Libby looked up at him. “Why do you still have my favorite body wash and shampoo in your shower?”
Travis looked down at the woman who had always owned his heart. “Because they smell like you. And I find that most days I need that just to get through the day. So, until I can have the real thing, your scent from you lying beside me, I’ll use your body wash to at least give me some sense of peace.”
Libby looked up at him while he spoke. When he was finished, she didn’t hesitate. She lifted up on tiptoe while pulling his head down to her level and pressed her lips against his. He pulled back and looked down at her with a surprised, but happy expression. Then she kissed him again. “Come on, we have a lot to get done,” she said, releasing him and walking down the front steps.
Travis was beaming. Libby had kissed him — on her own, without any pressure from him to do so. His heart was singing and in his mind his Tiger was roaring out his pleasure at finally being near their female and her being accepting of them. “It’s going to be a great day,” he said.
“You know? I think you’re right,” Libby answered.
Chapter 9
A few hours later and Travis was stacking up wooden cutouts for Libby to paint. He’d completed the archway for arriving customers to walk under and the large wooden candy canes to stand on either side of it. After Libby had sketched the outline for the frames, he’d cut those out, too, and had placed them in the growing stack of things she needed to paint. And from the scraps of wood from the archway and the big candy canes, he’d begun to cut out the smaller shapes that would become ornaments for the kids to paint.
Travis turned off his saw and took off his safety goggles, before walking over to the table where Libby sat, diligently painting, and apparently enjoying herself to no end.
“You’re really talented,” he said, looking down at the archway Libby had finished and was trying to set aside to dry. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks,” Libby said, looking at the arch. She’d painted it white with a red trim and yet another green trim at the very perimeter of the arch. She’d painted the words, ‘Vitrano’s Christmas Memories Tree Farm’ in red in the center of it and surrounded it with yellow stars and blue Christmas angels. On either end she’d painted several holly leaves with three red holly berries at their bottom. “I thought we could drape it with some pine boughs, or maybe some lights to give it some extra zing.”
“It’s beautiful, Libby. And the name… it’s perfect,” Travis said.
“I decided just ‘Vitrano’s Tree Farm’ wasn’t enough. And I have so many wonderful memories of this place. And that’s what we’re really offering people anyway, isn’t it? Happy family holiday memories? So, ‘Vitrano’s Christmas Memories Tree Farm’.”
“It is. And you’re right, it’s all about family and memories,” Travis answered.
“Can you help me move it aside so I can start on the candy canes that’ll go on either side?” she asked.
“Of course,” Travis answered, grabbing a side and waiting for her to get the other side so they could move it out of the way so it would dry while she worked on the rest of the pieces.
“You starting to get a little hungry?” Libby asked.
“Yeah, I am. You?” Travis answered.
“Yep. I could run inside and make us something real quick. If you don’t mind, I mean,” Libby offered.
“I will never mind you being in my home. I’m sorry that I made you feel that way in the past. It will never happen again. You are always welcome here. Okay?” Travis said, looking intently at her.
Libby nodded. “Okay,” she finally agreed.
“I was thinking as long as I’m cutting things out, I’ll do another arch and the bases. We could use them for Halloween,” he said.
“Yeah, that’d be great. And if I get a chance, I’ll paint them; if not, I’ll do it after Christmas.”
“Anything in particular you want, or just like these?” Travis asked.
“Umm, give me a second,” she said, grabbing her pencil and walking over to where his band saw was set up. “This one?” she asked, pointing to one of the leftover sheets of plywood.
“Yeah, that’ll do.” Travis said, watching as she leaned over the plywood and began to sketch, moving down the length of the wood as she went. A few minutes later she was done.
“Can you cut out this shape?” Libby asked.
Travis walked over to see what she’d drawn. “Wow. Just like that,” he said, “an autumn archway is created.”
“It’s not much. The arch will be the same shape as the Christmas one. But instead of candy canes decorating the supports, we’ll cut out a totem of pumpkins. We’ll decorate with some fall leaves painted on and actual leaves strung from the arch itself.”
“I couldn’t do it without you. You have a gift,” he said, moving the board she’d sketched on to the jig saw. “I’ll get the pumpkin totems cut out right now and out of the way so we can keep painting the Christmas stuff,” Travis said.
“Okay, I’ll get something together for lunch,” Libby said, brushing her hands on her jeans.
“See you in a bit,” Travis said, putting his safety goggles back on and firing up his saw.
Libby walked out of the workshop and over to the house. She let herself in and went to the kitchen to wash her hands. Then she opened the refrigerator and dug around a bit. “Ground beef,” she mumbled, taking it out, then she opened the vegetable crisper. She was pleasantly surprised to find bell peppers. She straightened up and looked around the kitchen, spotting what she was looking for in a wicker basket sitting on the counter top. “Hamburger steaks and fries smothered in brown gravy,” she said, grabbing the bell pepper from the refrigerator, then moving triumphantly to the basket holding the yellow onions. She pulled down a large frying pan from the hanging rack above the stove and set it on the burner, turning it on to get it heated. Then she started forming her hamburger steaks. She chopped up the bell pepper, and an onion, then cut the potatoes into large steak fries. She mixed the pepper and the onion and some seasonings into the meat before forming them into large, thick, hamburger steaks and placing them in the skillet to start cooking. Once there was enough beef fat in the skillet, she dropped the potatoes in the skillet with the hamburger steaks, and salted them, too. “Yum,” she said, standing over the pot watching the food cook. “I hope he likes it,” she said on a smile.
~~~
Riley and Lazarus took a right off the highway onto the drive that led to Riley’s house. Riley watched in his rear view as the truck driven by Roman turned off in the opposite direction and drove into the trailer park Riley’s Pride owned. They’d finished the gutters which were the final step of the roof they’d rebuilt for their customer. The customer had paid them, and Riley had cashed the check and paid each of his males before they ever left town and headed home. Now they were planning on some time off before the holidays unless someone called with a job that couldn’t wait. They’d put off two larger jobs until after the first of the new year, but if someone had an emergency, Riley would consider it.