Red, like my bleeding heart in your hand
Theodore Spinoza was crying the first time Nash ever saw him. With the principal’s hand on his shoulder, she explained that Teddy was new to the school, new to the community, and needed their help to adjust. Everybody knew that only meant to not tease him about his red face and the streaks of snot on his sleeves.
At that moment, looking at Teddy all sad and soppy with his sharp chin tipped up anyway, Nash made a decision. With all his six years of worldliness and wisdom, Nash decided no way did he want anything to do with that snot-faced kid—not when he was already in charge of keeping his snot-faced sister right and happy, and not with Daddy’s fits of violence already taking up more than their fair share of his concern. Theodore Spinoza was on his own.
It’s funny how life can take a decision like that and twist it into something precious and unexpected.
Blue, like don’t forget about me
Theodore Spinoza is angry twenty years after Nash thought he saw him for the last time. Considering the funeral and the broken promises looming between them—rot-riddled and long past fixing—the animosity isn’t surprising, but it seems nobody clued Teddy in on the ruined state of things. Or maybe they did and he blew past the warning signs same as when they were kids, all stupid determination and unbridled confidence.
Nash should know better than to get caught up in him again after how things ended, but Teddy’s storm winds stir fresh vitality into his stagnant life and the tempest tastes like a second shot at something special.
Violet, like these delights
A month before her brother’s wedding is called off, Josephine Owens thinks her biggest challenges are accepting her return as second fiddle to her brother’s fiancé and making friends of her teammates on her new roller derby team. So you could say orchestrating the downfall of the man stalking her family will be something of a surprise.
She has made a career out of being needed, but her team doesn’t need—or want—her co-captaining experience. They intend to win the upcoming Summer Smash with or without her. And now that he’s engaged to the long-lost best friend of his childhood, her brother, Nash, doesn’t need her to be his emotional rock or sounding board or dinner partner or even his emergency contact. For the first time since she was a little girl, Jo is superfluous, and she hates it. The only thing she hates more is wedding planning. She’s simultaneously counting down the days until Nash and Teddy wed, and dreading what will come after: the honeymoon phase. When they’ll finally realize her third wheel is a bane, not a boon.
Then, someone Jo and Nash thought they would never see again seeks Nash out at work, and everything goes to hell.