Hide and Seek Her Read online

  “I own it.”

  I took a long sip of my wine, “Of course you do.”

  He smirked at me, “What’s the problem?”

  I shook my head, “There’s no problem I just wonder what else you haven’t told me.”

  He smiled, a real one hundred percent smile of perfection and it winded me, “Well that’s why we’re here after all. Small talk.” He raised the glass to his lips and took a drink. Only Vance could make drinking wine look as sexy as it did.

  From inside a tall, dark haired man appeared and came approaching the table rapidly. He looked older than Vance, at least in his mid-forties, but Vance raised from his seat and hugged him hard when he approached.

  “Clark, it’s great to see you.”

  Clark smiled and nodded in agreement, he looked over at me and back at Vance quickly, he looked surprised.

  “This is Charlotte.” I stood and held out my hand, Clark shook it happily.

  “Charlotte it is so nice to meet you.” A fleeting of look of joy crossed Clark’s face and he looked at Vance appreciatively.

  “Likewise,” I watched Clark and Vance talk quickly about things. Clark asked about the party and was sorry he couldn’t make it, they touched base briefly on business but more so talked like they were old friends, I assumed they were.

  Vance sat back down and Clark cleared his throat, “Do you want the usual?”

  Vance eyed me and nodded, “Yes, we’ll both have the blackened salmon and shrimp. Rice and asparagus if you’ve got any left.”

  Clark nodded and smiled in my direction again. “Charlotte I promise you will not be disappointed. This is one of the best places to eat in fifty miles.”

  I smiled as Clark disappeared inside and left us to our wine.

  Vance was eyeing me cautiously, waiting for me to start asking questions no doubt.

  “How long have you owned this place?”

  He leaned back in his chair and relaxed. “It opened two years ago. I purchased the land and had the place built but I didn’t want to run it.”

  “Does Clark run it then?”

  “Yes. He is the manager, dabbles in a little bit of everything.”

  “How do you know him?”

  “He’s a very old family friend. He knew my Father very well.”

  I nodded. It made sense that he would react the way he did with Clark, especially if he had known him all of his life. My heart constricted at the thought of his parents.

  “What else do you own?”

  He took a long sip of his wine, “Not much really, a winery In North Carolina that belonged to my Grandfather and a produce store there as well. I don’t do much with either, I have people run things for me and I deal with as little as possible.”

  “Is that all?” My head was swimming; I couldn’t even imagine owning one business. “I can’t imagine being in charge of all of that.”

  “For the most part,” he reached for a piece of bread and dipped it in a dish of oil and herbs. I followed suit and mirrored his actions. “I really don’t have much to do with any of them, like I said I own them because my family owned them.”

  “What do you do on a normal day? Like for work?”

  “I spend the mornings checking emails usually, just checking in on things and making sure all is running smoothly. I check stocks as well; my Father had a huge interest in those. Usually by the afternoon I’m done, so I work on other things. I hate to sound like a jackass but the inheritance Riley and I received kind of keeps us alive and well without having to do much.”

  “What other things do you do?”

  He smiled, “I remodel rooms in my house; I build things.”

  I nodded towards him and a silence fell between us again. I can’t say I wouldn’t live a life much different than him if I had money. Sometimes it would be nice to not have to work.

  “Don’t you have more questions?” He eyed me oddly.

  I shrugged my shoulders. I had tons of questions but I didn’t know where to start, “Maybe you should ask me some first.”

  He pressed his lips together and smiled, “How long have you worked for Rick?”

  “For a few years now, but I didn’t go full time until about a year ago.”

  He narrowed his eyes, “And you grew up with your Aunt and Uncle, right?”

  I nodded and shifted uncomfortably in my seat, how did he know?

  “The night at the hospital, Kim told me they raised you and your brother.” A kind smile invaded his lips as he answered my unspoken question.

  I felt my face pale at the mention of the night at the hospital. I had pushed that far out of my brain, as far as I could, I had nearly forgotten about it. Vance leaned closer to me and moved his chair towards me, “You okay?”

  I nodded my head and took another sip of my wine.

  “There are things I try to forget about and things I successfully do forget about. That night at the hospital is one of them.”

  Vance looked uneasy as he measured my own expression. “That night was not one of my favorites.” He mumbled and took another sip of wine, emptying his glass and pouring a little more.

  I cocked my head to the side, “Why?”

  He took a long, deep breath before answering. “Because I was scared to death when you collapsed. You looked…you looked awful really and I kept thinking what would have happened if I hadn’t been there.” His voice trailed off and he looked over the water, I noticed his hand ball into a fist. It was hard for me to tell for sure since he had turned back towards the water, but he looked like he was almost sick to his stomach mentioning it.

  “But you barely knew me at that point.” My voice was small and he turned his head sharply towards me, his gaze full of ice.

  “What’ your point?” He was getting defensive.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You seem…angry when you mention that night and you tense all over at the thought of something bad happening to me. You are just now getting to know me and back then we really didn’t like each other.” My face soured at the memory.

