The Cowboy's Summer Love (13 page)

Closing his eyes, a deep sigh escaped him and for the first time since his father died, he felt like crying. Clenching his hands into fists, he wanted to yell, to pound something. Instead he tried to take a deep breath, then another.

A cool hand touched his head and made him jump. He looked up into Cady’s hazel eyes and sweet face.

“Hey, didn’t mean to startle you,” she said quietly. “Can I get you anything? Do you feel like eating something?”

“Not now, but thank you,” Travis said. “Guess I really messed up this time.”

“Do you remember what happened?” Cady asked, sitting carefully on the bed next to him and placing a cool washcloth on his forehead. It felt soothing and good.

“I was on my way home and driving past the Running M. Looking at the house, I could see shapes out on the porch but couldn’t tell who was out there and when I glanced back at the road, a deer was right there in front of me. I swerved and would have been fine, except the road was all wet and I lost control. I remember going down and sliding. The next thing I remember was Tess and Brice helping me into the house. She cleaned me up and I think I passed out at some point. She told me I was lucky to be alive. I guess yesterday just wasn’t my day to die.”

“Are you trying to hurry that day along, Trav?” Cady asked, holding his hand. “We’d really like to keep you here with us for a long time, but you seem bent on destruction lately. Anytime you want to talk about it, know I’m always ready to listen.”

“Thanks, Cady,” Travis said, swallowing down the lump in his throat. Cady was a lady who couldn’t begin to understand the demons that were chasing Travis. The last thing he’d ever do was burden her with them. He loved and respected her too much.

Cady stood up and walked to the door. “Why don’t you try to get some rest? If you need anything, just call for me.”

Travis nodded his head and closed his eyes.

Tess didn’t come back out to check his bandages, but Trent and Cady did a good job of taking care of him. By mid-morning the second day, he was sitting in the office doing book work. Trey was behind, as usual, so it helped Travis feel useful to get the ranch accounts up to date.

“Uncle Travis, I missed you,” Cass said as she ran in the room and launched herself toward him. He spun his chair around and caught her on his good side.

“I missed you, too, kiddo,” he said, breathing in her little girl scent along with the smell of dogs, hay and chocolate. “Were you playing out at the barn with Buddy?”

Cass looked at him like he was a mind reader. “How did you know?”

“I have magical powers, but you can’t tell anyone,” he said, trying to look serious.

“Okay, it’ll be our secret,” Cass whispered. Looking at the computer, she started to jiggle her foot. “Whatcha doing?”

“Your daddy’s bookwork,” Travis said, saving the work he’d done before Cass hit a key she shouldn’t on the keyboard.

“That’s no fun. Want to play fairies?” Cass asked, brightening at the idea of getting to play online in the fairy chat room Trent helped her find when Cady and Trey were on their honeymoon.

“No, he doesn’t want to play fairies,” Cady said, hurrying into the office and standing with her fists planted on her hips. “Cassidy Marie Thompson! What did I tell you about bothering Uncle Travis?”

“Not to bug him and not to jump on his lap,” Cass said, her lip drooping into a pout and her big blue eyes filling with tears. Even she knew when Cady used full given names, it meant trouble. “I’m sorry, I forgot.”

“That’s right. Now carefully climb off his lap and you, young lady, will be doing some extra chores to make up for not minding,” Cady said sternly.

“Yes, Mama,” Cass said, her head hanging down as she slid off Travis’ leg.

Before she ran off, Travis pulled her against him and gave her a one-armed hug. “Maybe we can play later.”

“Okay!” Cass said, her pout disappearing when she realized her uncle wasn’t upset with her. Throwing her little arms around his neck, she squeezed tight. “Love you, Uncle Travis.”

“Love you, too, kiddo.”

Cass ran out of the room and Cady stood shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Travis. She’s been dying to see you but I was afraid she might be a bit rambunctious for you.”

“She’s fine. I was tired of staring at numbers, anyway,” Travis said running a hand along his jaw. “How long is Trey going to avoid me?”

“You know your brother, Travis. You can answer that question better than me,” Cady said. “All three of you need to sit down and talk, but I’m staying out of it.”

><>< 

Travis was recovered from his accident and trying to walk the straight and narrow when Brice called one hot afternoon and asked him to go fishing after dinner.

“How strenuous can holding a fishing pole be?” Brice teased. “Just meet me at our old fishing hole. If Cady has cookies, you could bring some along.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Travis said, looking forward to getting out and doing something. Since his accident, he managed not to do anything his brothers would deem dangerous and he felt like he might explode at any moment. Going fishing would be fun and in his efforts to keep so busy he was constantly exhausted, he hadn’t spent any time with Brice.

After dinner, he put on clean cargo shorts, a T-shirt and slipped on a pair of old sneakers. Finding a couple of fishing poles in one of the storage sheds where they kept sports equipment, he told Cady he was meeting Brice to go fishing. Accepting the bag of cookies she packed, he enjoyed the freedom of heading down the road to their old fishing hole.

Arriving before Brice, Travis set out two lawn chairs, a cooler of pop, the bag of cookies and his iPod attached to a portable speaker so they could listen to music. Brice said he’d bring the bait, so Travis sat down to wait. He barely had time to get settled into the chair when Brice pulled up. Travis was surprised to see he wasn’t alone.

“Look who I found wandering around the turnip patch,” Brice teased, tugging Tess toward the fishing hole.

“Good grief, BB, why didn’t you tell me you were meeting Travis to fish. I would have made you take me home first,” Tess said, still dressed in her scrubs. Turning back toward the pickup, she reached in the door for her purse. “I’ll have Dad come get me.”

“Oh, sit down and cool your heels a while,” Brice said, pushing Tess away from the truck and into the other chair. Tess glared at him, but accepted the pop Travis dug out of the cooler and handed her.

