It Shouldn't Be You, page 14
“Well,, don't keep us in suspense, what did he say?” Colleen asked.
“The chairman wants to see me tomorrow so I can give the report. I'm going to have to leave tonight.”
Just then, Travers felt a hand on his shoulder. When he turned to look, it was his brother.
“No, brother, we are going to have to leave tonight.”
“Thank you so much, David,” Colleen said.
Travers continued to look David in the eye and then gave him a small smile.
“I don't know old man, do you think you know how to act in the big city?”
David leaned down closer to Travers’ ear and murmured.
“Let's just remember, little brother, who had to tap out in the house.”
Both of the brothers laughed. Travers knew no matter what happened, he wouldn't be alone.
Chapter Twenty- Four
Even though it was nighttime, Colleen could tell the hotel was beautiful. It had a spacious atrium and marble floors. It was a shame she hadn't arrived during the daylight hours. As soon as Travers had gotten off the call, he booked everyone's flight. June, May, and Moonbeam decided to stay home. David and Travers said they would handle it. All the women just nodded, and then they took Colleen aside and told her to take care of them.
As they walked through the hotel, their steps could be heard echoing in the atrium when all of a sudden, a small, older woman with peppered hair holding a white Scottish terrier came out.
“It's about time you came home. Liam needs you,” the woman said, looking at David and Colleen. She had on wrinkled clothing, and her age was hard to nail down. Whoever she was, Travers and the woman were friends.
When the woman got to Colleen, she took a little extra time as if she was looking for something. When she was finished giving Colleen the once-over, she turned back to Travers.
“Is she with you?”
“Yes, Jane, she is. And she has a name. Her name is Colleen Bowers. Why are you still here, Jane?”
“Because Liam owes me. When he pays me, then I leave. Who's the big guy next to you?”
Colleen looked over at David, trying to gauge his reaction to the small woman and her dog.
David smiled and held out his hand. “My name is David, and I'm Travers’ brother.”
The woman took her dog and pushed it toward David, letting the dog take a sniff of him. Then she brought the dog over to Colleen and let it sniff her. After the dog looked over its shoulder, Jane took a step back and nodded.
“You all will do. Mr. Butterscotch has no problems with you, so I have no problem with you. As for being his brother, any idiot can see the two of you are related.”
Then Jane turned her attention toward Travers.
“There are two rooms set up already. Your room is ready to go. The one next to it is your brother’s.”
With that edict given, Jane turned around and walked away. Colleen tapped Travers on the shoulder and gestured toward a retreating Jane’s back.
“Jane?”
Travers shrugged. “You get used to her after a minute.”
They all needed to go to their rooms to prepare for tomorrow. About an hour later, Travers and Colleen were in the hotel room getting ready for bed.
The room was spectacular. Colleen looked from left to right. The room had more space than most houses did. It was full of beiges and whites. It had a living room with what looked like a full couch to sleep on. There was a kitchen area if you wanted to microwave. There was a boardroom desk in the room for meetings, and then there was a door that went to the bedroom, and Colleen couldn’t wait to see what was on the other side.
If she thought the room was big, she was completely blown away by how big the bed was. Colleen didn't know if it existed, but if it was possible, the bed must have been a super king size.
Tired from the day's events and having to deal with Luis, she got into the bed and turned off her night light. A few moments later, Colleen heard the rustle of blankets on the floor. She sat up and turned on her night light only to find Travers setting up a bed on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“I'm bedding down for the night.”
“Travers, please, I’m tired, and I know you are too, so please succinctly explain to me why you are sleeping on the floor?”
“I'm sleeping on the floor because we're not at a place where I should be sleeping in your bed.”
Colleen looked at the bed and then looked at Travers on the floor.
“Travers, the bed is so huge we would never run into each other all night long.”
“Or I could stay here on the floor, and I would definitely not run into you during any time of the night.”
Colleen looked at Travers as he curled up into a ball. “I feel awful. You, being on the floor in your own room.”
“If it's any consolation, Red, I've slept in worse. Sleeping on this floor isn't as bad as you may think.”
She watched Travers roll over and pull the covers up. After sitting up in the bed for a few moments, she decided she knew what she was going to do. Colleen pulled the covers off of the bed and set her bedding up right next to Travers. She positioned her bedding so that they were head-to-head.
“What are you doing?” Travers asked.
“I'm sticking with you, Sunshine. If it's good enough for you, then it's got to be good enough for me.”
Travers rolled onto his stomach and looked at Colleen.
“Red, I only want the best for you. I don't like the couch out in the living room—it's too short. I'm more than comfortable on this double plush rug.”
Colleen turned on her stomach to stare back at Travers.
“Sunshine, I want you to know that I'm also more than comfortable on this double plush rug, so go to sleep because you have to get up early in the morning and talk to a chairman.
