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Chapter 23
Throughout his life, Travis Blackwell had had his ass handed to him many times. Which wasn’t to say he was unlike most people he knew. Everyone had stuff to deal with. Tragedies. Setbacks. Disappointments. The past shaped a person’s future, there was no getting around that. It bled into your psyche and affected how you looked at life. Even if you didn’t know it.
Some people survived multiple attacks, while others withered and died. He supposed it was how a person learned to cope. Travis had always been a fighter. From a young age, he’d learned to rally. To compartmentalize the negative and focus on the positive. It was what allowed him the mental strength to make it to the NHL, and to keep his job between the pipes. It was what allowed him to go on after his marriage to Ruby imploded. After Nathan. He’d tucked that shit away and deemed it a waste of his time to wallow or think about. What was the point? The marriage was dead in the water, crushed beneath a boatload of hurt, lies, and immaturity.
He’d gone on with his life, foolishly convinced that Ruby Montgomery was in the past. That she was his first love, which implied there would be a second. Maybe a third. Wasn’t that what growing up meant? Finding yourself and your path and the person you were meant to spend your life with?
It was a bitter disappointment for him to realize there was no one else. Ruby was it. The love of his life. The yin to his yang. The calm to his storm.
What was even worse, she didn’t love him anymore. Maybe she never did.
He carried his bags out of his room and set them by the front door before taking a look around to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. He spied an old white picture frame near the table under the front window, and slowly walked over. It was the picture he’d taken from Ruby’s bedroom all those weeks ago. He’d forgotten about it.
His hands gripped the frame, and he gazed down at a guy he barely recognized, and a girl who’d haunted his dreams forever, it seemed. It was candid shot taken at a bonfire. Ruby was gazing up at him, smiling at something he was saying to her.
God, they were just kids and already so in love. Carefully, he set the picture down and took a step back.
“What’s all this?” Zach asked, walking into the cabin and nearly tripping over Travis’s things. It was Saturday afternoon, and Travis had thought his buddy was gone for the day. He’d left a note on the kitchen table because he didn’t want to deal with the questions.
From the look on Zach’s face, there would be questions.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yep.” He moved toward the door.
Zach didn’t bother to hide his surprise. “Are you coming back?”
“Nope.”
“You wanna talk about it?”
“Not really.”
Zach headed for the fridge and grabbed the milk carton. “Okay.” He took a good long chug and then turned, leaning against the counter as he wiped milk from the corner of his mouth. “When you say leaving…”
“I’m headed back to Detroit.”
“Huh.” Zach rubbed the impressive beard he’d accumulated over the last week or so. “Training camp doesn’t start for four weeks.
“Four and a half weeks.” At Zach’s look, Travis shrugged. “I counted.”
“There’s the charity game for your foundation. So, if you want to get technical, we have two weeks until we hit the ice.”
Crap. Travis had forgotten all about fundraiser for the foundation he’d help organize with a few other guys on the team, including Zach. It was geared toward sport for inner-city kids. Helping underprivileged children with funding so their families could afford to enroll them in sports like hockey, something they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.
“Right.” Travis rooted around the mess of things on the counter, looking for his keys. “Make sure you’re back by then.” He tossed a few magazines out of the way, but they slid to the floor and scattered. With a curse, he grabbed them and shoved them in the garbage.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I never said I was okay.” Travis glanced at Zach, his anger barely in check. He was so far from okay, he wouldn’t recognize okay if it tapped him on the shoulder and said hello.
Zach was quiet for a few moments. “Sorry it didn’t work out with Ruby.”
Travis found his keys and shoved them in his pocket. “Yeah, me too.” He grabbed his bags. “Stay as long as you like. I’ll see you back in Detroit.”
“You sure you don’t have time for a beer?”
“No.” Travis opened the door. “I’m headed to my dad’s place and then I’m gone.” He didn’t wait for a response. Travis walked outside and climbed into his truck. The engine roared to life. He put the machine in gear. And just like that, his summer was over.
