Violet's Kismet

Chapter 6: Paul's Proposal

Chapter 6

Paul’s Proposal

I spent most of the rest of Saturday hiding away in my large bedroom, hanging out with my trusty feline friend Salem, after what was a very emotionally exhausting morning. My cell phone had been ringing off the hook between Crys, Gerri and Ollie. There was lots of meaningless high School drama to be had. Crys liked Ollie, but Ollie was clueless to Cry's crush for him, as he was hard up on me. Gerri was mad at Crys, Crys was mad at Gerri, Ollie yammered on and on about all his favorite bands and their glorious journey's to fame, boring! I mostly kept my friends on speaker while I pretended to pay attention and did other things. 

I had also received a phone call from an unidentified number while I was showering at 10 am. If I had heard the phone ring, I would have immediately picked it up. I never wanted to miss a call, even if it was from a number that I wasn't familiar with, because I never knew when it could be a call from my beloved parents, or a lead as to their whereabouts. After spending most of the afternoon burrowing away under my purple down comforter, writing in my precious lock journal, doing mundane Spanish homework and watching mindless TV, Grandmamma knocked on the door to my bedroom as I said,

“Come in” she invited me out to dinner with her and her 'Friend' Paul.

“Violet: Paul and I are going out to Yon's to dinner tonight, would you like to join us? It'd be nice if you'd come along, we'd really like that, dear'

I felt a warm feeling inside, despite my reservations about Paul, “Yes, Grandmamma Maple, I would Love to join you both for dinner at Yon's!”

'Oh that's just wonderful dear, I'm going to go get ready, I'll see you in a bit, say about 6:00?'

“Okay!” I replied as I glared at the tv, chewing on a strawberry Twizzler.

Grandmamma and Paul had met at church. Paul was a late comer as opposed to Grandmamma who was a member of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church all of her life. Paul had moved to Albany shortly after my granddad had passed. Grandmamma and Paul immediately hit it off at a church bizarre and began spending time outside of church together.

Paul's background seemed a tad sketchy to me. He says his wife passed of breast cancer and that he had sold their house shortly after her death. He was living out in Idaho and he wanted to move to a place where there was more of a 'city life' as opposed to the country, to try to 'move on' I suppose. He had two children and six grandchildren back in Idaho. Why anyone would want to leave their family was beyond me. There I was, all I wanted to do was find my family and Paul had abandoned his. 

He seemed alright, nice enough. I had heard him get frustrated at times at things like the ballgame on TV, (he was a big Mets fan), or banter at the microwave for not cooking his burritos fast or thoroughly enough. I guessed if his biggest character flaw was impatience and family abandonment I could deal with that.

Paul still irked me though as I found him to be overly expressive about how much he liked me and what a ‘good’ kid he thought I was. I felt like he was fake and just hamming it up to, dare I say it, 'Get in Grandmamma's pants.' Ewe. Gross, gross! I had to think of something else, Damian's chiseled chest, amazing arms, adorable dimples, sweet smile and wit! Oh no, I didn't want to go there either! I thought of a funny time I had with Crys, our first time getting drunk together and how we did star jumps off of the park bench while singing I'm a little tea pot. Now that was better! 

I laughed as I sat and looked at one of the family photo albums Grandmamma had pulled out of the attic while Frank had visited. I looked up from my bed at the north wall in my colorful bedroom. I had a collage of family photos there, one picture was of my parents and I, on my fifth birthday, I was smiling showing my cat's eye bracelet. It was the photo that had fallen to the ground in my parent’s room the day they had disappeared. I smiled and closed my eyes to feel the nostalgic effect.