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Sitting out on the patio, he watched the sun set, drinking his scotch and remembering how Stacy looked swimming naked in the pool. How the time they spent together had been the best time of his life. And he’d screwed it all up.
His chest ached with the loss of her and he continued to drink until the bottle was damn near empty.
Was this what he wanted? An empty house? Silence, being alone?
In the moonlight, John’s image appeared before him, shimmering in the darkness. Bleary- eyed, he stared at the best friend he’d lost in the war. The man who had taken a bullet meant for him. The man he still mourned.
“I’m dead, but you’re alive. Don’t fuck up the life you have. Grow up and learn to live. Time to get over my death, Luis, and live your life. Don’t disappoint me, soldier.”
With a shimmer, the image disappeared. Before each battle, they would turn to one another and say, “Don’t disappoint me, soldier.”
Sitting there he thought about his life and how he’d changed from a young man into the man he was today. Shaking his head, a tear traveled down his face. “Don’t disappoint me, soldier.”
Standing, Luis went into the house and put away the bottle of scotch. Then he called Dr. Richards. Time to seek help. Time not to disappoint those who had given their lives for him.
CHAPTER13
Trevor stayed away for a week. During that time he visited with his family, went into Houston, and thought about what he really wanted in life.
As much as he loved Luis – his brother, his best friend, his partner at the ranch – he wanted more.
Why had he made all this money if he was not going to leave it behind to his children? Or help them get ahead in life, give them a better childhood than he’d experienced.
It was his reason for helping his brothers and sisters. He wanted them to have better lives. And he wanted a son or daughter to take over his business someday.
With Stacy, he’d begun to have hope that maybe they’d found the woman to give them what they were searching for. Sure, Luis kept saying he would never get married, but Trevor had hoped and prayed that was just the result of the PTSD and that once he got it under control, he would change his mind.
How could one stupid ripped condom create so much havoc in their life? But one thing it had done was bring everything into the open. Now they would make the decisions that were necessary for them each to find the happiness they wanted in their lives.
Today would be a monumental day in his life. Today, he would decide whether or not the dreams of them owning a ranch together and creating a family were still viable. Today could be the end of the friendship they’d had for nearly twenty years. Today, they could go their own separate ways.
Pulling up in front of the ranch, he noticed that Luis’s truck was there. After he parked, he stepped out of the vehicle and breathed in the clean fresh air. Home. The sound of a cow mooing in the distance filled him with happiness.
It would be so hard to let this go. And he wondered if he could buy out Luis if Luis decided that marriage and a family were not for him.
When he walked inside, the house was empty. On the back patio, he found his friend gazing out at the pool and the pastures beyond it.
“Hey, you’re back,” Luis said. “How was Houston?”
“The same city that I left,” he said so thankful he was out of the hustle and bustle. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” he said. “We need to talk. I owe you a huge apology.”
That was a good way to start. But had he made any decisions regarding Stacy? About having a family? Trevor was more certain than ever that he wanted a wife and children. The path of his life had become crystal clear in the week he was gone.
“Thank you,” he said. But he didn’t say anything else because he wanted Luis to bring up if he had come to his senses. But what if he hadn’t? Then they would need to decide on who got the ranch or if they wanted to sell the place and each start over.
“I’ve seen Dr. Richards twice this week. He told me that before I wasn’t interested in getting better. This time he says he can see a difference in me and wanted to know what happened. I told him about Stacy.”
With a sigh, Luis got up from the patio table and shuffled toward the pool. Trevor followed him. “All I could do was sit here every night and think about how beautiful she looked naked swimming laps in our pool. How she fit in with us. How she satisfied us better than any woman I’ve ever experienced.”
Trevor nodded. “I’ve missed her all week. The smell of her. The way she made me feel like a man and she was all woman.”
Still Luis had not said the words Trevor needed to hear for their partnership to continue. Maybe he didn’t realize it, but today was the deadline. Time for him to make a choice.
Because Trevor had decided the moment had come for him to launch his life plan. He wasn’t getting any younger.
With a sigh, Luis gazed out at the pasture. “This place means a lot to me. You and I have worked so hard to get to this place in life where we can relax and enjoy our lives. Share it with another person. Dr. Richards asked me a lot of questions about my visions. About how I would feel being alone.”
