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23
Travis Cooper adjusted the jacket over his shoulders, knowing it didn’t quite lay right. He left the dressing room anyway, the three men waiting for him out in front of all the mirrors looking his way the moment he did.
Lee’s eyes scanned down to Trav’s boots, as if it mattered what the jacket looked like with these jeans. He’d worn these to urge Berthas into the milking chutes this morning, along with the boots. He’d literally run back to his cabin, put on a bunch more deodorant and a different shirt, and hopped in Lee’s truck ten seconds after that.
Will kept his eyes on the jacket, but Trav couldn’t tell if his brother liked it or not. Will glared at everything these days. Positively everything, as Trav had caught him eyeing Mama with daggers when she’d asked about Gretchen’s grand reopening.
That event was a week old, and Will still hadn’t gone to get his girlfriend back in his life. If Trav had been living with him, he was sure Will would be just as sighy and just as slammy as Trav had been after he’d broken up with Shayla.
The salesman who’d helped Travis find this jacket nodded appreciatively and approached first. “We can let it out in the shoulder,” he said, brushing his hand along the offending part of the jacket. “But this looks great with the hat.”
Travis had found his wedding cowboy hat first. He wanted his tux to match it, and that was the purpose of today’s visit. Shay had told him if he didn’t get to town to order his tux today, she’d call off the wedding. She’d agreed to be married on his family farm, but she would not allow him to show up in jeans and a plaid shirt.
He’d demanded to know what was wrong with his clothes, and then she’d started kissing him, so he’d forgotten everything after that. She sure knew how to get what she wanted.
“Guys?” Travis asked, throwing his arms straight out to his sides. “What do you think?”
“Looks great,” Will said disinterestedly. Honestly, Travis wasn’t sure why he’d brought him along. He hadn’t cared where they’d gone to lunch either. It was like the usually-opinionated-and-didn’t-hold-back Will had disappeared.
With a jolt, Travis realized he had. “Will,” he said. “Really. What do you think?”
Will looked up from his phone again, his eyes dark with irritation. Travis didn’t care; he’d weathered darker looks than this. “I think it matches the hat really well,” he said.
“Me too,” Lee said, and that was that. Trav knew he wouldn’t get much more from his brothers.
“You guys said you wanted to come,” he said, frustrated with them.
“You said you’d buy my lunch,” Will said, an attempt at a smile touching his face.
“Like you can’t afford your own lunch,” Trav shot back at him.
“I had to drive to town to get Ford from his birthday party,” Lee said, and he sank back into the luxurious red recliners outside the men’s dressing rooms.
Travis heaved a great big sigh and looked at the attendant. “I think this is the only one I need to try on. I do want the shoulders wider, and I need more room in my underarm.”
“Yes.” The man whipped out his tape measure like it was a sword and started taking down numbers.
Travis stared at his brothers, one standing and one sitting. Neither of them seemed to care about his laser glare. It probably wasn’t as strong as theirs.
“Can you make the pants into shorts?” he asked, not removing his eyes from his brothers. Neither of them moved or even looked at him. Lee looked like he’d passed out in two seconds flat, which he probably had.
“Shorts, sir?” the salesman repeated, looking up with surprise.
“Yeah,” Travis said, raising his voice. “I saw these really hipshortson a guy online. They went all the way down to his knee, and he wore the usual attire up top. I’m thinkingI want to wear shorts at my wedding.”
At least the yelling got Will to look up. He blinked and asked, “What?”
“Not a good idea,” Lee said, opening his eyes.
“Shay will murder you in front of everyone,” Will added. He shook his head, no smile in sight. “He’s kidding. He doesn’t want shorts for his wedding.”
“What’s with you guys?” Travis asked. He shook his head at the salesman. No, he didn’t want to upset Shay at the wedding. He’d totally wear shorts to get married. Maybe he wasn’t as hip as the couple he’d seen online, but he’d still do it.
Shaywouldfillet him if he did; Will was right about that.
“Nothing,” Lee said.
“Let me go check on the alteration schedule,” the salesman said, glancing at Will and Lee in distaste before he nodded at Travis. “You can give me that.”