“Stubborn,” he said with a smile in his voice
“Bossy.”
“Good night, Red.”
“Sweet dreams, Sunshine. You are going to rock that chairman tomorrow totally.”
It wasn't long before Colleen heard gentle snores coming from Travers. She thought about how crazy everything had been for the last couple of weeks. Here they were on the floor of a five-star hotel sleeping as if they were outside camping. Colleen had never been happier in her whole life.
Travers had to meet with the chairman at ten-thirty a.m. He wanted to make sure that Colleen was taken care of first. He had already ordered breakfast on her part when she came out of the bathroom.
She looked at him and then at the setup.
“It seems as though somebody knows the way to a woman's heart.”
Travers held up his hands in defense.
“I've seen you when you are hungry, and there's no chance for me then.” He walked up to her and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Besides, how would it look if I walked into the chairman and said the reason why I'm all beat up is because of a little woman back in the room.”
“I'll have you know, no one thinks I'm little but you.”
They both sat down, and when they opened up the covers, there were two plates filled with chocolate chip pancakes with a smile on both of them in whipped cream.
“You are the best, Sunshine. You are the best male friend that I've had in forever.”
“The best male friend? We should be able to be a little bit more honest with each other than that. I think we are way past the point of just being friends. I care about you,” Travers said with a smile.
Travers watched Colleen’s smile fade from her face.
“What are you doing, Travers?”
Travers was hesitant. This was not going the way he thought it would. It was supposed to be like checking items off of a list, he thought. He would go ahead and solidify his relationship with Colleen and then go and take care of the chairman.
“Red, don't get that scared look. I'm telling you what I've been saying one way or another this whole trip. I'm telling you what everybody else can see. We love each other.” Travers reached out and held her hand and stroked her cheek. “Remember, we've got each other's back. I want you to know there isn't any other person on the planet I'd rather have my back.”
Colleen pulled her hand from his grasp. She took a breakfast cover and placed it over her pancakes, then she pushed herself away from the table and stood up.
“We don't do love, Travers. You love your job, and I love my freedom. Don't ruin what we have by saying that other thing.”
“Other thing? We don't lie to each other, Red. We call it as we see it. We deal with everything head-on.” Travers stood up and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
“Why is this such a hiccup?”
“Why is it such a hiccup? Me giving up my identity? What did you think? I was just going to stop being me because we get along well? What are you thinking about Travers?”
“Red, you're panicking. Don't put me in the same category as those other people in your life. I'm not Luis. I'm not going to trap you. I'm not your father. I'm not going to take you and mold you into something you don't want to be. We are going to make up a new way to be in love that works for us. It'll work for us now. It'll work for us when we are married. It'll work for us when we have kids.”
Colleen held up her hands, warning him off.
“You need to stop now! No one has said anything about marriage or even anything permanent.”
“I know, I know, you're thinking we're going to have to work out our careers, but we will get through it. I don’t see a problem. I'm not concerned. We will be able to do it together.”
Colleen looked around the room from left to right until her eyes settled on the clock.
“You've got forty-five minutes before your meeting. I suggest you go and meet up with your brother. Get your notes together. You should make sure both of you are on the same page instead of you just going in and expecting everyone to follow you. Because that's precisely what's going on here. This wasn't a discussion; this was an edict from the great Travers Warner.
“Luis already taught me that I don't want to rush into any kind of marriage. We need time. We need time to make sure that we know each other and to make sure that the things we want are going to be in perfect alignment and . . .”
“And what, Red? You're scared, and what you're really asking for is time to find a way to sabotage us. Let me tell you why I even went to your engagement party. I knew then you were the one. I didn't feel like dating any other woman knowing it was a possibility for us. I want you to know, I believe in us. I was hoping by now that you’d trust me enough to go with me on that journey.”
“Trust you? You come out of the blue with something like this, and you try to put this on me. No, this is the beginning of what I was afraid of. You, coming up with the ideas. You, telling me what to do. Me, having to just give in. If you loved me like you said you did, you'd give me some time. Some time for me to see that it's all going to be okay.”
Travers looked at Colleen, and he couldn't imagine how this could have gone worse. She was so scared, and maybe he had been too arrogant.
“Don't throw us away, Red.”
Colleen pulled her robe closer around her and stood up straight.
“I'm not throwing anything away. You never gave it enough time to actually be something.”
Colleen turned her back to him, walked out of the room, and took his heart with her.
Travers walked out of the room, not knowing where he was going.
“Hey, watch where you're going!”
Travers looked in front of him and saw Jane holding Mr. Butterscotch.
“I'm sorry, Jane. I wasn't looking where I was going.”
“Yes, we can see that. You look like I did that time when I thought Mr. Butterscotch was gone. Don't worry, my Mr. Butterscotch came back. Yours will too.”
