Chapter Thirty-One - New Beginnings Burrata

"VIOLETTE."

I smile in the darkness, four men's kisses lingering on my lips. We hadn't gotten far—a lost shirt, a pulled zipper—before we all slunk to the floor. Somewhere around me draping my arms over Cheddy and leaning back against Cam, my eyelids grew fifty pounds.

I only closed them for a second to catch my breath.

"Violette, wake up!" A heel slaps against the ground.

"Yes, yes." I stretch and yawn. Light pierces through the dark. A lot of light. Way too much light for the overhead lamps and the streetlights outside the windows. My eyes shoot open just as a hand launches for me.

I don't mean to shriek, but the wrathful monster wrenching me to its jaws sets off my fight or flight. Instead of picking either option, my body goes with the tried and true possum maneuver. I slump back like my bones turned to jelly.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Mom? The jagged teeth and cracked gray skin give way to my mother with her mouthguard in and her nightly clay mask on. Though, the raging red eyes remain.

Why is she here? Oh, shit!

I slam my hands to the ground and peel away from her grip. As I go, my palms slip through piles of clothing. "It's morning," I gasp, all of my mistakes hitting me at once.

"Yes, it is. Imagine my absolute terror when I woke without my only daughter in her bed. You took ten years from my life, Violette."

"I'm sorry," I whimper, doing my best to skitter away while gathering up their clothes.

"What in the hell are you doing sleeping on the floor here and… Are those men's shirts?"

"They're…um, rags?" I say and heft up Roq's faded but well-cared-for embroidered shirt. As I do, a wheel of blue-veined cheese comes tumbling out. "Oh, no!" I lunge forward, catching him just before he hits the floor. "Sorry," I whisper to the cheese and tuck it under my arm.

"Is that cheese?" My mother sneers with utter disgust. Without looking at her, I race to pick up the rest of them. It's not easy. Cheddy weighs twenty pounds in this form, though it'd be harder to carry him the other way.

"Were you…?" My mom's voice shivers as she watches me struggle to pick up Brie and his lost trousers. "Were you sleeping with—"

Shit, she knows about them.

"—cheese?"

"No." I shake my head. Not when they're cheese, anyway.

"Did you sneak out in the middle of the night in order to…" My mother gulps. "To dress up cheese?"

"No." I try to not laugh. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. How could I even put a shirt on cheese? They don't have arms. Okay, maybe a cheeky hat or a scarf would work but…

She's fuming. I try to tamp down my snickering tone as best I can before she explodes. "I…I was here to—to clean! See!" I grab the first shirt I can and start to wipe down the counters. Gold embroidery flashes on a field of scarlet and I wince. Sorry, Cam.

"Shouldn't the janitors be doing that?"

"They…had the night off. For a holiday."

"What holiday?" My mother keeps pressing me tighter into a corner.

"A local one to celebrate a famous Polish, um…" I catch Brie's painting and cry out, "Artist!"

It makes no sense, I know, but it's better than the truth—more believable too. My mother, however, keeps tapping her foot in exhaustion. She glowers like she's about to tear my throat out. Then she breathes deep and unleashes the "Vi-o-lette." It isn't the usual exhaustion bordering on broken glass sound I hear whenever she calls me. She punctuates every syllable like a knife stab to my belly.

"That's it." My mom reaches out to take my hand full of cheese and pants. "You're done here."

"What? No, I can't go. The place needs to be cleaned before we open."

"You're going home. You're leaving this god-forsaken city and selling this degenerate hellhole. Now!"

Every fight I've ever had with her flashes in my mind. Every time I gave up because she's my mom and you're supposed to honor your mom and do whatever she wants. Because she's the adult and you're just a fucked up kid. The weight in my arms grounds my feet. Instead of letting my mother tear me away, I pull back.

Her eyes widen, her mouth twisting into a sneer. She raises her finger as if to cast a spell and turn me into an obedient mouse.

Twenty years of swallowed anger and resentment boil out into one long scream. "It's not a hellhole." I didn't put a lot of thought into the words, but the sentiment blows my mother back. "This is a…a fucking lovely cheese shop and you will god damn respect it!"

"What has gotten into you?" my mother gasps.

Four dicks.

Dear god, don't say that. "Nothing!" I shout.

"Don't piss on my cupcake and call it frosting," my mother rolls out one of her go-to clichés to shut me up.

