He grinned at her, all charming and boyish so that she just wanted to drag him to the nearest bed and crawl all over him. "I'm not nervous," he said.
"You're not?"
He shrugged. "No. I'm sure your aunt and uncle are nice folks. And I've already met your parents."
"You met them briefly Friday night."
"Well, yeah, but I talked to your old man for a while."
"You mean when he yelled at you to leave? Because I don't think that counts."
"No," Travis said. "When I was about to leave he invited me to the den for cigars and we talked for a while."
Arden figured she shouldn't be surprised. Of course her father would want to protect her. She only hoped he hadn't made any ridiculous threats or ultimatums. "You could have told me about this."
Travis laughed. "What's to tell. Can we go in, now?"
She looked him up and down. "Why did you have to change?"
"I want to be comfortable. Don't act like you don't think I'm sexy right now."
She turned away and grinned. "Okay. Just...be on your best behavior and don't...don't..."
"Don't embarrass you? You're kind of starting to piss me off, Princess." He gave her a stern look and then got out of the car and strode toward the front door.
Arden exhaled heavily and then shut off the car and followed him in.
Her mother had two sisters who were both younger and married with kids. Aunt Jenny lived so far away that she and her husband came in the week before Christmas and stayed all week. They had two children ages 10 and 8, a girl and boy respectively. Todd and Jenny were actually only ten years older than Arden, which put them around Travis's age.
Everyone was gathered in the family room. The kids were playing Sorry on the coffee table. The adults rose as Arden came in and introduced Travis to everyone. When they took their seats on the large wrap-around couch, Travis leaned back, propped his ankle up on his knee and dropped his arm around Arden's shoulders. Just like they were at some movie theater or something, and not in her parent's living room where everyone was wearing church clothes and sipping coffee out of her mother's second best tea service.
"So what do you do, Travis?" Todd asked.
"He owns his own business," Arden jumped in, hoping Travis would let her do the talking.
"I'm a mechanic," he said, glancing a menacing look Arden's way.
She slumped back. Defeated.
"Wow," Aunt Jenny said. Her eyes were wide and her hands were folded tightly in her lap as though she were anticipating some great event. "A mechanic. So you spend your day working on cars and getting all greasy and sweaty and stuff?"
Travis grinned. "Yes, ma'am."
"Wow," she exclaimed again, breathily.
Todd rolled his eyes. "I'm sitting right here, honey," he said.
She blushed and suppressed a grin.
"Don't worry about it, Todd," Travis said. "Few women can resist my charms. It's a gift I have."
Everyone laughed as though he'd said the wittiest thing and he gave Arden a nudge and a smile. She glared at him, mentally willing him to shut up and fade into the background.
Laura stepped in and refilled Travis's coffee cup. Which was when Arden noticed that she was nearly as enamored of Travis as Jenny was. "Can I get you anything else to drink, Travis?" Laura asked, hovering a few steps away.
"No, thank you, Miss Laura. This is just the best coffee I've ever tasted."
Laura blushed and took a seat next to Jenny. "I've got wine for dinner, but I bought some sparkling cider, just for you, Travis," Laura said.
Travis beamed at her. "Well that's very thoughtful of you. Thank you."
"Travis is an alcoholic!" Arden blurted out. She wasn't sure why she said it. Everyone froze and looked at her.
Travis removed his arm from her shoulders and angled toward her. His expression was half amused and half confused. "What the hell is your problem?" he asked, laughing a little.
She looked at him wide-eyed and shrugged.
"How long have you been sober, Travis?" Todd asked.
"Four years, eleven months, and fifteen days," Travis said.
Todd nodded. "Good for you. I have a cousin over in Bixy. She's been fighting alcoholism. I think it's been about three weeks since she's had a drink. She's got three kids, you know. Very tough situation."
"Does she go to the meetings over there?" Travis sat back, relaxing again after Arden's outburst.
"Not yet," Todd said. "I've been telling her she needs to, but I don't have any contacts."
"Sheldon Leonard runs AA over there. I'd be happy to meet your cousin and go with her to her first meeting. You really can't fight this alone."
Todd nodded. "I may take you up on that."