Nicole Edwards - Travis

“So, if I’m not mistakin’,” Zoey drawled, “I’d say Gage and Travis are smitten.”

Kylie laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement and at the abrupt change of subject. The idea of either man being smitten was amusing. Almost as much as Zoey talking about how half the town should’ve been declared a flood plain and then jumping right into a much more intimate topic without batting an eyelash.

When she recovered, Kylie said, “Well, I’m not sure about all that, but I’m quite fond of them.”

As they made their way through downtown Coyote Ridge, Kylie watched out the window as the handful of small stores passed by. Based on Zoey’s arsenal of random facts, she had learned that they’d had everything from an organic pet food store to an herbalist who sidelined as a palm reader, and neither of those had survived long in their little piece of country paradise – Zoey’s exact words.

Because of the limited resources the town had to offer, they were heading into Austin where their options were unlimited. Knowing they had at least a half hour drive ahead of them, Kylie prepared herself for Zoey’s questions.

“Now, if I overstep my bounds, tell me to shut up,” Zoey said, glancing over before turning the volume down on the radio.

Kylie thought she knew the direction the conversation was headed, but since Zoey had stunned her more than once already, she braced herself. Knowing that they were going to venture to more personal topics, Kylie was hesitant, but she welcomed the opportunity to talk to someone who wasn’t her sister.

“You’ve been married to Travis for ten years?”

Nope, nothing seemed to be off limits with Zoey.

“It would seem so, yes.”

“But I take it you haven’t seen him, right? I mean until recently.”

Kylie watched the trees pass by in a blur as they headed down a county road that would lead them to the interstate. Her thoughts drifted back to that miserable day when Travis had walked out on her, giving her so little to go on. “Not once.”

“Mind if I ask what happened?”

Kylie didn’t say a word for a few minutes, trying to outline the story in her head. Or at least the version she was comfortable sharing with someone she didn’t know. Based on what she knew of Travis, he didn’t offer up many details of his personal life, and the last thing she wanted to do was to upset him by sharing information with his family.

“It was one of those whirlwind romances, I guess you could say. We met one afternoon at the lake. And I hate to sound like it was right out of a romance novel, but it kinda was. I’m pretty sure by the time night fell I was head over heels in love with him.”

“I imagine he felt the same way,” Zoey said, her full attention on the road.

“I’d like to think the feeling was mutual. We dated for about a year while he was stationed at Fort Hood and then one day he asked me to marry him. I was beside myself, and of course I said yes. Never even dawned on me that I hadn’t met anyone in his family, especially his parents. Considering he never told me he had any brothers, I didn’t think anything of it.”

“He didn’t mention any of his brothers? At all?” Zoey’s incredulity reflected the absurdity of what Kylie had considered the most intimate relationship of her entire life.

“No. I’m not sure I ever directly asked if he had brothers or sisters. Though that’s unlikely… Anyway. On our wedding day, we met at the courthouse, the Justice of the Peace presided over the nuptials, and the rest is history. Literally.”

Kylie caught sight of Zoey from the corner of her eye, waiting for her to toss more questions. When she didn’t, she just kept talking as though it were perfectly natural to share so many intimate details with an almost perfect stranger.

“We didn’t have a honeymoon, nor did we announce our good news to anyone. We spent the rest of that day in bed because he had only been able to take leave for one day and then things went back to normal. Until three weeks into the marriage, when Travis walked away.”

“Like out of your life?”

“Exactly. He told me he wanted something that I wouldn’t understand. Said he was different and left me with my heart in my hands. Insert ten years without him and all of a sudden Gage showed up on my doorstep. Not that I knew there was any association between the two of them at the time.”

“Did Gage say why he came to see you?”

“Well, initially he said he wanted me to restore a historic house that his grandparents had left him when they passed away. I believed it too, but it wasn’t like I had any reason not to.”

“Did the two of you start dating?”

