Chapter 28 #2
Except for quick trips to let Dash out, Travis didn’t leave his apartment for two days after Liana left.
He wanted some time to prepare himself to face the rest of his life without her, but it didn’t take long to realize her essence had permeated every corner of his world.
The home he had once loved was now a storage place for painful memories.
He had a sick feeling he would encounter the same problem on the boat, in his office, and throughout the club when he finally ventured back to work.
Late on the second day, he went into his bedroom and stretched out on the bed.
Turning on his side, he came face to face with the box of condoms on the bedside table.
Pulling open the drawer open to put them away, he discovered the panties he had taken from her in the movie theater.
As he reached for them and bunched them into his fist, it finally hit him.
“Oh my God,” he whispered. “What’ve I done?”
Dash jumped on the bed, curled up next to him, and rested her head on his chest.
Travis welcomed the comfort and rolled his face into the dog’s soft coat. “I sent her away, Dash. I was so awful to her.”
Dash whimpered and licked his chin.
“What am I supposed to do without her? Everywhere I look I see her. I can still smell her perfume on the pillow. How long do you think that will last?”
The dog nuzzled his face.
“I messed things up with her, and all because I was so afraid of losing her. Well, now I have, and let me tell you, it hurts every bit as much as I thought it would.” He ran his fingers through the dog’s fur. “I wonder how she’s doing.”
Travis took a deep breath. “Do you think she misses us? Nah, probably not—not after the way I treated her. I wanted to be different, you know? Different from all the guys who are so caught up in her fame and her beauty. So what did I do? I got her to fall in love with me, and then I turned her away. I really blew it,” he whispered.
“Big time. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. ”
Dash lifted her head and whined.
“Believe me, girl, if I thought she’d want to see me I’d go after her. But I was a jerk to her, and she’s through with me. She can have any guy she wants. She doesn’t need one who treats her like crap.”
Dash barked sharply to express her dismay.
“You’ll never leave me, will you, girl?”
Dropping her head to his chest, Dash sighed. She’d done what she could.
Travis was attempting to get some work done in his office when Chloe came in to tell him he had a visitor.
“Who is it?”
“Horse face,” Chloe whispered.
Travis groaned.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Show her in, Chloe. Thanks.”
“Good luck,” Chloe whispered on her way out.
Enid breezed into the office, bringing with her a cloud of French perfume. She tossed her alligator purse onto the chair in front of his desk and stood with hands on bountiful hips.
Travis raised an eyebrow. “Something I can help you with, Mrs. Littleton?”
“You’re an ass.”
Travis kept his expression neutral. “Anything else?” He shuffled some papers on his desk. “I’m kind of busy here.”
“I repeat: You. Are. An. Ass. Do you think I’d let just any man get near my cousin?” She rested her hands on the desk. “I thought you were worthy of her.”
“I guess you thought wrong.”
“No, I didn’t. I thought exactly right. So what the hell happened?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard the whole story.”
“Travis North, you’re going to tell me what happened.” She moved her purse and flopped down in the chair. “I’m not leaving until you do.”
“Suit yourself.” He picked up the phone.
Enid launched out of her seat and pressed the hook. “Tell me what changed, Travis. One night you want to marry her, and the next night it’s over for you. Why?”
Travis’s jaw ached with tension as he passed the phone receiver back and forth between his hands. “I heard her talking to the bride.”
Enid nodded. “And she said if she had a man who looked at her the way Ben looked at Lucy, she’d marry him.”
“She had a man who looked at her like that.”
“She knew that, you idiot.”
“Then why did she say what she did?”
“She was doing the job you asked her to do. Let me ask you this: Did that bride go through with her wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Then I guess whatever she said to that poor girl worked. The wedding went perfectly, and you have Liana to thank for it, but you’re too stupid to see that.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve coming into my office and calling me every name you can think of.”
“I’ve got plenty more where they came from. Liana tried to tell you she only said what she thought Lucy needed to hear, but you didn’t let her.”
Travis hung up the phone and sat back to brood.
“There must’ve been something else.”
He sighed when he realized she wasn’t going to give up.
“There were these two girls talking in the kitchen,” he said, aware of exactly how stupid this was going to sound to her.
“They were saying they couldn’t wait to get out of here when they graduate, and that if they had Liana’s life they’d never come back to a town that doesn’t even have a McDonald’s. ”
Enid rolled her eyes. “And of course Liana’s known for her love of a good Big Mac. So let me get this straight. You let a couple of disgruntled teenaged girls convince you to walk away from the love of your life?”
He grimaced. Her words were like a dagger in his heart.
“You’re an even bigger idiot than I give you credit for being.”
“I’m starting to agree with you,” he murmured. “I just needed her to want me as much as I wanted her. Is that so unreasonable?”
“She did want you that much. Why was it so impossible for you to give her a little time so she could feel like she was making an informed decision rather than an impetuous one?”
“Because I couldn’t bear the idea of being without her for even that long,” he confessed.
“So is this better?”
“No,” he said sadly. “This is hell.”
She stared at him for a long, disconcerting moment.
He finally wilted under the heat of her glare. “What?”
“I’m trying to decide if you deserve a second chance. You so totally blew the first one.”
Travis got up and came around the desk. “Enid, please. I want to fix this. Help me.”
“You look like shit.”
“I haven’t slept in more than a week. Please.”
She picked up her purse. “You broke her heart, Travis. Into a thousand pieces. If you hurt her again, I’ll kill you. Is that clear?”
“Crystal.”
“My Aunt Agnes always knows where she is. Don’t make me regret telling you this.”
“You won’t.”
She headed for the door.
“Enid?”
Turning back to him, she raised an eyebrow.
“Thank you.”
With a curt nod, she left.
Travis flopped into his chair. He sat there for a long time letting the music from the club’s sound system lull him as he thought about what Enid had said.
He tuned into the unmistakable sound of Neil Diamond’s voice, singing “The Story of My Life.” Travis had heard the song a hundred times before on the loop they played in the club, but this time he was riveted by the haunting words about a life that began the day a certain someone walked into it and ended the day she left.
In that moment, Travis understood that losing Liana would ruin his life and no amount of time would ever be enough to fix it. He reached for the phone to call Agnes.