Against the Wind, Season 2, Episode 1 (Rising Storm) (9 page)

He sighed and took the envelope. “The last thing I want to spend money on is that woman.”

Kristin took a drink of her brew. “I agree. Our mom is a total bitch.”

Bryce didn’t even frown at the expletive. When a noun fit, it really fit. “Agreed.”

Chapter Nine

Kristen allowed the sweetened coffee to warm her belly. She hadn’t missed the look in Bryce’s eyes when she’d mentioned the pharmacy, but they had other things to worry about. “If we stop paying, they’ll force her into a different institution, and it’s going to suck the life out of us dealing with new doctors and administrators.”

“I know.” Bryce shoved the envelope in his pocket. “I’ll take care of it.”

“No. We both will.”

His face darkened. “That woman made our childhood a living hell, and here we are, spending our hard-earned money, funds we could put anywhere else, on her care. I believe in God, but I just don’t understand how she’s still among the living.”

“The whole ‘good die young’ philosophy certainly applies. Maybe she’ll never die.” Kristin tried to joke, but the mere thought of her mother gave her abdominal cramps. “I hope if she ever gets out of that institution that she goes on a cruise or traps some man and doesn’t try to find us. I hope she never finds us.”

“She won’t.” Bryce’s jaw hardened. “If she comes near either one of us or my family, I don’t know what I’ll do, Kristin.”

“Me either,” she whispered, suddenly cold.

Bryce checked on his daughter over his shoulder and then focused back on Kristin. “How are things going for you?”

She studied her all-American and clean-cut brother. He could never understand what she was doing having an affair with a married man. Not Bryce. Oh, he’d still love her, and he’d try to counsel her, but he’d never understand. “I’m doing well. Work is busy, and I like that.”

“All right.” He waited so patiently for her to unburden her soul.

She didn’t want his advice, because she already knew what it would be. The right thing, from somebody looking in from the outside, would be to leave Travis alone to fix his marriage. But that would be wrong for Travis, because there was no fixing something that wasn’t just broken. It was obsolete. “Thank you for the coffee.”

Bryce sighed and continued drinking. “If you ever want to talk, you know I’m here for you. No judgments.”

“I know,” she said softly.

Carol ran up, green frosting all over her mouth. “Hi, Aunt Kristin.”

Kristin laughed and reached for a napkin, her heart warming. She loved kids. Travis had recently lost his son, and he had two daughters, but he was young enough to have more children. She wanted a baby of her own. “Let me wipe you off, cutie.” She gently cleaned Carol’s adorable face.

Carol wriggled away and ran back toward her grandmother.

Kristin’s phone buzzed, and she read a text from Travis. He’d filled all the prescriptions for the day and had left his assistant in charge of the pharmacy. He was waiting for her at her place.

Hope leaped though her faster than the caffeine. Was he ready to make a commitment? She could feel it coming. Finally.

She smiled at her brother and stood. “I have to get going. Thanks for the coffee.”

Bryce stopped her with a hand around her wrist. “You’re better than this, Kristin.”

She shook her head. “I have to go.” He’d see. Travis would leave his wife, and he and Kristin would be happy together. Really happy.

Bryce released her. “I tried to be a good role model, since our father wasn’t.”

Kristin paused. “My decisions are my own, Bryce. You’re a great role model.” She leaned over the table and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Stop worrying.”

“That’ll never happen,” he said quietly.

She waved to Carol, Alice, and Marisol as she kept her pace slow and left the bakery. Appearing relaxed, she walked around the corner and then jogged to her car. The drive home was breathless, and finally she ran into her house.

Travis waited with a bouquet of red roses in his hand.

She gasped and accepted the stunning blooms. If he’d publicly purchased roses, he was ready. It was time. Finally. “Thank you,” she breathed. “They’re beautiful.”

“Not nearly as beautiful as you are,” he said, running a finger down her cheek. “I like your hair like that.”

A glow filled her that she could actually feel. His brown eyes were the first thing she wanted to see every morning and the last thing she wanted to see as she slipped into good dreams. “I can’t believe you bought me roses.”

“You’d better put them in water,” he said, grinning and looking at ease finally.

Kristin nodded and hustled into the kitchen to find a vase. She bet Travis hadn’t even thought of buying his wife flowers in years. They didn’t have any romance. “Oh, they’re just so perfect.” Kristin carried the flowers to place in the center of her dining room table. “Thank you.”

