Not a Chance(16)

"No problem," Travis said. He shoved his hands in his pockets and waited for her.

"Great!" She folded the box closed and then hopped to her feet. She wiped her hands on her skirt, the same one she'd worn when he'd first picked her up, and beamed at him. "Are we ready, then?"

He nodded. She was so happy. So happy to be going home. Not at all sad that she wouldn't be sleeping next to him tonight.

She skipped to the front door and had her hand on the handle when Travis came up behind her and put his hand on the door above her head, holding it closed.

"I need to say something before we go back and go our separate ways," he said.

She turned to him and the smile died on her face. "I wish you wouldn't," she said. "I think we've got a great start to a wonderful friendship and I'm afraid you're just going to ruin it."

"That's fine with me," he said. "I don't need another friend. What I do need is you. For however long I can have you. Forever would be my preference."

Her jaw jutted out slightly, she folded her arms over her chest and looked away. One of her many spoiled princess poses.

"I love you, Arden," he said. And his heart rate sped up at the sound of the words coming out of his mouth. The commitment of them. The excitement and possibility of them. He took a deep, shuddering breath. "I love you," he said again.

She looked at him, her expression softening just a bit, although she was clearly trying with all her might to be hard. "Is that what you wanted to say?"

He swallowed down the ache in his chest. "Yeah. That's all. I just needed you to know."

She nodded. He dropped his hand and stepped back so she could open the door. He couldn't look at her. He waited, but she didn't open the door and so he had to look at her. Her hands fidgeted at her waist and she looked uncertain...a strange thing for her. "It's just...maybe if I was unhappy with my current arrangement with Nick...but I've got no reason to leave him."

Travis held his breath in and tried not to get excited. Maybe he could still sell this. "If you like me better, isn't that a good enough reason?"

She shook her head. "How would you feel if I promised to marry you and then found someone else I liked better and left you. That's not my idea of commitment. Nick and I have been together a very long time. Of course the passion has faded. It always does. So it would be wrong of me to drop a solid, promising relationship for the excitement of a new passion that will also fade someday."

"I understand, Arden. It makes sense. You're right in the hypothetical sense. But what's happened to you and Nick...it's not the same. If you loved him, there would still be passion. But you don't love him. It's wrong to stay with him when you don't love him."

"I don't like it when you tell me that I don't love him. I do. I always have. I'm staying with him and that's that. I'm not interested in you. You'd be fun for a few weeks and then I'd be bored."

Travis frowned, stung by the harshness of her words.

"I know you say you love me. But I don't love you. I think you're a great guy and I want to be friends. But that's it. Okay?"

He wanted to grab her and kiss her and make her love him. He watched her as she stood tall and cold and untouchable. She didn't want him. If she did she would touch him or show some sign of regret at refusing him or maybe even kiss him. But she put the whole world in between them and even though she was only an arm's length away, he couldn't have touched her if he tried.

He nodded. "Okay," he said, mentally cursing his weak voice. "If you change your mind..."

"I won't." She turned and opened the door and walked to the truck.

Travis followed.





CHAPTER ELEVEN



Arden still lived with her parents. Splitlog hosted several apartment complexes, but none suited her needs. There were two sets on the broken down part of town, furthest from the river. Small rooms, mold and flea infestations, and dodgy window AC units. Then there were the three-bedroom duplexes over on Sycamore street which were pretty nice...but not as nice as the entire second story of the Butler's mini mansion on The Hill, which Arden had entirely to herself.

It was to this destination that Arden was now headed. After five days, the snow and ice had finally melted enough for Travis to get the truck out of the ditch. Now she sat next to him on the slow drive home. She fidgeted with her hands in her lap and gnawed on her bottom lip.

"Relax," Travis growled.

She glanced up at him. "I'm worried about you."

He barked a laugh. "Right. Sure you are."

Arden shook her head and stared out the window. They were only three miles out of town but the going was a little slower than normal. She watched the trees in the wind as they rained down clumps of melting snow. "Maybe we could get together for lunch tomorrow."