Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Travis
Isla’s giggle rings out around me, and I squeeze her hand as we start back down the street. I hope there is a lingerie shop nearby. I’d love to pick out some things, and if I’m lucky, she’ll model them later for me.
I turn my eyes away from Isla and look down the sidewalk. I blink and blink again, wishing it wasn’t her, but it is. Katherine’s hands are filled with shopping bags, and she’s walking straight toward us.
My adrenaline fires through my veins until my heart is pounding in my chest, and my breathing feels like I’ve just finished a five-mile sprint. Had I not been enthralled with Isla, I might have been able to veer us off course, but it’s too late for that. Katherine’s dark eyes are focused on me, and I see the moment she decides to engage me when the fake smile morphs on her face.
Of course, I didn’t know how fake it was until she was in my rearview mirror.
“Travis, fancy seeing you here. Did you move to the city?” She tilts her head in the way she does when attempting to appear charismatic.
I used to find it endearing, but now I find it manipulative.
“Just here for the day.”
“No, the city never was for you, was it? Too fast paced.”
My jaw clenches, and I involuntarily squeeze Isla’s hand.
Isla. Shit.
“Katherine, this is Isla, my girlfriend. Isla, Katherine.” There is not a chance in hell that I’m referring to her as my ex. It would give her way too much satisfaction.
“Nice to meet you,” Isla says, sliding her hand out of mine to hold her hand out toward Katherine.
I wrap my arm around Isla.
Katherine shifts the bags from her right hand to her left and shakes Isla’s hand, clearly sizing her up the whole time. The apparent way she does it makes me see red.
“What have you been up to? Still playing with the hammer and nails?” Katherine laughs, and how did I ever stay with her as long as I did with that annoying laugh?
Isla tenses under my arm.
When I was with Katherine, RENT-A HUSBAND was still relatively new, and we were just gaining our footing as a company, figuring out what worked and what didn’t.
“We’ve expanded into Seattle.”
I clock the surprise in her eyes before she covers it. “That’s great. I’ll have to remember if my fiancé and I could ever use your services. He’s in tech, so he’s good at making a lot of money, but manual labor is beneath him.” She playfully rolls her eyes, that incessant fake laugh ringing out again.
“That’s too bad. I’ve always thought every man should at least know how to swing a hammer.”
Shocked by her jab, I turn to look at Isla. She has a fake smile on her face that is directed at Katherine.
“To each their own, I suppose. I could never be satisfied with a man like that.” Katherine returns the fake smile in Isla’s direction and then looks over at me knowingly.
All the haunted memories rush back. She would always make cutting remarks about my livelihood, the jabs about my furniture making, and how she never believed in the RENT-A HUSBAND business. Katherine was always into pretty and expensive things. It was her attraction to me that led us to start dating. In fact, I know she was because she was all over me on the first date and after, actually. When I think about it, she was always all over me. But then, once the dust settled in our bedroom, she’d question why I was content with a blue-collar job and how I could ever feel fulfilled. In short, she wanted someone who inspired her to climb the corporate ladder, and I have no doubt that the fiancé she referred to does just that.
“I recall. We’ve got to get going. Katherine.”
I want to stay chatting with her like I want a hole in the head, so I tug on Isla’s hand, and we step around a gawking Katherine. She huffs but doesn’t stop us.
My cheeks heat in embarrassment at how she spoke to me in front of Isla. All my insecurities that were full-on raging after Katherine and I broke up rise back to the surface like a bloated dead body that’s had enough of being left in the dark water.
Isla doesn’t say anything for several minutes as we pretend to be interested in shopping—at least, I think that’s what she’s doing. I’m deep in the memories of my time with Katherine, and they coat me like black slime over my skin.
After everything went down with the two of us, I was a mess, and my confidence was shaken until I got to know Isla.
I don’t want to let my past affect my future with Isla. I don’t. But the appearance of Katherine makes me feel like maybe I’ve just been playacting. Look at today, for instance, with the picnic I arranged and buying a severely overpriced flannel from a downtown shop when I could get one that looks almost as good at my local Target. Am I pretending to be something I’m not just to keep Isla happy? Have I been blind again and missed the signs that she doesn’t think I’m enough?
