Chapter 28
HANNAH
When I wake up, Wren and Travis are talking quietly. The three of us fell asleep on the couches last night after eating our weight in sugar cookies and watching the last Twilight movie.
I’m in that sleepy state, warm and cozy and too lazy to open my eyes just yet.
“Do you listen to podcasts?” Wren asks him.
“Not really. I’ve tried a couple, but I can’t get into them.” His voice is closer than hers, which tracks with the heavy arm resting against my lower legs.
Wren snorts. “What, like sports bro podcasts?”
“Not only sports. I listened to a couple general health ones too.”
“I’m going to send you some to try. How do you feel about true crime?”
“I feel like…I don’t want it to happen to me.”
“Obviously, but that’s what makes them so good.”
I can’t resist stretching my arms and legs out and when I do, Travis says, “I think she’s finally awake.”
My lips curve as I let my lashes flutter open. Travis and Wren are both looking at me.
“Morning, creeps.”
Travis’s mouth hitches up on one side and his arm stays resting on my leg over the blanket.
“What time is it?”
“Almost nine.” Wren sticks out her bottom lip because her flight is only a few hours away.
“No.” I close my eyes again and shake my head into the pillow. This weekend has been so nice seeing her and hanging out. I don’t know when we’ll be able to do it again, but it won’t be soon enough. “You can’t go.”
“I know. I don’t want to either,” she says.
But we get up and get ready anyway. She and Travis continue chattering on about the most random of topics, like celebrity couples and reality dating shows. Listening to them fills my heart with so much joy.
“Can you come visit next summer?” Wren asks on the way to the airport. Travis is driving and I’m in the passenger seat, angled to see my sister in the back seat.
“I hope so, but I’m not sure yet.”
“Hopefully I’ll have a new roommate by then.”
“What’s wrong with your roommate?” Travis asks.
“Don’t ask,” I tell him.
“Too late,” Wren says.
“Do I need to pull some sort of big brother smackdown?” he asks.
“Yes!” Wren exclaims at the same time I say, “No.”
When Travis pulls up to the curb at the airport, my throat is thick with emotion.
“Thanks for everything,” she tells him, reaching over the seat to hug him around the neck. “Talk soon!”
“Bye, Wren. Safe travels,” he calls after her.
I get out of the SUV, and we stand on the sidewalk a foot away. People are unloading and heading into the airport all around us.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving already,” I say. “It feels like you just got here.”
“I know. I wish I could stay longer, but Grandma only has two days in her schedule for me.”
We share a laugh at our grandmother’s busy social calendar. She’s a hard lady to pin down these days.
“Promise you’ll come back soon?” I ask as I hug her around the middle.
“Promise. And we’ll FaceTime on Christmas Eve. Grandma is taking me to an early bird dinner and dance at her senior rec center.”
I laugh, then squeeze her tighter.
When we pull apart, she gives me a small, bittersweet smile, then looks past me to Travis. “I like him.”
“You mentioned that.” Several times in fact.
“I know, but I really like him. And I like him for you. And for me. Do you think he’ll let me drive his Rover next time I visit?”
I can’t do anything but laugh. I’m sure he would. I don’t think there’s a lot he wouldn’t do for her or for me.
She takes a step toward the airport doors, still facing me. “It’s going to be hard to put my all into a divorce party now that I’ve met him. Maybe you should just stay married.”
I roll my eyes like I haven’t had the same thought a dozen times this weekend. Being with Travis is easy in all the best ways and yet still exciting. He’s unpredictable but also steadfast and consistent. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know it won’t ever be easy to walk away from him.
On Wednesday, Travis is waiting for me in the parking lot when I walk out of the gym.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as he leans down to hug me. I’ve barely seen him this week. After Wren left Sunday morning, I spent the rest of the afternoon making up the training I missed to hang out with her.
Then Monday he had an away game, so I didn’t see him until last night but only for a few minutes because I got a job at a local kids’ gymnastics facility and started work.
It’s been a lot, juggling evenings on top of my training.
I got the deposit back for my rental, plus saving on housing helps.
Everly sent me some grants to apply for, and she booked me a one-day seminar teaching uneven bars.
It’s all making a small difference, but it’s only keeping me treading water.
I’m so close. I can feel it. Working with Coach Rodier is paying off and I’m making so much more progress than I did with my previous coaches. I don’t want to give up now.
