Travis's Gift, page 10
“You full?” Travis asked, nodding at her explaining that Scotty had taken her jeep. He was actually very happy with that. It meant that she couldn’t leave anytime soon.
“Yes,” she said, looking at him curiously.
“Good,” Travis answered, picking up one of the dishtowels from where it hung next to the sink and using it to take the cookie sheet from her.
Libby laughed again. “You could put them on a plate,” she said.
“Not necessary,” he said, as he polished off yet another donut.
“I made eggs and bacon, too,” she said. “I figured Roman would be here early and we promised breakfast.”
“Okay,” Travis said, picking up another donut. “I can eat eggs and bacon, too. But I’m not sharing my donuts,” he said like a spoiled child.
“You don’t have to. I already put a few of them away for later when Scotty gets home and starts looking for leftovers — I don’t want him to be disappointed. I’ll just give Roman a couple of those,” Libby said.
“Okay,” Travis said, taking his rapidly cooling sheet of donuts with him to the table to sit down. Realizing that the cookie sheet was barely warm to the touch now, he hung the dishtowel on the back of one of the chairs before he sat down at the table and placed the donuts right in front of him.
Libby was standing beside him before he knew it with a mug and a pot of coffee. She poured his coffee, then picked up the towel. “I’m going to take this. The pan wasn’t that hot, I put them back on the cookie sheet after I fried and frosted them.”
Travis opened his mouth to answer, but a knock interrupted him.
“Come in!” he called out around his donut.
The door opened and Roman stuck his head in. “Hey! Ya’ll up?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Libby said. “Come on in, breakfast is ready, and the coffee is hot.”
“Thanks, Libs,” Roman said, walking in and closing the door behind himself. His nose flared as he scented the air. “What have you been cooking already?” he asked.
“Donuts,” Travis said. “My donuts.”
“You know what? You need to be nice,” Libby said, chuckling. “Have a seat, Roman,” she said as she went back into the kitchen. Minutes later she was back with two plates of scrambled eggs, bacon and buttered toast. She placed a plate in front of each male, then she went back into the kitchen again, coming back with a cup of coffee for Roman, silverware for both of them, and a plate with four more donuts on it. “Ya’ll enjoy.”
Roman looked down at his breakfast and then at Travis. “You don’t ask her to marry you, I will,” he rumbled in that deep, resonant voice of his.
Libby laughed, Travis growled, and Roman happily ate his breakfast, while he grinned at Travis.
“Ya’ll are funny,” Libby said, taking a seat between them and sipping on her own coffee.
Travis instinctively tried to feed her as he ate but she refused.
“I already ate, Travis,” she said, shaking her head again as she refused for the fourth time, “long before you got up.”
“Then just have a slice of bacon,” he insisted, holding out a strip so she could take a bite.
Libby pursed her lips and looked at him.
“You may as well give in and eat it. He’s not gonna stop until you’ve taken some food from him. His Tiger needs to feed you. It makes him feel like he’s taking care of you,” Roman explained.
“Is that it?” Libby asked, looking over at Travis.
Travis nodded slightly as his Tiger looked at Libby through his eyes, the golden color of them shining brightly as he held out the bacon to her again.
Libby leaned over and took a bite of the bacon which made Travis beam happily. She chuckled, then took another bite and another until the bacon was gone.
Travis smiled at her then went back to his breakfast as he purred happily.
Roman grinned at the two of them as he ate his own breakfast. “So, today we decorate?” he asked.
“Yes!” Libby said excitedly. “There are so many decorations to put up. Everything we bought along with all of Travis’s parents’ decorations that I found in the barn.”
“It’s gonna be a huge electricity bill,” Roman warned.
“It’s okay. It’ll be worth it,” Travis said.
Chapter 12
Riley was on a ladder stringing lights around the perimeter of his house while Lucas worked on stringing lights all down the fence row, and on the trees and shrubs in the yard. Lazarus worked on outlining the second floor windows and attached spotlights for the Grinch they’d just put up.
