It Shouldn't Be You, page 13
“I give,” Travers said as he tapped his brother’s arm.
Within seconds David opened his arms, and Travers rolled to the side. Both of the men sat up and looked at the mess that was around them.
David started laughing.
“What do you think is so funny?” Travers asked between breaths.
“We haven't made a mess like this since Mom was alive. Even then, we were fighting over nothing.”
“I don't think it's nothing. I'll tell you, big brother. Things haven’t been right with us since Dad got sick.”
David's face turned somber.
“It was hard during those times Travers. We all wanted the best for you. We could all see you had so much potential.”
Travers looked at his brother and decided it was time to let go of some of his self-doubt and fear.
“I never knew about potential David. Dad always talked to me about you. How I was going to go to school and make sure that I did well so that the sacrifice you were making for me would be worth it. Then he left with me the idea of making sure you and Loretta had jobs and were taken care of. I don't know what it is that you thought was going on, but I've always lived in your shadow, and for you.”
It felt good to say the words. The guilt that was associated with everything seemed to pour right out of him.
“Well, I can tell you we got the same story. He just told the story where I was the one who was making the sacrifice for you. And in my story, you were the one who was making the sacrifice leaving home and all you knew. I had to make sure that you didn't need to look back. I know Dad meant to do his best. He was working with the best knowledge that he had, and Mom had already passed away. I can't criticize him because I don't know what I would have done in his position.
“What I do know is we are both grown men now. And Loretta is a grown woman with kids. We all need to make our own decisions and come to peace with each other.”
“Do you really believe that?”
David nodded. “I do.”
“Then why did you move the whole company to another state and not let me know?”
David looked a little sheepish. His cheeks flamed red, and he looked away.
“That wasn't one of my finest moments. Oh, I meant to move the company. I know it was the best thing financially. I sent you a letter, and you didn't respond. I sent you an email, and you didn't respond, and by that time, I was angry.”
Travers listened to his brother. In an odd way, he was happy to hear his brother got angry. For so many years, he looked at his brother and thought David was perfect and could do no wrong. Now talking with him, all the years of hurt didn't just fall away, but at least it was easier.
“Listen, I don't expect all of our problems to disappear. I do want to work on all three of us getting together and trying to get our lives right. June says I should work more on my delivery, but I'm too old to be sugar-coating things. I'm going to ask you straight out Travers. Are you interested in being my little brother again and being in my life?”
Travers was elated and horrified at the same time. For so many years, he wanted his brother to come to him and make amends or at least try to build a relationship. That day was here. However, there was another part of him that just wanted to say no. A small piece of him just wanted to get back at David, in some small way in order to make up for the years of indecision and pushing himself in order to be good enough to have earned David's sacrifice.
“Wow, it's taking you that long to think about it?” David said.
“I'm trying to think what Colleen would say.”
David smiled at Travers. “If you are trying to do something that's going to please her while we are trying to work out this problem, I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Might as well marry her since you already love her.”
“Now, just hold on. I'm okay with the brother-trying-to-build-the-relationship thing, but I’ve got the me-and-Red thing working just fine.”
“Looks like you're working on it and going the long way. But hey, what do I know?” David said with a grin.
Travers looked away. He was willing to say he would have a relationship with his brother, but he wasn't ready for his brother to be in his relationship with Colleen. Besides, he knew what he was doing. He was the COO of a company. If he couldn’t plan his own relationship, he had bigger problems.
“So now that we are back to being brothers again, are you going to knock down the door?”
David laughed. “It would take more than just brotherly love for me to be in the doghouse with my wife, and that is exactly where I’d be if I helped you knock down that door. However, I do have an idea.”
Travers looked at David, who was smiling.
“I have never known that smile to mean anything good for me,” Travers said.
“Trust me, you'll be fine. The idea is I'm going to throw you out the window. It's a one-story house you'll just drop and roll and then come around and open the front door. That way, the door gets open, and Moonbeam doesn’t get upset with either one of us.”
Travers didn't think that was such a bad idea. Then they both walked to the window, and he opened it up.
“Hey, I can't just step out of this window,” Travers said.
David nodded solemnly.
“That’s true. It’s the rain. The house is actually built on stilts that put it up above the ground a good three and a half feet. We have floods here so the houses have to be built a little higher so the water can go by without coming into the house. Don't worry about it, like I said, you and that gym body will be fine. You'll just roll right out of the fall.”
“And why am I rolling out the window and not you?” Travers asked suspiciously.
“I'm happy to say that the extra cooking that June and Moonbeam have been feeding me take me out of the running for fitting through this window comfortably. But you, Mr. Keeping-it-lean-and-mean, this is the job for you.”
Twenty minutes later, Travers was at the front door of the little house, removing the plank of wood he had given to Moonbeam, not even an hour before. His clothes were dirty, and he was a little worse for wear, but he was free, and so was his brother.
