Travis and I both got comfortable in our respective seats and hit the road. The drive wasn't a particularly long one, but it started to feel like it as we drove in uncomfortable silence. Travis reached forward to turn the radio on. The very first song that played wasn't appropriate for young ears. He grunted and shut the whole thing back off.
Instead, he broke the silence with, "Gabby seemed nice." I snorted, and when I took a quick look at him his eyes were on me. "You don't think so?"
"She's just… not my cup of tea." I squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable under his stare that was so intense I could practically feel it.
"You know who Gabby reminds me of?"
"Laurel?" I blurted out without thinking.
He fell silent for a long moment. "Actually, I was going to say she reminds me of a lot of the girls we went to school with." He chuckled. "You're right, though, I guess. Laurel, too."
"She is a lot like the girls from school though, isn't she?" I laughed lightly as I pictured Gabby standing in line for the salad bar among the rich Tennessee princesses we'd bitched about at school. They'd been our friends… sort of… somehow.
"I can't believe we tried so hard to be friends with those people," Travis mused, echoing my own sentiment.
"In my defense, I didn't know any better. I was the new girl."
"Bullshit," he laughed. His eyes darted towards the backseat and he cringed. "Sorry."
My eyes reflexively sought out Stella in her car seat. She was fast asleep, which usually happened anytime we were in the car for more than five minutes.
I felt sheepish as I admitted, "I cursed like a sailor in front of her almost the whole first year. It takes some getting used to."
I maneuvered the car carefully into the parking lot of the aquarium. It was surprisingly crowded for a weeknight. I got lucky and found a single open spot in the very back of the lot. I put the car in park and started to get out. Travis' hand landed on mine, stopping me. When I turned back to him, his face was too close to mine. I gulped hard.
"Thanks for doing this," he whispered.
My head tilted slightly. His eyes moved to my lips as they parted. He leaned forward an inch, and then I was meeting him halfway. It wasn't the sort of kiss that caused fireworks. It was the kind that moved mountains. As my lips parted for him, his hand tightened over mine. It was only then that I realized what I'd done. I yanked back as if I'd been burned.
"I didn't—" I couldn't seem to choke any words out to explain away what I'd done.
Travis raised his palms in surrender. Self-preservation must have kicked in, too, because he turned and got out of the car without another word. By the time I'd calmed down enough to get out, he'd already brought Stella and her diaper bag around.
"There are a lot of fish in here that we're gonna get to see," Travis was saying to Stella.
"Fish?" she repeated.
"Does she know what fish are?" he whispered to me in concern.
"Yeah. Stella, are you excited for the fishies?"
Her head nodded furiously before she pointed to the ground. When Travis didn't immediately comply, she shook her hand and pointed even more insistently.
"She wants to walk," I semi-snapped at him. Tugging her away from him, I set her on the ground, keeping hold of her hand so that she wouldn't wander off.
His own frustration showed when he grumbled out, "I'm still learning."
Travis took hold of Stella's other hand so that she was sandwiched between us. That pleased Stella, who pulled her legs up so that she was swinging. Travis chuckled, swinging his arm so that she swung faster, and I followed suit. We moved like that until we made it to the ticket counter.
I stepped forward as if to buy tickets but Travis touched my elbow lightly to stop me. "I'll get the tickets." I wanted to argue. Vinnie had mentioned he was on scholarship, and he hadn't mentioned having a job, so I had to imagine he didn't have a lot of disposable income. It would just hurt his pride, though, if I argued. So, I stayed back with Stella while he paid.
"Thanks," I said simply when he returned and handed me my ticket. He didn't even acknowledge me, just turned to Stella and started ushering her towards the ticket taker on the far side of the entryway.
I had no one to blame but myself. I'd all but thrown myself at him even though I knew he had a girlfriend. He hadn't even wanted to talk about it afterward, so I could only imagine how guilty he must be feeling about the whole thing. I wondered whether he'd tell Laurel or not. It seemed to me that the right thing to do would be for him to tell her the truth, but I couldn't be sure if that was morality or my jealousy talking.
