by Jill Sanders
“I have my bar top.” She waved her hand towards the bar and smiled even more when she looked over and saw how beautiful it was.
“Looks good.” He walked over and inspected it, testing his weight on the edge to make sure it didn’t move. “Solid work.” He nodded towards Roger, who nodded back then quickly disappeared. The men were now pounding away upstairs, putting in her closet and kitchen area.
“It’s really coming together.” She stood behind the bar and imagined serving customers. In her mind she envisioned the wall coverings, the lighting, even some of the local artwork she planned on hanging up.
“Listen.” He stepped closer to her. “I wanted to apologize for last night.”
Her heart dropped in her chest and she tried everything she could to not let the disappointment show on her face. “You don’t need to apologize.” She turned to go, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“I do. Savannah’s behavior was unacceptable.”
She couldn’t stop her eyebrows from rising in question.
“You did hear the yelling, right?”
She shook her head no.
“Oh.” He sighed and closed his eyes.
“Yelling?” She stepped closer. “Did you two fight?”
A burst of laughter escaped him. “Let’s go outside.” He took her hand in his and walked with her to the small patio area. She sat down on the bench and watched him pace.
“She actually broke into my place and lay on my parents’ bed. I guess she expected to pick up where we left off years ago.” He shook his head and turned towards her. “The fact that she was dishonoring my grandmother’s quilt was disturbing enough, but then I noticed that she is pregnant.” He laughed again. “She actually tried to pawn it off as mine.” He shook his head.
“Isn’t it?” she broke in and instantly wished she hadn’t. He looked down at her and something crossed his eyes. Was it sadness or was he just tired? “I’m sorry, it’s just that she said…”
“I know what she said.” He turned away from her and kicked a stone by his foot. “I’m sure she said a lot of things. None of them were true.” He turned back towards her. “Believe me, I wouldn’t have done what we did…” He ran his hands through his hair, messing it up. “If there was a chance that the kid was mine.”
She nodded and stood up. “I believe you.”
He looked at her like she’d just slapped him. “You do?”
She nodded. “Sure. Savannah lies.” She waved her hand. “No one in town believes a word she says.”
He looked surprised and blinked a few times. “I can remember a time when the same could be said about me.”
She nodded. “When your mother was on her rampage.”
He frowned at her. “Some people still blame me.”
“Why? Why would they? You had nothing to do with it.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I cheated on Alex, my fiancée at the time.”
“Lots of people cheat. That doesn’t give their parents permission to go off half-cocked. Nor does it make it your fault.”
He blinked a few times like he was thinking about it, then he nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”
She chuckled. “Of course, I’m right.”
“Why did you ask to go to Vegas with me?”
Now it was her turn to be surprised. “I told you, I’ve never been to Vegas.”
“Is that all?” He stepped closer.
She nodded, feeling his heat jump across the small space towards her.
“No other reason?” He stopped less than a foot from her.
She shook her head no, unable to speak.
“What would you say if I told you that the only reason I didn’t want you to come was that I was embarrassed.”
“Why?” She frowned again, finding her voice.
He shook his head and closed his eyes. “The life I chose. What I do.”
“Cage fighting? I’ve watched it on TV. It looks pretty intense.”
“It is.” He frowned. “Even more so since it’s all underground.”
“You mean illegal?” He nodded. “But it’s not banned in the States.”
“It’s regulated. This one’s not.”
“It can’t be too different.” She held her breath when he reached out and brushed her hair away from her face.
“If you come with me, I wouldn’t want you to go to the fight.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
He shook his head. “Because. Promise me that you wouldn’t ask to go.”
She looked up into his dark eyes and saw sadness there. “I promise.”
When he smiled, she felt her breath knocked from her chest. It was the first time she’d seen his lips curl up into a genuine smile. His dark eyes lightened. He looked handsome when he was brooding, but when he was happy, he looked damn sexy.
“We leave Monday morning.” He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I have a meeting with Roger in an hour. We’re supposed to go to the theater and go over some things. But I’d like to have dinner with you later.”
She smiled and nodded. “I’d like that. I can cook something.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Your place then?”
When she nodded again, he leaned down and this time the kiss was slow and sent warm sparks shooting out through her toes.
She spent the next half an hour cleaning every inch of her bar top. When she looked down at her watch, she realized she was going to be late for her lunch with Melissa and had to jog across the street to meet her friend.
“I’m sorry.” She hugged her friend and then sat down. “I got sidetracked admiring my bar top and lost track of time.”
“Oh, it came?” Missy asked, looking over her menu.
“Yes, they just installed it an hour ago.” She sighed and rested her chin on her hands. “It looks wonderful.”
“I can’t wait to see it. Maybe I can stop by after work.”
She shook her head. “Can’t. I have a date.”
Missy’s eyebrows shot up. “Date? You have a date? With who?”
She leaned forward and whispered, “Travis Nolan.”
“What?” Missy’s voice rose over the noise in the diner, causing a few people to glance in their direction.
