Page 43 of Hard Rain Coming
She nodded. I did.
“And what you do next is going to be important. So take your time. Figure it out and be the brave woman I know you are.”
Brave? Not a word she’d use to describe herself. Vivian exhaled and gave herself a shake. She couldn’t do this right now. She got to her feet and walked to her desk. “I’ve got to finish up a few more columns and email them to Greg.”
He had his jacket on, something she was only realizing. “Are you going somewhere?” Vivian asked.
Jack nodded. “I’ve got to head back to Alaska.”
“Why?” She hoped she didn’t sound as needy as she felt.
“Some legal matters I need to attend to.” His eyes clouded. “Richard. I hope you understand.”
Embarrassed that she’d only been thinking of herself, she nodded. “Of course. Go.”
Jack dropped a kiss onto her nose. “I will call you every day, and if you need me, I’ll come back. But darling, I think you need to face your past on your own. Kick those demons to the curb, and most of all…” He slid his hand along her jaw. “Forgive yourself. Forgive Dallas.” He shrugged. “Forgive the past. I know it will be hard, but that past includes your father.”
The mention of Manley Bridgestone was enough to get her hackles up. “That’s a lot to ask for.”
“It is. But if you want a chance at the kind of happiness you’ve been chasing, you have no choice but forgiveness.” He gave her one last kiss. “And the truth. Your man deserves to know.”
Jack stepped back and winked. “Benton has agreed to drive me to Bozeman. I’ve got a flight out this evening. You’ll be okay?”
No.
“Yes. Go. I’ll be fine. Text me when you land.”
“I will. I love you, my girl.”
Then he was gone.
Vivian could have spent the remainder of the afternoon brooding, rotting on the sofa in a big old cardigan and a bottle of wine, but she had work to do, and if anything, it was a distraction from the disaster that was her life. By the time four o’clock rolled around, her shoulders were stiff from being hunched over her laptop, and a dull headache was threatening to turn into something more. She filled a glass with water and downed two extra-strength pills, then wondered what she could possibly do without Jack for conversation.
Solitaire? A book? Yoga?
“I have no one,” she murmured to herself. She’d never cultivated any real female friendships. In fact, other than Jack, she didn’t bother with that sort of thing. She supposed if she went to therapy, there’d be some technical term for whatever the hell it was that ailed her, but deep down, she knew the reason she had issues forming attachments. All of it could be traced to the death of her mother and her father’s subsequent fall into darkness.
Her cell rang just then, and, thinking it was Jack, she answered without looking.
“Hey, what are you up to?” Benton’s voice filled her ear.
“Oh, you’re back from Bozeman.”
“Have been for a couple of hours. I was thinking you could come for dinner. Rosie made a roast with all the fixings, and Nora misses you.”
“I don’t know if I’d be good company.”
“You don’t have to be good company. You just need to be here.”
Vivian considered her options. Alone here with a bottle of wine and some heated-up mac and cheese. Or at Benton’s with Nora and some good food and…
“You got red wine?”
“Only about a case of it.”
“Okay,” she replied softly. “I’ll be over within the hour.”
She quickly changed out of her sweats and pulled on a pair of jeans and a plain black long-sleeved Henley. She secured her hair into a loose topknot, grabbed her winter coat and a hat, and slipped into her boots.