He came up behind her and slipped an arm around her waist, drawing her back into his chest and hard body. “You’re welcome.”

She shivered at the low tone. “I can’t believe you bought them,” she whispered, rubbing back against his hardening erection.

His hand slid up and cupped her breast. “A truck carrying dozens and dozens of flowers overturned on the interstate, and the driver was giving them away by the buckets because they’re just going to die otherwise. I happened to be going by earlier.”

“You didn’t buy these?” she whispered, her hopes plummeting as she stopped moving.

“No. Oh my. Can you imagine if I bought roses in town and they didn’t show up at my house?” His chuckle warmed the top of her head. “That would’ve been a mess.”

She closed her eyes for a moment to just feel his warmth. Then she pushed away and turned for the living room. “Yeah. I can imagine.”

He stopped her. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

Tears filled her eyes. “I’m tired of waiting, Travis.” Was she the cliché? A mistress believing that the married man was going to leave his wife only to have him never do it? “It’s too lonely, and it hurts.” Her own brother had trouble looking her in the eye.

“Oh, baby.” Travis pulled her into his body, and she struggled, mildly surprised to feel his strength. “I’m leaving Celeste. I promise.”

“When?” Kristin lifted her face, meeting his soft gaze, her mind spinning with terrible thoughts. Thoughts of getting pregnant somehow and forcing him to finally make a move. “How much longer do I have to sleep alone and sneak around? If you really loved me, you wouldn’t want that for me.”

His shoulders lowered. “I don’t want that for you. More than anything, I want to be with you, publicly and for all time.” He wiped his forehead. “You know Celeste almost hit Ginny Moreno when this mess started, and it hasn’t gotten any better. She’s spiraling down.”

Kristin’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “Yes. She’s completely lost it. I’m not in love with her, and I don’t want to stay, but I’m worried what she’ll do when I leave.”

He said “when.” Not “if” but “when.” Kristin leaned up and kissed his chin. Oh, she could make him happy, and she knew how. Running her hand down his torso, she grasped him through his pants in a way she knew his wife would never do. “I need a plan.”

Red spiraled across his handsome face and he pushed into her palm. “I’m working on it.” He leaned down and kissed her, the movement firm and nearly desperate.

Kristen gripped him harder but pulled away from the kiss. “I’m tired of waiting.”

He grabbed her butt and kneaded. “My daughters are helping. Sara Jane has been coming around more, and Lacy is finally acting like herself, so they can help Celeste through a divorce. As soon as she regains some of her strength.”

“You’re a good father,” Kristin said. He was always talking about his kids, his girls. And Kristin was the only person who’d worried about him, who’d listened to him talk about how much he missed his son. She unzipped his pants and slid her hand inside.

He groaned. “You’re good for me.” He slipped his arms around her waist. “Of all the people I know, you’re the only one I really trust. I can be myself with you, and I can’t tell you what that means to me.”

“It means forever.” She gazed at him, trying to find the right words as she stroked him. “You like being a father, right?”

He nodded. “Of course. The kids make the world joyous again.” His frown hurt to see. “Although losing one of them rips out your soul. I can’t even think of losing one of my girls. I wouldn’t survive.”

“You would survive, because I’d make sure of it. But don’t worry. Your girls are fine.” Kristin stepped closer to him, breathing in the scent of his masculine aftershave and running her nails across his testicles. “I’m in my mid-thirties, Travis.”

“I know.” His brows drew together, and his eyes unfocused.

“Do you, I mean would you, maybe consider having another child?” she asked, holding her breath as well as his balls.

He drew back, barely an inch, but enough she could feel a distance. “Huh?”

What had he expected? “A child. Yours and mine?” A baby with his eyes and her hair. Or her eyes and his hair. A combination of the two of them she could love forever. “Travis?” She took her hands out of his pants.

His eyes bugged out, but he didn’t release her. “I, we, ah, haven’t talked about this.”

“I’m talking about it now.” She fought the urge to turn and run.

He blinked several times. “I want to make you happy, sweetheart. How about we take this one step at a time?”

She wanted to argue, but what he said made sense, and she knew not to push. “When is the first step?”