  Vance ran his hand through his hair and looked out over the water again. “Maybe I just don’t like seeing women in potential danger.” His eyes narrowed and he looked like he was remembering something. He turned back towards me, blue eyes burning with that gaze that knocked me over. “Maybe I don’t like the idea of seeing you hurt, of seeing something bad happen to you.”

  We stared at each other, brown eyes to blue and I was vaguely aware of the food being placed under my nose. I took a deep breath as I eyed the beautifully laid out portion in front of me and I began to eat and mull over his response. He was staring at me while I chewed, no doubt waiting for some kind of response or another question. I hated to burst his bubble but I wasn’t going to respond.

  When I finished my food I realized we had been quiet for at least fifteen minutes, I felt sad as an uneasy feeling washed over me. I hoped I hadn’t ruined the mood by my questions; he had been so forthcoming and so kind not a half hour ago and now he was turned slightly away from me, still staring out at the water.

  I cleared my throat which seemed to break his concentration, “I hope I didn’t offend you…by asking you what I did.”

  He shrugged but didn’t say anything and I felt myself blush and look down. I looked at my hands as I played with the cloth napkin in my lap. A sudden memory panged through my mind and I winced at it. It was short and it went away just as quickly as it had appeared. Jackson had wrapped two ice cubes in a cloth napkin and held against my swollen lip, I remembered the perfect pure white cloth becoming a deep scarlet color as it began to stain with blood. I closed my eyes quickly and sucked in a breath. When I opened my eyes the memory was gone and I was back in the now. My eyes darted towards Vance who was looking fiercely at me, his eyes were wild and confusion marred his features.

  “Vance…” my voice broke a little as I tried to say what I needed to say. “I’m not good at this, well whatever this is.’ I pointed to the space between us. “
I’m also not good at people who change their moods on the drop of a pin, or in this case on the off chance that I say something wrong.”

  Vance relaxed a little and leaned his elbows back on the table. “I’m not offended Charlotte.” He leaned close to me and sighed, “I’m overly-effected by you. No one has ever made me worry the way you have. I’ve never had this feeling to protect someone before.” He squinted momentarily, “Except for Riley, Riley is the exception to that.”

  “Because of what happened to your parents?” The words were out before I had even thought about them; he turned his head to the side.

  “What exactly do you mean by that?”

  I shrugged and rubbed my arm, “I know that your parents passed away. I’m sorry for that.”

  He seemed uninterested in my sympathy, “What else do you know?”

  “I know that you and Riley were alone for a while after it happened. I know after you were found you went to live with family in North Carolina. I know you’re back here now because you inherited your parent’s house.”

  He smirked and I felt embarrassed speaking so publicly about something so personal to him.

  “For the record, Riley and I would have had to have been lost to be found as you put it. We weren’t lost, we were surviving.”

  I must have struck a nerve and I winced at the anger in his voice. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “No one ever does,” he said on a laugh.

  “How long were you and Riley alone?” I tried to keep the ball rolling, I didn’t want to surrender to silence again.

  This time he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “Why?”

  I shrugged, “Small talk.”

  A very weak and fake smile tugged at the corners of his lips but disappeared immediately, “Almost one month.”

  The blood drained from my face and he could sense it. He turned his chair back towards me and scooted closer to me.

  “My Aunt had been trying to call the house for days but our phone was disconnected. When she showed up she didn’t hesitate, she just grabbed us and we left. There was never a question about what we wanted.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Seven, nearly eight.”

  Almost twenty years ago. I thought to myself and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I can’t imagine anyone asking a seven year old what they wanted in a situation like that. They probably assumed it was for the best.”

  He didn’t speak, just shrugged his shoulders.

  “How did your parents die?”

  Vance’s jaw set into a very hard line, “Car accident.” I could tell he did not like talking about this.

  “Why didn’t anyone think to come check on you and Riley then? Or why didn’t the cops come to the house?”

  “They assumed we were in the car, too.” His voice was monotone.

  I felt my eyebrows furrow together, I was confused. Vance could tell and he leaned back against his chair.

  “Charlotte, this information may be a little too deep for the first date.”

  So this was a date then? I flushed and looked away but the loopholes in the story and his monotone answers had me beyond intrigued. I wanted to know more, but I knew I wasn’t going to find out anything else tonight.

  “To fight fair, why did your Aunt and Uncle raise you?” He was smirking again.

  I shrugged, I really didn’t want to go there but the look on his face guilt tripped me. He was pretty open about his parents just now; maybe I owed it to him.

  “My Mother was ill-equipped in the ways of dealing with parenthood. She dropped Micah and I off two blocks from their house and told us how to get there. I never saw her after that, sometimes I’d get a phone call but those were few and far between before they became nonexistent. ”

  His jaw tensed again and he looked angry, “And your father?”

  I sighed, “My father has been M.I.A. my whole life. I never met him.”

  “So your Aunt and Uncle, they never thought twice, they just took you both in?”

  I nodded, “They loved us very much, in a way that was beyond just circumstantial.”

