Page 16 of Vanishing Point
He inhaled slowly, let it out. She couldn’t really decide what he thought about any of that, but she’d told him. It was all out there. Whatever happened from here on out was with the whole true story between them.
If he balked now, that was onhim. She really tried to convince herself it would be on him.
“And that’s the whole story?” he asked.
“Pretty much every terrible detail. He calls and leaves a message from time to time or writes an all-caps email from some fake email address. He’s usually drunk when he does it. And maybe they sometimes have gotten a little threatening, but he’s never left Richmond. Never come looking for me. It’s just…him convincing himself he can still mess up my life. He can’t.”
“No, he can’t.” Thomas reached out, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I need you to tell me when it happens. Even ifit’s not a threat. Even if we then pretend it never happened. I need to know.”
She didn’t like that but was trying to let this relationship be the real deal. Which meant listening to her therapist, notreacting, but dealing. Not retreating but putting herself in another person’s shoes.
And Thomas dealt with this kind of thing. The crushing regularity of a man who terrorized his significant other. So how could she keep something like that from him?
As much as she wanted to. “If it makes you feel any better, I promised Rosalie and Audra too. Back on that night you came over. I know it’s hard to believe, but I… As much shame as I’m still working through, Iamworking through it. I know it’s not my fault, what happened to me is not my own failure to hide. Or I’m working on knowing it.”
“Vi. That’s a lot of important words, but none of them areI promise.”
She studied his face. The faint hint of whiskers from a long day. The lines around his mouth and eyes now. But those eyes were exactly the same. Blue and earnest and in love withher.
She cupped his face with her hands, pressed her mouth to his. “I promise,” she managed to say, through a too tight throat.
“I love you, Vi. Call it old, call it new. I don’t really care. It’s all there.”
She hadn’t expectedthat, but maybe she should have. “I’m not sure I’m ever going to be okay with you being a cop.”
He sucked in a breath, pained. Like she’d stabbed him clean through. Still, he didn’t yell. He didn’t withdraw or get cold. He just nodded.
Because hewasn’tEric. No matter how she kept waiting for her judgment to be wrong, but this wasn’t just any guy.
It was Thomas Hart. The first boy she’d loved, and she still recognized that boy, but he was settled in a strong, mature man who’d seen his fair share of bad.
“But I do love you, Thomas.”
He studied her face a long time. “I just want you to be happy, Vi.”
She thought about her life. Living out here on the ranch and taking care of the ranch. Watching Magnolia grow. Falling in love with her sweet high school boyfriend who maybe had a job that terrified her but was still the same good person she’d loved as a boy.
Two years ago, she’d had no hope she’d ever experience happiness again, and these days she felt it more than all the other things.
“I am happy, Thomas. Very happy.”
Chapter Five
He was late, and Thomashatedrunning late for work. Or he had, before Vi. Spending the night out on the Young Ranch tended to override that worry over it. Still, this morning he rushed into the station, offered half-hearted greetings before making it to his office.
God, he needed some coffee. Maybe five minutes to get his thoughts in order. Did he have strained carrots on his pants from feeding Mags this morning?
Laurel was sitting at the desk they had to share. She had been back from maternity leave for a while now, and as Thomas had predicted, the sheriff had expanded the detective department rather than send Copeland back to the road. They had the caseload for it these days.
Laurel looked up at him, then the clock on the wall. “I want to meet her.”
She’d hinted, suggested, tried to trick him, but he still hadn’t introduced her to Vi. Laurel was five years older than them, so while Vi might have knownofLaurel Delaney since the Delaneys were a big deal in Bent, Laurel didn’t remember Vi.
“Hell no.”
“Why not?”
Thomas grinned at her, hanging his bag up on the hook behind the door. “Because it’s driving you crazy.” And becausehe tried to keep all thecopparts of his life away from Vi. Even if it was hard. Even if it hurt.
