He nods.
“She’s good. And I’m always going to make sure she’s good.”
That isn’t bravado. It's a fact.
Travis studies me for a second, then gives a small nod.
His expression shifts a second later, like something has just clicked in his head.
“Wait right here,” he says. “I’ve got something.”
He crosses the room and digs through his bag. I watch him move things aside until he finally pulls something small out of the bottom.
He walks back over and holds it out to me.
“You left this at the hotel,” Travis says. “I figured you probably needed it.”
I look down at what is sitting in his palm.
The ring.
The engagement ring I was supposed to give Brooke.
For a second the room around me fades and I'm back in the hotel ballroom, blood on the floor, everything falling apart before I ever get the chance to ask her.
I take it carefully from his hand.
“How did you get this?” I ask.
Travis rubs the back of his neck.
“Well, after I finally got out of that freezer, I was running around the hotel trying to find you and Brooke,” he explains. “I ended up stumbling into the room where they took your body.”
He pauses for a second.
“And that’s when I saw the ring.”
I close my hand around the ring and slip it into my pocket. I’ll give it to Brooke when the time is right.
“Thank you Trav,” I nod. “For everything.”
He blinks. “Whoa.”
“What?”
“I get a thank you now.” He leans back in his chair. “And a nickname?”
I narrow my eyes at him.
His grin spreads. “Can I give you one?”
“No.”
“Sethy?”
“Don’t push it.”
He laughs.
