19. CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
brENDEN
Walking around the festival with Travis yesterday was fantastic.
Even Elise and Grant’s presence couldn’t dampen the fun of watching Travis relax and enjoy himself in an environment he usually avoids.
Sure, I caught him glancing around nervously sometimes.
Probably scanning for potential gossipers who might be paying too much attention to us being here together.
But that’s understandable.
I was nervous about it too.
If he gets outed because of my crazy scheme, I’ll never forgive myself.
We got some questioning looks, but everyone knows the two of us are friends.
And that I occasionally make it my mission to get him to do things he doesn’t want to—for both his own good and my own amusement.
So I don’t think anyone thought it was too weird.
I did manage to steer Elise and Grant clear of most conversations with the locals, so that helped.
All it would take is one innocent mention about me and Travis being a couple, and both he and I would be screwed.
Let’s just hope things go as smoothly today with the games.
There will be many more eyes on us, since Travis and I are competing.
I still can’t believe he agreed to do it with me.
It’s funny, because I was upset when May first said she wanted to compete with her grandmother instead of me.
But now, slightly more than twenty-four hours later, here I am practically bouncing out of my seat at the idea of seeing Travis participate in all the craziness.
“Why are you smiling at nothing like a total weirdo?”
Ah, shit.
I’ve been caught.
As I turn my head toward Addison, I school my face into a more neutral expression.
Lately, I can’t even think about Travis without grinning.
Any time I see him, my brain immediately goes to, I’ve sucked that man’s dick.
“I’m taking in all the excitement around us,” I lie.
I told her I’d help her out manning the booth early this afternoon before the games start.
Not that she needs it.
A few of the other employees have volunteered to do short shifts too.
But being the owner, I should put in at least some time chatting with the tourists and locals.
Addison is working the booth for almost the entirety of the festival.
I told her we could work out a different schedule so she could enjoy some of the activities too, but she insisted that she was fine doing this and didn’t have any interest in wandering.
She’s definitely got a bit of Travis’s antisocial tendencies in her.
Or maybe that’s just a result of her divorce.
Who knows what she was like before her ex cheated on her.
I imagine that would mess anyone up.
“As much as I know you’re enjoying this craziness, somehow I don’t think that’s why you were smiling like that.”
“Well, you’re wrong,” I say, leaning into the lie, even though I’m sure she won’t believe me.
“I can’t help that I love my town.”
She gives me a skeptical look.
“Uh huh, right. Are you sure it doesn’t have something to do with a certain flannel-wearing man that you were prancing all around here with yesterday?”
“Wha-who? N-no,” I stutter.
“We’re just... I had to drag him here. I thought it’d be good for him to get out and socialize every once in a while. Wouldn’t want him to turn into a scary hermit. Grow his beard too long, drive off in his truck and disappear into the mountains, never to be heard from again.”
“Okayyy...” Addison’s now looking at me like she’s actually concerned for my sanity.
Which is whatever.
People look at me like that a lot.
“I’m only saying I’ve seen you two when he’s been around the inn. Lately, you get this moony-eyed look on your face when you’re with him.”
“I do not get moony eyes!” I argue.
Because that can’t be true.
Maybe lust-drunk eyes, but that’s all.
“You do,” she says flatly.
“It’s annoying.”
I laugh a little at that.
“There’s nothing wrong with liking someone, you know. What about you? Don’t you think you’ll ever want to date again?”
She scoffs.
“Ew. No. I’m done with that nonsense. You can’t trust anyone these days.”
That sounds like a hard way to live, not trusting anyone.
Though I can’t judge her for it after what she went through.
Not everyone has a Travis in their life, someone they know they can always trust.
“So you’re okay with being alone forever?” Maybe that’s a shitty thing to ask, but I’m honestly wondering.
I hate the idea of being alone.
“Why not?” she says, shrugging.
“I prefer my own company to most other people’s.”
“Hey!” I feel like I should be offended by that.
She rolls her eyes.
“You’re all right, I guess. In small doses.”
That might not sound anything like a compliment, but believe me, coming from her, it’s a big one.
I wind up grinning ear to ear.
“Stop that,” she says.
Then she turns to fuss with the stack of brochures for the inn, and I assume I can consider this conversation over.
It’s time.
Let the games begin.
I am so ready.
I even remembered to put in a pair of contacts this morning, instead of wearing my glasses.
Can’t let anything get in the way of a victory.
Not even my daughter.
May and I have been jokingly shit-talking each other for the last couple minutes while we’re waiting on the field for things to get started.
Although neither of us is particularly good at it.