“Soon.” He leaned in and kissed her, his tongue sweeping inside her mouth with a passion he no doubt had never shown his wife.

Desire and hope melded together, speeding up her pulse and quickening her breath. She kissed him back, pouring all of her feelings into the moment, trying to will him to get on with it.

She wouldn’t be complete until he finally left his wife and committed to her. Several times, she’d tried. Oh, she’d attempted to push him away, to give him an ultimatum, to actually leave him. One kind word, a hint of a promise from him, and she’d fallen right back into his arms.

He swept her up, and she yelped.

As he righted her, she laughed out loud. “Oh, I love you, Travis Salt.”

“I love you more,” he countered, turning and striding toward the bedroom. “I’m going to show you, baby. Not just tonight, but in the future. You can trust me.”

She snuggled into his neck, almost complete. “I do.” He was the only man in her life she’d ever truly trusted besides her brother. “It’s you and me, Travis. Forever.”

Chapter Ten

Joanne Alvarez carefully picked through the cache of flowers on the side of the interstate. “Are you sure this is okay?” she asked the driver for the third time.

The guy stood well over six feet, with a big belly and an even bigger mustache. His eyes were bloodshot, but apparently he’d passed a field sobriety test, because the state police had now cordoned off the area. He slipped a rubber band around his unruly blond hair and nodded. “Headquarters said to just give the flowers to the townspeople instead of letting them go to waste.”

“Okay.” Joanne grasped a bunch of pink roses, careful of the thorns. They’d look so pretty in her mother’s old vase that she’d kept hidden in a cupboard of cleaning supplies. Hector had never looked inside that cupboard, otherwise he would’ve broken it at some point.

Probably over her head.

The guy snorted. “One of my buddies lost a truckload of crab and shrimp over in Idaho last year. Those potato people from a small town ate like kings.”

Who knew?

Dakota shoved out of the car and stomped her way over. “Mother? I asked for a ride to the nail place for Wine & Polish night, not to the side of the interstate.” She glanced with disinterest at the colorful blooms.

“I’ll hurry,” Joanne said, eyeing a bunch of yellow tulips.

The driver cleared his throat. “Hey.”

Dakota didn’t spare him a glance. “Mom? Let’s go.”

The guy edged closer. “Do I know you?”

“No.” Dakota turned toward the car.

The guy grabbed her arm. “Sure, I do. You’re that chick on the news. The one who called out the senator on television. Damn politicians.”

Dakota tugged her arm free but turned and smiled. “Politicians suck.”

The driver smiled, moving the massive mustache.

Joanne’s breath quickened. She moved toward her daughter. “Let’s go, honey. Sorry about the detour.”

“Wait. I’m here for a few hours.” The driver jerked his head toward the cab of the truck, which was still right side up, unlike the cargo area. “How much for a half hour?”

Dakota stilled, her brown eyes flashing. “Excuse me?”

“I ain’t no senator, but I can probably afford thirty minutes. How much is a whore in this area worth?” He smiled, flashing a gold tooth.

“Screw you,” Dakota muttered, heading for the car.

“That’s what I want, too. How much?” the guy called after her, ending with a chuckle.

Joanne threw the flowers on the ground and hustled after her daughter, jumping in the car and driving away as fast as she could. “I’m so sorry, Dakota.”

Her daughter flipped her dark blonde hair and shrugged, her face flaming. “He was an asshole.”

“Yes, he was.” Joanne drove faster into town. “I like how you face down bullies.” The words slipped out of her.

Dakota jerked. “Really?”

“Yes.” Joanne lifted her chin. “You’re a brave woman, and I’m excited to see what you do with your life.” Once she grew up a little bit more. Maybe having faith in the girl was what she needed.

“Thanks.” Dakota played idly with a string on her jeans. “Does everyone think I’m a whore? Because of the senator?”

“No.” Joanne reached over to pat her hand. “Of course not. He’s a dirty old man who took advantage of young girls, and he should be held accountable.”

“That’s what I was trying to do.” Dakota pushed her shoulders back. “Although I didn’t think about all the repercussions.”

Joanne nodded but kept silent. Either Dakota would understand that she went about it the wrong way or she wouldn’t. At least she was finally starting to see that she’d harmed herself in the process, as well. “Here we are.” She pulled up to the nail salon, the placard advertising the weekly event on the sidewalk out front.