[Report This]Date: February 24 2024 6:28 AM Title: Chapter 9: Affair
I think it's good that Thomas is concerned that he may have groomed Trish for a relationship, even though I'm pretty sure he's wrong.
The fact that he's so worried about this is one of the many reasons that his actions haven't groomed her into loving him (the extreme guilt he felt the day after is another). He has constantly put a barrier up between them, keeping things professional despite his feelings, with the Patty Hotcakes incident serving as a prime example. The "grooming" was just them talking and getting to know each other (which, again, you've done a great job of showing throughout this story so far).
I'm of the opinion that Trish would be acting a lot differently if her feelings had been the product of grooming or were really an obsession rather than love. For example, mistake number two started with Trish waiting for Thomas to make the first move because she wanted to gauge how strong his feelings for her were. If she was groomed to love him or obsessed with him, she would be desperate for him to love her instead of giving any thought to what he actually wants.
Also, her writing off the initial mistake as a mistake at all and burying her feelings for Thomas's sake isn't something someone conditioned to love (if you can even call that love) would do. She put his wants and needs (i.e. his job) ahead of what she wanted, which, to me, is a sign of legitimate love.
In fact, Thomas initiated the second mistake because Trish was more in control of her feelings than he was of his at that point. The way I read that passage, it seemed as though she would have been content with that one moment she had with him (that's not to say she wouldn't have been bummed about it, but she was willing to accept that when she didn't know that he felt the same way).
Now, I do think her feelings of isolation played a role in the initial formation of their bond, so his concerns about inadvertently taking advantage of her weak mental state early on make sense. But really, that's less about how he treated her and more about how everyone else treated her. The hospital staff acted like she was a monster to be avoided while he acted like she was just any other patient (even though she was anything but in his mind). That's not his fault, and I think they've laid a more legitimate foundation from the friendship they formed after she got over that and got her confidence back.
I also like how patient Trish was with Thomas admitting his love for her. She knew how he felt (he showed her in the woods, even if he refused to say it), and that was enough for her. She was cool with him keeping up the illusion that each time was the last time because she knew he needed that at first. It took his relationship with Melanie to have her break that illusion for him. She knows she's not really the "other" girl, and I'm sure she feels bad for what they're doing behind the poor girl's back.
It was fitting that she used the power pose to extract that confession out of him. I love that she keeps using the confidence he helped her regain "against" him. I knew that confidence would come back to bite him.
And you raised a good point about how Melanie finds out and what she'll do. I've been so busy feeling bad for her that I didn't give much thought to how she could destroy Thomas's life. Now that it looks like Trish and he have decided that he'll end things with Melanie, he'll have to navigate that breakup real carefully.
Oh, and once again, amazing smut. I can't get enough of the blend of her letting him dictate her movements and her taking complete control by the end of things is intoxicating. Also, this allows each of them to give the other exactly what they want (Trish wants a man to lead and Thomas wants to be dominated).