It Shouldn't Be You, page 8
“I think we should go look at the house in the back.”
“The what?”
“The house they made for you.”
Colleen pointed behind herself to the house. The house couldn’t be seen from the road as it was built precisely behind the first house. However, Travers had been walking slightly off the path and now they could see the house behind it.
“They really built me a house,” Travers said in a whisper.
“It looks like they got help because from here, the window doesn’t look crooked at all,” she teased. They walked to the house, and right in front of it was a swinging bench. Colleen waited for Travers to go inside, but he didn’t move.
He stood there and just looked at the house.
It wasn’t a bad house. It was one story and painted blue.
“Are we going in?” she asked.
“They have more pictures of me on that wall than I own of myself,” Travers murmured.
“They haven’t had you to look at, so they had to have pictures. It’s not uncommon when a family is separated.”
“Family? So funny to hear that word. David and Loretta have been distant from me since our father died. When my dad died, we were opening up a new Butler Hotel. I would call my dad every week. One time I got him at one of those moments of being lucid. I told him I’d come on the weekend because it didn’t look like he was doing too well.
He told me to finish the opening. He said he was proud of me, and coming this weekend or next wouldn’t change his mind. He wished me good luck on the opening.”
“Did the opening go well?”
Travers turned to her and smiled. “It did. We opened in New York. My dad passed that night. When I went to the funeral, my brother said, ‘Glad you could make this date.’ So you have to understand, when they say my brother has given them those pictures, I’m thinking someone is running a scam.”
Colleen put her hands on his cheeks and pulled him down to place a gentle kiss on his lips.
“Give them a chance to explain first. Listen to what they have to say before you judge.”
“Is that your advice as a lawyer?”
Colleen smiled. “It is. You see, we listen first, and then if they don’t come out with the correct answers, we’ll eviscerate them for trying to play with you.”
“I knew there was a reason I adored you.”
Colleen chuckled. “After that mermaid tail, you’ve got me hook, link, and sinker.”
They both laughed, and Travers rested his forehead against hers.
“Thank you, Red,”
“We’re going to get through this, Sunshine. Remember, I got your back.”
The next morning he went to the main house and found the inner door open, and only the screen door was closed. He opened it and called out.
“Hello?”
“Come on in. I’m in the kitchen.”
Travers walked in, having some more sense of his surroundings. The house was done in woods and greens. The sofa was large and comfy with green flowers, and the walls looked as if someone had hand-painted the green foliage randomly on the walls. When he went into the kitchen, he found Moonbeam sitting at the table drinking coffee.
“How did you sleep?”
Travers smiled sardonically. “I have to say, I’ve slept all over the world: on sand, tents, and even an elephant once. But last night was the first time I slept in a bed with a racecar frame. I guess I should be grateful there were two racecars for us.”
Moonbeam laughed. “Well, that’s David’s fault. He kept calling you the boy. I asked him what size you were, and still, he called you a boy, so I decorated accordingly. June got the house done, and I had to put stuff in the house. When David saw how I had outfitted it, he said you’d get a kick out of it because it was something you two never had.”
Travers took a seat and digested what Moonbeam said. David had remembered he had begged Dad for a racecar bed. His dad had told him that real men slept in beds, not their toys.
“You normally get up this early?” Moonbeam asked.
Travers nodded. “I go to the gym, work out, and then hit the shower before I go to work.”
“Good work ethic. That’s a good thing for a man to have.”
He sighed. “I’ve believed that to be the truth.”
“You seem a bit uptight.”
Travers looked at Moonbeam. “You don’t think I should be a little unsettled with this whole situation and shenanigans that seem to be occurring here?”
“You may be smart, but your quick tongue will have you wearing a dunce hat for the day. It’s hard to get them off your head once you have one on, you know.”
Travers sighed and looked around the kitchen.
“You’re right, and I tell my employees something just like that but not as colorful. Forgive me. It must be the lack of coffee.”
“Then get yourself a cup boy if it will help you find your civility,” Moonbeam encouraged.
Travers got his coffee and then got ready to take a sip.
“Hold up, city boy. You know that’s real coffee. It’ll put some hair on your chest.”
Travers smiled. “I drink espressos for a snack, but thank you.”
“Alright.”
Travers took a sip, and the sweet, dark liquid made its way down his throat with little fanfare. Then about a minute later, he felt a flash of heartburn from nowhere. The burn lasted a minute, and then it settled away. Travers refused to cough or stop drinking. Instead, he blinked his eyes once and then put the cup down as if it were a typical day.
“Oh yeah, you’re David’s brother. Proud and strong no matter what,” she laughed.
“The coffee is special, how?”
“We make it with honey and sugar. It’ll grow on you,” she said.
“Or it’ll grow in you,” Travers joked.
“So, are you ready to talk to someone? Or do you need your brother to address that chip you have on your shoulder?”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“Cut a slice in the pie and start.”
