Free The Bad Twin by Shelia Goss

to give Marcus a hug.
    “You’re quite welcome.”
    “I want to wear them now. Help me switch these out.”
    “My pleasure.”
    Over the past few months, Violet and Marcus had spent as much time together as his schedule allowed. He was on the road with the team, but made sure he kept in constant contact with her. Marcus was fun to be around and he was also understanding of her idea to not rush things.   As he placed the necklace around her neck, the feel of his hand sent a chill down her spine.  If she could survive the night, she knew that tonight was the night their relationship would go to a new level.
    She turned around and placed one of her hands over the necklace. “These are beautiful. Thank you again. You’re going to make me cry all of my make-up off.”
    “Now we can’t have that,” Marcus responded.
    Violet pointed towards an empty table and said, “Our table is over there. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
    “Violet, this is your night. I understand darling. I know how to keep myself busy in the meantime.”
    “Thank you,” she said before giving him a quick peck on the lips.
    Violet excused herself and continued to oversee the event. Violet was making sure the food was being prepared to their specifications when Janice showed up in the kitchen. Janice stated, “I was told I would find you back here.”
    “Janice you look absolutely wonderful. Lavender suits you well.”
    Janice pretended to be shy. “Thank you. You are wearing the silver well yourself. I swear since we went on a shopping spree, you have transformed into a new woman. Or is it because of that tall fine hunk of a man out there?”
    Violet giggled. “Might be a combination.”
    “Whatever it is. I like it.”
    “I’ve gone over everything and things are looking well. Now all we have to do is wait for the people to show up and the party to begin.”
    They walked back out toward the ballroom. “Violet, I have something to tell you,” Janice confessed.
    Before Janice could tell her anything, a man dressed in a black tuxedo informed Violet he was unable to locate the auction list. 
    “Janice, I’ll get back with you in a minute. Let me take care of this.” Janice stood there and watched as Violet left for the other room.
    After the small mix-up was resolved, Violet walked through the lobby and was happy to see people walking toward the ballroom. As she walked in the same direction as the ballroom, she dropped the program she had in her right hand. She leaned down to pick it up and when she stood back up, she was looking David straight in the face. “Violet. You look beautiful.”
    “David.”
    David tried to take her hand, and because she didn’t want to make a scene in front of anyone, she gently withdrew it out of his grip. “I’m sorry.  I was just trying to help.”
    “I’ll manage.” She tried not to snap back at him, but failed. “Now if you’ll move, I have people I need to greet.”
    At that moment, a petite woman with short cropped hair came and wrapped her arms through David’s. “There you are. I was wondering where you had slipped to so quickly.”
    David looked as if he wanted to be anywhere else but in between the two women. “I want you to meet somebody. She’s the reason why we’re here tonight.  Dena, this is Violet.”
    Violet showed some grace and reached out to shake her hand. “Hi. Thanks for coming. Now if you guys will excuse me, I have to find someone.”
    As she was walking away, she heard Dena say, “I thought you told me she was the nice one. She acted like she had an attitude toward me.”
    After Violet heard her comment she decided to put extra twists in her walk.
     
    ***
    Oh. I have an attitude. I swear.  What she doesn’t know is I don’t want him. She can have him and his issues. Speaking of men. I better find my friend, before he thinks I’ve abandoned him.
    ***
     
    As the night got under way, items were auctioned off. From the way things looked, the community center