“I knew we could do it,” David said.
“Yeah, it was something like that,” Travers agreed as he brushed off the dirt from his clothing.
“Let's go up to the house, and we’ll tell Moonbeam that we have come to an understanding. If we don't, we may find ourselves locked in worse places after this.”
Travers agreed. Walking from the house to Moonbeam’s place, Travers looked at his brother and gave a sigh of relief. Everything wasn't fixed. They hadn't discussed most of the things they really needed to get through, but he wasn't feeling the self-doubt that he had before. Now at least he had a path. He just couldn't wait to tell Red.
Travers and David were walking side-by-side when they came around the house to see Luis Chambers standing in front of the door. Travers could hear May inside the house calling out, saying they were coming up the path, and neither one of them looked like they had blood on them.
Then there was a certain stillness about her that told him she too had seen the stranger.
“What's wrong?” David asked.
“It looks like we have an uninvited guest,” Travers murmured.
As they got closer to where Luis was standing, the front door opened on Moonbeam’s house. Colleen stepped out with a smile on her face. Then she noticed Luis was in front of the door and all of the expression fell from her.
Luis Chambers was standing in front of Colleen with a smile on his face as if he had a right to be there. Travers thought the only person who could get him this angry this quickly was David, but Travers was wrong. Travers also had enough wherewithal about him that he also knew that running out there and headbutting Luis wasn't the way to go. Even though he knew he had to let Colleen handle it, Travers didn't like it. When he got to the front of the door, he ignored Luis and looked straight at Colleen.
“Do you need me to address this?” Travers asked Colleen.
He saw her take a deep breath and then straighten her back. He knew she had made a decision that she was going to handle it. Colleen reached out her hand and touched him on his forearm.
“I’ve got this, Aquaman.”
“Just let me know. I'll be inside,” Travers reassured her.
“Hello? You all can't talk about me as if I'm not here,” Luis complained.
Travers could feel his whole body tense up. The blood rush was so intense it almost blotted out everything else. If it hadn't been for the reassuring squeeze from Colleen on his arm, he wasn't sure what would have happened next.
Travers looked down his arm, and then he looked at Colleen. She leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear.
“I got this, Sunshine, just give me a minute.”
With a nod, he walked by and went into the house. Only to go to the front window and keep an eye on them through the curtain to make sure everything was okay.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Did Luis always look this short? Today Luis had on blue jeans and a white polo top. It wasn't anything special, but his clothes looked plain and unattractive, like him. Colleen could remember thinking everyday Luis looked like he had stepped off of an ad magazine, but today he just looked like a regular person.
“Hello, Luis.”
“Colleen, I’m glad I found you.” Luis pulled her into his arms and held her close. Did he smell like mothballs? Or maybe it was a warehouse smell? Whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant. Colleen pushed out of his embrace and took a couple of steps back.
“I wish I could say it was good to see you, but I didn't invite you, Luis.”
“No, you didn't invite me, but I thought I needed to see you after everything we've been through. Besides, I had to make sure that you were making decisions on your own.”
“So you wanted to make sure that nobody else was influencing me as much as you were? That’s pretty insulting all the way around.”
“You see, it’s comments like that that made me know we had to talk face-to-face. Above all, you are one of the most logical women I know. For you to just get up and run away from our party, I knew that something had to have happened.”
Colleen heard the words, and for a moment, there was an air of sincerity that she might have bought into before. She would have believed that he was caring if she hadn't seen the interactions between Moonbeam, May, and June. Colleen would have believed that he was really concerned if she hadn't seen Miss Rosa at the company party. Those people really cared about others and gave of themselves unconditionally.
“Luis, please just answer the question. Why are you here?”
“Well, I had to postpone our engagement party. Don't worry, we didn't lose any money, we’ll still be able to do the party, but we do have to get back and schedule it within the next two weeks.”
“I think there's a misunderstanding here, Luis.”
“I agree there is a misunderstanding, and I think that we can talk about it on the way home. I've been gone a while from the practice, and you need to get back as well. You don't want to leave the new girl there and have people get used to her. You know, out of sight, and then they’ll think she should be there.”
Luis held out his hand and waited for her to take it.
Colleen took a step back again and then looked up at Luis.
“I said we need to talk,” Colleen said firmly.
“Talk? We can always talk. But we need to be moving in the right direction,” Luis urged.
There it was. Every now and again, when she spoke to Luis, his true colors would show. And those colors had just popped their head up like a weasel from the ground. He wanted to move this along and didn't care about her feelings. Colleen felt so foolish. How could she have not seen this side of him before? But then, if she was honest with herself, she had seen this side before, and she had just overlooked it thinking she didn't deserve any better.
“Luis, we need to rethink the whole marrying thing.”
“Of course, you're right.”
For one moment, Colleen looked at him, and a little bit of hope flared in her that he understood that they weren't right for each other. Then he dashed that hope away.