"That doesn't make any goddamn sense. Frosting isn't a liquid."

Her dropped jaw catches me. Every time, I'd only say it in my head or whisper it behind her back. But no, I just blasted it in her face.

And I'll do it again!

"I don't want to go home. I don't want to abandon this store. I wanted to come back here in the summer but you wouldn't let me!"

"Is this about your degenerate uncle?"

"Stop using that word! He was kind, and caring, and he…he helped so many people. People you'd never even think twice about."

She crosses her arms and glares into my soul. "You know nothing about the twisted, sick, disgusting things your uncle got up to."

"Tell me, then. Tell me right now," I challenge her. This is her chance to finally explain herself, to explain anything to me.

My mother waves her hand. "You're just a child."

"I am a goddamn adult," I shriek and slam my foot to the ground. "And I deserve the truth."

"No, you are a spoiled brat who's lost her mind. Again."

All the rage boiling inside of me catches and my face drops. I go still, struggling to breathe as she circles toward me.

"This is your brain rot, isn't it? You've let the crazy take hold again. It's got you running here in the dead of the night to sleep beside cheese. You're out of your mind, Violette."

They're real. I'm not crazy. I'm not stupid. I saw them. I held them. I fucked them.

"We need to get you help. Prophet Jo—"

"No!" I slap her hand away before she can offer it. "You don't want me to get better."

Her eyes fall. "Of course I do. I'm your mother. How could you say that?"

You're killing her. Look at that. Each mean word cuts her to the bone. It'll be your fault if she dies. Better apologize now and wash your hands five times or else.

The gremlin screams so loud I can't hear myself breathing. "Mom…" I whimper, aching to cover my ears with my hands, but that won't stop the incessant voices in my head.

"Baby girl." She opens her arms so I can fall to pieces in them. Then she's free to put them back together however she wants. Create the perfect daughter instead of the one she's stuck with.

I hug tighter to the four cheeses. "Why…why don't you go back to the hotel? Wash up? Take the day off. It's been stressful running this place."

"Yes, it has," she says and slowly lowers her arms.

"I'll…I'll stay here to clean. Take stock. We…we can figure out what to do with the store tomorrow. Okay?"

Her face doesn't move below the flaking clay mask. "Why don't you come back to the hotel with me? We could get breakfast…"

"No." I shake off her mental hooks impaling into my skin. "A clean room is a godly room, right?" I say as a Hail Mary.

My mom purses her lips tight, breaking her mask in half. The bottom crashes to the floor. Gray dust rises like an angry storm. "Very well. I shall see you tomorrow then we will discuss your…welfare."

I don't move a muscle as she walks to the door. After shoving it open, she orders me, "Lock this before someone breaks in and shoots you in the head. There's barely any brain matter already."

Only jerking my head, I'm frozen in fear that my mother will turn around and come storming back. She'll never take my no for an answer and pull me away from here screaming. But the fluffy hotel slippers stomp down the sidewalk and the robe vanishes past the corner windows.

"Oh my god." I bought myself another night. My body unwinds in one fast snap and I nearly hit the floor in exhaustion.

We'll figure something out. A way to convince her to let me stay. Or…or maybe we could run away together. Just me and my four precious cheeses with five million dollars to start again.

I laugh like a dying man who won his game of chess. "Thank you," I tell the four cheeses in my arms. If not for them, I never could have stood up to her. I never had someone to defend before, only my worthless self. Maybe she'll… No, she has to listen to me now. Take me seriously.

"I should put you somewhere safe." I have to carry them one at a time. In the end, I place Brie, Cam, Roq, and Cheddy on the table by the old box with its open lid. "Sleep well. I'll see you tonight." I kiss my fingers and touch each cheese before trudging up the ladder.

At the top, I close the trap door, then stare at the obvious spot on the floor. A tiny warning shivers up the back of my neck. I shove the old display pedestal over the door, hiding away the cellar. Exhausted, I plant my hands on the small of my back and stretch.

As I stare out the window, a beam of sunlight catches on the soap store across from me. For a fleeting second, I swear a person dips back into the darkness. "I'm just being paranoid." Scrubbing my cheeks, I yearn to curl up in bed, but…I promised my mother I'd clean up.

Shaking off my exhaustion, I grab a broom and dustpan. Once she sees this place is spotless, she'll have to let me stay.