Brice sent her a text message earlier in the afternoon saying he was running late and would get them a sandwich to eat on the way home. She didn’t realize he was late because he stopped to get fishing bait. The addlebrained ninny could have taken her home then come back to fish. The last thing she wanted to do was sit here next to Travis and fight her attraction for him. She had things to do, like try to remember how much she enjoyed dating Rick and figure out a way to tell her parents she was planning to move to The Dalles.

“I only brought two chairs,” Travis said, pointing to a nearby log.

“No problem,” Brice said, baiting his hook and tossing the line out in the water. “Did you snag any cookies?”

Travis held up the bag and handed it to Tess.

“Since we’ve got bait on our hands, maybe you could get them out for us?” Travis asked Tess with a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Gladly. Anything to put in your mouth to shut you both up,” Tess said, getting out two cookies and stuffing one in each of their mouths. She nibbled on one as she sat watching the water.

The air had that slightly sweet smell of early summer and she could hear the crickets tuning up for an evening serenade. The breeze blew just enough to lift the strands of her hair that escaped the clip on the back of her head. She used to love coming out here with the boys. They’d fish for a while and if nothing was biting, they’d end up swimming.

There’d be none of that today, for sure. Although she was annoyed at Brice for not keeping her informed of his plans this evening, she was grateful for the quiet reprieve. None of them seemed to feel the need to talk. Instead they munched on cookies and enjoyed the serenity of the warm, summer evening.

The ringing of Brice’s cell phone shattered the silence and he hurried to answer it.

“Geez, I’ll be right there. Sorry about that. Totally slipped my mind,” Brice said, disconnecting the call and pulling in his line. “I forgot I promised a friend I’d help him load something tonight. Got to run. Trav, you’ll take Tess home, won’t you?”

Before Travis could answer or Tess could even get out of her chair, Brice was backing up and driving away in a cloud of dust.

“Well, I guess you’re stuck with me as your taxi service this evening,” Travis said, rolling his head in Tess’ direction with one of the smiles that made her insides churn into a hot, molten mess.

“Fabulous. I’ve gone from having the nitwit drive me to the idiot,” Tess muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” Travis asked with a grin, having heard every word she said.

“Nothing. I was just commenting on what a lucky girl I am,” Tess said with a terse smile.

“Want to fish a while?” Travis asked gesturing toward the pole Brice left behind.

“Not really,” Tess said, untying her shoes and slipping off her socks. Rolling up the legs of her scrubs, she grinned at Travis. “I’m about to disturb your fish.”

Travis made a grand sweep of his hand toward the creek. “Be my guest.”

Tess waded out into the water. It was warm, but much cooler than the sticky heat of the evening and felt good against her feet and calves.

“You know, if you’d take off those scrubs, you could dive right in and go for a swim. Want some help?” Travis commented wryly from his chair on the bank.

“No, I don’t want your help and my clothes will be staying firmly in place, thank you very much,” Tess said, feeling a shiver of apprehension slither up her spine. Goodness only knew what was going through Travis’ head. She wished he wouldn’t tease her like that. It was clear the feelings she had for him were entirely one-sided and she needed to keep it that way. She’d made up her mind to move on and Rick was more than interested in a relationship with her. Darn that Brice for running off and leaving her trapped here with Travis.

Maybe he was ready to go home.

Studying the way he sprawled in the lawn chair, lazing away the evening, it didn’t appear they’d be leaving anytime soon.

She turned her back to him, pulled her pant legs up higher and waded deeper into the creek. Lost in her thoughts, a spray of water against her back caught her completely off guard. Turning, Travis stood just a few feet from her with a wicked grin lifting the corners of his mouth.

“You look like you need cooling off,” he said, slicing his hand through the water and showering her with droplets.

“Is that so?” Tess said, retaliating. Soon they were flinging water at each other like they had when they were kids.

Already soaked, Travis lunged at Tess and took her down into the water. His arms held her to him as he savored the momentary weightlessness of their bodies touching before they hit the bottom of the creek.

Trying to keep from losing all ability to reason, he started tickling her and she put a half-hearted effort into fighting against him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close as they came to their feet.

“Sure you still want to leave those clothes on?” Travis teased, looking at her scrubs as they seemed to get heavier and baggier by the minute.

Tess answered by swatting him on the shoulder and stomping back to the bank where she sat down in a chair and started wringing water out of  her clothes as best she could. She took the clip out of her hair and shook it loose. Travis stood in the water transfixed. The sun was making its descent behind her and the light filtering through that mass of curls nearly brought him to his knees.

Finally making his feet function, he trudged back to the chair beside her and started teasing her about past water fights and fun times they shared at the fishing hole. They had so much history together as friends, Travis hoped, at the very least, they could maintain that in the future.

Steering away from topics he knew would only annoy him, like Rick, he asked her about work, her folks, if she’d tried the new restaurant in The Dalles, and how Ben was doing.

As their clothes dried, they talked and laughed just like they had hundreds of times over the years. Tess realized how much she had missed talking to Travis the last several years. Although she and Brice were close, she had always been able to talk to Travis, at least when he wasn’t making her mad or driving her crazy.

Jumping to his feet, Travis grabbed Tess’ hand and tugged her into his arms. Pulling back, she glared at him.

“What are you doing?” Tess could feel his heart pounding against her own. No one ever seemed as alive, made her feel as alive, as Travis.

“Dance with me, Tess,” Travis said, a pleading look in his warm blue eyes. “Please?”

Listening to the music, she recognized Blake Shelton’s
Honey Bee
playing.

She nodded and let Travis draw her closer as they swayed to the music. Travis twirled her around and lowered her into a dip, pretending he was going to drop her before hauling her up with a teasing laugh.