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The Tessarae Inn |
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Dreams In Amber Refrains
PART II IN THE SHADOW OF TWILIGHT WISHES
CHAPTER 10 Blair dialed Todd’s number again but there was still no answer. She stared at the cell phone in her hand then shoved it back into the pocket of her jeans. What the hell was going on with Todd? She looked off into the distance. From the deck she could see the sun setting over the mountains that bordered Travis’s ranch, which tinged them a beautiful misty blue, and the horses running as if playing tag in the north pasture. The place was as peaceful and beautiful as she remembered but her body was already aching for Todd. Why did he have to be so stubborn? What would an extra day or two have cost them? Then he drove off with that brittle bitch just to rub her nose in it. And now he couldn’t come for her until tomorrow. They took ten leaps forward then they just couldn’t seem to help sliding back a step or two. But this time they had the brakes firmly activated. Rebecca hadn’t derailed them and neither would Travis, much less some brittle phony like Heather. She turned her back and leaned against the railing of the deck so that she could see into the living room through the bank of French doors. Travis was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the living room strumming his guitar, playing with a tape recorder and scribbling things in a notebook. He was working on a new song. His head was bent so that his hair tumbled forward and his bare arms jutted out from his sleeveless T-shirt. For a moment she had an image of the way he must have looked as a young boy—earnest, serious, and focused on his dream and she felt the pain. She had dreamed of being a princess. He dreamed of being a rock star. It didn’t matter that his dream came true, because in the end the effect was the same. The pain of having to dream that kind of dream with such ferocious determination just to survive was still with them and always right below the surface. He looked up and saw her then smiled. He put down the guitar and walked toward her with a slow feral gait of a big cat. For just a second she felt an uncomfortable compression in her chest. Some people were born with a magnetic presence and Travis was one of them. It probably destined him to be a star and also made him dangerous. “Is he coming?” “No.” “I’ll take you if you really want to go. Despite what he seems to believe, I don’t want to cause any problems. You’ve hurt enough for a lifetime or two. Soon as Piper and the boys get here, you and I can pick up the kids and make it into Llanview before the stroke of midnight.” “I love him, Travis.” Travis eyes widened then he tightened his lips and took a step back. “I get that. Seems to me that was never the question. Does he deserve you? Now that’s a question. Why isn’t he coming?” “Business.” “Business? Right. Okay.” She ignored his tone. Travis was no more an unbiased judge of Todd than Todd was of him. That would probably never change. What she wanted to talk to him about though was Heather but she refused to come across as so pathetic that her husband couldn’t give another woman a ride without it becoming some big debate about their relationship. He went on a “date” and she dealt with it. She was here practically alone with a man who had made no secret that he wanted her. Todd was dealing with it. No use borrowing trouble. He had business. “Look, Travis, I’m the one who can’t seem to make a decision and stick to it. One minute I want to stay, the next I want to go home. He took me at my word and made other plans.” “I’m sure he does what he thinks is best for him.” “You’re not being fair. This is my decision.” “Fine. So what are you going to do, Blair? Time is running out. Do you want to go home to stay or just to touch base? Do you want to sing with me or not? I’ve tried to be patient and understanding here but this is too important to me for you to jerk me around depending on his mood.” “I’m not doing that.” “Maybe not but you don’t seem to get how much this matters to me. How much you matter to me.” “Travis.” He moved next to her and leaned against the rail so that his bare arm touched her arm. “Do you know why I bought this place?” “As a getaway. A place to unwind.” “To save my sanity. The music business is crazy. Full of crazy, greedy people who will eat you alive if you let them. People stab you in the back and then ask: What did you expect I was your lawyer…your agent…your label representative…your groupie… your girlfriend…your friend…your wife? Nothing is sacred and no one can trust any damn body.” “If you hate it so much then why …?” “It was my dream. Plus it has its perks and there’s nothing I’d rather do than make music and make money doing it. But the price is high, truly steep. I’m not just bitching that’s just a plain fact.” “It’s your world not mine. I don’t see why it matters so much if I sing with you.” Travis glanced away then crossed his arms over his chest. When she looked over at him, she could see the softness in his eyes and the longing. She stepped away but he reached out and took her hand in his. “I’m going to tell you the truth even though you may not want to hear it. You came out of nowhere. Didn’t want a damn thing from me except maybe to be left alone. I told you shit I never told another soul in this world and not one word of it ever came back to me or swung around to bite me on the ass.” It had been such a bad time in her life that she never really thought about how her presence had affected Travis. He had been a beacon in a storm but her vision had been so clouded by her own pain that she never thought she was more than a momentary distraction for him. “Now you can pretend otherwise,” he said, “but I