Riley felt the vibration of the monitor in his back pocket letting him know that the monitor picked up movement, but he hadn’t heard Bastian cry or make any sounds. He let the light strand hang where it was and took the monitor out of his back pocket to look at it. He smiled at the monitor when he swiped the screen and saw his son sleeping in his bed. Maybe he’d just turned over or shifted enough to set off the motion sensor. Riley decided to go check it out.
“Ya’ll got this for a minute?” he asked.
“Sure,” Lazarus answered from up above.
“I’m going to check on Bastian real quick,” he said, climbing down the ladder and going inside. He set the monitor on the side table and went upstairs to check on Sebastian. He quietly opened the bedroom door that used to be Richie’s, and tiptoed inside the room. He smiled as he stood beside the baby bed and looked down at his son.
The child was beautiful. He had hair like Maia’s, but with a few more red undertones. His complexion was creamy like Maia’s with a slight spattering of freckles across his nose. He had large hands and feet, indicating he would one day be a big man. Riley reached out and placed his hand on his son’s belly softly, and Sebastian opened his bright blue eyes and smiled at him. He had Riley’s eyes, and the dimple in Riley’s chin was there on the baby as well.
“Are you pretending to sleep?” Riley said, gently tickling Sebastian’s side.
Sebastian turned over and immediately started trying to get his knees beneath himself so he could move around like he wanted to.
“Here,” Riley said, scooping the baby up, “let Doddy get you.” Riley lifted Sebastian from his bed and blew raspberries on his belly making the little boy laugh and grasp the sides of Riley’s head.
“You ready to get up?” Riley asked. “Okay, let’s get you changed, and you can help Doddy put up the decorations, alright?”
Bastian watched his Doddy talking to him as he changed his diaper. When Riley was done, he bundled up the baby, then put on the baby papoose that Maia had insisted they get. He settled Bastian in it, held snugly against his chest, so he could hold him while he worked. “This thing is pretty handy, but don’t tell Mommy,” Riley said as Bastian babbled away happily while Riley headed downstairs.
“Let’s get you something to munch on while I’m busy, and I’ll be done in no time,” Riley said, looking down at his son strapped safely against his chest.
Sebastian looked up at his Doddy and started to gnaw on his own fist. “You are the eatingest kid I’ve ever seen!” Riley commented, as he walked into the kitchen and gathered a few of the teething biscuits Maia kept for Sebastian to snack on, dropping two of them into a sandwich bag. Then he filled one of the small baby bottles with apple juice and handed it to Bastian along with a biscuit. “There ya go. We all settled?” Riley asked, looking at Bastian, who was drinking his juice with one hand while holding the biscuit with the other.
“I think we’re set,” Riley said, shoving the other biscuits into his pocket as he headed outside to help finish the lights.
As soon as he stepped outside, Sebastian squealed delightedly and turned up the volume on his babbling.
“Oh, I hear the boss is awake,” Lazarus said.
“He is,” Riley agreed. Riley looked up when he heard shuffling above his head and found Lazarus hanging over the side, looking at them.
“Hey, Bastian! How are you, buddy?” Lazarus asked, still hanging upside down looking at them from the roof.
Bastian twisted his head, looking for the source of the familiar voice. Riley turned enough for Sebastian to be able to find Lazarus. The minute he saw Lazarus hanging upside down, Sebastian laughed. He kept laughing, every time Lazarus would disappear back on the roof, then slowly let his head hang out over the edge again.
“Alright, we need to get this finished,” Riley said, chuckling himself at Lazarus playing with Sebastian. “One day, Laz, you’re going to make a wonderful father.”
“Naw, not me. Uncle? Yeah, I can do that. But I’m too broken to raise anybody to be a good person.”
“Seems to me the broken are sometimes the best parents. They know all the bad things to avoid and can teach survival like nobody’s business,” Riley said.