As we worked our way towards the first tank of the aquarium, I silently reviewed all of the reasons that kiss couldn't get a sequel. His girlfriend. His drinking habits. The little girl whose feelings I now had to consider more than my own. The fact that I couldn't even trust him enough to let him drive us ten minutes down the road.
I'd fallen for Travis once. I needed to make sure I didn't do it again.
Travis
I watched the awe dance across Stella's face as seahorses floated in front of her from behind the glass. Every few seconds she would turn to make sure I was watching, too. I'd never been much for the whole macho man thing, but watching my daughter was making me feel particularly soft. I hadn't really been sure what to do with a child her age, but apparently, the aquarium had been a good choice. Before we left, I had every intention of buying season passes for the three of us. I definitely intended to come back.
My eyes flickered back to Ronnie. She was standing several feet away talking to one of the workers. I felt myself flush with irritation. I couldn't read Ronnie at all. In the car, she'd invited me to kiss her, but then she'd looked horrified when she pulled away. And now she was flirting with some dopey guy in a fish costume. When she tilted her head and giggled, I'd had enough.
"Hey, Stella?" The little girl looked up at me. "Let's go get Mommy."
Stella hopped down from the railing she'd been standing on. I put my hand out to help balance her when she wobbled a bit. Once she was steady she went charging right over to Ronnie, putting herself right in between her mom and the fish man.
That's my girl.
I strolled up to join them as if I didn't have a care in the world. The guy didn't look thrilled to see me, and I further leveled him by shooting a warning look in his direction. Then, I turned my attention to Ronnie.
"Hey, babe, Stella wants to see the starfish." I'd seen a sign proclaiming an interactive zone where she'd actually be able to touch the critters, including starfish. I wasn't actually sure if Stella knew what those were, but I figured she'd get a kick out of it.
And because the universe was apparently on my side, Stella gleefully shouted, "Starfish!" at the top of her lungs.
"The starfish are my favorite," Ronnie told her in a soft voice.
The costumed guy only seemed to get more agitated as Ronnie reached down and pulled our daughter into her arms. He'd officially lost her attention, and he obviously knew it. His phone was in his hand like he'd been thinking of getting Ronnie's number. He seemed to eye me as if sizing up my relationship to her. I took a protective step closer, just enough so that he'd notice it but she wouldn't. Super slowly, he lowered the hand with his phone in it.
"Wave bye to the big fishie," Ronnie told Stella as she was already moving away from the guy. Stella eyed the guy uncertainly and then turned away without acknowledging him at all. That only made my grin widen.
I smugly followed my two girls in the direction of the interactive zone, and if my foot happened to step on the guy's shoe as I passed him—well, that was completely by accident, of course. It was petty of me, but the last thing I needed was the guy feeling comfortable seeking her out again before we left. Things were complicated enough without adding some new guy to the mix.
When we made it to the tide pool, Stella stuck her hand right in. She giggled when a crab scurried over her tiny fingers.
"I wasn't interested,"
Ronnie said softly once Stella was fully distracted.
I turned to look at her, but her eyes stayed firmly on Stella. "Hmm?"
"That guy back there. I wasn't interested in him." Her words were slow and purposeful as if she was trying to make some bigger point that I didn't understand.
Was she saying she wasn't interested in him because of me? After that kiss, it had seemed like she was quick to distance herself, but maybe that had nothing to do with the kiss itself. Was Ronnie feeling our natural chemistry as much as I was? Because all I wanted was a chance at a do-over. Was it possible that she wanted that, too?
"That kiss in the car," I began.
"Was a mistake," she finished, nodding agreeably as if that was what she'd been expecting me to say.
"Right." I laughed but it sounded obscenely fake. "Don't worry about it," I added gruffly.
I brushed past Ronnie to Stella. The frustrating thing was that I knew she didn't mean it. Her nose twitched when she told a big lie—it always had.
