Love You Madly(53)

“I’ll be there in half an hour.”

He headed back downstairs and was just about to press Jace’s phone number when he heard someone pull into Meredith’s driveway. He brushed the curtain back from a window by the front door.
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His sister and Allie were bearing down on him.

…

Meredith woke up to a beam of light piercing through her eyelids. She brought her hand up to shade them and blinked, trying to get her bearings. Nine forty? She’d actually slept in?

That was a first. It had been a good sleep, too, and even if it was only a few hours, she felt more rested than she had in a long time.

No. Wait. It was more than that…

The events of the early morning hours came sharply into focus.

She’d slept with Travis.

No, more than slept—she’d completely lost her mind and made love to the man. And now…she looked around, noting the wrinkled sheets next to her…he was gone.

Her heart lurched in her chest, and she sat upright.

This is ridiculous, Mer. Get a grip. He’s probably just downstairs. In fact, she was certain she could smell coffee brewing. He hadn’t taken off, hadn’t abandoned her. He couldn’t, even if he wanted to. She was his client, and she was paying him to do a job.

Wow. That didn’t actually make her feel any better.

A few minutes later, she was dressed and had managed to put some mascara and a little lip gloss on before heading downstairs to find Travis. She tried to shrug off the irrational twinge of disappointment that he hadn’t bothered to wake her up, or to at least say good morning. They’d slept together, that was all. They hadn’t made a blood pact to be the other’s soul mate or anything.

But would a simple good morning have been so hard?

The sounds of voices coming from the kitchen told her they weren’t alone, and her steps slowed as she tried to figure out who was there. Lots of voices—she should say lots of female voices, that was for sure.

Trepidation slowed her approach even more. Which was ridiculous, since it was her house. But with the chatter from the other room, it all felt foreign.

“You know, finding a wedding date and sticking to it shouldn’t be this difficult,” Allie said in a teasing voice.

Meredith had no doubt who Allie was talking to, confirmed a minute later when Claire answered. “Hey, can I help it if my one and only brother can’t pinpoint an available weekend until mid-September?”

“Uh-huh,” Allie said. “And last time it was because you didn’t want to miss the senior class trip to DC, and what was the excuse the time before that?”

The chatter continued, but Meredith was still stuck on Claire’s comment. Travis certainly had a busy schedule. Wouldn’t be back in town until at least September. Two months from now.

What had she expected? He had a life, and it wasn’t here.

Which made what they’d done a few hours ago—the feelings she had let herself feel for a man who wasn’t going to be around beyond possibly as early as tonight—another mistake to add to the growing list.

It was a hard lesson but one that apparently she had to keep learning. But for now, she was going to push that to the back of her mind. They had just fourteen hours left to locate her daughter. No more pity party.

“You’re awake,” Travis said when she walked in.

She’d known that Allie and Claire would be sitting at the table along with Travis. But she hadn’t expected to see Meems and hadn’t expected to see her and Travis bent over a laptop together, their shoulders touching. Jealousy reared up to bite her in the butt.

“I am. Did you at least save me some coffee?” She sounded like a bitch and didn’t care. It was her freaking house.

“I’ll make a pot,” Meems said and came to her feet, stretching her arms up, exposing a ripped six-pack. Lord. If that was what her abs looked like, Meredith could only imagine what she looked like everywhere else. She really had to increase her own weight-lifting regimen.#p#分页标题#e#

“That’s okay, I can manage.” Meredith opened the canister of coffee beans and measured them out. She took the opportunity with her back to the room to get a hold of her emotions.

She had yet to make eye contact with Travis.

“I heard about what happened to you two last night, Mer,” Allie said, coming to join her, raising her voice to be heard above the grinding beans. “That was really brave of you guys. I just wish you’d had better luck. Claire and I came over to see if we could offer a hand in some way. We’re looking over topographical maps right now and comparing them to a list of Utah properties that are owned by the same company that owns the club and warehouse. Meems put it together.”