Holly smiled and nodded. “I have so much to tell you.” She leaned forward and started at the beginning.
By the time their plates were empty, Melissa was smiling. “It sure sounds like he’s changed. I always knew he’d grow up sooner or later. Or,” she frowned, “he would end up dead, shot by the husband of the woman he’d just had an affair with.”
Holly nodded. “I know.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I can’t even see that person in him anymore.”
Melissa sighed. “People can change. Look at Reece. Before he came back to town, he was traveling with the rodeo and”—she leaned forward and whispered—“sleeping with anyone and everyone he could.”
Holly shook her head. “I can’t imagine Reece doing anything like that.”
“I know.” Missy sighed. “He’s all mine now.”
“You’re lucky, both of you.”
“Can you believe only four more months and we’ll be married?” She frowned a little. “We had hoped that Ryan would be there. You know, Reece’s twin brother? Reece hasn’t seen him since shortly before their father had died. He has no idea where he is. We’ve hired an old friend of my dad’s to see if he could locate him, but so far we haven’t heard anything back.”
“I’m sure you’ll find him in time.” Holly reached across the table and held her friend’s hand.
“So,” Missy said, shaking her head. “Tell me all about Savannah. How far along do you think she is?”
“I was hoping you’d know. Hasn’t she been coming into the clinic for checkups?”
Missy shook her head and frowned. “Maybe she’s going into Tyler and seeing a doctor there?”
“I hope. Travis said she was still smoking.”
“Wh
at?” Missy almost stood up. “How stupid can you get?”
“I know.”
“Someone has to stop her.”
Holly almost laughed. “I tried that once, remember? I almost ended up in jail.”
Missy sat quietly for a moment. “I wonder if her parents know.”
“I doubt it.” Then something came to mind. “Oh my God! I broke her nose.”
Missy looked at her. “I know. I was there.
“No, I mean, I broke her nose and she was pregnant at the time.”
“Oh.” Missy frowned. “A broken nose wouldn’t have hurt the baby.”
“Still.” She knew her friend was just trying to reassure her, but it didn’t negate the fact that she’d hit a pregnant woman.
“Holly,” Melissa said reaching across the table and taking her hand, “you didn’t know. You didn’t hurt the baby more than one puff of a cigarette is doing to it.”
“You’re right. She has to be stopped. What’s your plan?”
“How about an intervention?”
Holly shook her head. “She wouldn’t listen to us. She hates us.”
“Right.” Missy tapped her finger to her chin and smiled. “I’ve got it. Sheriff Miller.”
“What’s the sheriff got to do with it?”
“He’s friends with her parents. If he lets it slip that he saw her smoking, and they know about her pregnancy…”
She smiled. “I like where you’re going with this, but we have to make sure they know she’s pregnant.”
“Who’s pregnant?” Alex stood next to their table, a sleeping little girl in her arms. Her daughter’s hair was as pale as hers and even though she had the blue eyes of her daddy, the girl was a spitting image of her mama.
“There’s my niece.” Missy stood and reached for the sleepy girl. Alex gladly handed over the two-year-old.
“She’s gotten so big. I almost forget how heavy she is until I hand her over,” Alex said, sitting down and sighing. “Now, tell me who’s pregnant.”
“Savannah Douglas.”
Alex laughed. “Everyone knows that. All you have to do is look at her to know it.”
“Everyone?” Missy asked, brushing a blonde strand of hair from her niece’s hair.
“Sure, I knew it the night you punched her in the face.” She nodded to Holly. “I guess since you two haven’t been pregnant before, you wouldn’t have picked up on the signs.” She smiled. “Like, you probably don’t know that I’m three months along now.”
“What?” Missy almost woke the sleeping Laura in her arms. “You’re pregnant now?” she whispered.
Alex smiled and nodded. “A little over three months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Missy asked.
“We wanted to wait until we knew the sex.” She picked up a menu and looked down at it.
“Alex, if you don’t tell me the sex right now, I’m going to…”
Alex smiled over at her sister-in-law. “We’re having a boy.”
“Woohoo!” Missy said, this time waking up the sleeping girl in her arms. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.” She rubbed the little girl’s hair and soothed her back to sleep as they all smiled.
·
Chapter Seven
Travis was dirty again. Why did it seem that every time he stepped foot in the old theater, he walked out looking like he’d crawled through the fields? He looked at his watch and realized he was going to be late for dinner at Holly’s if he ran up and showered, so he decided to jump into the pool instead. When he opened the back gate, Holly was sitting by the pool in a light blue sundress. She had decorated the picnic table, and he noticed that it was filled with food and the grill was going and wonderful smells were coming from it. There were candles and tiki lamps placed around the yard, lighting up the area. He’d never seen the place look better.
“Hi.” She smiled. “I thought we’d eat out here.”
“Sounds wonderful. I’ll just run up and shower.” He looked down at his clothes.
