Page 30 of Vanishing Point
She’d made some bad ones. Now she was making good ones.
“Are we done investigating my romantic history?” he asked, handing her a Tupperware so she could pack up the leftover pasta.
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She took it but faced him and trailed her fingers through his hair. “I snooped in your underwear drawer. Did you keep it the whole time? The picture.”
“Not exactly, no. When my parents moved, they gave me a bunch of my high school stuff. I got rid of a lot of it. But I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of that. I figured… No matter how it ended, it’d been a good four years. I learned a lot. Why not keep a memento?”
“Got any other mementos from other women who haven’t stuck?”
He wrapped an arm around her, drew her close. “Not a one.” Then they both looked at Mags who’d pulled herself up on his pant leg and was tugging on his pants.
“She really loves you.”
“Good, because I really love the both of you.” He dropped a kiss on her mouth, then picked up Mags and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
They cleaned up the kitchen together. Put Mags to bed together. They fooled around on the couch, and for the first time in a very long time Vi really let herself relax. Enjoy.
Believe. That she was on the other side ofawful.
So when the postal inspector called in the morning, she made an appointment to answer her questions at Thomas’s house. Thomas insisted, since he had a doorbell camera and other security measures. They didn’t have to tell the inspector Vi was living there just because they were meeting there.
Since Thomas had court, and so did Laurel, he’d offered Copeland to come over and sit with her, but Vi decided she’d rather do it alone.
She wanted to stand on her own two feet. For herself, as much as for Thomas.
When Thomas suggested he run Magnolia out to Audra at the ranch before work, so she could have full concentration to answer the inspector’s questions and then have her tele-therapy appointment this afternoon without having to worry about Mags, she agreed.
“Use the security system. Mr. Marigold next door is always home and usually being nosy, so he’ll let you know if anything is funny. Call me if you need anything. When Inspector Kay gets here, wait for me to text that it’s really her at the doorbell camera, okay?”
Vi nodded, gave him a kiss, and then watched as he expertly wrangled Mags into her car seat. And she stood there, watching the car go, trying to fight that feeling this was all just too good to be true.
“I won’t let it be,” she muttered, turning back inside. She locked the front door and then took her time getting ready. Brushing her hair, putting on light makeup. Actually putting on jeans and a top instead of living in sweats and yoga pants.
When the knock sounded on the door, she waited for Thomas’s text.
It’s the postal inspector.
So she opened the door and smiled.
The woman held out a badge. “Hi, I’m Inspector Dianne Kay. Are you Vi Reynolds?”
Vi nodded. “Yes. Come on in.”
The woman was pretty, polished. But she had thatcopway of looking around, cataloging everything, and making Vi feel like she was a series of failures for them to judge.
Why didn’t it feel like that when Thomas did the same thing, she wondered? Probably just knowing him.
They sat down at the kitchen table, and Inspector Kay took the offered coffee. “I just have a few questions about the envelope you received two days ago, and then I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Of course.”
“You received an envelope, addressed to your name, at a ranch out in unincorporated Bent County?”
“Yes. That’s where I’ve been living.”
“And what were the contents of this envelope?”
“Don’t you have the envelope?”
