I walked around Travis’ penthouse restlessly, pacing in a circle like a cat. I felt irritated and on edge—I didn’t know what to think about what had happened today. Travis had brought me to his job to show me around but had disappeared on me, leaving me alone with his secretary. The woman, Scarlet, clearly didn’t like me from the start. She greeted me stiffly.
“Travis has never brought a woman to the office before,” she said. “And he’s been through a lot of them.”
“Oh,” was all I had been able to respond. Of course Travis was a playboy, I thought. He was handsome, wealthy, and young. He probably could have had a different woman in his bed every night if he wanted one. It made me uncomfortable to think about and I wondered again if I was just a trophy for him, his little sister’s best friend, someone who was sexy because she was supposed to be off-limits. That meant he would probably dump me as soon as he got tired of the novelty of it all. I swallowed, feeling a lump form in my throat just thinking about it.
The other women in the office treated me much the same as Scarlet had, and the cool room had felt stifling. That’s when I had hailed a cab back to the penthouse, just to get away from the women and their cold stares. It made me wonder how many of them he had been with, if he was the kind of man who ran his business by taking advantage of the women there. I felt almost sick thinking about it. I was falling for Travis, if I hadn’t already fallen for him completely. I didn’t want to think of him as that type of person, but I couldn’t help it after seeing all those women and listening to what the secretary said about how much he got around.
It was about two hours after he’d disappeared that Travis got back home. He arrived looking bashful, stepping off the elevator and giving me and apologetic look as he ran his hand through his hair.
“I’m so sorry, Jen,” he said, coming to me. He put his hands on my shoulders and I didn’t pull away, couldn’t pull away. The only thing I could do was stare at him. I wondered who he was and what he had become, if he was the kind of man I could truly spend my life with. I was starting to think that the person I thought he was didn’t exist anymore, and that the Travis who had taken his place wasn’t somebody that I could be with.
“It’s okay,” I said, although we both knew that it wasn’t. I looked away from him.
“I want to take a shower before dinner,” I said.
“Don’t you want to go out? I was going to show you around today.”
“Actually, I might take a nap,” I said, stretching and giving a fake yawn. “I didn’t sleep very well last night.”
“You didn’t sleep very long last night,” he said, grinning at me. I couldn’t bring myself to muster more than a small smile in response. I didn’t flirt back with him. A concerned look passed over his face.
“I really am sorry, Jenna,” he said, taking my hand and kissing my fingers.
“It’s okay,” I repeated, though I was feeling more and more tense the longer we stood together. I needed to be away from him and wanted to be alone. “I’m going to lay down. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
“Okay,” he said, and he looked so downtrodden for a moment that it made my heart ache. Still, I turned around and went to my room, flopping down on my bed and staring at the ceiling. This wasn’t what I’d expected from this trip. I had expected to learn more about Travis, but everything that I’d learned so far made him look worse than before—the fact that he was a player, and he was willing to put work ahead of me when he’d made me a promise, was not promising for a potential relationship. I was starting to doubt whether it would work out at all.
I lay there wondering about Travis, unable to get him off my mind. I realized that this was how it would be if I was going to be with him. Our time on the island had been his vacation; he’d had plenty of free time to relax and be with me. In his real life, he would never have time for that. It would always be long days with him and long nights waiting for him to come home. I couldn’t do that—wouldn’t do it even for Travis, even though I was falling for him deeply.
I sighed, finally falling asleep after a long time. I dreamed of Casey, that look in her eyes when she’d confronted Travis and I about being together. It was starting to feel like it hadn’t been worth it to lose her.
I woke up later and got ready for dinner, doing my best to make it look like everything was normal. I didn’t want to fight with Travis and I didn’t want him to notice how dark my mood had become, made worse by the fact that I had barely slept during my nap. I was tired and grouchy as I left the room, finding Travis in the living room already dressed for dinner.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
“Yeah, I feel good,” I said to him, trying to smile. I could tell that he knew I was faking it. He looked tense, like he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what to say.