Kylie breathed in slowly. She couldn’t help wondering if there was a reason behind the intimate line of questions that revolved around Gage. Now would’ve been the perfect time for Kylie to ask her own questions about the relationship between the two of them, but she bit her tongue. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answers.

“We did. Or at least I thought that’s what we were doing.”

“So when did you find out Gage knew Travis?”

“The day Gage brought me to your house,” she explained. That was the day her life had flipped upside down and nothing else mattered except trying to right it again.

Now that she thought about it, her life wasn’t right side up again at all. It was closer to inside out at this point, but she was finding she preferred it that way.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” Zoey said with sadness in her tone. “I’m not sure what got into Gage, but I’d have never guessed he’d do something like that.”

Kylie knew his decisions were fueled by his reaction to Travis and looking back, she realized he was trying to hurt him. She’d been collateral damage, and although things ended up opposite from what she would’ve anticipated, Kylie had decided to put the incident behind her. There was no room in her heart for anything more than the love she felt for both Travis and Gage. They’d managed to shove out all of the pain from her past.

“So, are things serious between the three of you?”

The question took Kylie completely off guard. She wasn’t sure exactly what to say, nor did she know how to lie about something like that if she wasn’t willing to offer up the truth.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to push too far,” Zoey said when the silence began suffocating them. “It really isn’t any of my business.”

Kylie realized how much she liked Zoey and being that she didn’t have many friends, she wanted to share the details. Well, up to a point anyway.

“I think it is. I hope it is.”

“Me too,” Zoey whispered and shocked Kylie when she reached over and squeezed her hand. “Me too.”

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Kylie decided it was her turn. “How’d you and Kaleb meet?” Fair was fair. If Kylie was supposed to share, she figured Zoey would do the same.

A huge smile tipped Zoey’s lips, and she beamed as she glanced over quickly.

“We were next door neighbors,” she said. “Growing up we were best friends, but it wasn’t until last year that things changed.”

“Young love then?”

“Actually, no,” Zoey grinned. “There was a line there, and neither of us ever crossed it for some reason. Then all of a sudden there he was, right there in front of me and, well, the rest is history.”

Kylie returned Zoey’s smile. It was clear the woman was in love with her man. She glowed with love and Kylie envied her. She was sure it had been a long road to get where she was, and Kylie was still curious about a few things.

But she was going to hold the more difficult questions for another day.

♂♀

The rumble of voices throughout the house combined with the beat of the sound system blaring Fall Out Boy in the background – Light Em Up rattling the windows – kept Gage focused.

For the better part of four hours, he’d been painting until he felt as though his arms were going to fall off. The house was full of Walker men and their friends, including their cousin Jaxson, Sawyer’s friend CJ, as well as Beau Bennett. There was something to be said about putting eleven grown men to work. They weren’t finished, but at the rate they were going, Gage knew they’d probably shock the hell out of Kylie when she finally got back.

He’d only had to call her twice – once to confirm exactly what color paint was going where and the other to make sure she hadn’t gone overboard because as of now, she and Zoey still weren’t back.

“We brought food!” Zoey’s country twang echoed through the house, and a round of male cheers followed.

Finally.

Gage ran the roller over the paint about to drip down from the ceiling and then gave in. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t beside himself now that she was home. He looked over at Travis and noticed the man was tense, likely trying to keep from running out of the room as well.

Caving, Gage dropped his paint roller in the pan after he descended the ladder. That got Travis’ attention, and they looked at one another from across the room. A small smile tipped Travis’ lips, and Gage knew he was daring him. Like teenagers, they were about to take off to see who could get to her first.

The tangy smell of barbecue wafted through the house, but that wasn’t the scent Gage was tracking. Like a hound dog sniffing a trail, he was in search of lavender and vanilla. He heard the pounding of Travis’ boots on the floor behind him, obviously in hot pursuit, but he wasn’t about to stop. Every man for himself and all that.

The second he spotted her long, wavy hair pulled away from her face, her pretty pink lips turned up in a smile, and baby blue eyes aimed toward them, Gage had to restrain himself from taking off at a dead run.