Tonight Arden was coming over to cook for him. Which always involved him helping whether he wanted to or not. So he tidied up the kitchen for her and ran a vacuum over the floor. He put the vacuum away in the linen closet when he was done and stopped in the hallway, looking into Emily's room. He'd taken a lot of stuff to Tonya, but she hadn't wanted the crib. All the remaining toys and furniture he intended to donate to the church, but he just wasn't ready to empty her room. He still woke up some mornings reaching for the bassinet that was no longer by his bed. It amazed him how attached he'd gotten to someone who wasn't even related to him. He loved that little girl. He'd truly felt like a father to her.
He heard a car enter his driveway and then a horn honking. He left Emily's room and went to the front door. Arden was stepping out of a 1969 Cale Yarbrough special, Mercury Cyclone. His Cyclone. His heart swelled immediately at the site. The only good thing the old man ever gave him.
Arden smiled at him, looking radiant in a yellow sundress that brushed against her legs in the breeze. "Like my new car?" she asked.
He hopped down the porch steps and ran his hand up the fenders. Like a beautiful woman. Arden leaned against it, dangling the keys from her middle finger. "How did you find her?" he asked.
"Same way I found Tonya. It was actually the car that led the detective to her. She sold this car for some quick cash, five thousand dollars to be exact."
Travis winced.
"Yeah. So the guy made a huge profit off of me, because he knew what it was worth."
"Did you know what it was worth?" Travis asked.
"Yes. I looked into it before I went there. The guy was not interested in selling. So I had to pay. A lot. But it's worth it because now I have a really cool car."
Travis laughed. "Except it's my car." He stepped toward her and she leaned back against the car, grinning up at him.
"Did you pay for it?" she asked.
"I restored it."
"Finders keepers. It's mine, now." She stretched her arm out, trying to dangle the keys out of his reach. He leaned up against her, the lengths of their bodies touching. He trailed his fingers along the length of her bare arm and wrapped his hand around hers, keys and all. "You're going to have to earn it back," she said.
"That sounds fun," he said. He took her mouth with his and felt her up. She dropped the keys and he snatched them away. "Yes!" he said, stepping back. "Let's go for a drive."
Arden rolled her eyes and dragged her feet to the passenger side. Travis opened the door for her. "I'm not having sex with you in the back of this car," she said.
"Oh, you'll change your mind."
He helped Arden into the car and then went round to the driver's seat. By the time he got in, Arden was on her cell phone. "Okay, you go down the main street and take a right on Rosebud before you get to the hardware store and then a left on Sycamore. Ours is the second duplex on the left." She ended the call and looked up at Travis. "I gotta go home and put on some underwear."
"Who were you talking...you're not wearing underwear?"
She grinned at him and then got out of the car. He got out, too, and stared at her as she walked around the front to his side. "I was going to lure you into the backseat of your car. I can't allow myself to be the only woman in Splitlog who hasn't gotten laid back there."
Travis grinned and felt suddenly hot all over.
"That was Tonya," Arden said, holding her hands out for the keys. "She's headed to my place. She doesn't want you to be there. So I have to go."
"Wait. What?" He absent-mindedly placed the keys in her hand.
"I'll call you as soon as I find out what's going on. I'll try to get her to let you see Emily before she goes."
Travis stood, stunned. His body hadn't forgotten that she wasn't wearing any underwear and his mind was trying to digest what she'd just said. Before he could respond, she'd kissed him on the cheek and driven off with his car.
"I swear I didn't tell him nothing about you or where you live," Tonya said, cradling a cup of coffee to her chest. "He probably won't even start looking for me for a couple of days 'cause he knows I go stay with my cousin some weekends."
Arden was sitting on the floor next to Emily who lay on a pallet grinning up at the ceiling fan. She rubbed her tummy but watched Tonya.
"Anyway, I was thinking, Travis loves her so much. She should be with him. Don't you think?"
Arden kept her mouth shut. Her suspicions were immediately up.
"It's just," Tonya said, setting her cup on the table, "I met this guy. He wants me to move to Memphis with him. I thought about just safe-dropping Emily somewhere, but I remembered you said I could come here anytime and I remembered how Travis looked holding her."