While the rest of the festival takes place on the green, the games are held on the football field at the high school.
It’s just a quick walk from the green to here, and lots of people will wander over at some point to spectate.
Travis looks like he’d rather be getting a lobotomy than be standing here beside me right now.
But I have a feeling he’s going to make a pretty excellent partner, whether he likes it or not.
He’s good at basically everything.
Let’s hope his skills include silly field-day-type games.
Before I can start psyching him up, Mitch strolls over to us with Delilah strutting along in front of him on a leash.
“Who’s ready to watch some people fall on their asses?” he asks, much too loudly.
Elise immediately seems concerned, and Travis turns to give me an unamused look.
“I will not be falling on my ass.”
“Hopefully not,” I tell him.
“But there’s no guarantees. The games have a way of making fools out of everyone.”
He looks even more deeply unamused.
“Wait, you’re doin’ this shit?” Mitch says, whipping his head toward Travis.
“I wouldn’t think you’d be caught dead here.”
Travis frowns.
“I’m...”
“He’s competing with me,” I jump in.
“Saving my ass since my own daughter ditched me.”
May rolls her eyes as I lay on the dramatics, trying to take the focus off Travis.
“Okay, makes sense,” Mitch says.
Then he looks pointedly at Elise and Grant before adding, “‘Cause, you know, he’s Brenden’s boyfriend and all.”
I barely hold back my groan, internally smacking myself on the forehead.
Wish I could smack Mitch.
“Hey, Grandma, are you ready to play?” May asks, smoothly diverting her grandparents’ attention.
Although I don’t think Grant has even heard anything Mitch said, because he hasn’t taken his wary eyes off Delilah.
He’s clearly not used to seeing a chicken walking on a leash, but that’s a weekly occurrence in Mayweather.
But anyway, it’s a relief when Roddy Harkins shouts into his megaphone that the games will begin in two minutes and asks all teams to get in place for the first event.
I don’t know how the bar owner got this gig, but he’s been the announcer for the May Games ever since I moved to town.
Pretty sure he gets a sick pleasure in narrating everyone’s falls and misfortunes.
Grant hugs May and wishes her and Elise good luck, then wishes me and Travis the same.
As the four of us go over to take our places, I watch him hastily distance himself from Mitch, which is definitely for the best.
The egg toss is the first event.
(I have a sneaking suspicion this is to ensure a bunch of us get messy early on for the amusement of the spectators.
) May and I are next to each other in one line, facing Elise and Travis a few feet away in the other line.
Travis still looks a bit like he’s being tortured.
“Come on,” I tell him.
“We’ve got this!”
His brow furrows and he gives me a skeptical look.
“Can you even throw?”
“Well...”
May snorts, so I kick out at her ankle in retaliation.
“It’s not my strong suit,” I admit.
“But surprisingly, I’m pretty good at catching.”
Travis makes a choked, strangled sound.
It takes me a moment to mentally replay what I said, and.
.
.
“Oh my god! Not like—I mean, well, yeah, I—That’s not what I meant!”
He presses his lips together in what looks like an attempt to fight a smile.
My face is flaming, but I’m also suppressing the urge to laugh.
If Travis and I were alone, I’d probably think of something clever to say about how good I am at that kind of catching.
But my daughter and her grandmother are within hearing distance, so nope.
We will not be going there.
Luckily, one of the event volunteers is currently walking in between the two lines of partners, passing out eggs from a wicker basket.
She reaches May first, then me, and I focus on not accidentally crushing the fragile egg in my hand before we even start.
Because that’s totally something I might do.
“We’ve got this,” I assure Travis one more time.
I’m not a super competitive person normally.
And even though she ditched me, I’d be perfectly happy if May won instead of me.
But standing in front of Travis like this, I realize how much I really want to win with him.
Something tells me we’ll make a great team.
And something changes on his face, I think, when he catches the determined look on mine.
“We’ve got this.” He repeats my words almost like he can force them to be true.
Maybe my hunger to win is contagious.
Of course, when Roddy calls out, “One, two, three, toss!” I panic and fumble for a moment, before I realize that I can, in fact, throw an egg three feet.
No big deal.
Travis opens his hand and catches it like he didn’t even have to think about it.
I give him a cheesy thumbs up, ignoring the way he rolls his eyes at me.
“This is kind of fun,” Elise says, when it’s their line’s turn to toss the eggs back.
I shift my gaze to her briefly, but only after I’ve safely caught my egg.
I won’t let her distract me into messing up.
She and May could have planned to sabotage us.
