The Cowboy's Summer Love (27 page)

“I’ll check on Travis and see what I can do,” Tess said, getting up from the table and squaring her shoulders.

“Good luck,” Lindsay said, shaking her head. She hadn’t known Travis very long, but from what she did know his recent behavior was completely out of character for him.

Praying that something, someone, could provide him with the help he needed to get straightened out, Lindsay didn’t want to think about what would happen to the Thompson family if Travis continued down the path he was taking.

Noticing the office door open, Tess knocked softly and smiled as Trey looked up from the computer on the massive desk.

“Hi Tess,” he said, motioning her to come in. Walking across the room, she sat down in one of the big leather chairs across from Trey.

She remembered seeing Drew Thompson working in this office in the evenings. The big room with the oversized, masculine furniture and the floor-to-ceiling bookcase that filled one wall was one she often admired.

 Trey added a spur collection on the wall behind the desk. She smiled to see a new pair with heart buttons hanging in a place of prominence, wondering where they came from.

“I see you’ve got a new pair of spurs in your collection,” Tess said with a smile. Anyone who knew Trey knew how much he enjoyed history, and spurs were one of the things he collected with a passion.

When his father passed away, Trey left behind a career as a history teacher that he absolutely loved to return to the ranch. Tess thought both he and Trent, who abandoned plans to become a vet, showed even then how selfless and responsible they were by giving up their dreams to keep the ranch going. It seemed, though, that maybe being on the ranch together was where they were meant to be all along.

Trey turned and looked at the spurs Cady gave him for Christmas. A smile filled both his face and his eyes as he turned back to Tess.

“Those were a Christmas gift from my beautiful bride. She found them on eBay, of all places, and they came with a box of letters from the original owner and his wife,” Trey said, leaning back in the office chair.

“That is really cool,” Tess said. “So how old are they?”

“Civil War,” Trey said, taking a spur off the wall and handing it to Tess. She admired the craftsmanship along with the heart buttons. “I’m guessing these were made for someone’s sweetheart.”

“Yeah, the wife had them made for her husband the first Christmas he was gone off fighting. He lost a leg in the war, but returned home wearing one spur and carrying the other.”

“Wow, Trey, these are really special,” Tess said, handing the spur back to him.

As he hung it back in place on the wall his face softened. “The story behind them is special but so is the girl who gave them to me.”

“In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m so happy you and Cady found each other. You are so in love, it’s almost sickening to watch. Between the two of you and Trent and Lindsay, it’s non-stop kissy-face, mushy-gushy around here,” Tess said with a teasing smile.

“It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?” Trey said, his brilliant blue eyes twinkling.

“Actually, it is,” Tess said. She loved Trey and Trent just like her own brothers. To see them so happy made her heart smile.

“I don’t think you came in here to talk about my undying devotion to my lovely wife or what a lucky guy I am she agreed to marry me. If you came to talk about Travis, I’ve been in here doing some research on post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Tess looked at Trey like he was a mind reader as he swiveled the computer monitor around so she could see the screen.

She read through the information he found and they talked about some ideas and options for helping Travis. The one thing they couldn’t do was force him to get help until he was ready.

“I wanted to thank you, Tess,” Trey said, as she got up and they both walked to the door.

“For what?”

“For always being such a good friend to Travis and loving him despite his many faults,” Trey said, giving Tess a warm, brotherly hug. “He thinks the world of you and you being here is a help to us all.”

“There’s nowhere else I could be, Trey,” Tess said, with complete honesty. She had to be near Travis. Even though her head was telling her it wasn’t a good idea to get any more involved with him or his problems, her heart, traitor that it was, compelled her to do all she could for him, to stay near him, to love him.

“I’m glad, Tess,” Trey said as she stepped into the hall and walked toward Travis’ room. “Maybe you can reach him. Goodness knows we’ve all tried until we’re ready to pull our hair out, or maybe his.”

Stopping outside Travis’ bedroom door, Tess took a deep breath, looked back at Trey and pasted a big smile on her face. Waltzing into the room, she decided she wasn’t going to give up until she got Travis to talk.

“Hey, Tee, what’s this I hear about you giving everyone the silent treatment?” Tess asked, as she sank onto the chair next to the bed.

If Travis was surprised to see Tess, he was even more bewildered to hear her use her old nickname for him. He couldn’t even remember when she started calling him Tee. Probably around the same time she dubbed Brice BB, but it wasn’t a name she used often. She most often used it when they were alone. Secretly, he liked the name, especially coming from her. The last time she’d said it to him was the day he told her he enlisted and was leaving.

He didn’t know how to act around her. Travis was still humiliated that she witnessed his episode that morning. On top of that, he didn’t like having her play nursemaid to him. It was demoralizing to have her see him completely helpless and useless. He always prided himself on being strong, tough and invincible. Lying in bed propped up on pillows unable to even walk to the bathroom was about as far from his previous take-no-prisoners image as he could get.

Closing his eyes, he decided to ignore her like he had everyone else. She would eventually give up and go away. The rest of them had.

He felt the bed dip when she sat down beside him and then the soft, gentle brush of her fingers caressed his cheek, swept across his hairline, rested on his chest.

