Nervous with the passengers
in his car, Martin drove slower than the speed limit. Blake didn’t
mind though. He didn’t want anything else to upset Veronica. When
he climbed in the back seat with her, she’d automatically crawled
into his lap. He could feel goose bumps on her skin and tried to
rub her arm to keep her warm. She was cradling it rather close to
her body.
Maybe she needs a pain
pill.
Veronica ended up not taking anything
the night before. And since they woke up so late today, they didn’t
have much time to make sure she took the pills before they left the
house. At the house, Martin pulled his car in behind Blake’s and
got out to open the door for him. Sliding sideways, Blake had to
get him and Veronica out the car. She wasn’t asleep, but he didn’t
see her walking back into the house. Instructing Martin to pull his
house keys out of his pocket—something the younger deputy didn’t
feel too comfortable with—Blake also required him to open the front
door for him. Not to say Veronica was heavy, but with her long legs
and being sore, it was just easier if Martin helped, instead of
Blake trying to do it all by himself. Martin ducked into the house
to do a quick once through to make sure no one was lurking inside.
The officer explained after checking the house that Miller had
given him instructions to stay with Blake until either they found
Arthur or Miller came to relieve him.
“
Sir, I’ll be outside if
you need me.”
“
Thanks, Martin. I’m sure
we’ll be fine.”
Shutting the door with his foot, Blake
walked over and sat Veronica on the sofa. She was still clinging
onto the front of his shirt, with the casted arm, and the good arm
was clutching the casted arm.
“
Is your arm hurting you? I
can go get the meds Dr. Simms gave you?”
“
I don’t want to take them.
I’m fine. Don’t leave me. Please.”
The ‘please’ came out as more of a plea, and
it made Blake want to hold her tighter. Sitting down next to her,
Blake removed the blanket he and Lindsay laid wrapped in the day
before, and pulled it over her. As he did, Veronica laid her head
on his lap and closed her eyes. He was a little surprise by how
comfortable she was with him, after all the time they had spent
apart, but he figured she was possibly in shock. After sitting with
her for a little while, Blake realized he was running his fingers
through her hair. He loved the way it felt gliding over his
fingers. He thought about fixing them something to eat, but as
Veronica drifted off to sleep on his lap, he, too, felt drained.
Resting his head on the back of the sofa, he closed his eyes while
his hands continued to move through her hair.
Someone banging at the
front door woke Blake with a start.
Who
could that be?
He took in his surroundings
and realized he and Veronica had fallen asleep on the sofa, and he
didn’t know what time it was. Blake also noted, whoever was at the
door, didn’t have a key. Veronica heard the guest and slowly sat
up, rubbing her eyes with the back of her good arm.
“
What time is it?” she
asked.
She looked as dazed as Blake felt.
“
I’m not sure. The sun is
out, though. I think the last time I opened my eyes, the sun was
setting.”
Veronica shifted, and Blake
rose from the sofa and stepped to the door. Blake thought about it
at the last second—he’d begun to open the door before
checking.
I really need to be a little
more careful. It could have been Arthur at the door.
However, it wasn’t. Pulling the door back, he
found a stressed looking Lindsay. She had bags under her eyes, and
it appeared like she’d been crying. Lindsay pushed past him, and
stopped a few steps into the house, when she saw Veronica curled up
in the blanket they shared two nights before. Her small hands
curled into fists and she whipped around to face Blake.
“
I should’ve
known.”
Blake put his hand up to stop whatever she
was about to say. “Lindsay it’s‒”
“
Oh, Blake, don’t give me
that crap. It is exactly how it looks. Do you know after the
shower
yesterday,
I went home and waited for you to call? I sat there for hours,
wondering what could be going on for you not to have called. Then
Tracy called me. See, she was out yesterday and saw the fire. She
also saw your girlfriend over here and noticed she looked all
mangled. Things started to click.”
Lindsay spun on her heels to glare at
Veronica.
“
Do you know he and I were
supposed to spend time together this weekend? Well, that was until
you called him and he dropped me like a bad habit, to go running to
your aide. Must be nice to have men that are so willing to do
anything for you, no matter how much it may hurt someone
else.”
Veronica looked completely mortified. She
was shaking her head in disbelief. Blake knew she had no clue
Lindsay and he had plans for the weekend. She most likely would
have fought to be kept in the hospital, or would have probably been
more willing to go home with Miller, if that was the case.
“
Lindsay, I had no clue. I
didn’t-”
“
Save it, prom queen. I
should’ve known the moment I heard you were setting foot back in
Surpatch where all of this was going.”
Lindsay’s stare darted back to Blake, who
was in complete shock, that Lindsay was finally showing some fight
in her. He also felt bad for her. He wasn’t trying to hurt her, but
somehow he had succeeded. Meeting her glare, he tried to explain
that he wasn’t trying to upset her. At the same time, Veronica
began to stand. Placing the blanket on the side of the sofa, she
headed for the stairs.
“
I never meant to cause any
problems here. I’m going to give you two some time to
talk.”
“
Don’t bother going
anywhere. I’m leaving,” Lindsay spat. “Plus, I want you both to
hear this.”
Still staring into
Lindsay’s eyes, Blake could see all the emotion flowing out of
her.
Well, here it comes.
In some ways, he was relieved. Why did it have to
come to this for her to finally show how she really felt- to really
put strong emotion into what they should have had-for Lindsay to
finally not want to give him his way?
“
Blake, I know now I was a
fool for believing in you—in us. I thought you were a man of your
word. I’m glad I’m finding this out now, and not after it was too
late to change things. I can only hope you two are happy together,
because you sure as hell deserve each other.” Snickering to
herself, she continued, “By the way. The next time you two are
wrapped in each other’s arms, just remember everyone you hurt in
the process.”