“I think you are a nice person. The house is cute. I don’t know any of you. He moved the factory. Who does that? He can’t say he didn’t know how to find me. And I mean no disrespect, but to think, he met a woman and she suggested that he should move the factory, and he did, is insanity! What is this woman doing leading him around by the nose? It doesn’t seem like he’s got a good grip on his commonsense at all.”
“Well, you sure do have an opinion or two. I won’t speak for your brother since he’s a grown man. What I can tell you is that my daughter June is special. Before she decided to follow the herbal path, she was an account executive at one of those fancy companies. That fancy company ate her up and spat her back out. So she has a brain cell or two. As for what was or is between you and your brother, he’ll have to address that. The only thing I can tell you is this:
Don’t act your shoe size because it’s not going your way. Try to remember you’re an important adult.”
Travers heard her, and memories bombarded him. He thought about the times he had called home only to find that his dad had been in the hospital, but no one thought to call him. He thought about how his sister had no issue calling him for money but couldn’t think of inviting him to the birthdays that he paid for.
When they were younger, David would always protect him. They went to the same school, and David made sure no one picked on him. David was Travers’ hero for most of school and most of life. Then one day, it all stopped. Every time Travers tried to reach out, it was rebuffed or just taken, and nothing else came. To be here and now, and to suddenly hear that he thought well of him went contrary to the experience Travers had been having.
“I’m looking for the good that you see in David, but right now, I see that he’s done what he wants to do again, and here I am trying to fix it or clean up after it.”
Moonbeam clucked at him and drank some more coffee.
“I told you it’s hard to take off the dunce hat once you get it on. I think you and your brother haven’t been talking every day, but he’s been caring for you. Maybe you need to think like a man instead of a little boy. Do you know what your brother does? What is his occupation?”
Travers was confused by the question. “David does handyman work. He’s great with his hands, and he builds things.”
Moonbeam scoffed. “You don’t know a thing. He makes sense out of things. He makes those complicated patterns that help companies get their stuff from one place to another. It’s got some fancy name with an L.”
“Logistics and supply chain?”
Moonbeam smiled. “There you go. He’s real good at it. People ask him to do their diagrams all the time. He stopped doing it full time to make sure he was close enough to take care of your dad. He said he and your dad decided they wouldn’t call you back because you were going to do great things.
“I know you didn’t have David every day, but when he came home with June, he was a broken man. He loved his brother, and his brother didn’t care at all. My June was damaged as well, and they helped each other out. You think your life was so hard, but some people supported you even when they couldn’t be with you.”
Travers let the words wash over him, and he was lost. He didn’t know where to go or who to blame; he just felt the urge to strike out at someone or thing.
“I want to see the factory.”
“Well, then you’ll be seeing him soon enough then. You should bring your woman with you. I’m sure he’ll feel better that you have someone in your life.”
Travers laughed. “She’s not mine. Colleen is a friend.”
“Oh, that’s what you all are calling it these days.”
Travers choked on a laugh. “We aren’t calling it that yet, either. Truthfully we are trying to figure it all out just like everything else.”
“Well, let me tell you, as someone who has had a love of a lifetime. Don’t wait too long to figure it out. We don’t live forever.”
May came in and got a cup of coffee. Travers waited for her to pause when she took a sip. Instead, she guzzled down her first cup and went right to the second.
Moonbeam laughed, and Travers turned to see her looking at him.
“Oh, I just wanted you to know that the party is all arranged,” May said when she was finished.
“Party?”
May looked at Travers, confused.
“I assumed you came all this way to see the factory. The factory is on Route 5, but you’ll want to meet all the employees who work there. We normally have a monthly meeting where everyone brings in potluck. We just had one last week, but since you’re here, we’ll do another one today. It’ll give you a chance to ‘meet and greet,’ as they say.”
Chapter Sixteen
Colleen woke up, and she had to think about where she was when she opened her eyes. First of all, when she tried to sit up, she felt like she was in a hole. When she put her hands on the sides of whatever bed she was on, she felt the outline of tires, and it all came back to her.
They had finished talking outside and then decided to go into the house. When they got inside, it was a teenage boy’s dream. When you walked in, there were two stations set up for computer-game play. The living room was orientated around the largest TV Colleen had ever seen. It should have been called a projector as big as it was. The bathroom was done in a minimalist style, and the kitchen was stocked with chips, microwavable food, and disposable snacks. Crates of water were stacked in the kitchen, and there were enough paper goods in the house that no one would be thinking about washing dishes for a long time.
When they both went to the bedroom and saw two full beds in a racecar frame, it was too much, and they fell over laughing. It was the relief they needed for the night. After putting in a dinner and eating popcorn, they made it to bed. Before she went to sleep, she heard Travers speak.
“You’re the best wing-chick ever.”
She had smiled and was happy for the cover of darkness so he wouldn’t see how much it had meant to her.
“Go to bed, Quixote. We have windmills to fight tomorrow.”
“Smarty! Good night Red.”