But she does look genuinely pleased to be standing in the grass in a T-shirt and jeans, in a line of excited townspeople and tourists.
I bet the novelty will wear off by the time she’s covered in egg yolk or grass stains though.
“Brenden!” Travis calls my name impatiently, clueing me in to the fact that everyone but me has taken a step backward at Roddy’s instruction.
Whoops.
See?
Sabotage.
The next toss is also easy enough and so is catching Travis’s.
But it only takes a couple more rounds before things start to get dicey.
There’s a delicate balance you need to hit in tossing your egg hard enough that it will make it all the way to your partner, while not tossing it so hard that it will break when they catch it.
We began with sixteen teams competing, and out of the corners of my eyes I notice a few teams already messing up and stepping out of the lines.
I can hear the sounds of eggs cracking, but I keep my focus where it needs to be.
Right on Travis.
He still doesn’t look like this is taking him any effort.
Until my next toss is probably a little too rough and doesn’t go directly to his hand, so he has to reach out for it with panicked eyes.
The look of relief that crosses his face when he catches the egg without it breaking does a funny thing to my insides.
It was like a chink in his armor, showing that he actually cares about the competition.
And I know for a fact that winning the May Games has never even come close to being one of his ambitions, which means he cares about this for me .
He cares about it because I do.
Shit.
Focus.
I barely manage to catch his next toss.
Taking a quick look around after I do, I see there’s only five teams left.
Us, May and Elise, and three others.
Excellent.
Each team gets a ranking for each event, based on what place they finish in.
And then at the end, the five rankings are added together, and the team with the highest overall ranking wins.
So unless one team wins them all, you don’t have to win every game in order to come in first place.
As we continue to move farther away from our teammates, the game gets harder, and I expect me and Travis to get knocked out, but we keep hanging in.
He has great aim, so that makes it easier for me to catch.
But what’s most impressive is how, even with my wild tosses, he manages to keep catching the egg gently enough to keep it intact.
Who knew, under all the gruffness and muscles and flannel, that he was capable of handling things so gently?
It makes me want to know what it would feel like if he handled me like that.
Okay, no, not the time for dirty thoughts.
No distractions.
As I catch the next toss, I hear an egg crack right beside me, followed by a distressed sound from May.
Turning to look, I find my daughter standing there with yellow egg yolk slowly dripping down her neck, and the laughter spills out of me before I can stop it.
“Mean!” she cries.
“Sweetie, I’m so sorry!” Elise yells, stepping out of her line and coming across to meet May.
But May’s smiling now.
“Don’t worry about it, Grandma. We did good!”
Elise follows her as she heads off to get cleaned up, while I return my attention to the game.
Apparently, the two of them weren’t the only ones to get knocked out on that round, and I’m pleased to realize that it’s just me and Travis and one other team left.
But it’s the damn O’Brien twins.
They’re too good.
The pressure’s definitely on now as I get ready to make my next toss.
But Travis just smiles at me encouragingly like he’s not worried at all.
And even though I know encouragement can’t actually make me any better at this, when I toss the egg to him, it seems as if someone far more skilled than me did the tossing, and he catches it with no problem.
I exhale in relief and brace myself for my next catch.
Right when Roddy calls for the toss, a bunch of things seem to happen at once.
Jimmy O’Brien, from over on Travis’s side, yells out some stupid taunt that’s meant to distract me.
Travis turns to him, and though it’s hard to hear from this far away, I swear he growls, making Jimmy jump right as his egg soars out of his hand, which knocks his aim off.
As Travis and I make eye contact again, he gives me a nod and tosses to me.
Tommy O’Brien lets out a loud curse just moments before I catch my egg, carefully curling my palm around it.
Then Roddy shouts into his megaphone, “We have a winner!” And it takes me a few seconds to realize he means me and Travis.
I look over at Tommy, who’s covered in egg yolk, and resist the urge to gloat.
I can’t believe we actually won this one.
May’s cheering as she runs over to give me a hug, and I don’t even care that she’s still got some egg on her.
I’m still cradling our egg in my hand when I glance over at Travis, who is coming my way with sure, steady strides.
He’s only smiling slightly, but it grows when he reaches me.
“Good job,” he says.
“Thanks!” With a grin, I hand him the egg.
“Turn this into an omelet for me, would ya?”
May laughs, while I fight to keep a straight face.
But there’s no hope for that when Travis takes the egg and smashes it against my chest.
May laughs even harder, and I join her.
After a few moments of this, I hear Travis laughing too, and woah .
I kind of feel like I already won this whole thing.