she never thought she’d have. Even after all her visits with Katie, she never felt the tug of longing to settle down like she did after spending time with Hunter and Eli.
Visions of Eli with a puppy came to mind, and her heart ached.
A few blocks from home, she considered stopping for some groceries so she could cook dinner rather than getting takeout, but immediately reconsidered.
“I will stop at the bakery though,” she murmured, already envisioning getting one of the monster fudge brownies or maybe some cupcakes.
And immediately her mind went to Hunter.
Not like it was hard to make that happen. It seemed like it didn’t take much these days to make her think of him.