Veronica
"Alright, girly. I'm glad you're so happy but if you don't stop whistling I'm going to murder you and throw your lifeless body in the dumpster out back."
My head whipped around to find Hazel hovering near the door to the kitchen. Her hands were perched on her hips in what I'd learned was her sole "serious" pose. I let my lips flatten and fell silent. I hadn't even realized I'd been whistling, how ridiculous of me.
"I wouldn't hold it against you." I shrugged with an amused grin.
I loved Hazel's teasing. I'd never had a grandparent, both sets of mine had died before I'd even been born, but Hazel seemed to fill that spot quite nicely. She agreed, too, apparently. When I'd arrived at work she'd dumped an entire box of kids clothes at my feet. I hadn't had the heart to explain to her that Gabby had bought the kid enough clothes that she usually only wore each outfit once before she'd outgrown it. I'd thanked her profusely and stuffed the box in my backseat.
"Is it just me, or does that man look an awful lot like you?" Hazel asked suddenly.
Vinnie strolled across the floor of the bar, beelining in our direction. "That would be my brother."
I moved out from around the bar to greet him. His arms swallowed me up into a hug. He hadn't gotten a chance to visit me at the new job since he'd been so busy dealing with his own, so it was a nice surprise to see him. At least, it was until he opened his mouth.
"You got home late last night."
"Hi to you, too," I grumbled.
Shrugging out of his grasp, I moved back to my side of the bar to put some distance between us. Hazel, probably sensing the weird vibe, pushed back through the kitchen doors, effectively disappearing.
"Don't you think you should be a little more cautious considering everything you've been through? It's like you've just decided to pick up where you left off. It's not healthy—not for you, and not for Stella, either."
"It wasn't like that. He wanted to spend time with his daughter. What was I supposed to do? Send the two of them off on their own?"
Vinnie's face darkened. "Of course not."
"Then I have to accept that I'm going to be spending time with Travis, and you'll have to accept it, too. He's her dad, I certainly can't do anything to change that now."
He opened his mouth like he had a snide remark but I held my hand up.
"Short of a legal battle, and I'm not doing that."
Vinnie slid up onto the barstool directly in front of me and rested his elbows on the bar top. "I'm just trying to protect you. I don't want to see you get hurt like last time, Ronnie."
I turned away so that he wouldn't see the way his words hit a little too close to home for me. When we'd left the aquarium the night before, Travis had offered to drive again. The panic had struck me all over again that I couldn't trust him with something so simple. I'd wanted to, though. I'd been so tempted to hand over the keys and hope for the best.
"Gabby wants to have a barbecue."
That had me turning back again. "A barbecue? Why? We just moved, who is she even gonna invite?"
Barbecues had been her thing in North Carolina. She loved inviting over everyone we knew and stuffing them full of dish-after-dish of homemade delights. She was a real psycho about it if you asked me.
"She wants you to invite Travis. She kept referring to it as an 'intimate family barbecue' all night. I'm not thrilled about the whole thing, but you know how she is when she gets an idea in her head."
"It sounds like a great idea, actually. I'll tell him to invite his girlfriend, too." I hated myself the second the words came out of my mouth, but I knew it was what I needed. Maybe seeing them together again would help me get it through my thick skull that Travis was off limits.
"Girlfriend?" Vinnie looked surprised.
"Yeah, he has a girlfriend. So stop bitching at me about having him around."
He rolled his eyes at me the way he always had when I was annoying him growing up. "Whatever. Just see if you can convince him to make it Monday."
"Why Monday?"
"Because I'm not sure I can stand to listen to Gabby talk about it for any longer than that if I'm being honest." The words themselves sounded harsh, but his tone was joking. He wasn't annoyed by Gabby's Type-A quirks the way I was. He somehow found that side of her endearing.
"Fine, I'll ask him."
"Ask who, what?" came an interruption from behind Vinnie.
Somehow, Travis himself had managed to quietly make his way in without us noticing him. He took a seat near Vinnie, leaving one open seat between them.
"What are you, a stalker now?" Vinnie asked instead of answering his question.
"I was a regular here before you all even moved to town, thank you very much." It was the wrong thing to say. Vinnie's chest puffed out like he was in serious danger of losing his temper. Travis picked up on that, too. "They have really good soda," he stressed the last word unnecessarily.
Vinnie's face was red but his body language settled enough that I didn't think there was any immediate danger. I found myself taking up for him, "Actually, the owner of the place even mentioned that he only drinks soda here."
"That better be all he's drinking anywhere. Otherwise, I'd be more than happy to talk to John about your scholarship." I vaguely remembered my brother mentioning a John Kasey, the university's athletic director. I assumed that was who he was talking about.
Annoyance flashed across Travis' face.
"What the hell are you two carrying on about?" I asked in exasperation. The two of them were acting like total baboons together.
I'd expected Vinnie to answer but Travis was the one that spoke up first. "I have a morality clause with the university as part of my scholarship. Officially, it just means I can't raise any general issues. Unofficially, I'm more specifically not allowed to drink in any capacity."
My jaw dropped. "You had to stop drinking?"
"In theory, yes." Travis paused like he wasn't sure about the next part. "But I actually stopped drinking after…"
He trailed off, and I didn't need him to fill in the blanks. I still had vivid memories of that night with him when he'd quite nearly killed the both of us. He'd been so drunk that night, and I'd genuinely believed that would be how he'd spend the rest of his life—however long that might have turned out to be.
"Sorry to interrupt this whole re-hashing of the past, but this isn't the time or place for it," Vinnie butted in. He nodded his head towards the door as a rowdy group of guys entered.
The group was obviously from the university, and I could imagine Vinnie didn't need any scandal coming from the football program in the first month of him taking over the program. Obviously, Travis' reputation from home somehow hadn't followed him to the university. I didn't want to be the one to fuck that all up. Not for my brother or for Travis.
"Anyway," I changed the subject for them. "Gabby's having a barbecue Monday and would like you to come."
"Really?" Travis seemed both surprised and apprehensive. I caught him sparing a glance in Vinnie's direction.
"Yes, of course. I was thinking you could bring Laurel, too."
"Laurel?"
"Yes, is she free?"
"I have no idea." His bewilderment was confusing to me. Did he seriously not care enough about his own girlfriend to at least vaguely know her schedule? A tiny, mean, jealous part of me was thrilled by that fact.
"Well, find out, okay?"
"Yeah, I mean I guess I can ask her."
Vinnie checked something on his phone and stood. "I gotta get going, Ronnie. You're home for dinner tonight, right?"
"Yep."
"Alright, see you after work, then." He shot one last warning look in Travis' direction before actually leaving. I had a feeling he didn't want to leave me alone with Travis, which meant that it had to be something pretty important pulling him away. I made a mental note to ask him about it later.
Once Vinnie was gone, Travis gave me a slow once-over. His eyes practically caressed my body. Even though I was wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans, his gaze made me feel like I was standing in front of him naked.
"Stop looking at me like that." I crossed my arms as if that would somehow stop him from freely checking me out.
"Like what?" He smirked.
"You know what you're doing," I scolded.
"With you? I'm not so sure." His tone had gone serious. Uncomfortable, I turned away to fix him a glass of Coke. He hadn't asked for it, but it gave me something to do as a distraction.
Lucky for me, by the time I set the drink down in front of him, he'd turned playful and started cracking jokes. He stayed on the stool for a couple hours—through the end of my shift. We talked and laughed, and I did my best to let go of wanting more than that. But when he walked me to my car, I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that he parted with only a friendly wave.