Page 13 of Vanishing Point
He watched her hesitate. But hesitation wasn’t refusal, and he’d hold on to that, even if she didn’t give him her phone number.
Then she stepped back toward him, held out her hand, palm up.
He typed in his phone password, then handed it over to her. She went to Contacts and added her name and number. For a moment, she hesitated again, then looked up at him and gave him the phone back.
“I can’t promise I’ll answer if you call,” she said, very seriously. But that wasn’t adon’t call. She was conflicted. He could be respectful of conflicted.
“Okay, then I’ll text.”
He watched her try to fight a smile and lose. He felt all of fourteen again, but she nodded once before she turned away and weaved her way through the crowd.
VI HADN’TMEANTto start dating Thomas.
Again.
Over the next few weeks, it just seemed to…happen. He’d started with texting her, like he’d said at the party. Sometimes he’d ask if she remembered something from high school. Sometimes he’d ask if she’d seen a movie or liked some band—usually one she’d never heard of. When he asked if she wanted to go out to see a movie, she’d told him no.
He was a cop. She had sworn off cops. If there were any signs from the universe, it was that his chosen profession was one she couldn’t trust or be comfortable with.
She’d changed her mind the very next day. Mostly because Audra, Rosalie and Franny wouldn’t let up on it and this would shut them up.
But also because she couldn’t get the story of him beingshotout of her head. Because yes, back in the old days she’d believed in silly things like dimes and seeing 11:11 on the clock were her late grandparents saying hello.
And she wanted to find something to believe in again. Nothing about that felt safe.
Except it was Thomas Hart, and he’dalwaysbeen her safety net. When her parents had been screaming at each other, when the divorce had gotten nasty, when her stepmother had overstepped, or one of mom’s boyfriends had gotten…handsy.
Thomas had always been the safest place she could find.
So she went to a movie with him. All these years later, she’d gone on a date with her first boyfriend. And when he’d kissed her cheek before dropping her off, she had wanted sobadlyto have this kind of normal again. She didn’t know who else she’d be able to have it with, because the thing about Thomas was she’d known him foryears.
She’d loved him, hard and long. He’d been her first. They’d had their fights, disagreements and dramas, but he’d never been mean to her. He’d never hurt her. A foundation existed there.
He took her and Magnolia on a picnic on a particularly nice day. He even came to a dinner at the ranch, dealt with Franny, Audra andespeciallyRosalie asking him the most ridiculous questions. But he handled them all good-naturedly.
And when she’d walked him out to his car that night, he’d kissed her.Reallykissed her and told her that he was sorry for everything that had happened to her, but he was damn glad she was back in Bent County.
On Valentine’s Day, he’d had to work, but he’d sent her flowers and Magnolia a teddy bear. The next day, he took her out to a fancy restaurant in Fairmont.
When she’d let him sweet-talk her into going back to his house for a while, she wondered if maybe fate just got lost sometimes. Or to balance some karmic table, you had to go through the unthinkable to get…this.
But every time she saw his badge, or his gun, or someone called him detective, she got that cold feeling of dread and told herself she was going to break it off.
She didn’t. Weeks went by and she didn’t. She told herself there’d be a sign, that was when she’d know it was time to go.
But he never bad-talked Rosalie or Audra or Franny, never resented the time she spent with them or Magnolia. He wasn’t perfect. He was terrible with time management, almost always late to pick her up on their dates. Sometimes if work called during a date, he got distracted. Or if a case was particularly frustrating, she might not hear from him except for very rote texts for a day or two.
But the thing was, he was never mean. Never cruel. Not to her or anyone around them.
Because while Eric had kept a lot of his horrible traits under wraps until they were married, there had been signs she hadn’t recognized when they’d been dating. Separating her from her family, making it clear he didn’t like them. Making sure hiscriticisms were carefully wrapped up in pretending to care about her. Pulling the silent treatment, then love-bombing her into oblivion.
He hadn’t physically hurt her until after theI doshad been said, when she’d felt trapped into trying to make it work for far too long.
So Vi kept vigilant. She waited. For the commentary or criticism to start. For it to feel familiar. For her apprehensions about what being a cop did to a guy to be true in Thomas.
They weren’t.
She didn’t know what to do with falling in love with him all over again, with watching him be amazing with Magnolia. And every time she told herself to stop this ridiculousness, she wondered why.