"Look over here, Stella." I took her by the hand and moved to the next touch pool, where a group of stingrays were swimming circles.
Stella's eyes widened. "What's that?"
"That's a stingray," I explained. She struggled to repeat the word. "Sting-ray," I repeated, stretching the word out for her.
"Stingray." Satisfied that she knew its name, she shoved her whole fist down into the water.
I took the chance to really examine the little girl. Right away, I'd been able to tell she was mine. So many of her features were identical to mine. As I studied her mannerisms, all I could see was the Ronnie in her. She bit her lower lip in concentration the same way Ronnie did. The way her eyes lit up with excitement was just like Ronnie, too.
When I looked up, my eyes sought out Ronnie automatically. She'd wandered towards the opposite end of the pool. A small, private smile graced her face as she leaned forward to stroke one of the stingrays. I wasn't sure if she felt my eyes on her or if she was just checking on Stella, but her gaze raised and landed on me.
"What?" she mouthed.
I beckoned her over to us. She hesitated for a second, but then abandoned her post to come closer. There wasn't enough room for her to stand on the other side of Stella, which left her squeezing in next to me, instead. When she leaned forward on the edge of the tank, I moved my own arm so that we were touching. She glanced at me but quickly turned her attention back to the tank when she discovered I was watching her.
Deciding to push my luck, when she reached down into the water I did the same, grazing her hand as we both touched the same stingray. Immediately, she pulled away. Instead of letting her get away with that, I splashed lightly in her direction.
"Hey!" she protested.
I splashed again, making Stella laugh from my other side.
Ronnie grinned. "Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" She leaned across me and sprayed up a little water at Stella, who laughed even harder.
Stella decided to take a turn of her own, only she wasn't quite old enough to understand the concept of a small splash. Instead, she sent up a full spray that soaked the entire upper half of both Ronnie and me. Because of the way Ronnie had been leaned in front of me, she actually got the worst of it.
"Looks like we're in trouble," Ronnie whispered out of the side of her mouth.
It didn't take long for me to find out what she meant, because a worker appeared directly beside us. The cramped amount of space we had meant Ronnie couldn't move back to her previous spot. I stepped back a half step so she had a little more room, but I made no effort to go further than that. It meant Ronnie was stuck pressed against me with nowhere else to go.
"Didn't you read the sign? No splashing," the employee angrily pointed out. Her voice went up a whole octave as she spoke to us.
"I am so sorry," I said, turning up the charm. "My little girl's never been here before. She just got a little too excited, I think. But we won't splash anymore, will we Stella?"
All three of us turned our eyes to the little girl, who proudly proclaimed, "No splash."
If there'd been any doubt whose kid she was before, her knack for helping to get out of trouble left no doubt. Ronnie and I had caused all sorts of issues as teenagers, but we'd—almost—always found out way out of trouble. Apparently, Stella had also inherited that family trait.
"Hey, could you take our picture?" I asked quickly, forcing the employee to move on instead of dwelling on our rule breaking.
"Oh. Uh, sure."
"Great, thanks." I pulled up my camera app on my phone and handed the device to her.
Ronnie seemed a little bewildered, but I pulled her around to my side. Mercifully, when I'd pulled my camera out the crowd around us had naturally shifted out of the way for us. That meant I could hold both of my girls close as the employee framed us in a shot with the touch pool in the background. My smile was wider than it had ever been as the flash went off.
The idea of being a real family with Ronnie and Stella was all too appealing. And despite what Ronnie had said, our kiss hadn't been a mistake. It had been proof that Ronnie was still attracted to me. I could work with that.
Veronica
"Alright, girly. I'm glad you're so happy but if you don't stop whistling I'm going to murder you and throw your lifeless body in the dumpster out back."
My head whipped around to find Hazel hovering near the door to the kitchen. Her hands were perched on her hips in what I'd learned was her sole "serious" pose. I let my lips flatten and fell silent. I hadn't even realized I'd been whistling, how ridiculous of me.
