Naked by Gina Gordon

back to the conversation.
    “Are you ready to order?” The waitress stared at Violet expectantly. She was maybe twenty, and had red hair and a large cluster of freckles over her nose.
    “I ordered ice cream,” Carly said with a grin.
    “But you haven’t eaten lunch yet.”
    “Who says dessert isn’t a meal?” The look on Carly’s face said it all. Violet was a stick-in-the-mud.

    But when Carly batted her eyelashes and waited patiently for her to order, she realized: Why the hell can’t I have ice cream for lunch?
    “I’ll have the same thing.”
    Carly smiled and brought out her notebook, placing it on the table in front of her. “Everything is planned as we discussed. The venue staff have been briefed. The itinerary has been forwarded. The menu has been finalized. I’ve secured volunteers to man the registration booth and to greet people when they arrive, and as the president, you will make a formal address to the attendees.”
    At the description of the event, Violet’s eyes glazed over. The format was old. Tired. Kind of like herself.
    “Violet. Is everything all right?”
    It depended on the day. And today, thanks to Noah and her complete dismissal of her character, everything was not all right. Because it had felt too good. It had been too successful.
    She felt different. Whether that was good or bad, it didn’t matter. She wanted things to be different, for her life and for the event. She needed to shake things up.
    “Are you happy with the plans for the event?”
    Despite advocating for female entrepreneurs, in Violet’s opinion, the event didn’t capture the diverse landscape of the association’s members.
    “It’s what’s been done for years.” Carly was beginning to squirm in her seat as if she knew something bad was coming.
    “Exactly.” How did Violet tell her she wanted to scrap the entire event and start fresh? Although she didn’t have any fresh ideas lying around.

    “People love it.” Carly looked at her like she had three heads.
    She was right. People did love it. And didn’t that just speak to the character of the women she was forced to interact with on a daily basis? The gala was just an opportunity to show off a new dress, or hairstyle, or man. An opportunity to mix and mingle with their own kind and maintain the status quo. Well Violet knew all about shaking up the status quo. Especially when it happened without warning.
    She planned on shaking things up at work with the residential project, something Walker Industries had never done before. It was a way to invigorate not only the company but her life. A way to step out of the four walls she’d been stuck in since birth. Her father was a huge supporter and it was the first time she’d ever felt like she could do something on her own. But she had every reason to believe it was because of his illness. He was being soft, easy. And that wasn’t going to help her win over the board of directors.
    “You don’t want to change it do you?” She heard the terror in Carly’s voice. “Because everything has been finalized.” Now her voice was an octave higher. “We’d have to cancel everything. We’d lose all of our deposits and—”
    “Carly…” The girl froze at the sound of her name. “We’re not changing anything.”
    She knew it was too late. The website had been published and the invites had been sent. Carly breathed a sigh of relief.
    They spoke while eating their ice cream, and when all the boring plans had been finalized, they parted ways.
    Violet was not looking forward to this event. The thought of having to spend time with ungrateful socialites when her father was literally forgetting who he was right before her eyes was sickening. Of their insincere condolences and inquiries about her newfound love of scarves. How was she supposed to handle their comments when she couldn’t even handle herself?

    The entire time she’d been hiding out, she’d used silly hobbies as a distraction between work projects