Chapter 13 #2
Moments later, Travis was in front of us, cheeks flushed and eyes glittering like uncut diamonds. He looked high on life. High on adrenaline.
My legacy isn’t what I’m leaving on the track. It’s him.
“When can we start working on her?” he asked, then, “I’m going to make a list. I gotta go down to the—” He shook his head. “The shop here isn’t gonna have what I want. Gonna have to drive down to Grandad’s house. Maybe he’ll let me order the parts through the guy he uses for the track.”
“Slow your roll,” I drawled. “This car isn’t going to come together overnight.”
“That’s why I gotta start now!”
Trent laughed. “How about just get started on the list first?”
Travis nodded.
“So here’s the deal,” Trent said in a dad voice I’ve never quite been able to master. He just literally echoed with authority even without trying. “We will absolutely help you build this car, and when it’s done, she’s all yours. But you have to keep your grades up.”
“I will,” Travis promised, the fastest agreement for good grades he’d ever given.
“Don’t be late for football practices. Stay out of trouble.”
“I will, Dad. I swear.”
“No street races.”
He snorted. “In the Bronco?”
“Listen, that Bronco could probably beat half the cars your friends are driving,” I told him.
He pursed his lips.
I held up my finger. “Don’t even think about it. That’s not why we let your grandfather give you that car.”
“You just wanted to one-up him with this one,” Travis cracked.
“That is not true,” Trent said.
I snorted, and Travis laughed.
Trent was not amused. “The Bronco is a safe car for you to drive around to school and practices. That way you don’t have to drive our SUV or my old Mustang.”
At the mention, I glanced into the garage at the steel-colored Ford he’d been driving when we met. Of course we still had it. It was part of us.
“If we catch you racing—”
“You won’t.” Travis cut him off. “I swear. I’ll drive how I’m supposed to.” He shot a look at me. “Unless Dad is with me.”
Listen, the kid had to get it out somehow. Might as well do it with me supervising.
Trent nodded. “Okay. And you can help Aunt Rimmel at the shelter on the weekends when you can. It will help pay for parts.”
“And then we’ll see about a job after football season is over.”
Travis nodded. “Okay.”
“That easy?” I mused, surprised there was no pushback at all.
“Are you kidding?”
“I guess this is the only kind of car that matters,” Trent quipped.
Travis plowed into me. It was unexpected, and the breath whooshed from my lungs. “Thank you,” he said, squeezing me tight. Damn, this kid was good at hugs. “Seriously, Dad, thank you so much.”
I returned the hug, feeling that tsunami of emotion welling up inside me once more. “You’re welcome, son. Happy birthday.”
Travis pulled back as abruptly as he’d struck, but instead of going to thank T, he hesitated.
“Something on your mind, Trav?”
He nodded once but hesitated again, the bottom of his shoe scuffing the floor. “You aren’t like him,” he rushed out, looking anywhere but me.
His words were a boxing glove dead center to my chest. My heart skipped a beat, and the oxygen rushed from my system, leaving behind an achy, deflated feeling. “Ahh, what?” I rasped.
Sensing how unsteady I was, Trent stepped up behind me, his big body offering a place to lean.
Travis glanced back at me. “I know that’s what you worry about. That you’re going to fuck it all up like he did.”
“You gotta stop saying fuck, Trav,” Trent murmured, but it was only half-hearted.
“Like who?” I said, forgetting about the cursing.
Travis swallowed. “Your dad.”
“What do you know about him?” I asked, not in a challenging way, just a curious one.
We didn’t talk about my parents to our kids.
We told them simply that they were people we didn’t want in our lives.
Travis once asked why, years ago, and we told him it was because they weren’t very nice.
Our kids didn’t dwell on them or their absence because, frankly, they left no void to think about.
Travis and Andi had an entire family that loved them.
It was enough to make up for anyone who didn’t.
“I know he was an asshole.”
“Travis,” Trent warned. “Watch your mouth. And don’t talk about…” I practically heard his brain grind while trying to decide what to call them. “People like that.”
“I read what he did to you,” Travis said, looking straight at Trent. “How they made you stay away from Dad when he was in a coma. How they tried to keep you apart.”
“Who told you that?” I asked, heart pounding harder.
Travis hesitated, eyes dropping to the floor. “I read it online.”
Trent sighed. “Travis,” he implored. “We told you not to read that crap. They just make stuff up to sell magazines.”
“So it’s not true?”
“You should have come to me if you had questions,” he said, skirting the subject.
“Okay,” Travis said and met Trent’s stare. “Is it true? Did they really make you stay away from Dad?”
Trent’s shoulders moved. “Yes.”
“And they said terrible things to you?”
“Yes.”
“Like when he told you Dad was dead?”