“Travis,” she said quietly, waiting for him to open his eyes.  He squeezed them tightly shut, unwilling to face her and see pity or disgust in her gaze. He just couldn’t handle it.

“I’m not leaving this room until you open your eyes and talk to me,” she said, crossing her arms and resting them on his chest, putting her face just inches from his. Tess wanted more than anything to kiss him, but she managed to shift her attention back to her objective of getting him talk.

Popping open his eyes he looked into her warm brown orbs and saw compassion, concern and something else there he was afraid to identify. Afraid to hope it was real and not just a figment of his pain-glazed imagination.

“Hi,” she whispered, gazing into his haunted eyes, thinking about how she could make him smile.

Her breath was warm on his face and smelled of her cinnamon gum. Travis inhaled the scent, along with a teasing hint of her perfume and felt himself relax a little.

Sitting up she smiled at him and cocked her head, looking thoughtful for a moment.

“Well, if you aren’t going to talk to me, I’m going to assume you are remaining quiet because you agree with everything I say. Let’s test out the theory, shall we?” Tess said.

Travis stared at her, unwilling to even nod in agreement.

“Good. I’ll start with something simple. Your name is Travis Aaron Thompson, also known as troublemaker, rabble-rouser, bro, dude and Tee,” Tess said. Travis remained silent, so she continued. “You love ranching and the outdoors, and you’ve had your horse Dodger since you were fifteen. Your favorite things to eat include banana ice cream, anything sweet with coconut, a perfectly grilled steak, baby red potatoes smashed and loaded, and fresh bread, hot out of the oven dripping with strawberry jam and butter.”

Travis tried to look bored. Tess leaned back down on his chest so they were nearly nose to nose, propping her chin on her hands.

“You have a real talent for computer graphics, you can whistle loud enough to wake the dead, and your favorite movie of all time is
Daredevil
, because that’s what you wanted to be. When we were kids, you and Brice liked to recreate movie scenes and act them out which is how you got that little scar beneath your right ear when your sword fight got a little dicey and Brice accidentally nicked you. You like to read popular fiction but pretend you don’t, you think Trey is too hard on you because you two are just alike, and even though she would never admit it, you are your mother’s favorite.”

Travis raised an eyebrow. He was impressed with just how well Tess really did know him. He wasn’t sure his brothers even knew that much about him.

“Shall I go on? You sing to the radio when you think no one is listening, you are a wonderful uncle to Cass and have been a really good friend to several people through the years, me included. When you’re nervous you tug at your right ear. You’re a huge tease and a flirt. You’re also a peeping Tom. You fell out of a tree and ran a limb through your hand trying to spy on me the one and only time I went skinny-dipping at the fishing hole. Instead of confessing what you’d really done, you made up some wild tale about tripping over a stump that you sold to your dad.”

“How did you know that?” Travis asked, in shock. He never told anyone how he really hurt his hand. It was the summer he was seventeen and all he could think about was Tess. Between raging hormones and a rampant wild streak, it was a wonder he didn’t do more than just fall out of the tree.

He saw Tess out riding and followed her on Dodger, staying far enough behind her she wouldn’t get suspicious. By the time he got to the fishing hole, tied Dodger out of sight and climbed up a tree to get a strategic view, she was already in the water.

The pile of clothes she’d left on the bank, though, made his blood run so hot he thought he’d spontaneously combust.

Watching for a good fifteen minutes, only her head and the tops of her shoulders were visible above the water. Then she touched bottom and started to rise up out of the water. Travis knew what he was doing was wrong but he couldn’t make himself turn away or shut his eyes.

He was straining to get a better view when the limb he was on broke and he fell out of the tree. Sticking his hand out to slow his descent, he ran a small branch through the skin between his thumb and forefinger on his left hand. It hurt like the dickens but instead of yelling out in pain, he clamped his jaw, ran back to Dodger, and beat a hasty retreat home.

By the time he got there, he concocted a story about tripping over a stump and landing on a branch. No one questioned it and to this day he didn’t think anyone knew what he’d done.

Tess offered him a victorious smile.

“Got you to talk,” she said, her eyes sparkling with humor. “I heard you fall out of that tree. While you were busy impaling your hand, I got dressed and followed to see who was spying on me. I was quite surprised to find it was you.”

“But you never said anything,” Travis wondered what other secrets Tess knew from his growing up years. There was a wealth of them to choose from.

“Didn’t need to,” Tess said, with a grin. “Until today. I knew that little tidbit would come in handy sometime.”

“What else are you going to hold over my head?”

“I’ve got plenty, so you better watch yourself,” Tess said, offering him a teasing smile while her insides churned in turmoil. The craving to press her lips to Travis’ was so strong she would have given into it if she wasn’t so afraid of how he would respond. “Of all the girls you could have spied on, including those who would have let you most willingly, why did you pick me?”

“Because,” Travis said, not wanting to tell her the truth. Not now.

“Because why?” Tess asked, trailing teasing fingertips along his jaw and around his ear. If he wasn’t crippled and feeling mentally unbalanced, he could have easily thought she was flirting with him.