The Reunion (Love Stories From a Small Town #5)

35. The Key

Islid the plastic container full of toys from my last patient back on the shelf and pulled the door shut, nearly having a heart attack when I found him standing there.

Gray started gathering at his temples, but Travis was still as tall, dark, and handsome as when we were kids. “Oh, Jesus, you scared me.”

Meaty, tanned arm muscles stretched the seams of his dark green polo as he leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed. “Sorry about that. I just wanted to say thanks again for spending a little extra time with Deacon last night.” His shoulder jumped as he peeked behind back into the hallway. “I know pitching isn’t one of his strengths.”

Smacking the air between us, I clicked my tongue and pulled out my chair. “He’s not that bad.”

Flapping his lips back at me, he squinted and shook his head. “He’s terrible at it. Hopeless.” His finger flung out from his elbow. “He knows it too. But he’s a bit of a hound dog, so don’t be surprised when he” — he made quotes with his fingers — “needs a little extra help from you every time he sees you.”

Squeaking through my nose, I rocked in my chair and smiled back at him. “Well, he gets it honest. Doesn’t he?”

Opening his eyes wider, he pointed his finger at the Physical Therapist embroidered on his shirt. “What are you talking about? I was a great pitcher.”

I wrapped the edge of my long green sweater over the other as I huddled underneath it to shield my cleavage from his wandering eyes. “I meant the hound dog part.”

From the time I got enough breasts and ass for him to notice, Travis asked me out at least weekly until he graduated. But even if I hadn’t heard about the zillion girls he’d had sex with, him telling everyone in the locker room he did it with Carolyn made dating him an absolute deal breaker.

Laughing at what I’m sure he considered harmless teenage fun, he nodded and rubbed at his chin. “Yeah. You got me there. I guess I was a little wild back in the day. Not that you ever fell for it.”

Bumping his shoulder as he came in, Dom shoved Travis out of his way. “Excuse me. Didn’t see you standing there.”

Dragging the chair from my treatment table in front of my desk, he jerked his eyebrows at me. “Hey, baby.”

Rolling his eyes as he tossed us his hands, Travis backed into the hall, and I threw my pen at Dom. “That was subtle.”

Like he did when trying to hide his temper from me, he stretched out in the chair and gave me a quick nose wrinkle. “Was it? Next time, I’ll just punch him in the damn mouth. How about that?”

“Okay, then.” I sighed as I pushed myself out of my chair. “Are you hungry?”

“Mmm-hmm.” When I glanced back at him, he was still stewing, his jaw clenching and foot bouncing at me. “Whatever.”

I set the fabric basket on the table behind him and shut the door. “Are you having a bad day?” Digging into his shoulder with my fingertips, I bent down to kiss his neck. “Cause you seem kind of stressed right now.”

Relaxed enough to stop shaking, he shook his head and slid his hand up my arm. “That asshole has been trying to get into your panties since we were sixteen, and now you work with him every day. So, yes, that’s a little stressful for me.”

I rocked forward so I could peek around his face. “Do you think some baked macaroni would help? Or how about the rest of that apple pie I made the other night? I brought both.”

Turning into me, he rubbed his nose against mine as he nodded. “Definitely. Thank you.”

I scratched his head as I left him and pulled the zippered bag out of the rectangular plaid carrier. “By the way,” — I dug a spoon into the yellow and brown casserole full of cheesy noodles — “when I got home last night, the bedding I ordered was sitting on the porch.” I dumped the concoction on the plate and put a fork inside it. “Got to love how competitive these retailers are getting with their shipping speeds. Huh?”

Still sucking the apple pie sludge from my thumb when he said, “That’s good. Because the bed should be at the house sometime today, too,” I froze there until he tugged at the bottom of my sweater. “Did you hear me, Faith?” I turned my chin over my shoulder and found him spinning a silver key around his finger. “It’s ours.”

My knees were so weak I barely got the chair from underneath the table before I fell into it. “Ours?” My entire body was numb, and my brain struggled to catch up to what he said. “Did you say it’s ours?”

The key landed in his palm, and he uncurled his arm, laying his hand in my lap. That’s all I could focus on as his voice squeezed through my confusion. “We can start moving in tonight if you want, unless you’d rather wait until the weekend so Jason and Carolyn can give us a hand.” Bending his neck to catch my attention, he opened his eyes wider and shook his head. “Personally, I vote for tonight, because I don’t think I can go to sleep without you ever again.”

Gently turning my hand over, he laid the key in my palm. I guess it should’ve made me feel happy or excited or something. But honestly, I felt a little disappointed and cheated. “You bought my house?”

His lips popped apart as he blew air from them, tilting his ear toward his shoulder. “Well, technically, you were trying to buy my house. I’d been looking at it for a while, but when you walked back into my life, I realized it was a sign to go all in finally.” He bent my fingers over it, gently squeezing me before he took his hand away. “We’re renting it until we close in a few weeks. But, yes, I bought us the house.”

A shrill series of beeps started in his chest pocket first, and he was already coming out of his chair as the announcement came overhead. “Code Blue ICU bed four. Code Blue Ice bed four. Code Blue ICU bed four.”

“Fuck.” He bent down to kiss my forehead on his way out the door. “Just pack that up for me. I might be a while.”

The door for the stairs slammed against the wall, and I heard his sneakers pounding the concrete steps until it shut again. But I don’t think I even blinked for an hour or two. I couldn’t move a muscle as I sat there staring at that little piece of metal in my hand and wondered what the hell had just happened.