Up on the roof, Lazarus stopped stringing lights around the second floor windows and thought about what Riley had just said. He’d never thought of it that way. It certainly gave him something to consider.
~~~
Libby helped pull out all the decorations she’d found in the barn, then Travis and Roman helped her move one of the tables out into the sunshine so she could paint a few of the wooden ornaments. Roman watched Travis as they decorated. He could barely keep his eyes off Libby as she sat there, smiling to herself as she painted one of each shape of ornament so she could hang them around the table meant for ornament painting as samples.
“You can’t even stop looking at her,” Roman said.
Travis glanced over at Roman who was standing a few feet away from him on the roof. “I know. She’s so damn beautiful. And the simplest things make her happy. I mean, look at that smile — and all she’s doing is sitting outside painting a little piece of wood. Nothing fancy, just painting and she’s so happy.”
“Travis, it ain't the painting that’s making her smile. It’s you. It’s having you back in her life again,” Roman said.
Travis looked over at Libby again, then at Roman. “We’re not officially back together. She’s afraid to trust me, and I honestly can’t blame her. I don’t know if she’ll accept me fully or not,” Travis confided.
“She will. She has. She may not even be aware of it yet, but just look at her. She’s different. She’s happy. She’s content. She hasn’t been since I met her,” Roman said.
Travis finished attaching his side of the red and green ‘Merry Christmas’ light display they were mounting right in the middle of his roof and stood up. “I worry about Lucas. Maybe what they had…” he started to say, but Roman cut him off.
“They didn’t have anything. They’re just friends. All the nights she spent at Lucas’s house were innocent. They weren’t lovers, they’re friends. And a lot of it was her crying and him holding her, but they never crossed that line.”
“How do you know that?” Travis asked.
“Because I asked. You’re my friend. She’s your mate. It could get messy because Lucas is my friend, too. So I watched.”
“Thank you for that.”
Roman shrugged. “I care about both of you. He’s a good male, too. I didn’t want him getting hurt either. And he would have if they’d gotten involved before you pulled your head out of your ass.”
Travis stopped untangling the Christmas lights he held in his hands and looked at Roman for a moment before barking out a laugh.
“What? It’s true,” Roman said.
“Yeah, I know. And I do know Lucas is a good male. But she’s mine.”
“That’s what I told him whenever the subject would come up. I’d say, ‘Just don’t forget she belongs to somebody else’.”
“Thank you for that.”
“Don’t hurt her again this time,” Roman said. “This may be your last chance. Especially judging by the way she looks at you, and the relaxed feeling about her. She’s already let you in again even if she hasn’t figured it out. You hurt her this time there might not be another.”
“I’m not letting go again. No matter what I go through, if she’ll have me, it will be with her by my side,” Travis said, turning to look over at her again.
Libby finished painting the last ornament she was going to use as a display and looked up to see how much progress Travis and Roman had made. When she did she found them both looking right at her. She looked behind herself, but there was nothing behind her, then back up at them. “What? What’d I do?” she asked.
Travis laughed and Roman grinned at her. “Nothing. Just admiring the view,” Travis said.
“You better stop all that flattery. I’m going to get used to it,” she said, standing up and walking around the table to go stand closer to the house and look up at them.
“It’s not flattery if it’s the truth,” Travis said.
“Oh, now you’re just being all mushy and it’s not becoming at all,” she teased.
Travis smiled at her, then stood back and held his arms out to the sides. “So, how does it look? Is it even?” he asked.
“It is. The Merry Christmas is right in the center, and the Christmas trees are evenly placed on either side,” she answered.
“Alright. Then we’ll hang the icicle lights from the perimeter and trim the doors and windows with the multicolor strands, then we’ll move to the exterior of the barn and the work shop,” Travis said.
“Could ya’ll find a way to mount the wooden frames we made for people to take pictures with?” Libby asked.
“Got any T-posts?” Roman asked.
“Yeah. Keep spares for fixing the fences,” Travis said.