“The wedding can’t happen as scheduled because it's obvious we need to get to know each other, and by the time we make up for what has happened at the engagement party, it'll still take us some more time for everyone to feel comfortable to attend.”
“For everyone to feel comfortable? No, I don't think you understand. It’s not about if they are comfortable. It’s about my comfort, and I don’t want to marry you.”
Luis laughed. “You don't want to marry me? What is the problem? Have you been out here with this guy having the last fling thinking that he'll want to keep you beyond today? Listen, I let you have your fun. You wanted to get back at me for saying I was going to get another woman after we married, fine. You’ve gotten me back by running along the countryside with this man. I'm willing to forgive you, and you will go ahead and forgive me, and we’ll get married.”
“And just like that, we’ll fall in love with each other?”
“Love? No one said anything about love. Love is for poor people and fools.”
The words were like a slap in the face to Colleen. Gone was that jovial smile that sat on Luis' face. In its place was a harsh visage of a man who didn't believe in anything but money and the deal.
“Do you think I traveled all of this way because of love? We will make each other rich. You will support me, and I will go ahead and take my great track record as an attorney and become the district attorney in Chusada. It’s not really a great place to be, Chusada being so small, but I just need it on the resume at least once before we move from there and go to the big time.”
“Move from Chusada?”
“You didn't really expect me to live and die in that hole, did you?” Luis sneered.
“You're right. It's all so clear to me now. There will be no rescheduling of the wedding. We are done.”
“Done? Who do you think will take you in afterward? I'm not saying you're not an attractive woman, but I only need to leave a little hint to let people know you're just not the smartest one.”
Colleen looked at Luis and couldn't believe she had really thought of marrying this man.
“Are you trying to blackmail me into marrying you?”
“It's not blackmailing. It's doing the best thing for your future.”
“Thank you. But no thanks, my decision still stands; we are not marrying, and we are done. I'm not the lonely creature that you seem to think that I am. I don't need you to be whole. I wanted to share myself with you, not be owned by you.”
Colleen turned around and saw the crack in the curtains in the front window. Colleen wondered if they were like the witches of Styx, each one taking a turn to look out the window. She turned around and faced Luis with a smile on her face.
“You need to go.”
“That's it,” Luis asked incredulously.
“We've got nothing else left to say.”
“You do whatever you want to do, and I hope all of these hillbillies and these people help you out because you're going to need it. I don't know what you were thinking or how you thought this would work, but you don't just get to walk away from me.”
“I'm not scared of you, Luis.”
“She doesn't have to be scared of you at all because she's already got a job,” Travers said as he walked out of the house. On the one hand, Colleen wanted to be mad at him, but she could tell it had taken a lot of restraint on his part to stay indoors.
Colleen looked behind Travers to see David, May, June, and Moonbeam standing in the doorway.
Luis sneered and looked at Travers. “She's got a job?”
Travers put his arm around Colleen. “She's the new legal counsel for Butler Hotels.”
Luis stopped for a moment, and then he looked between Travers and Colleen.
Luis began to clap. “Well played Colleen. Here I was trying to get a seed, and you were going for the brass ring.”
“Think whatever you want, but you're going to have to think about it away from here.”
Luis nodded to everybody and then turned to go to his car.
Colleen felt several hands patting her on the shoulder or rubbing her shoulders. Each one of these people were murmuring how she did the right thing, and they were so proud of her.
Colleen turned to look at Travers.
“So how do you feel, Red?”
“Free and scared.”
Travers put his arm around her and walked her into the house.
“Welcome to my world, Red. Welcome to my world.”
Everyone was so loud sitting at Moonbeam’s table that Travers almost didn't hear his cell phone go off. They were still talking about Luis’ exit.
“Hello?”
“Travers, where are you?” Travers immediately recognized the voice on the other side. It was Liam.
“Hey, Liam. I've got that whole issue worked out with the factory. We are fine.”
“That's great because I'm going to need you to come to New York now.”
“What's wrong?”
“Chairman Carstairs wants you to give the report directly to him.”
“What?”
“I can be in the room, but he says he wants to hear it from your lips. He says that he needs to make sure that he's getting all of the information.”
“What is going on?”
“This has gone way beyond my grandmother. I think somebody on the board saw an opportunity and they're just trying to make a go for it. No problem, I know that you can represent well. When can you get to the hotel?”
“I think tonight as long as I can find a flight. I'll be able to present tomorrow.”
“Good, and thanks again, Travers. You're the best kind of friend and COO.”
Travers hung up the phone. When he looked up, everyone at the table was looking at him. It was funny how in such a short time, all these people had become important to him. Moonbeam, May, and June had all become an accepted part of his life. His brother was back. He’d finally have a brother again. Then there was Colleen. They had been through so much and done so much together in such a little time that it only confirmed that this was the right woman for him.
