CHAPTER 16
Vi’s sister had hung around long enough for Blake to trade the ridiculous robe for his long-sleeve tee. He felt much better wearing it. It’d grown dark outside, and he ought to go home. While Vi stood in the threshold and watched as Rose headed for her car, he messaged Falcon and ordered a vehicle able to carry a bike.
“It’ll be a good half hour before I get picked up,” he said when Vi returned. That ought to give them enough time to finish the conversation Rose had interrupted earlier.
“Let’s sit in the living room.”
He chose a comfortable armchair. Vi plunked onto the couch across from him. “Your sister’s good people,” he said. “What did she whisper to you before she stepped outside?”
Looking like a cornered rabbit caught where it shouldn’t be, she gave a closed-mouth smile, grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it. “It was about me, wasn’t it?” he guessed.
She huffed out a breath. “Not everything is about you.”
“Yeah, but this is.” At her questioning face, he added, “Your expression gave you away.”
Muttering something that sounded like “why me?” she glanced up as if irritated, but by the light tinge on her cheeks, that wasn’t the issue. He eyed her. “Well?”
“All right, she mentioned you. Satisfied?”
“Not quite. I want to know what she said.” She shook her head, reducing him to beg. “Please tell me, pretty please.”
“Oh, all right. She thinks you’re a great guy and told me to be nice to you.”
“I like her even better now. Before she showed up, we were talking about what happened earlier today. You started to say something about us needing to do I don’t know what because that’s when she came in.”
“Let me think back. I don’t remember, except to say you’re not at all like Devin. He’s all brawn and little brain. You’re smart and kind and caring.”
Damn, he liked that. “Tell me why us kissing reminded you of him.”
She sucked her bottom lip for a few moments. “He hurt me a lot, and I guess I’m worried about that.”
“I don’t go around breaking hearts.”
“I doubt anyone sets out with that in mind, but at some point, it happens to us all.”
The way she hugged herself, she must’ve been hurt a lot. “How many times have you had your heart broken?”
“Once.”
In disbelief, he studied her. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Devin was the first and only. I’ve learned to be careful. What about you?”
“I went steady a few times in high school, but those relationships never lasted. I had a breakup or two in college. Sure, each time it happened stung, but like almost everybody else, I survived. I’d been out of college for a while when I met Sammi. We thought we were madly in love. Then a few monthsbefore the wedding, we realized what we felt for each other was mostly about sex. We agreed getting married would be a mistake, called it off and went our separate ways.
“Splitting up was a mutual agreement but still hurt. For as long as I can remember, I’d pictured myself falling in love, getting married and having kids. Since the thing with Sammi, I’ve changed.”
“How so?” Vi asked, toying with a confused frown.
A question he’d mulled over for a long time. “If an amicable breakup hurts, think how much worse it must be when a relationship ends in divorce or death. The emotional pain of either one must be almost impossible to bear. Not must be, is. If you’d lived with my mother after my dad died, you’d understand.”
“With my parents, it was the opposite. They couldn’t wait to get divorced.”
“Different strokes, but bad outcomes either way.”
“You’re saying you don’t want to fall in love?”
She seemed genuinely curious, and he thought a minute before answering. “I’m saying I’m not sure I ever have. There’ve been times when I thought I was in love and the feeling was mutual. The beginning always feels good, but not the end. And for me, it always ends. “I’m beginning to think I’m not capable of committing to the kind of relationship that lasts.” He’d never admitted that to anyone, hadn’t realized it himself until now.
