Chapter Thirty-Seven

Harper

I called Jillian.

“Lunch. Now!”

“Uh-oh. This sounds serious. I’ll be right there. Usual place?”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” I said and hung up.

After finding out about Travis, I now had to talk to someone about it—to confide—and there was nobody better to talk to than my best friend. I was grateful that she didn’t tell me that she couldn’t meet. I would go insane if I didn’t talk to someone. I grabbed my coat and headed out to our favorite lunch spot. We always met at the same place whenever we had an urgent meeting, away from the prying ears of others. We loved trying new restaurants and sampling new menus, but when all we wanted to do was talk, then Café Rose was the place to go. It was one of the first places we’d gone to when we became friends and had simply turned into our meeting place. It was a small café, down a little alleyway and tucked away from the main street. Not many people knew about it so I always knew we would get a table without having to book. The food was good and the coffee was great. We always ordered the same thing so that we didn’t waste any precious talking time.

I found a table and placed our order. I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to eat but I ordered the sandwiches anyway. Jillian arrived moments later and smiled as the waitress arrived with our coffees.

“I ordered already; I hope you don’t mind,” I said to her after she gave me a hug hello.

“Of course not,” she said. “It’s not like you needed to ask me what I wanted. I’m actually glad you called. I’m starving. Now, tell me everything. What’s going on?”

I sighed. “Thanks for coming, Jill. And thanks for coming so quickly. I appreciate it. I needed someone talk to you. I… I talked to Travis.”

“Uh oh… is this good news or bad news? I can’t tell.”

“That’s probably because I honestly have no idea myself. I called and talked to Allison. I asked her if I could talk to Travis, but she said he wasn’t there. Apparently he went home weeks ago. She seemed pretty surprised that I didn’t know that.”

She frowned. “Home? What do you mean? I thought he was home.”

“Yeah, you and me both. As it turns out, Travis is not the man we thought he was. He’s not quite the cowboy that we had pegged him to be.”

“What do you mean? What is he then?”

“He’s a college professor in Washington, D.C. . This seriously intelligent city guy.”

“Huh? I don’t understand. Isn’t Mike his brother? Don’t they work there? I mean, he was the one showing us around the whole time. He must work there.”

“Yeah, Mike is his brother, but Mike’s the only one that works there. Mike and Allison. Travis only grew up there. He went to visit them and decided to help out with the group. We all just assumed he worked there full-time. But he doesn’t.”

“Hang on a second,” Jillian said as she tried to absorb the information. “Travis is a college professor who lives in Washington? That is not at all the impression we got of him. So why didn’t he tell us that? It’s not like it’s something to be ashamed of. That’s something he should be proud of.”

I shrugged. “I guess we never asked. I mean, I just assumed he worked there.”

“Yeah but he had plenty opportunities to tell us otherwise. He might not have told us that he worked there but he sure as hell didn’t tell us that he worked as a professor. He was always mocking us for being city girls. Hell, you spent two days alone with him. I’m sure you did lots of talking. He could’ve mentioned it then.”

I sighed. I’d thought about that a lot myself. I’d tried to remember if I had ever asked him about his life at the ranch. I was sure that I had. I did, however, remember a lot of times when I felt like he was hiding something. It all made sense now. “Yeah, I know. I don’t know what to think. Part of me is angry at him, and part of me is angry at me.”

“Why the hell would you be angry at yourself though? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Well, maybe I did. I mean… Allison said that maybe he just thought I wanted a bit of a holiday fling with a cowboy. She said that the fact that I was so into him probably made him think that I wouldn’t have been that keen if I knew the truth. She thinks that he was so in love with me that he was scared I would turn around and say that I didn’t want to be with the real him. I don’t know if that’s true though. I’m not even sure if he was in love with me at all.”

“That doesn’t excuse it though. No,” she said and shook her head. “That doesn’t excuse it at all. The guy lied to us. He lied to you. Look, I know without a doubt that he really liked you. I mean, Barry was telling me how the guy couldn’t stop looking at you when he thought that nobody was watching him. If he liked you so much, he should’ve told you the truth. Not pretend like he’s some cowboy. That’s not cool.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know. But…”

“But you aren’t mad at him because you’re in love with him, right?”

I looked at Jillian and sighed. She knew me too well. She hit the nail on the head. I was in love with Travis, and there was no point denying it.