“Travis.” Isla pulls me to a stop, and I turn and face her. “Do you just want to go back to the truck and head home?”
A big part of me wants to say no, let’s keep enjoying our day. But I think we both know that the moment has passed. Our day will forever be segregated into the before and after we saw Katherine, and I fucking hate that.
I hate the fact she can still affect my fucking mood more.
But it’s unfair to Isla to subject her to me being a prick. I already did that enough to her before we got together.
“Yeah, probably for the best.”
Neither one of us says anything as we make our way back to where I parked, and the air between us feels awkward for the first time since we started dating.
I open the passenger door for Isla, and she climbs into my truck, not making eye contact with me.
Shit. Have I already fucked this up beyond repair?
Once she’s seated inside, I close the door and round the front of the truck before taking my seat behind the wheel. I start the truck and pull out of the spot.
Neither of us speaks as I drive through Seattle and back toward the highway to head home. Isla’s probably wondering what the hell turned my mood around so quickly, and she deserves an explanation. As soon as we get onto the highway, I bring up the inevitable—Katherine.
“I dated Katherine for close to a year,” I say, my eyes staying on the road. Even if I could look at Isla, I’m not sure I’d be able to.
“I figured.” Isla shifts to face me in my peripheral vision.
“I thought things between us were good, and when it ended, it threw me for a loop.”
“Do you still have feelings for her?” The note of insecurity in her tone inflicts my heart with pain.
My head whips in her direction because if there’s something I need her to understand, it’s this. “No. I don’t.”
I hate that I have no choice but to return my eyes to the road.
“Okay… then why the shift in your mood? Seeing her definitely affected you.”
I blow out a breath and push a hand through my hair before settling it back on the steering wheel. “It’s not that I have feelings for her; it’s that seeing her made me remember how she made me feel throughout our relationship, especially when things ended.”
God, I hate fucking talking about this shit. What man wants to tell the woman he cares about all the gory details of his last relationship and unearth all his insecurities?
“Did she break up with you?” Isla asks.
I check my blind spot and shift lanes. “Not exactly, but in essence, yes. She was cheating on me, and I found out and ended things.”
“That must have been really difficult.” She squeezes my forearm.
“It wasn’t pleasant, especially when the wool was pulled over my eyes. I thought we were solid despite the little jabs and digs she’d always take at me.”
“Jabs like the ones she made today about your job.”
I swallow hard. “Those are the ones. Katherine always made me feel like I wasn’t good enough for her. But then she’d play it off like she was joking. When I found out she was seeing some uber-successful white-collar guy behind my back, I realized she wasn’t joking.”
I glance over, and Isla frowns and shakes her head. “I’ll never understand why people don’t just break up with someone if they want to be with someone else.”
“Me either. At any rate, that whole situation shook my self-confidence, and it’s been a sore spot for me ever since.”
“But Travis, you have to know that she’s the one who’s wrong here. You and your brothers have built up a successful business, and I’ve seen firsthand how appreciative people are when you help them. Women make that phone call hoping they’re not calling someone who’s going to screw them over or do shitty work, and you guys always deliver. Not to mention how beautiful the furniture you create is. I do not doubt that if you wanted to make it a full-time business, you’d be wildly successful. Just because someone sits behind a desk and gets a paycheck with a lot of zeros doesn’t make them any better or more deserving of respect than anyone else.”
How is it possible that Isla can undo much of the damage Katherine did to me with just one monologue?
“Thank you for saying that.”
“I’m just speaking the truth.”
I turn my head and smile at her. “And I know you’re right. It’s just a different strokes for different folks thing. I could never imagine sitting behind a desk all day. I enjoy using my hands and seeing the result of my hard work in something tangible.”
“You should be proud of what you do. I’m proud of you.”
I take one hand from the steering wheel and clasp hers in mine. “I’ll try to remember that.” I bring our joined hands to my lips and kiss her knuckles.
There’s still the lingering stain of doubt that Katherine’s words have left on my self-esteem, but I’m hopeful that in time, I’ll wash them clean.