“You can take a dip.” She nodded to the opened pool. “I’ll join you. The brisket won’t be ready for a while yet.” She stood up and his mouth went dry as she pulled the blue cotton over her head. She was wearing a white suit this time and when she stepped into the water, the light material became transparent.
He stripped his clothes off quickly, keeping his eyes locked on her. He was thankful he’d stopped by the drug store and had purchased a box of condoms. Tossing one by the side of the pool, he jumped in next to her, causing her to laugh.
“Smooth,” she said, swimming over to him. “How did your meeting go?”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about meetings when you’re standing before me dressed like that.” He nodded to her swim top. It was so see-through, he could see her nipples pucker under his watchful eyes. “Come here.” He reached for her and got hold of her ankle and playfully pulled her to him.
She laughed until his hands touched her skin, until his mouth covered hers in heat. He couldn’t stop the flood of desire he felt when he looked at her. He had allowed the floodgates to open and now there was no stopping his desires.
Her hands raked over his body as his rushed to push the small white material from her. Finally, when they were both freed, he kicked a few times until they were by the side of the pool. He put on the condom quickly then pushed her back up against the wall and slid into her in one quick motion.
She arched and cried out in delight, holding onto him tightly until he felt her convulse around him, then he picked her up and carried her to a recliner and laid her down. When he covered her, she moaned and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him until he felt himself lose the last thread of restraint he’d had.
“I hadn’t planned this, you know.” She chuckled into his shoulder.
“Why on earth not?” He smiled and placed a kiss on her shoulder.
“Well, maybe I had hoped to wait until after we had eaten.” She smiled. “Oh!” She sat up, pushing on his shoulder until he moved over. “My brisket.”
She rushed across the backyard bare naked and pulled the cooked meat from the grill.
“Whew, saved it.” She turned and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. She was wearing two oven mitts and nothing else, and she looked damn sexy.
Holly sat across from Travis in her blue sundress. She hadn’t bothered putting her wet swimsuit back on, since he’d just pulled on his jeans. They ate her dinner outside on the patio and when the sun went down, she poured some cold iced tea from the small fridge by the grill, and they sat and talked and ate some of the cranberry bread she’d baked.
She kept telling herself not to put too much stock into their relationship, but the fact was that the more time she spent with him, the more she enjoyed his companionship more the more time she spent with him. He talked about some of the stupid stuff he had done growing up. About all the times his friends had gotten him in trouble, or the other way around.
“It doesn’t sound like Corey and Billy have changed much. Do you know I saw them car surfing down Main Street, bare-ass naked, just last month?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “They’re either going to kill themselves or someone will do it for them.”
“You know, we could have said the same about you a few years ago.” She took a sip of her drink.
He nodded. “I know.” He frowned and then set his drink down, stood, and then started pacing. “I was an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a fool.” He shook his head. “I was heading down the same path that Billy and Corey are still going down.” He stopped and looked down at her. She set her tea down and watched him, waiting. “I went to Vegas thinking I’d get rich by gambling. I was pretty good at cards. I thought I could take care of myself.” He shook his head. “Within the first week I ended up in jail with a DUI.” He shook his head. “They strip search you when you get there, you know.” He took a deep breath. “I had a few ounces of coke on me.” He closed his eyes, remembering. “I was looking at ten to
twenty years in prison, and my father wasn’t there to bail me out this time. But then something happened. The officer on duty was a little older than my father. Anyway, I guess he saw me sweat, or maybe he just took pity on me. He held the bag of coke in his hands, looked over at me, and said, ‘We’ll just flush this.’ Then he flushed it down the toilet without another word.” Travis sat in the chair next to her and looked down at his hands. “I never drank, smoked, or did drugs after that. Not after being given a second chance at life. To be honest, I haven’t had the desire to do any of those things again.” He shook his head and ran his hands thorough his hair. “It’s funny, my old man used to bail me out like that all the time, but nothing had ever scared me before or meant more to me than having that man give me a second chance that night.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, since I lost my license that day and had a pile of legal bills, I tried to sell my truck and ran into Randy.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair.
“I’m sorry.” She reached over and took his hands. “It sounds like you had a guardian angel.”
He looked up at her. “It’s funny how you can turn something negative into something else.”
She smiled. “My father died when I was young, so I barely remember him, but if I close my eyes”—she did now and the image came to her like it always did when she thought of her dad—“I can picture him teaching me how to fight. He has a big smile on his face and he is laughing.” She opened her eyes. “But when I open them and think of him, I can only remember the day he died and the heartache he left.”
“How did he die?”
She closed her eyes and brought back the good memory of her dad. “He hung himself in my closet. I found him when I went to get my boxing gloves for practice.”
“I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hands gently.
She shook her head. “They claimed it was PTSD. But I remember him as happy and always laughing.” She hadn’t realized a tear had slipped down her cheek until he reached over and wiped it away with a fingertip. She took a deep breath. “Well, enough of that. What do you say to another swim?” She stood up and he followed, but then he pulled her into his arms and gently kissed her.