  “That is very kind of them. It takes a good person to do something like that.”

  “Something like what?”

  He sighed. “To drop everything, to take in and be responsible for young children without giving anything a second thought. That is very humble of a person to do.”

  “Your Aunt did it, too you know.”

  He nodded his head, “I guess so.”

  I could tell there was something about his situation that differed greatly than my own, but here we both were, two parentless people who had to find their way on their own terms.

  “You looked after Riley didn’t you? That’s why you look the way you do whenever someone mentions him.”

  He nodded, “I feel the way about Riley that your brother probably feels about you.”

  “Protective?”

  He nodded but there was something dark behind his eyes, I couldn’t place a word to the emotion but I had seen it on Micah’s face a million times, maybe I would understand it differently if the roles were reversed.

  “Let’s ease up on the heavy.” His words were muffled like he was out of breath. “Do you want dessert?”

  I shook my head, my appetite was gone and the food had been filling and delicious, but the conversation I had just had with Vance filled my stomach with knots.

  “Dinner was delicious, Clark was right, I really did enjoy it.”

  His eyes lit up a little at the mention of Clark’s name and he smiled, “I’m glad you liked it.”

  He stood up and laid his napkin down on the table he leaned down towards me and I was hyperaware of my senses when he whispered in my ear. “Stay here, I’m going to go let Clark know we’re leaving, I’ll be back shortly.” He kissed my cheek and strolled casually towards the inside. I let out a huge breath of air and rubbed my temples. Maybe all of this was a bad idea. Judging by the small amount of information I gained from Vance tonight, it seemed as though between the two of us we both suffered from terrible pasts. He was borderline bi-polar the way he shifted moods and emotions so quickly, and I…well I guess I was just broken.

  This time I stared out across the water as the remnants of the colored sky faded away behind the horizon. It was dark and the lights of the boats moving in and out twinkled against the water. I wanted to ask Vance more questions, I wanted to know more about his childhood, maybe then I would be able to get a grip on his personality a little more, but I knew it would sour his mood. I knew at some point if we kept this ‘small talk’ up, he would want to know more about me and the thought constricted my airway. Did I want to dive headfirst into my past and pull him under with me? How could I put into words exactly what my life before Vance had been like? How could I breach the subject of Jackson to someone who didn’t know him, to someone who wouldn’t understand why he was the way he was? What would he think or better yet, how would he react if I told him what had been done to me? Remembering his reactions when he thought of something bad happening to me made me feel uneasy. I would hold off as long as I could, I don’t think Vance would understand anyway.

  My thoughts were interrupted by Vance clearing his throat and his hand being held out towards me. He smiled slightly at me as I placed my hand in his and the zapping feeling of desire filled my veins. We walked hand in hand through the restaurant and I was more aware of the eyes on us this time through.

  When we reached the car I climbed in, aware that the silence that was so good at plaguing us was back. So the date was over and it was back to the normalcy. Vance drove back towards Locke’s Point with the radio on but he didn’t hum along this time.

  When we pulled into my driveway a heaviness fell over us both. He put the car in park and leaned towards me.

  “I really enjoyed tonight,” I whispered before he could say anything. He looked strangely at me like he hadn’t expected that. “Even though I’m pretty sure my questions and my pryi
ng ruined the rest of the evening I really did have a good time.”

  “You didn’t ruin the evening, I was sure I had done that.” He furrowed his brows as he spoke.

  I relaxed against the back of the seat and closed my eyes. “We are two overly assuming type of people aren’t we?” I asked.

  I opened my eyes and he was nodding. “It would appear that we’re that amongst other things.” He exhaled and looked down. Stretching I reached for my door handle and climbed out of the car, Vance exited his side and looked at me very questionably.

  “Are you going to invite me in?”

  I was stunned, I was sure Vance wanted to go home and get as far from me as possible. “I didn’t think you’d want to.”

  He reached into the car and pulled the keys out of the ignition. “Why would you think that?”

  “Just with how things went,” I mumbled as I began walking towards my front door, Vance following closely behind me.

  I unlocked the door and headed inside flicking lights on as I went. He walked in behind me and I caught a glimpse of him looking around appreciatively.

  “You have a beautiful home.” His tone was much softer,

  I shrugged, “Thanks, it helps being an interior designer.”

  He smiled. “Finally,” he said as he walked towards the living room and turned around and measured the confusion on my face. “Finally you take a compliment without flushing or questioning it. Progress, perhaps?”

  As he spoke I felt my cheeks get hot and instinctively I glanced down at my floor.

  “Or not,” he mumbled before shaking his head and walking into my living room.

  “Make yourself at home.” I called out to him as I went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of chilled wine. Not that my body or my mind needed anymore wine tonight, but having Vance in my house made me uneasy, I needed to calm down.

  I poured myself a glass of wine and poured one for Vance. I walked into the living room and found him gazing out my large bay window onto the hillside below. I handed him the glass and he smiled as he took it.

  “This view is incredible.” He winced a little as he spoke and I wondered what was weighing on his mind. “How long have you lived here?”