Not a Chance(10)

He looked up to the ceiling. "It'll be cold up there."

"It's an attic. Don't you want to see what's in it?"

He shrugged. "I kind of feel bad poking around in all their stuff. If we weren't so fucking bored, I'd never even consider it."

She stood and waited for him to finish wrestling with his morals. Finally he reached up and grabbed the chain. Arden stepped back to avoid the ladder that came sliding down. They climbed up and were immediately accosted with a foul smell. Travis was up first and put his arm over his mouth and nose. He reached down a hand to help Arden up. She mimicked his gesture, covering her own mouth and nose.

There wasn't much but dust and cobwebs up there. A few boxes of Christmas decorations. The ceiling was so low that they had to stay on their knees. A little light came in from the vent. Travis shuffled over and knocked it open to let in more light. That's when they saw them. June and Rory Raymer. Frozen to death. Clinging to each other. Travis covered his mouth and turned away. Arden did the same. She couldn't look. She thought she might vomit. She hurried down the ladder. A few seconds later, Travis joined her.

He shoved the ladder back up and closed the door. Then he leaned back against the wall and shoved his hands through his hair. Arden took hold of the banister rail at the top of the stairs. Travis rushed to her side and slid his arm around her waist. She would have protested except that the danger of fainting was probably a real one. Either that or she was going to throw up. Travis helped her sit down on the top step. He kept his arm around her.

"Why are they up there?" Arden asked in a breathy voice.

Travis just shook his head.

"Did they get trapped up there?"

Travis inhaled. "I'm pretty sure they could have gotten out. They must have fallen asleep or something and then the temperatures dropped."

Arden hugged her knees. She knew what had happened. They lost their house to the bank and then hid out here since they had no place else to go. They went to the attic when the Sheriff came to evict them. Like Travis said, they must have fallen asleep or not realized how severe the cold was. "Frozen to death because they couldn't pay their bills," Arden said. "Why didn't they ask for help?"

Travis just shook his head again. Finally they got cold and went back downstairs to the fire. There wasn't much of anything they could do until things thawed out. They both stayed fairly quiet for the rest of the evening.





CHAPTER SEVEN



"The colors are coral, ivory and mocha. The reception hall is just going to be draped in ivory chiffon with just enough of the other colors in the centerpieces and chair covers to liven it up a bit. We're going to dance to At Last. The cake is just this amazing monstrosity. Not over-the-top on decorations, just white with occasional bouquets of sugar flowers in my colors. Six tiers. You can't even imagine it. Nothing like it anywhere in Splitlog."

Travis sat with his chin resting on his knees watching Arden as animated as he'd ever seen her, narrating her dream wedding to him. He counted the number of times she mentioned Nick's name. Zero. And counting. It was little things like this that made him think it might not be so bad to try to steal her away from the bastard. Little things like the fact that she was more excited about the wedding than being married to him--made Travis think perhaps she wasn't as in love as she claimed.

"Oh, and we're bringing in caterers. It's going to be this extravagant brunch. Like, all the normal things, but fancied up a bit. Like, instead of just plain french toast, there will be amaretto french toast. And instead of pancakes, like, carmel apple crepes. Stuff like that. Shannon has this friend in St. Louis who is this award-winning culinary genius. It's this huge favor that he's coming down here for this."

Travis's lips quirked up at the corners. He wondered what it would take to keep her this vibrant and excited. She seemed to work so hard to suppress emotions most of the time. Now she was on her knees gesturing with her hands and occasionally reaching out to touch him.

"And my dress." She paused and reached for her iPhone. "Oh crap. Battery's dead. I've got pictures. I look absolutely amazing in this dress. It's halter and the back dips really low. The only thing that would just make it, though, is that I'd really like to get a small, sexy tattoo on my shoulder blade. Nick just laughed at me."

One, Travis counted.

"But I'm not terribly concerned with his opinion. I just need to decide what to get. Then I'm going to do it."

She looked off to the side and settled back onto her ankles, pondering.

"Where are you going to get it done?"

"I'm not sure. I guess the mall over in Bixy."

"There's a real good place in Bixy down in the old part of town. Close to the river. It's real clean and the artwork is amazing."