know we connected. I lived a lifetime with you in three days. I respect you and I respect your life but I can’t forget and I’m not even going to try.” “I have a life. Children. A husband…” “I was lost and you found me. I was going down for the third count and you saved me. When I was blind, you let me see through your eyes. When I thought no one could touch my heart ever again, you sang it open.” “I can’t…” “I trust you, Blair. You didn’t want anything from me in the beginning. You still don’t. And because of that I’d give you anything.” She cleared her throat and looked down at her hand in his. This was getting too intense. “I’m not asking that I matter to you,” he said. “But I am asking that you not discount how much you matter to me. Trust me about this Grammy thing. I’d never do anything to hurt you.” “Mystery Lady, good to see you. Never thought you’d show up again.” Blair exhaled and smiled as she heard Piper McKnight’s familiar voice. She looked toward the French doors and spied Mason Donahue grinning at her on the other side of Piper. The boys were back in town. She pulled her hand away from Travis and walked toward them. Piper hugged her but Mason just smiled and hovered just inside of the door. “We’re talking,” said Travis. “Got to continue later than, Jakee, because Arthur and that damn new publicity slut are about to come to blows out there. You know you’re the only one that bitch will listen to. Excuse my language, Mystery Lady, but, hey, ain’t no need of pretending. We’re mother fucking rock stars and got the potty mouths to prove it.” “Shut up, Piper,” said Travis in a hiss as he brushed past him and walked into the house followed closely by Mason, who turned back and waved at her. Piper set the six-pack in his hand on the circular teak table and then hopped on the deck rail and looked at her. He was a tall, lanky man with jet-black hair, a scruffy beard and deep green eyes. He wasn’t really handsome but he had a vibe that made it hard to ignore him. It wasn’t hard to imagine that he was either preordained to be in a rock band or on a wanted poster somewhere. Naturally he was the member of the band she was closest too other than Travis. “Pouring his heart out to you?” Blair looked past him to mountains in the distance. “It’s all right. I know all about that shit. He was drunk for a whole week after you left to go back to that piece of shit you’re married to…” “Don’t call him that.” “What? You prefer the term turd?” “Drop it, okay.” “Can’t do it. I’m a member in good standing of the truth police. Besides ‘piece of shit’ is a term of endearment. My wife calls me that all the damn time. I know it’s her way of sending me a kiss across the phone lines when she can’t get close enough to give me the real thing.” He jumped down from the railing and put the empty bottle in the carton and then opened another beer. He offered it to her but she waved it away. “You sure? This is the good stuff. Imported. Travis stocked the fridge the right way for once. Knew you were coming I guess.” “Is he okay, Piper?” “Just between me and you, he’s okay most of the time. A whole lot better than before you swept in here and put us all under some damn kind of spell. Breaking our hearts, singing like an angel. He was lost there for a while. You brought him back.” Her mind skidded back to how calm and reassuring Travis had been. She was the one who was a mess. “He couldn’t have been as bad as that.” “I guess we need to talk.” Blair sat down at the table. Piper glanced around then pulled a chair around so he could see the activity in the house. He propped his feet on another chair then seemed to watch whatever was happening in the living room for a few minutes as he drank his beer. Finally, he said, “He was into some truly dangerous ass shit. It’s always the quiet ones you know. I, on the other hand, am a damn choirboy.” “That doesn’t sound like Travis.” “You think you know him but he’d never let you see that part of him. He was rolling downhill and picking up speed until you walked in here. Think this place is so beautiful and tranquil? It’s just a weigh station where he always stops on his road trip to hell.” “Why?” “He had his reasons but who the hell knows for sure? Shit, I’m just a damn musician but Travis is THE artist. You know they different from the rest of us. They use pain like currency.” The image of Travis working on the song earlier flashed in her mind. Even then she had seen an aura of pain. How had she missed it before? “He’s got enough scars left over from that bitch mother of his to get his own ward in a head hospital and things only got worse after she left.” Blair felt something catch in her throat. “Shit like that makes you stand on a ledge just for the hell of it every now and then.” “You don’t mean he would try to hurt himself, do you?” “Not the way you mean.” “How then?” “Bad boys play dangerous games. It’s the thrill shit. Sometimes we got to howl but even we’ve got our limits and there are rules. Always feed the kitty first. But every now and again Travis just steps into the fucking tiger’s cage before it’s been fed. We’ve learned to look for the signs and pull his ass out but this last time it was worse because he ended up not being able to sing.” Blair crossed her arms and hugged her sides as if she felt a sudden chill. Travis survived by channeling his pain into the music. “Felt like he lost everything,” said Piper. “I don’t know who or what sent you that day but fate had to have a hand in it because you showed him the music was still there and brought him back from the edge.” “All I did was talk to him and sing with him.” “Yes, you did and that is some serious shit. You got some hellacious Mojo, Mystery Lady. Remember to only use your power for good.” Chapter 11 Dreams In Amber Refrains FAN FICTION |