"I wouldn't hold it against you." I shrugged with an amused grin.
I loved Hazel's teasing. I'd never had a grandparent, both sets of mine had died before I'd even been born, but Hazel seemed to fill that spot quite nicely. She agreed, too, apparently. When I'd arrived at work she'd dumped an entire box of kids clothes at my feet. I hadn't had the heart to explain to her that Gabby had bought the kid enough clothes that she usually only wore each outfit once before she'd outgrown it. I'd thanked her profusely and stuffed the box in my backseat.
"Is it just me, or does that man look an awful lot like you?" Hazel asked suddenly.
Vinnie strolled across the floor of the bar, beelining in our direction. "That would be my brother."
I moved out from around the bar to greet him. His arms swallowed me up into a hug. He hadn't gotten a chance to visit me at the new job since he'd been so busy dealing with his own, so it was a nice surprise to see him. At least, it was until he opened his mouth.
"You got home late last night."
"Hi to you, too," I grumbled.
Shrugging out of his grasp, I moved back to my side of the bar to put some distance between us. Hazel, probably sensing the weird vibe, pushed back through the kitchen doors, effectively disappearing.
"Don't you think you should be a little more cautious considering everything you've been through? It's like you've just decided to pick up where you left off. It's not healthy—not for you, and not for Stella, either."
"It wasn't like that. He wanted to spend time with his daughter. What was I supposed to do? Send the two of them off on their own?"
Vinnie's face darkened. "Of course not."
"Then I have to accept that I'm going to be spending time with Travis, and you'll have to accept it, too. He's her dad, I certainly can't do anything to change that now."
He opened his mouth like he had a snide remark but I held my hand up.
"Short of a legal battle, and I'm not doing that."
Vinnie slid up onto the barstool directly in front of me and rested his elbows on the bar top. "I'm just trying to protect you. I don't want to see you get hurt like last time, Ronnie."
I turned away so that he wouldn't see the way his words hit a little too close to home for me. When we'd left the aquarium the night before, Travis had offered to drive again. The panic had struck me all over again that I couldn't trust him with something so simple. I'd wanted to, though.
I'd been so tempted to hand over the keys and hope for the best.
"Gabby wants to have a barbecue."
That had me turning back again. "A barbecue? Why? We just moved, who is she even gonna invite?"
Barbecues had been her thing in North Carolina. She loved inviting over everyone we knew and stuffing them full of dish-after-dish of homemade delights. She was a real psycho about it if you asked me.
"She wants you to invite Travis. She kept referring to it as an 'intimate family barbecue' all night. I'm not thrilled about the whole thing, but you know how she is when she gets an idea in her head."
"It sounds like a great idea, actually. I'll tell him to invite his girlfriend, too." I hated myself the second the words came out of my mouth, but I knew it was what I needed. Maybe seeing them together again would help me get it through my thick skull that Travis was off limits.
"Girlfriend?" Vinnie looked surprised.
"Yeah, he has a girlfriend. So stop bitching at me about having him around."
He rolled his eyes at me the way he always had when I was annoying him growing up. "Whatever. Just see if you can convince him to make it Monday."
"Why Monday?"
"Because I'm not sure I can stand to listen to Gabby talk about it for any longer than that if I'm being honest." The words themselves sounded harsh, but his tone was joking. He wasn't annoyed by Gabby's Type-A quirks the way I was. He somehow found that side of her endearing.
"Fine, I'll ask him."
"Ask who, what?" came an interruption from behind Vinnie.
Somehow, Travis himself had managed to quietly make his way in without us noticing him. He took a seat near Vinnie, leaving one open seat between them.
"What are you, a stalker now?" Vinnie asked instead of answering his question.
"I was a regular here before you all even moved to town, thank you very much." It was the wrong thing to say. Vinnie's chest puffed out like he was in serious danger of losing his temper. Travis picked up on that, too. "They have really good soda," he stressed the last word unnecessarily.
One Wrong Move (Kelley University Book 2) Page 6