Lindsay then stormed out the house without
saying another word. Her tires screeched as she drove off down the
street. Blake and Veronica stood in silence, gaping at the open
front door.
“
Blake, I’m
sorry.”
Veronica’s voice broke and Blake turned to
look at her. Her left arm covered her mid section as she leaned
against the wall. Blake felt like crap. Here he was in the middle
of a huge mess. He had his ex-lover staying with him, and his
current girlfriend just broke up with him. Shaking his head, he
closed his eyes for a minute. During Lindsay’s tirade, he caught
the time on the clock in the living room. It was a little after
eight on Sunday morning. Veronica and he had slept most of Saturday
away. Veronica’s feet shuffled across the floor as she began to
walk towards the open door.
“
Blake, you should go after
her. Try to explain that this was all a
misunderstanding.”
He still hadn’t moved from his spot. He
wondered where Veronica was going.
“
And what are you doing?
Are you planning on going with me?”
Veronica shook her head and edged closer to
the door.
“
No. I’m, oh, I don’t’
know. I just think it’s best if I leave.”
“
Like I said, where are you
going? Do you have somewhere else to stay?”
His voice felt raw. It sounded the way he
felt. Veronica stopped and looked at him
“
Blake, you need to go
after her. Don’t worry about me.”
That pissed Blake
off.
What does she mean not to worry about
her? That’s all I’ve been doing for the last few hours.
Blake took a few big steps and beat Veronica to
the door, slamming it shut. It made a loud banging noise and
Veronica flinched.
“
Lindsay has made her
choice. If she is going to assume things without giving me a chance
to explain, then so be it. But you,” He glared at Veronica,
catching her chewing on her bottom lip. “What happened to you? What
happened to the Veronica I once knew? The one that had fight in
her? Is this what you do, run away from your problems?”
Hurt moved across her face.
“
I’m not running away from
anything. I never have. Don’t you dare judge me! You have no idea
what I’ve been through.”
Blake didn’t know why he
was taking his bad mood out on Veronica.
What did she do wrong? She didn’t asked for Arthur to hurt
her, or to burn down her home. She didn’t even try to defend
herself towards Lindsay’s slander.
It
should be Lindsay, he was fighting with; however, it was Veronica
who got caught in the crossfire. Lindsay made her choice, and he’d
be damned if he was going to go track her down to make it
right.
“
Then why don’t you help me
to understand? I know you’re good at running away, but why don’t
you explain. And while you’re at it, how about you explain why you
decided to come back to Surpatch, because before now, everything
was going fine without you.”
His words were harsh. Blake could see
Veronica trying to coil away from them, but he wanted to know why
she was back.
She stepped away from the door and moved
closer to the stairs. Blake wondered if it was because of his
presence at the door or the fact that she needed something to
support her. Leaning on the newel post, she began to sink to the
bottom of the stairs.
“
I came back because I
wasn’t happy. My parents were gone, and I couldn’t think of a time
I’d been happy since I left here. A lot had changed, but I just
wanted to be happy again. This was a place where I was safe, a
place where nothing was supposed to go wrong.”
Closing her eyes, she rested her head on the
beam of the post.
“
Yeah, well, if this place
was so wonderful, then why did you leave?”
“
You make it seem like I
wanted to leave here forever, and never come back. Blake, I was
only going away to college.”
“
A college far enough away
from here where we were never going to see each other
again.”
Shaking her head, she kept her eyes closed.
“I was going to come home on school breaks, and call you all the
time. It was only a few states away. It’s not like I was going out
of the country.”
“
You might as well
have.”
“
What does it matter
anyway? You broke up with me. You’re making it seem like I was out
to hurt you, and break your heart, when you’re the one who called
it quits.”
She now glared at him. Her light-brown eyes
swam, but no tears spilled.
“
Whatever, Veronica, I
can’t believe you’re still mad I beat you to the punch.”
“
What punch?”
“
Don’t play dumb with
me.”
The conversation was only making him madder.
Blake had nothing else to say to her, if she was going to sit there
and lie to him. As he started to walk towards the kitchen to get
something to eat, she spoke again. “Blake, you thought I was going
to break up with you? Why would I have done that?”
He sighed and glanced at her.
“
You wanted out of this
town so bad. All you talked about was going away for school, like
the town and I weren’t good enough for you. And whenever I tried to
talk you out of going too far away, you would get upset. We spent
the last few months of our relationship arguing. Then we had that
big fight, before you played sick to keep from seeing me. Is any of
this ringing a bell? Or shall I go on?” Not letting her respond, he
continued. “Then after faking sick, you called me and wanted to
talk. Come on, Veronica, give me some credit, I knew what you were
going to do. I saw the writing on the wall. Now can we stop playing
the ‘I don’t know what you mean’ game?”
Chapter 9
V
eronica knew Blake was mad at her. He had every right to be.
She was ruining the life he’d built. She felt awful that Lindsay
had broken up with him. If she would have known what he was giving
up to come to her side, she would have told him to leave.
And why is he dragging the past up? Did he really
think I was going to break up with him? Is that what he thought I
was going to say to him on that hot summer day?
“
I can’t believe that’s
what you thought. Blake, I love to read books. Books, that take
place all over the world. We lived in Surpatch, Iowa. I just wanted
to see a little bit of the world, that’s all. I knew you and I were
going to get married one day, have kids, and you were going to
become Mayor. I was okay with that. I wanted that. But I also, even
if it was just another state and only for a few months out the
year, wanted to see other parts of the world. I had really hoped
you would’ve stopped being so stubborn and come with me, but you
fought me about it. You made it personal and it wasn’t.”