Travis turned his thoughts to Arden. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "So my girlfriend is too busy to come see me?" he asked Emma.
Emma looked away.
Travis laughed. Then he winced and pressed his hand to his stomach.
"I think she may be insane, Travis," Dustin said.
Travis leaned his head back into his pillow.
"Seriously," Dustin said. "I talked to her on the phone. She was acting really strange. I think she's in shock or denial or something. She said to tell you hi."
Travis laughed again and then cursed at the pain.
He felt Emma's hand on his arm. "I think she's just having a really hard time with this. Maybe she thinks if she doesn't see you, then this whole thing won't be real."
"Stop making me laugh," he said, stifling laughter yet again. "My God. She's having a hard time? She has my sympathies. Be sure and send her some flowers for me."
"Travis, she loves you..." Emma started.
Travis put up his hand in a stop gesture. He looked at Dustin. "Can you get a doctor? I don't want to stay here if it's just so they can watch me for a few days. I can do my recovering at home."
"They're not going to let you go, Travis. It's too soon," Dustin said.
"I've already got Tonya's bills to pay and no car to sell. I don't need this, too."
"You've got insurance..."
"Yeah, but how much will it cover?"
"I can find out."
"Please do," Travis said. "I've got another question."
"Shoot." Dustin sat on the arm of a chair up against the wall.
"If I don't want to press charges against Duane, will they let him go?"
"Fuck," Dustin said, shaking his head.
"Just find out."
Dustin looked at him like he was the biggest idiot he'd ever seen. "I'll ask. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter."
Travis nodded. "He said he was sorry."
Dustin burst into laughter. Emma gave his arm a squeeze. Travis couldn't help but smile. He realized as he said it just how ridiculous it sounded. Dustin had every right to laugh at him.
"Why don't you go and talk to him," Dustin said when he calmed down. "Then find out if he's really sorry. There was a lot of blood...he might have just been scared. Then if he's really sorry, you two can shake hands and be best friends again."
"You have a good heart, Travis," Emma said. "Don't let him make you feel ashamed of that."
He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. She blushed all over. "Would you mind calling Shannon? I could really use the sight of Emily right about now."
"Absolutely." She kissed his forehead and then left the room.
Dustin collapsed into the chair and leaned his head back against the window sill.
"You okay, brother?" Travis asked.
Dustin smiled at him. "I am whole with all of my internal organs in tact. I'm just fine."
"Obviously that's not what I meant."
Dustin sighed. "I'm fine. She's mad at me. Makes it easier. If she were all sweet and nice to me I'd be miserable. But she barely looks at me and when she does it's these cold, defiant looks...like she's daring me to mess with her. Kind of cute, actually. But definitely easier to deal with than if she were being nice."
"Good. I guess. I still say you're making a mistake. But I'm too tired to argue about it right now."
"I'm sorry about Arden," Dustin said.
Travis nodded. "Me too. I was really getting along with her family." He closed his eyes and leaned his bed back a ways. "You know Ellie Watson?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"She runs that daycare on Spring Street. I talked to her last week to see if she could take care of Emily. I remember last Summer she turned forty. She was up at Rowdy's crying into her beer. I ought to be with a woman like that."
"How do you figure?"
Travis shrugged, his eyes still closed. He was too tired, all of a sudden, to keep them open. "She'd appreciate me. I'd lavish her with love and she'd do anything to keep me around. Being younger than her, she'd think she was really lucky to have me. We would need each other. It would be a mutually rewarding relationship."
"You want a needy woman? You're the only man in the world who wants a needy woman."
Travis opened his eyes a sliver and looked at his brother. "You don't want to be needed? You don't want a woman who can't leave you because she needs you?"
"No," Dustin said, with a surprising sharpness to his tone. "I want a woman who can stand on her own two feet, but wants to do it with a partner. I want a woman who is strong and independent, but not selfish."
"You can't have the independent without the selfish." Travis yawned.