Not a Chance(108)

"Travis, this isn't our business," Arden said. "You'll go to jail if you attack a man in his own home and then what good will you be to anyone, huh?"

Travis glared at her.

"Pull it together, Travis," Arden said. She stroked his arm like she was soothing a spooked horse.

Slowly he swallowed down his anger and returned his gaze to Tonya. "Don't let him hurt this baby, Tonya," he said.

"She's my kid," Tonya said.

"I know that. So do right by her."

Tonya reached her arms out. Travis lowered Emily into a cradling position and kissed her one more time. "Goodbye, Ems," he whispered. "I love you."

Even Tonya softened at this display of affection. She took Emily into her arms and stared up at Travis. His eyes were wet, but he smiled adoringly at Emily.

Arden took him by the arm. "Thank you, Tonya," she said. "If you ever need anything, please call." She handed Tonya a card with her phone number on it. "If you ever need a place to stay, you're welcome with me for as long as you want."

Tonya bit down on her bottom lip and nodded.

Arden gave Travis's arm a little tug and they got in her car and drove home. Travis was silent. There were only two tears out of the ordeal, which he quickly wiped off his cheeks with the back of his arm. Halfway home, Arden heard him exhale loudly.

"Thank you, Princess," he said.

She smiled then. She'd been so starved for the old Travis that she even welcomed being called "princess" again. "I wish it could be more."

"Closure's good," he said. "I'm heartbroken. But maybe I can keep in contact with Tonya well enough to do at least a little bit of good for Emily."

"You're an amazing man," Arden said.

He shook his head. "You're just in love with me, that's all. Nothing amazing about me."

Arden disagreed. But she kept it to herself.

"You offered to let her stay with you," Travis said.

Arden wasn't sure if he was asking a question or not.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

"I guess if we have to have Tonya in order to be close to Emily, we'd best resign ourselves to it. It'll be like raising two children instead of one."

Travis glanced at her.

Arden smiled at him and then went back to playing Scrabble on her iPhone.

"What are you going to do if she takes you up on your offer?" Travis asked.

Arden stared hard at the game board trying to figure out how to get the triple word score. "I guess we'll just have to work out our living arrangements. I'm sure Emma won't mind sharing the apartment with her. But you might want to be closer to the baby, so that would just be up to you. We could keep her at your place or mine. Doesn't matter to me."

"We." Travis said the word quietly.

She looked up at him, then, suddenly aware of how much she was taking for granted. "I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't thinking. It's just...after this morning I thought..."

He reached over and took her hand. "We should go have lunch," he said.

Arden stopped stammering and squeezed his hand.

"Then we should go back to my house and make passionate love for the better part of the afternoon." He kept emphasizing the "we" when he spoke.

"That's a really good plan," Arden said.

"I'm glad you agree. We're going to get along just fine, I think," he said.

Arden leaned up and kissed his jaw. She slid her hand over his thigh. They decided to skip lunch.





CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE



Travis was getting tired of saying goodbye to Arden every night. Or in the mornings. Spring was here and he wanted her with him all the time. It was ridiculous living in two separate places. He determined that tonight he would take her out to dinner and ask her to move in with him. Or marry him. He really didn't care which.

She'd gone with him to visit Duane last week. That was it for Travis. He knew if she would participate in that relationship, she was definitely both feet in. She'd conversed with Duane politely and even smiled once in a while. They discovered a mutual hate for their sophomore biology teacher. Travis left the visit feeling as confident as possible that Duane was going to be okay. He'd cut his hair and cleaned up. He'd lost a front tooth in a fight his first night there. Duane had asked Travis, as a getting out present in six years, to buy him a gold tooth. He thought it would be cool.

Travis and Arden had spent the night in a hotel in the city after that. She'd forced him to go to a fancy restaurant which he had to buy a jacket for. But then she paid for dinner and he hadn't felt the least bit guilty because it was small portions of weird, French shit that tasted like feet. He'd have rather had burgers at the diner any time.

It was like that with their dates. They took turns sharing their individual tastes and experiences with each other. And along the way they found things in common and enjoyed each other's company.