Page 35 of Protecting Vera

Laughter bubbled up. “You are too much. For people like me, laws are never bendable. No one helped me.”

“Well, you have me on your side now. I’ll make sure we keep you safe. I know I promised that before?—”

“But I went off and messed that up.”

“Hey, you didn’t mess anything up. If anything, he thinks you’re in Phoenix, and we can keep track of him better.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“We’ll get Thario to up his tracking of Logan.”

“Oh gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve talked to him. I should have called.”

“Let’s call him now.”

She nodded, feeling guilty for not going to see or talk to Thario recently. When Ben got Thario on the phone, she was surprised the guy sounded genuinely happy to hear from her.

“Of course, I’ll do more digging on Logan. I should have done it before. Now that we know the guy is still a problem, we’ll make sure to keep an eye on him.”

Vera breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Any time.”

“We want you to come over for lunch or dinner this weekend. And, of course, Frog is welcome.”

“Thank you. I’ll send you a text about when I can. And Vera, don’t hesitate to call. I want to help.”

“I can’t thank you enough. You’re a good friend.”

“Same back at you. I’ll see you all this weekend.”

They ended the call, and she felt better. She should have called Thario before her business trip. She didn’t want to be a bother, but she was getting the idea that she wasn’t a bother at all. Ben and his friends were really good people. They accepted her, and Ben really loved her. It wasn’t some fake version of love, but true love where he wanted good things for her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Hop called Frizz to make sure she was okay. He was glad Frizz and Justin were visiting soon. He needed to make sure his sister was really okay. It worried him that she was still in Texas and Logan was a problem.

When Thario showed up, Frog was excited to see them and pranced around the house, finally sitting beside Thario after he’d licked his and Vera’s face.

“Your dog is funny,” Hop said as he pulled the steaks from the refrigerator so he could grill them.

Thario put his hand on Frog’s head, smiling at the dog as he looked up to Thario. “Frog is a good boy. I never thought I would be able to have a dog. I love him.”

Hop nodded. “Yeah, I get that. I don’t think I’ll ever have one.”

Vera shook her head. “You’re such a good dog dad. Why would you never have a dog?”

“Time,” Thario said.

“We travel too much,” Hop said.

“Oh, I never thought about that.”

“Yeah, it’s too hard to have a pet that you have to leave behind.”

“Oh, yeah. That would be bad.”

“I don’t have to worry about that now. Frog is the best. So I guess the trade-off is worth it.”

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