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Woo! Travis was laying it on thick and I couldn’t be bothered to hate it. The slight naughtiness to his words left my core aching and wanting more. Plus, I loved how Diane practically ate her lip with envy. Not to mention, the thinly-veiled jealousy brewing in Dennis’s eyes. I wasn’t a vengeful woman, but I was enjoying how my ‘partner’ served them each a nice little slice of comeuppance.
“Dee, who is this man? He looks like the guy in my Madden game,” Little Daniel asked as he studied Travis closely. For a moment, I’d allowed myself to be distracted, momentarily forgetting the boys hadn’t met the man currently stoking my inner furnace to its boiling point. I dropped down to a squat and brushed his long, unruly black curls back from his pink-tinted face.
“This is my friend, Travis,” I introduced him as Travis waved with a friendly smile and dropped down to squat beside me.
“Nice to meet you, little man.” Travis shook Daniel’s hand before offering it to Nathan.
“You look like #49 that plays for the Detroit Motors on the Madden game that Dee got for us.” Neither boy would ever forget how I’d gone to the local game store to treat them for doing so well in school. Dennis at first objected, claiming the boys were too young to be responsible for something that expensive, but once I told him that I got the system on a deep discount and that the game was a used copy that only cost twenty dollars, he reluctantly relented.
“He does look like #49!” Nathan chimed in.
“That’s because I am #49. I played for Detroit for several years.”
Both boys' eyes went wide as their little mouths dropped open. “Dee! Mr. Travis is my favorite! I always pick his team when I play with Daniel!” Nathan shouted and stared at Travis like he hung the moon. I guess for both Nathan and Daniel, he did. He was their favorite player. And right now, maybe he hung the moon a little for me too.
“How about I get you guys some merch from my old team?” Travis offered and if I wasn’t so dead set on keeping him at a distance, I would have kissed him right then and there. Travis’s offering to give them a few things that would mean the world to them, tore down a section of the wall I’d so carefully built.
“You don’t have to do that—” Dennis went to refuse, but a quick look from me silenced him. I wasn’t about to let his stupid pride get in the way of giving these two sweet little guys a little bit of wonderful in their lives. Especially since they had to live with that bitch Diane who currently had her eyes zeroed in on Travis’s crotch. The tramp.
“We need to go soon if we’re going to meet everyone for dinner,” Travis reminded me just as his smartwatch pinged with a text alert. Leaning in, he lightly brushed his lips against my temple. His hot breath ghosted across my skin and all I wanted to do was drag him into the closest bathroom to show him how much I appreciated what he was doing. It definitely wasn’t because I liked him. Because I didn’t. Not like that. Okay, maybe a little, but I had to stick to my guns. No letting super sexy Travis seduce me.
“You’re leaving? Where are you going?” Dennis blurted out as I snapped back to reality. Dennis’s eyes pinged back and forth between me and the man in my arms.
“Dinner.” Travis growled before nipping my ear. Lord, help me, I couldn’t help but squeal. I enjoyed it way too much.
“Like he said, we’ve got dinner plans,” I explained once I’d stopped giggling. Dennis stared at me awkwardly, like he was struggling with something and didn’t want the others to see. I only saw it because I’d known him so well.
"Andafter dinnerplans," Travis added with another nip to my ear.
“Say, do you . . . could we meet up soon? Maybe go for a coffee? I could bring the boys?” My ex asked hopefully as if Travis and hiscurrentgirlfriend weren’t here.
“I’d love to see the boys,” I said. “But I’m not sure coffee is a good idea. I’m not ready for that yet.” He’d broken up with me at a coffee shop and it took me months to show my face in there again. Meeting him for a couple of brews had the triggering power to bring all that back again. It was too soon for coffee.
“We can meet at the park,” Dennis continued. “I just want to talk to you. There are some things we need to discuss.”
“Let me think about it, okay?” I asked, even though really, I didn’t need to think about it. I wasn’t ready for a conversation. At least, not yet. Even though I’d told myself daily that I was moving past it all, I really wasn’t. Being reminded of how your heart had broken wasn’t something that just went away. It lingered in the background, only to come rushing back, bringing all the awful memories with it when you least expected it.
“Is your number still the same?” Dennis asked while Diane let out an impatient whine. Dennis shot her an uncharacteristic scathing look, warning her to be quiet before turning back to me.
“It is.”
“So is mine. When you decide you’re ready, just shoot me a text. I know the boys would love to see you again. And I promise you’ll get to spend some time with them before we head back.”
With that the boys hugged me and told Travis goodbye. Once we were done, Dennis strode off with each of their little hands in his. Diane had been designated as the caboose and didn’t hide that she wasn’t too happy about it.
“Are you okay?” Travis asked, giving me a light squeeze but didn’t let me go.
“I’m not sure.” I sighed. “That was all such a . . . surprise. I don’t know how I’m feeling.”
“If you need to talk about it, you know I’m always here. If anyone knows what it’s like to deal with a difficult situation involving one’s ex—”
“It’s you,” I finished for him. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. It helps to know someone understands.”
Travis’s arm never left my waist as we met up with the rest of our co-workers. On the way to meet them, he’d been sweet enough to ask if I’d rather go home, but I politely declined. I needed to be around people, I told him, but thanked him for being so considerate.
When we reached the restaurant later, he spent most of the night quiet at my side, laughing when someone cracked a joke, but most of the time, lost in his thoughts. By the time our ride dropped him off, I wondered if his silence tonight wasn’t from what he himself dealt with concerning his ex. According to our break room talks, Tami was texting him constantly, demanding he give her money or that he’d come to regret it. Like a champ, Travis refused to engage her in any money talk and only responded for her to talk to his lawyer.
As I watched him enter his building, I thought about how I wished Dennis had been more like Travis. A man of integrity who did what was right, rather than being swayed by some bimbo who stroked his ego. I also found myself glad to know him and considered letting him further in. Letting myself trust him because whether I liked it or not, the barrier between friendship and more was starting to blur.