“We could attach two T-posts to them and drive them into the ground. Just have to pick a spot for anybody that wants to have their picture taken,” Roman said.
“There you go. Problem solved,” Travis said. “Where do you want the pictures to be taken?”
Libby looked around the farm. “I think it would be a pretty backdrop to have some trees in the background. So, can you place them somewhere they could see trees in the background?”
“I can. We’ll put the frames on T-posts today, then tonight we’ll work out the layout of where everything will be. We’ll pick a place to put the frames in the ground that has only the unharvested trees in the background.”
“Thank you,” Libby said.
“Thank you. This is you helping me, remember?” he asked.
Libby nodded and gave a slight smile. “I finished painting, and other than baking I’ve done all I can do. I think I’m going to run home and get a few changes of clothes, then go over to Lucas’s house and grab my laptop.”
Travis was coming down the ladder when Libby spoke, and he hurried to the ground despite his prosthetic. “Roman can get it for you and bring it to you tomorrow,” he said.
“But I need it today. I need to make some fliers to post and to hand out for this year’s Christmas event and for next year’s fall event, too. I need to make them today so I can run into town and get a few hundred copies made. Besides, I need a shower and some more clothes, too. Especially if I’m going to stay here for the next few nights to help with everything,” she said shyly, not quite meeting his eyes.
That last part about staying here made Travis feel much better about her going to Lucas’s house. She knew if she stayed she’d be sleeping beside him and she’d just said she would. “We could stop and go with you,” Travis offered.
“That makes no sense. I’m perfectly capable of driving myself. Only problem is I let Scotty take my jeep. So, could I take your truck?” she asked Travis.
Travis grinned. He hadn’t realized she’d be arriving in his truck. “Of course. It’s not pretty, but it’ll get you there and back. The keys are on the breakfast bar. Please drive safe and be sure to take your phone. Let me know if you need me.”
“I will. I’ll be back in a bit,” Libby said.
“Hey!” Roman called as he started to climb down off the roof.
“Yeah?” Libby turned around to see what he wanted.
“Bring back pizza!” he said.
“We just ate a few hours ago,” Libby said.
“Yeah, but it’ll be at least an hour if not more until you get back. I’ll want pizza by then,” Roman said, smiling at her.
“I’ll bring back pizza,” she said, shaking her head and chuckling as she headed to the house.
Travis and Roman moved the ladder to the far corner of the house and Travis began hanging up the icicle lights, while Roman gathered the smaller multi-colored strands and started framing the windows with them. Travis kept a smile on his face.
“You’re thrilled that she’s going to show up in your truck, aren’t you?” Roman asked.
Travis looked over at him. “I am. I can’t help it. I want everybody to know she’s mine. Even if it’s not official yet. You’d feel the same thing if it was your female driving around in your vehicle. Anybody sees the truck they think, ‘Oh, there’s Travis.’ Then the truck comes closer and they see a female driving it. ‘Oh, that must be Travis’s woman. I like it,” Travis said.
Chapter 13
Maia paused at the security gate at the driveway leading to her house so she could put in the security code that would cause the gate to swing open.
Cristie looked toward the house, her eyes wide and bright as she squealed happily. “Look! Mama, look! They’re putting up all the decorations!” she cried as she bounced in her seat.
“I know. It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?” Maia asked.
“I love Christmas! I love the lights!” Cristie said, grinning ear-to-ear.
“Me, too,” Maia said, waiting for Cristie to notice the Grinch on the roof.
“Is that the Grinch?” Cristie said, leaning forward in her car seat as much as she could to get a better view of the roof of the house, since her car seat was still relegated to the back seat of the truck.
“I was wondering how long it would be until you noticed! We got a Grinch especially for you. What do you think?!” Maia asked.
Cristie squealed again. “I wanna see, I wanna see!” Cristie chanted.
“Let me get parked and I’ll get you out. You’ll be able to see for as long as you want. It’s your Grinch.”