“I hope you’re right, Jane, otherwise, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore.”
Travers walked by Jane and went into the elevator. On reflex, he pressed to go to the main lobby. He was scheduled to meet his brother there so they could regroup fifteen minutes before the meeting. He was obviously early. At this rate, he needed to regroup to regroup for the session. As the elevator went down, he tried to think about what had gone so wrong.
He was hurt and disappointed, and now he knew what he was missing in a relationship and in a woman. The job was great, but it wasn’t Colleen. Travers loved what he did, but he loved Colleen more. Where once there was hurt and desolation, it was slowly replaced by anger.
How could she have put him in the same category as Luis? How could she not see the great thing they had that she was throwing away?
“I'm not one of those people who does these meetings a lot, but I have to say, little brother, you don't look like you're ready.”
Travers looked up, and once again, he was about to run into someone else. He had to get his head in the game.
Travers waved his hand in the air as if to clear his head. “It hasn’t been the morning I thought it would be.”
“That would explain why you're here so early. Do you want to talk about it?” David asked.
“No, not really. I just want it to go the right way.”
“Ahhh, so you and the woman are having a fight,” David said.
“How can you have a fight with someone who won't even come into the ring to fight for the both of you?” David asked.
“It doesn't matter. We need to sit down and think about what we're going to tell the chairman, and then we'll go ahead and focus on—”
David interrupted him. “Hold on there—people matter. People will always matter over business. Let's go over here and have a seat, and maybe if we talk it out, we can see what went wrong.”
Travers was emotionally wrecked and too tired to fight David. They proceeded to the atrium and the high-back chairs that were close together so that they could talk.
“David, I know we are working on our relationship, but I don't think this is the best place to start.”
“There is no best place to start. So go ahead and tell me what you did to that pretty girl?”
Travers laughed. “I told her I loved her.”
“Well, I hope you dressed it up better than that.”
“I did. I got her favorite pancakes, and I put a happy face on it. Then I told her that we were made for each other. We loved each other. Let’s get married and work it all out.”
David had a huge smile on his face. “Wow, she let you tell her all of that all in one breath?”
“Why are you acting like that? You’re supposed to be on my side. She put me in the same category as Luis Chambers. How could she do that?”
“I don't want to tell you how to deal with women, but I find that women don’t like to be treated like they are five, so that isn’t usually the best way to go. In fact, the next time you'd like a woman to marry you, I would suggest you ask her instead of telling her.”
Travers wiped his hand over his face. “Next time. What next time?”
David patted him on the arm. “If it's true, she'll come back. If it's true, there will be a next time. Now enough of your pity party we have to get ready to go face some guy in a suit. I'm going to need your help because I think I’m a little plain-spoken for this kind of conversation.”
Travers looked at David and gave him a nod. “In case I can't see it later, or I forget, thank you for being here today.”
“Don't worry. I’m going to trade this day in with you for something big”.
They both laughed.
“Okay, let me give you a crash course, big brother, on how to talk corporate.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Colleen couldn't find her clothes quick enough. When she heard the door close, she couldn't believe he had left. Then she went into the bedroom and almost tripped over all the bedding on the floor.
“All of this was just fake. It was just him trying to lead me into doing something I didn't want to do,” she yelled at the room.
When she heard the door opening again, her heart sped up, even though she knew it was a hopeless situation. She was happy that he had come back. She turned around to go into the main room so she could let him know how she felt again.
“You know it doesn't make a difference what you say I'm still going—” Colleen started.
Colleen stopped still when she saw it was Jane. Jane let Mr. Butterscotch get down from her lap, and he promptly ran into the bedroom. Colleen watched the little terrier go by her and followed him into the bedroom. It took him three jumps, but finally, he made it to the bed. Mr. Butterscotch did three turns around in a circle and then settled into a ball to promptly go to sleep.
Colleen looked over her shoulder at Jane. “Are you going to get him off the bed?” Colleen asked.
“No, that's where he sleeps. I really came in to tell Travers that Mr. Butterscotch was very unhappy that he could not sleep in his bed last night.”
“Really?”
“Travers was in too big of a rush going out this morning. I guess that means you two have already had your early morning fight. You young people, not even twenty-four hours, and you're already arguing.”
“I think we're doing something a little bit more than arguing,” Colleen said defensively. “Besides, we just met, I don’t know that you know enough about us or me to have a say.”
“If you say so, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's not important.”
“How could you possibly know? We're having a problem, and he has ultimately betrayed me.”
“He betrayed you?”
“Yes!”
“Did he take all your money?”
“No.”
“Did he steal your identity or take all of your property?”
“No, I can see what you're trying to do, but what he did was much worse.”
“I'm listening.”
“Not that I have to tell you anything, but he told me he loved me and that we were going to get married.”