This morning when she woke, he was gone. She went into the bathroom and washed her face, not even surprised by the blue soap that washed off. She was about to walk out when she saw her phone. It had five missed calls and three texts from Elissa saying to call her.
She sat down and figured she better get this right. It was time to call her bestie.
“Elissa, what’s up?”
“What’s up? First of all, are you okay?”
“I’m good.”
“Great! Now, what are you doing? Where are you and when are you coming home? By the way, Luis is coming towards you.”
Colleen rolled her eyes. “Luis is coming? Oh, that is going to be just great. Well, let me bring you up to speed. I’m in North Carolina.”
“North Carolina? I know you’re not good with geography, but you are supposed to be in Florida, love,” Elissa teased.
“Ha, Ha. Someone thinks they are funny. But let me tell you that fiction is stranger than life. It turns out that the factory that Travers was going to look in on was moved to North Carolina.”
“What? Can they do that?”
“Well, it’s done. So we’ll see how it all works out. The short of it is, I’m with Travers, and all is well. I’m hoping that Luis gives up this idea of finding us, but if he comes, I’ll deal.”
“Where do I send your ID and other stuff that all adults travel with?”
“Oh, someone is batting a thousand today. I’m with Travers, so I’m good, but you can send it to the Butler Admin offices in North Carolina. Give me a minute I’ve got the address.” Colleen gave Elissa the address.
“Hey, Colleen, are you good for real?”
“I’m good for real, real, not fake.”
“Well, then all is well enough. So we have been dancing around the six-foot man in the room. How is Travers?”
“He’s going through some stuff, but he’s good.”
“And you are helping him with that stuff, you say?’
“Ask already!”
“So, you and Travers? I wouldn’t have called that one. I just want to say be careful with Travers. He’s Liam’s friend, but he’s the best at what he does. It seems like he fixes things. I want to make sure you aren’t a casualty in his way.”
Colleen sat on the edge of the bed with a wheel under her butt, thinking about last night.
“I hear you, but I think I know Travers a little better now.”
“You know him?”
“Not in the biblical sense. I know him as a friend.”
“Okay, I’ll back away, but be safe.”
“Elissa, thanks for being there for me. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Colleen hung up the phone and held it to her chest. She hoped that she knew what she was doing when it came to Travers because she thought it was too late to be as cautious as Elissa suggested.
Just as soon as Colleen thought she would have time to contemplate her and Travers, she heard the front door slam.
“Red!”
Colleen jumped up to see what was wrong. “Sunshine?”
“There’s a party/company meeting this afternoon.”
“Oh, that’s different. You can do both at the same time?”
“You can here!”
“Okay, I would figure that would be great. You can see the people and get an idea of the work and see if—”
“See what? I’ll have to fire them all!”
“What?”
“They’re here, and it shouldn’t be here. So it doesn’t matter.” Travers was pacing back and forth, causing Colleen to get a headache watching him.
“Travers, stop!” He looked up. “You can’t fire them, yet. You have to give them a chance and figure out what is going on.”
“What is going on? They all blindly followed my brother out here like some cult leader, and he’s put me in this spot that I have to fix. The best way is to burn it and start over.”
“No, Travers, that’s the easy, cowardly way out, not the best way out.”
Travers backed up and shook his head. “You think you know how to run a company? You think being in that small town gives you some insight on how things work in the real world?”
Colleen stood up straight and walked over until she was a foot in front of Travers. “Do you think that by attacking me, it makes you less of a coward?”
“I’m not a coward! It’s business. They shouldn’t have followed him,” he said through clenched teeth.
Colleen reached out a hand and cupped Travers’ firm jaw. “Don’t be unreasonable here. They don’t know you, of course, they would follow him. They did, and once upon a time, you did too. Don’t confuse the past and the present, Sunshine. Let’s go to the party and then make a call.”
Travers grabbed her hand and held it to his cheek.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know, but I’m still keeping count so I can get something really big in return,” she said as she wiggled her eyebrows.
“Now I think you should rest, play some video games or just watch the stock market if you like that sort of thing. I’m going to the house to find out if I can help with the meeting. This seems like it will definitely beat fetching coffee and getting a room together.”
Travers pulled her into his embrace and kissed her. It was needy and comforting at the same time. It still made her heart beat faster, and her pulse sound like a drum. As the kiss went on, she could feel his hands massaging her back, allowing her to sink deeper into his embrace. When they parted, Colleen had to hold on to Travers’ shoulders to steady herself.
“What was that for?”
Travers traced his index finger along her chin, and then he leaned in as if he were going to kiss her again and whispered.
“Dessert, don’t forget dessert with that coffee.”
Colleen pushed him away and went to the door.
“See you later at your first company meeting.” She heard him sigh in disgust as she left. She laughed at his response and tried to cool down from that kiss. Her whole body was in hyperdrive for Travers. Colleen was right. It was too late. What she felt for Travers was more than friendship.