“Yeah. And I really went on and on about how nice it was to be with a guy like him for a change. No wonder he thought I wouldn’t like him if I knew the truth. I feel awful. Sure, he did wrong, but we all make mistakes. Hell, Thomas made some horrible mistakes when you first met. And when he dumped you. But the two of you worked things out. I feel like we were maybe both in the wrong. And maybe once he started the lie he didn’t know how to tell me the truth.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I guess we’re only human. And… well, I have never seen you as happy as you were when you spoke about Travis. I’ve hated seeing you so down these past few weeks. So what does this mean? You should  call him. Tell him that you know the truth.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking. I almost did it already but I needed to sort the thoughts in my head out, and I also wanted the chance to talk it through with you. So, you think I should call?”

“Yes! Actually. No! No! Don’t call!”

“What? Why?”

“Go and see him.”

“How? I don’t know where he lives.”

She smiled. “But you know where he works. Come on; it will be so romantic.”

“What if he turns me down?”

“Then you can officially put this whole thing behind you. But let’s face it, Harper: you’re not ever going to rest until you see him again. I know that you haven’t stopped thinking about him. You need to know if things are going to work. Now, you’ve always been someone that goes after your dreams. I say go and get the guy. Or, at least, get some answers.”

I grinned. The more I thought about it, the more excited I began to feel. She was right. I needed to see him. “I’m going to do it.”

“Good. Come on, let’s book the tickets now,” she said.

“Now?”

“Do it on your phone. Come on, the last time I forced you into doing something you ended up having the best time of your life. What have you got to lose?”

I chuckled and got out my phone just as the waitress came by with our food. “You look excited,” she said as she put the plates down in front of us.

I grinned. “Oh, I am. I’m going to Washington!”

 

The flight was booked for the next day. I was going to drive, but the thought of such a long drive alone made me anxious. I didn’t so much mind the drive there, but if things didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to, it was going to be a very sad drive back for me. The flight was at least quick, and it gave me less time to chicken out.

I hadn’t been to Washington for a while though. As soon as I arrived, I went to hire a car and then sat with my GPS trying to figure out where the university was. There was no way I was going to rely on my own sense of direction. Knowing me, I’d end up in a whole new city. I had always been bad with directions, and this was not the time to test myself. Despite putting in the address, I still somehow managed to make a few wrong turns, and the GPS kept trying to reroute me the right way. It took a bit longer than I wanted, but I eventually arrived. I looked at the time. I had arrived with an hour to spare. I’d given myself extra time just in case I got too horribly lost. I also didn’t want to rush inside. I needed time to compose myself.

I sat I the car for a while, just looking up at the building. I called up Jillian.

“I’m here.”

“Yes! I’ve been thinking about you all day. So, what happened?”

“Nothing yet. I’m early. I’m sitting in my car and trying to calm myself down. I just hope I don’t mess things up.”

“You won’t. You definitely won’t. Anyway, remember what we said… this is just a way for you to finally figure out what’s going on. No matter what happens, you will at least have a sense of direction as to where this relationship is headed. It’s better to know. He’s going to get the shock of his life.”

I laughed. “Well, he deserves it. I got the shock of my life when I found out about this other life of his. He better not have some secret wife or girlfriend that I know nothing about.”

Jillian gasped. “I never thought of that.”

“Jill! You’re not supposed to say that. You’re supposed to tell me that of course he doesn’t have a wife or a girlfriend.”

“He doesn’t. He doesn’t.”

“And what if he does?” I said now. My voice had come out as barely a whisper.

“Then you slap him across the face and come straight home.”

I laughed despite my nerves. “Thanks Jill. I wish you were with me. Angel on my shoulder.”

“Nah, you’ve got this. But you better let me know once you’ve seen him. You do realize I’m going to be waiting near the phone until I hear from you.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be the first person I call. I love you, Jill. Wish me luck. I’m going to do a few breathing exercises before going in.”

“I love you too, Harper. You’ve got this.”

I sat there for a while longer, just breathing in and out until I began to feel a little better. When it was finally time to go I pulled the mirror down and reapplied my makeup. I then sprayed a little bit of perfume on, and I slowly stepped out of the car. Now all I had to do was find out where to go. As I walked towards the building, I was surprised at how calm I suddenly felt. Jillian was right. Either way I was going to find out where I stood with him. I needed to know.