Page 86 of A Violet Obsession

“Ready for what?”

He smiles. “Our first date.”

If I weren’t already in love with him, I just fell all over again.

31

FINN

While Lily attempts to convince Hera to come inside, I pour two glasses of wine and carry them and the radio to the coffee table. I’ve slid our bed out of the way and lit several candles I found in the cabinets. Hands on hips, I survey the room.

Huh. In my mind, this looked a lot more romantic.

I’ve never been the man who wanted to make something special. But I picture Lily walking in, looking at all of this, looking like a princess in one of her dresses—and I want to give her that moment. I want to make her feel as special as she truly is.

Maybe that’s what this week has done for me.

I’ve spent my life keeping people at arm’s length, but these few days in a cabin with Lily, I’ve talked more than I have in years. About nothing. About everything. And it hasn’t bothered me at all. Because Lily is just as comfortable with silence as I am.

And I’m sleeping. I don’t have the same issues Lily does, but I haven’t slept well since my first deployment.

The only thing keeping it from being perfect is the damn footage… and the fact she could be arrested.

I’ve watched the video at least a hundred times. And I’ll probably watch it a hundred more. Every time I come away with the same conclusion.

Lily didn’t steal that necklace. She is not a thief.

But the video is real.

No matter what program I run it through, I can’t find an alteration.

My eyes have tracked every second of Lily moving silently on the black-and-white screen. Her back is to the camera most of the time as she cuts a square of foam and fits it on a wooden box. She puts the lid on, reaches for a small hammer, and then stops. Setting the hammer down, she walks to the cabinet on the other side of the room. The figure is in profile, but it’s definitely Lily. After unlocking the cabinet, she removes the necklace, and holding it in front of her, she walks out of sight.

It’s Lily, but it’s not Lily.

I can’t put my finger on exactly what the discrepancy is. Maybe it’s because, after this week, I’m intimately familiar with every inch of her skin and how she moves. Rationally, I know it’s probably the mushroom cookies that make her look so loose-limbed. Between ingesting them and witnessing the guards shot, it makes sense she’d have gaps in her memory.

But why would Lily take the amethyst from the cabinet in the first place?

I will figure this out no matter how long it takes.

Brady’s patience is running out. I heard it in his voice this morning during our check-in call. The roads will be clear soon, and I’ll face a decision. Take her back or keep running with her… potentially indefinitely.

A week ago, the decision would have been easy, but now…

Luke’s the best in Atlanta, but he’s been honest about the fact that because she ran, she most likely won’t get bail. And the thought of Lily in cuffs… in a cell…

I’m not handing Lily back into a system that already lost her once.

Abso-fucking-lutely not.

I add a few more logs to our pile. For an inside cat, Hera has taken to the outside like she was born to it. But then I guess she was.

I think about the story Lily told me about how she found Hera behind the restaurant where she worked. Hera had been tiny and all alone, with no sign of her mother or the rest of the litter in sight. My chest pangs when I remember Lily’s nonchalant words.

“I couldn’t leave her there. She wouldn’t have made it. She hissed and bit me, but we came to an agreement.”

“Oh, yeah.” I eye the beast licking its paws, having difficulty imagining it as a tiny kitten.