“Hoping you have the night free and will go out with me.” He pulls a bouquet of flowers I didn’t realize he was holding from behind his back.
“Thank you.” They’re carnations, I think. Purple and pink with a few white mixed in.
“Shep helped me pick those out so if they suck, it’s his fault.” His grin is sheepish. “I don’t know shit about flowers.”
“They’re perfect.”
“Roses seemed too cliché.”
“Roses are timeless, but I love these.” I let my hands drop to my stomach. “What did you have in mind?”
Instead of answering, he steps back and opens the passenger door of his Rover. “It’s a surprise.”
We swing by the house first so I can shower and change.
I still have no idea where we’re going, but I put on a casual sweater dress and grab my coat.
When we get back in his vehicle, Travis is giddy.
He’s singing along with the radio, tapping his fingers on the wheel, and grinning nonstop.
He’s so excited that it’s making me a little nervous about what he has planned.
Whatever I might have imagined, I’m not prepared when Travis turns off into a big grass parking lot. Some sort of theme park is barely visible in the distance.
“What is this?”
“The Moonshot Holiday Carnival. They put it on every year.”
As he parks, I stare out the window at the lights and rides. I spot a Ferris wheel and a cotton candy machine and more games and food trucks than I can count.
When I look back to Travis he’s smiling tentatively. “Did I do good?”
My head moves up and down as a thrill races through me. “So good.”
He pumps his fist into the air, then gets out and hurries around to help me.
He doesn’t let go of my hand as we walk through the lot and into the carnival.
The smell of hot dogs and cotton candy and the sounds of the rides whirring and electronic games beeping all take me back to happy memories from my childhood.
Of Wren and I spending all our money on rides.
She hated anything that spun in circles, and I hated anything that went up high in the air, but we rode everything together.
Travis leads me to a booth where he buys a fistful of red tickets.
We circle around to scope out all the rides before deciding on something called the Scrambler.
The name turns out to be apt as the ride whirrs to life and then proceeds to fling our car from one side to the other, rising and lowering, and going in a circle all at once.
There’s enough room for two and the extra space means I’m sliding around. Travis has no such problem and ends up clutching me to his side. I can’t see him through the wild strands of my hair flying around us, but I can feel his laughter as I squeal each time the ride catches me off guard.
My legs are wobbly when we get off and my hair a tangled mess. Travis runs his hands through it, pushing it away from my face. “Are you in there somewhere?”
I push up onto my toes to kiss him.
It surprises him, I think, but only seconds pass before his arms drop to my lower back. He leans down and pulls me to him to kiss me the way I think we’ve both been thinking about all week.
Heat pools in my stomach and my face is warm when he lets out a groan and pulls back.
“Come on. I want to win you the biggest, most obnoxious stuffed animal in this place.” He’s dragging me along with him toward the games before I can object.
Rows and rows of games take up one half of the carnival.
Travis and I play a horse racing game (we lose to an older guy who calls his horse Betty and says she’s been his lucky horse for twenty-five years), then I win a lovely snowflake temporary tattoo at the duck game (everyone’s a winner but I’m still proud).
We must play every game (except the goldfish game because neither of us wants to clean the fish tank), but it isn’t until we stop at the basketball game that Travis gets serious.
He pushes up the sleeves of his shirt and rubs his hands together.
He’s so serious right now I fight a smile when he points to the wall of prizes. “Frog or Bunny?”
The two biggest stuffed animal prizes are a purple frog or a pink bunny, both nearly as tall as me.
“I don’t know, they’re both so practical for a twenty-three-year-old woman. Which do you think will work better as a body pillow?”
His gaze drops from my face to do a slow sweep of me. Goosebumps race up my arms as his dark eyes find mine again. “Now you have me worrying a stuffed animal’s going to replace me.”
We haven’t slept in the same bed since Vegas, unless you count our couch slumber party with Wren, but I think we both know that’s where things are going tonight.
“Only when you’re not available,” I promise.
His smile returns. He hands the guy working the game his tickets and the game starts with a whistle.
A clock above the rim counts down. He picks the basketballs up and shoots without ever taking his eye off the net.
My jaw drops and my skin tingles as I watch him.
He’s fast and good. He hasn’t missed a single shot yet.