Chapter 23
“Pip! Get back here, you little stinker!” I hollered, chasing frantically after a wet puppy as he scampered down the stairs. Somehow, he was more adept at escaping a bath than Able.
After a hike that had turned muddy, Able was still locked in the garage until I could tackle that challenge. I’d thought Pip would be easy.
When the doorbell sounded, I’d just grabbed Pip and wrapped him in a towel. “Coming!” I called, blowing my hair out of my face, sure I looked a complete mess.
I opened the door to find an older couple staring curiously back at me. “Hello?” I greeted, though it sounded more like a question. I hadn’t been expecting anyone.
The woman beamed at me, flashing pearly white teeth against peach lipstick. “Is this Travis’s house? I told you we had the address wrong,” she huffed to the man, who I assumed was her husband.
“It is. I’m his girlfriend, Emerly. And you are?” I prompted as Pip wriggled in my arms.
“I’m his mother,” she replied, as though affronted I didn’t assume as much. “Shelby,” she introduced. “This is my husband, Paul.”
I forced myself not to visibly react. They were just about the last people I expected to show up on our doorstep, and I didn’t think Travis would be very happy with the surprise. “It’s nice to meet you, please come in.” I gestured inside. “Let me just put this little bugger in the garage,” I added, striding quickly to the door off the kitchen and plopping him gently inside.
“We didn’t realize Travis had a girlfriend,” his father commented.
I fought the urge to ask why on earth they’d be surprised, when Travis hadn’t spoken to either of them since we’d met.
“And you live here?” his mother asked, looking around. “Quite a place he has,” she added.
“It’s our place,” I replied with a brittle smile. “And yes, it’s beautiful.”
Having them show up out of nowhere as though they had every right to be there had every protective bone in my body on alert. They’d all but abandoned Travis, a man I loved more fiercely than I’d thought possible, and Sam, one of my best friends. My own upbringing came to mind, and I knew that though Travis put on a brave front, it cut deep to be cast aside by your own parents.
I expected Travis home anytime, and desperately hoped nothing had derailed him at work.
“Can I offer you something to drink?”
“Some wine if you have it.” His mother nodded. “What is that racket?” she asked, her head cocked toward the garage.
“I took the dogs on a walk, and it got a bit muddy. Until I can finish their baths, they’re relegated to the garage.”
She looked genuinely confused. “Travis doesn’t like dogs.”
That same brittle smile crested my lips once again. “He loves our dogs.” I shrugged as I poured her wine, and when he nodded, some for Travis’s father as well.
I poured myself a large glass, sensing I’d need it, just as the garage door sounded.
Thank God.
“Travis is home.” I smiled brightly at them. A moment later he slipped into the kitchen, obviously knowing from one look at our mutts not to let them inside.
“Baby, what’s going on with—” His question was cut off abruptly when he caught sight of who sat at the bar. “What the fuck?” he demanded.
I guess that answered how this was going to go.
“Hi, darling.” His mother grinned, slipping out of her chair to lay a kiss on a stone-faced Travis. “We were driving through on our way to Mexico for a little R&R, and thought we’d pop in.”
“Pop in?” he asked incredulously. “I haven’t seen you in years.”
She waved a hand. “Well, honey, you know how busy we are. I talked to you not that long ago though,” she added dismissively.
“Oh yeah? When was that?” he countered.
She appeared to mull that over as she went to stand alongside her husband. “Well, I suppose it has been a while,” she admitted.
Travis came to stand at my side, his arm wrapping around my waist. His fingers curled into my skin, pressing almost to the point of pain, betraying the tension running through him.
“We didn’t realize you had a girlfriend,” she chirped.
“No, you wouldn’t,” he replied simply.
She shot a confused look at her husband. “Well, we certainly didn’t expect to be so unwelcome,” she huffed. “You get a girlfriend and suddenly you don’t have time for your own mother? And since when do you like dogs?”
Travis let go of my waist, and I sighed in relief, sensing my tender skin wouldn’t be able to withstand what came next.
“I’ve wanted a dog since the first grade when Pete Abrams down the street got a puppy. I asked you for one every birthday and every Christmas, you just never listened,” he ground out. “As for Emerly, don’t you dare blame her for the fact you have no relationship with your children. That’s all on you. The only reason I even tolerated you up until now is to hold on to some semblance of family.” His gaze turned to me, love glittering so brightly in those dark depths that I nearly lost my breath. “But she’s given me the only family I’ll ever need. Her and Sam, and her son, who you’ve never even met,” he snarled as his gaze returned to her. “So let me make it clear—from this point on, I have no interest in having you in my life. I certainly don’t want your indifference near the woman who will be my wife and the mother of our children. So, get your shit and get out.”
The silence that followed was so charged it was as though it had a roar all its own.
Stools scraped back, his parents grumbled and huffed, but otherwise left abruptly, put in their rightful place after so many years.
I turned to Travis as soon as the door slammed shut behind them. “You okay?” I murmured.
“Only reason I’m not is that I’m here”—he pointed to the space in front of him— “and you’re there.”
I smiled and stepped into his space, relishing the feel of his strong arms as they wrapped around me. His chin rested on the crown of my head and he sighed. “Yeah, babe. I’m good. Great, actually. That was long overdue.”
For a few moments, we just held each other, swaying slightly to a silent beat. “I do think part of me felt like I needed them,” he admitted after a time. “Family is such a powerful thing—but I realized it’s the concept of it, not the people itself. Sam and I, we never had a family with them. She found that with Sid. And….” — he paused, pulling me closer still— “I found that with you.”
I looked up at him, grinning like the lovesick fool that I was. I knew exactly what he meant. “That’s why I didn’t need you to track my folks down,” I explained quietly. “I don’t need them. I don’t need to know why they left. I have everything I need and more right here.”
He lowered his head, taking my mouth in a kiss that held more promises than words could ever convey.
“Let’s go upstairs and practice the more part,” he murmured against my lips.
“Practice makes perfect.” I smiled.
“I was always a perfectionist,” he mused, pulling me up the stairs.
In the end, it was all that plus more—as it was every day with him.