The roads were mostly cleared up, and town was only so far away. They both decided that the basics were needed for Violet. Simple things. Plus, being in a house for three days straight would cause cabin fever for anyone.
Violet took a totally of five seconds to get ready. Daniel however had to still take a shower, find some clothes, brush his teeth, brush his hair into a long ponytail. Violet stood in the doorway, crossing her arms. “You’re such a girl.”
Daniel waved to go away.
“Come on,” she said walking in and leaning against the wall.
“Violet, I am hurrying.”
“You’re a girl,” she said. “You’re more girly then me.”
“That’s not much of a contest.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?” she asked.
With his hand in the hair, and a hair band in his teeth. He smiled. As he wrapped the hair band to hold his hair, he said, “Well, you’re not girly. You don’t wear makeup, or dresses, or act like a girl.”
She narrowed her eyes. “That’s not my fault.”
“Well, no.”
She crossed her arms. When Daniel pulled his ponytail tighter, Violet smirked. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
They went down stairs and locked up the house. While Daniel locked the door, Violet looked up and down the road in amazed and fear. “There are a lot of nice houses,” she said looking at two in front and a little farther besides them.
Daniel turned to her. “I suppose.”
When they walked to the car, violet looked at his house. “Your house is really nice too. I always wanted to live in a boring white house.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Ha, ha, ha, so funny.”
He unlocked the door and they both got in. “Seriously Doc, why don’t you paint something on it? Like, a giant 12 foot flower?”
“What! No!” he augured.
“Why not?”
“Because . . . why would I want that?”
“Who wouldn’t? You have a giant white house. Spice it up.”
“No,” he said starting to engine.
“You’re no fun,” she said.
He found himself smiling. “Sure.”
“Ugh! Doc! You’re killing me,” she said watching the road below her. “Seriously, paint your house.” Daniel just made a caveman sounds and kept driving. “Hey, Daniel, can I ask you something?”
That felt like the first time she actually used his name. “Shoot.”
“Well, the thing is . . . if it’s just you, and not girlfriend or kids . . . why do you have such a big house?”
He wasn’t expecting that question. For the longest time, he thought about what he could say. What could he tell her? The truth? A lie? Daniel let out a long sigh. Something about this girl, he wanted to protect her, wanted her not to know his pain. But he needed to know hers too.
“Let’s make a deal,” Daniel started. “If you get to ask me a hard question, I’ll ask you a hard question. And then . . . just have a limit of once a day. I don’t like all that emotion crap, you know what I mean?”
Violet nodded. “Yeah, well, I suppose that is fair.” She lowered the radio, to hear him better.
Daniel let in a long breath, and then let it go, “Well, a long time ago, I bought that house with my wife.”
“Holy shit! You were married! Wait, wife? Like, still your wife? Dude! Where is she?” Violet exclaimed.
He tightened his lips. “One hard question a day, that’s the limit.”
Violet’s excitement flipped like a switch. She suddenly felt embarrassed from her tone, how she reacted. “Well . . . I hope I can meet her one day. I guess I have to keep my hard questions in order.”
Daniel slowly nodded. “My turn.”
“Okay, shoot then.”
“Why do you keep asking me if you owe me anything? Not money, you know what I mean.”
Violet blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”
“You . . . keep asking if you owe me anything. What do you mean? I want to know why you keep asking that. I feel like that might be a hard question.”
“Well, most men that take me under their wings, they always want something, and they usually get it,” she said. Then she whispered, “One way or another.”
“What men?”
She shook her head. “One hard question a day, remember?”
Daniel respected his own rules, and tried to remember what question to ask her tomorrow.
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