“What?” I roared, the reaction so visceral I knocked into Trent. He caught me by the shoulders, but I twisted, staring at my husband. “Trent, is that true?”
Trent’s eyes darkened with shadows, and I knew it was true. The scars from that time in our lives would always be inside him.
Trent didn’t say anything, and I turned back to our son. “Where did you hear that?”
Travis seemed a little unsure, as if he’d uncovered some piece of ancient history that no one was supposed to know. “Uhh…”
“It’s okay, Trav. Just tell me,” I said.
“Some article. Some nurse they interviewed. They said Dad walked into your room, and you were gone. They heard someone tell him that you were gone.”
A pained sound ripped out of Trent, and I spun, catching his face between my hands.
“T,” I implored, searching the ghosts haunting him. “Is that true? Did he really tell you I was dead?”
“Just that you were gone. Gone and never coming back,” Trent replied, voice hollow. “I assumed that’s what it meant, and he didn’t clarify…”
The rage I thought I’d gotten rid of years ago came back with startling force. I guess I was also covered in scars—this one just ripped open. “Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded, voice rough.
“Romeo came. He told me it wasn’t true,” Trent murmured.
“You should have told me.”
Trent’s eyes found mine, and I saw the same vulnerable expression he’d worn years ago. “Hearing it was enough. I’d rather cut out my tongue than repeat it even once.”
“Oh, T,” I groaned, wrapping my arms around him. No, wrapping my entire body around him. He hugged me back, his deep breaths brushing against my neck. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “So sorry.”
Behind us, Travis cleared his throat. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
I pulled away from my husband to face our son. “You can bring up anything. You can talk to us about anything, anytime. It doesn’t matter what it is. We will always be here for you, and we will always love you. No matter what.”
“That’s what I mean, though,” Travis replied.
“What?” I wasn’t following. Those fresh wounds from old scars were making it hard to think.
“You aren’t like him. I know he disowned you for loving your best friend. For living the life you wanted and not the one he did.”
“Is all this out in the media?” I wondered. Because goddamn. Trent and I didn’t read the news after my accident. We were too busy putting our lives together and making a family with two kids.
Maybe I should have. I would have been prepared for our kids snooping.
“Well…” Travis hedged.
“Travis,” Trent intoned.
“I might have asked Aunt Ivy.”
I let out a choked sound. “You talked to your Aunt Ivy about this?”
“He’s her dad too,” Trav defended. “Figured she’d know better than the internet.”
“Well, that’s the truth.” I agreed.
“Next time, ask us, okay? Anything you want to know,” Trent said.
“But it hurts you.”
“You being afraid to ask us something hurts way worse,” Trent said candidly.
He always was better with words than me.
Travis nodded. “Okay. You won’t ever be like him. I know you support me even if I do something you don’t like or bring home a girl instead of a boy. I know that you made me wait for a car because you wanted to be safe, not because you were trying to hold me back.”
“You’re a smart kid, you know that?” I rasped, heart in a vise.
“Did you just come out as straight to us?” Trent asked.
I blinked.
“I hate to break it to you,” Travis said sincerely, “but I like girls… a lot.”
Trent nodded sagely. “We support you no matter who you love.”
A laugh bubbled out of me. And then another.
Trent joined in, and pretty soon, all three of us were standing there laughing.
“You’re a good dad. Both of you.”
Travis’s sincere words knocked all the humor out of me, and I sucked in a breath while blindly reaching behind me for Trent. When his hand closed around mine, I could finally breathe again. But then Travis kept talking.
“And I know that accident wrecked your lives, but it’s the reason I have you, and I’m glad.”
We rushed forward, squishing the kid between, hugging so hard he probably couldn’t even breathe.
“That accident didn’t wreck our lives, Travis,” Trent told him. “It changed it. For the better because it brought us you and your sister. You two were worth every hardship, and you are the best thing to ever happen to us.”
I hummed my agreement, getting all up in my feels. Damn.
“You’re our son, Travis, and nothing is ever going to change that.”
I felt him nod against us, and Trent lifted his head. When I looked up, he kissed me.
“Ew, okay. I’m done.”
We pulled back, letting Travis breathe. His cheeks were red, as were his eyes. “Can I go look at my car now?”
I laughed. “Five minutes and then we have to go watch the movie.”
He groaned.
Trent took my hand and led me out of the garage, just beyond the light spilling out of the open door. We blended into the shadows as he pushed me up against the wall.
“That was unexpected,” he said quietly.
“There’s something special about that kid, T.”
“Yeah.” He agreed. “There is.”
“There’s something special about you too.”
Trent’s white smile flashed in the dark. “Must run in the Mask family then because I could say the same thing about you.”
“I don’t need to be special, T. I just want to be happy.”
“And are you, Mask? Are you happy?”
“Of course I am. I have you.”