I follow her out the door, locking it behind me. I stow my gear in the backseat. When I get settled in the driver’s side, I feel her gaze on me. I look at her. The sun is almost set so it’s dark inside the cab of my pickup.
“Are you okay?”
I nod. “Like I said, long day.”
She sighs. “Tell me about it.”
I want to pull her closer, tell her everything will be alright, but I need to repair the bridge I trashed over the last year. Instead, I start up my pickup. I need to keep my priorities in line. Nancy needs to stay safe, then I can fix everything else.
Chapter Fifteen
Nancy
I hate shopping for food. HATE IT. I like shopping for other things, but food is just not fun to me. Mainly because I’m a sucky cook. Also, shopping in Juniper Springs is never fun. You can’t walk even a few feet without someone wanting to talk to you. San Antonio can be kind of impersonal because of the size of the city, and sometimes that is a good thing. Even if people recognize me at the HEB, they tend to keep a respectful distance. In Juniper Springs, no one keeps a respectful distance.
We’ve been stopped ten times. TEN TIMES. Sorry for using so many all caps, but jeez, a girl needs a break. Usually, I don’t mind chatting with people, but ever since I realized someone has it out for me—or maybe someone has it out for me—I have no patience for talking with people. In fact, Chris Pine could appear in front of me to talk about how sexy he thinks I am, and I would be irritated.
Part of the reason is that I am a little raw from our visit to the office. Yes, it was just a bathroom, but I almost started crying. It was perfect, just like I had designed it. But, that’s Travis. When we are working together and not fighting, it is one of the best feelings in the world. But it’s trashed because I was stupid and fell in love with my partner. Our best friends’ kind of status sort of went down the drain. At best, I would say we were frenemies.
So here we are again, stuck on the pasta aisle listening to Mrs. Petrie complain about everything we’ve done wrong or are doing wrong. Or something. Okay, I’ll admit that I’m not really paying attention. She’s been blathering on for what feels like a million hours, and she’s not looking at me. The retired substitute teacher was one of those types of subs you wanted to avoid. She was angry all the time, always writing all of us up for insane reasons. Back then, it seemed like she was the devil incarnate. Now, I look back and think I would be an angry sub also. Dealing with teenagers isn’t fun.
But even though she no longer works as a substitute, but she’s always complaining. About everything. Last city board meeting I went to, she complained about the sound of her neighbor’s sprinklers making too much noise. Yeah, she’s one of those.
She’s a tall, angular woman, with a perpetual frown. She can’t weigh much, as she has been skinny for as long as I can remember. Syd’s convinced that all she needs is a sandwich. Like that’s going to solve anything, but then, I do get nasty when I’m hungry, so maybe she’s onto something.
“So, are you two going to finally open up that office you’ve been talking about for the last few years?” Mrs. Petrie asks, her voice dripping with judgement. The old biddy.
I want to tell her to just fuck right off. I know. I was raised to behave better. I said I wanted to tell her. I didn’t say I actually said it. That would make me disrespectful.
Travis has no problem dealing with the LOLs though. They love him.
“Of course, we are,” Travis says, his dimples flashing. And, naturally, the LOL just melts when he continues to smile at her. “We recently finished up our season though, so we need a little time off before we can work on something like that.”
“Fine. Just know that everyone expects it.”
She turns and hurries off. I watch as she stops to complain about something else to one of the stock boys filling the shelves. Maybe the kid can direct her to the pre-made sandwiches.
“Everyone expects it,” I say in a mocking tone. “Remind me why I want to keep living here.”
Travis stops and looks down at me. His gaze searches mine as if he’s looking for the answers there. That direct eye contact has my heart racing. All he has to do is stare at me with those deep chocolate eyes, the ones that seem to see into my soul. GAWD. Sorry again, my knees are weak, and my head is spinning. It only took a stare.
“You love it here.”
I open my mouth to respond, but the words get stuck in my throat when he takes some of my hair and slips it behind my ear. It isn’t highly sexual, or even flirty, but it speaks of intimacy. While we are pretty close, or were until this past season, we tend to keep our hands mostly to ourselves. Or we have since that first season. I don’t know if he ever noticed how I started to avoid touching him. I had been all hugs and kisses on the cheek until those stupid feelings started to crop up. From that point on, I made sure to keep a lot of distance between us. Or, at least, as much as I could during filming.
“I do not. I hate it. I hate it and all the LOLs, especially my cousin Jon who created the JSE. When all this crap is over, I think we need to pull a prank on him. I’m sure we could get some help from Everly.”
He chuckles. The sound of it always leaves me a little lightheaded. It’s mainly because all the blood in my head seems to rush to my vagina, and it’s understandable that she’s a little needy. She hasn’t seen any action from anything that didn’t require batteries for months. Then I start adding up the months and realize it’s been over a year. A YEAR. God. No wonder she’s a cranky biatch.
“Come on, let’s finish up.”
As we’re standing in line, I think back to the last eighteen months. It’s not like I haven’t had opportunities. I don’t sit at home pining after a man who sees me as a sister. I’ve dated here and there, and then there’s Carter Hawthorne. The youngest of the billionaire brothers is a world-class flirt. We started texting a little over a month ago, but when we met, we realized that we would only ever be friends. Not that he would turn me down. If I asked him for a one-night stand, he would definitely be all in. He’s told me he finds me attractive, but he said he knew my heart wouldn’t be in it. What he meant by that, I’m not sure, but I took it that he knew I’m in love with someone else.
So, we resolved to be friends.
Travis yawns beside me and I laugh. “Oh, feeling your almost thirty years, Travis?”
He smiles and shakes his head. “That cot in the office wasn’t especially comfortable. After driving back from Amarillo, then coming up here, I’m a little stiff.”
I had expected him to stay in Amarillo a little longer. “Why did you come back so fast?”
He pulls the buggy up to the conveyer belt. “I was sick of Amarillo.”
“That seems odd since you had a skank attached to your hip.”
The moment I say it, I regret it. I don’t want to fight any more about that shit. Not right now. We have too much on our plates to argue over stupid things. He says nothing as he finishes paying for the food, then we walk out together. As the silence grows, so does my tension. It isn’t until we’re sitting in his truck that Travis says anything.