Lando went back to their room, grabbed the requested items, and made her way downstairs, clutching the box. Violet had moved to the couch in the den, but she’d brought a second cup of coffee for Lando to drink.
“Oh sweet heaven, I need you.” Lando grinned as she picked up the hot drink and sipped it.
Violet’s lips twitched as she turned the first aid kit in her lap to get what she wanted from it. Within seconds, Lando had her arm outstretched across Violet’s lap and her coffee in her other hand. Violet carefully snipped each stitch, pulling it free with the tweezers as it tugged Lando’s skin.
“What time did you wake up?”
Violet shrugged. “I was having trouble sleeping. I think I came down here around four.”
“Really? I was out.”
“I know.” Violet’s lips curled upward again. “You were snoring.”
“I was not!” Lando’s cheeks flushed. She hadn’t snored, had she? She tried to remember, but of course she couldn’t because she’d been asleep.
“It was cute little snorts.”
“Jesus.” If Lando had a free hand, she would have brought one up to palm her face. She was absolutely embarrassed. “Just hit me next time or something.”
“No point in both of us being awake.”
Lando set her coffee down and tilted Violet’s chin upward so they could look into each other’s eyes. “Yeah, sure, but then maybe you could have slept.”
Violet’s lips parted, their eyes locking, and that same tension Lando had felt yesterday was back. She hesitated this time, though. Violet had moved away so fast the day before, looked as though Lando had hurt her. A kiss was just that, a kiss. It hadn’t meant more, but Lando could not stop thinking about it.
“We can’t,” Violet whispered.
“Why not, teach?” She hadn’t meant to ask that, but the question was out of her mouth before she could stop it. “What is there to stop us?”
“We can’t,” Violet repeated. She moved her head, ducking it so she could focus on pulling the rest of the stitches.
Lando let it drop, not wanting to push Violet into something she really didn’t want to do. She wasn’t there to upset Violet. In fact, Lando had taken it to heart that her job was simply to calm Violet down as best as she could. Violet got rid of the rest of the stitches in silence. When she finished, she piled them onto a piece of gauze and moved to clean up. Lando settled her hand over Violet’s to stop her.
“I’ve got it. It’s my mess.”
“It’s both ours, really.” Violet’s blue eyes locked on Lando’s face, and Lando couldn’t help but think there was a secondary meaning in those words that she was missing. Saying nothing, she gathered up the trash and took it to the kitchen. She washed her arm for the first time in ten days, and it felt glorious. The itching stopped almost immediately.
Before she went back, she took the coffee pot with her, refilling both their mugs before joining Violet again. Calm swept over them as they sat in silence, Violet staring out the window again and Lando watching Violet as if her entire life depended on Violet’s next move. Her lips tingled again, but she chastised herself for the thought, knowing she really had to start working on giving that up sooner rather than later. It was clear Violet had no interest in any kind of relationship, even if it was temporary and only for fun.
“Did you check the maps?” Lando finally broke the quiet.
“A couple hours ago. There is a storm headed this way. North of us. It should hit this afternoon if we wait and don’t go out to meet it.”
“What do you think Diane will want to do?” Lando regretted asking that immediately.
Violet tensed, her gaze on some far-off distant thing, if she was even looking and not pulled back into her own mind. The day before had been fraught with tension between the two of them, and Lando should have known better than to poke it, although they were going to have to talk about Diane at some point.
“I don’t know,” Violet finally whispered.
Lando was pretty sure she didn’t know, that once again, Violet was confessing her relationship with Diane wasn’t as good as it first seemed. Lando wanted to reach over and pull Violet into a side hug, but after the conversation they’d just had, she wasn’t sure it would be welcomed. Keeping her distance, Lando stayed quiet in case Violet waned to add anything else to the conversation itself.
When she said nothing and it was clear Eli was in the kitchen getting started on breakfast, Lando reached out and touched Violet’s arm to get her attention. “Want to go help Eli?”
“Sure.”
Together they went into the kitchen, setting their mugs down as the rolled up their sleeves, washed hands, and helped Eli prepare breakfast for the crew at the house. They worked well together, not bringing up anything they had talked about that morning again, and Eli was able to keep the conversation going.
Azalea came down next, looking put together like Lando expected her to. She went for the coffee first thing, starting another pot when she noticed the one was nearly empty. “Jewel will be down in a few minutes. She’s just taking a shower.”