Beau shrugged. "Maybe you don't do nothing. Maybe it's time to cut him loose...see whether he sinks or swims."
"Or gets drunk, gets behind a wheel and kills a bunch of people."
"I don't know, son. I guess I'm glad he's your problem now and not mine."
Travis wished he could punch Beau right now. "You just wait. Duane does something stupid and gets himself landed in prison, I'm making sure he gets sent here. Then he'll be your problem."
"Come on, Travis. Take care of the kid. He's your brother. Don't let him end up like me."
"I'm trying."
There were a few moments of silence while both men looked inside themselves.
"And how about you?" Beau asked. "How are you doing?"
Travis looked up at him. He wanted to spit in his face. Beau had a lot of nerve acting concerned for him when he'd all but ruined him for the first part of his life. "I'm good," Travis said.
"No college courses for you?"
"Hell, no," Travis laughed.
"Got a girlfriend yet?"
Travis hesitated. "No, unfortunately."
"What's her name?"
"Arden," Travis said, suppressing a grin.
"She cute?"
"Very. I'd send you a picture if I didn't think you'd do something obscene with it."
Beau chuckled. "What about the drinking. You still got that under control?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good for you. I'm proud of you for that. Not too many folks in this world got that kind of self-discipline."
Travis shrugged. "More than you might think," he said, not wanting to give his father permission to excuse himself from his own failings.
They chatted on for close to an hour. Then they both stood and Travis turned to leave.
"Thanks for the visit, son," Beau said.
Travis turned to look at him, this man he justifiably hated and inexplicably loved at the same time. He nodded and then left for home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
"She's going to cook for you? In our kitchen?" Travis asked. Dustin had a date with Emma and was trying to hustle him out of the house.
"Take Tonya with you," Dustin said. He was gathering up stray socks and straightening up magazines on the coffee table.
"You could have given me a little more notice," Travis said.
"Yesterday I said, 'Tomorrow I have a date with Emma. She's coming over to cook for me.' Did you not hear?"
Travis had just gotten home from work. It was nearly eight o'clock and he'd worked longer than intended on the widow Nettleton's transmission. She was alone in the world, though, and without her car, she had no way of getting around. So he'd gotten it running good and took it over to her. Then he came home to find Dustin kicking him out. "I guess I wasn't listening. How long do you want me to be gone? I mean, I don't want to walk in and find you and Emma doing stuff that I don't want to see."
Dustin laughed. "Don't worry about that. Just stay out for a couple of hours. You can go hang out with Neil or something."
"You sure? A couple of hours? I can take Tonya to a hotel if you want the place for the night."
"Not necessary. Thanks, though."
Travis watched him as he tidied up. There was something in the way he had laughed a second ago. "Emma's not making you wait for marriage, is she?" Travis said, mostly joking.
But then Dustin looked up in surprise and quickly covered his expression with a nervous laugh. "Of course not. Why would you even ask? Now get out of here."
Travis thought about it for a moment. Their dates never went past eleven. He never did more than hold her hand in public. Maybe. "She is, isn't she? She wants to wait?"
Dustin was holding a stack of car magazines. He hurled them onto the coffee table. "Yeah. So what? You got something to say about it?"
Travis put his hands up, palm out and stepped back. "Take it easy. I think it's great. Good for her." But he wasn't able to say it with a straight face and he thought Dustin might be about to punch him.
"It's none of your business, Travis."
Travis got control of himself and nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry."
Dustin glared at him another moment and then leaned down to straighten up the magazines.
"Have you tried talking her out of it?" Travis asked.
"What?" Dustin looked at him like he was crazy.
"You know. Just get her worked up. Flirt with her. Kiss her. Weaken her resolve a bit. Then tell her you love her and you'll always be with her and there's no need to wait. Or whatever you want to say." Travis shrugged. He was offering well-meaning advice because he genuinely felt sorry for Dustin.
But Dustin shook his head in disgust. "You want me to knowingly violate her moral code?"