Bad Traveler (11 page)

The interstate slowdown cut into the turnaround time, especially since they’d moved the departure for the team flight up an hour. Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, he needed one pair of khakis, one shirt, workout clothes, a suit, and, of course, underwear and socks. Packing his suitcase took a few minutes and left plenty of time to agonize over Gwen.

There were no messages on his home phone, so he expected Gwen had called his cell. As soon as the phone worked again, he called his voice mail. No messages. He called Gwen.

“Hello.”

“Hi.” Hearing her voice filled him with relief, loosening knotted muscles in his shoulders.

“I’m glad you called. After the other night, I thought….”

“Did you get my note? I was wondering if you’d had a chance to think about Sunday night.”

“What note?”

Kyle released his breath. Maybe she hadn’t ignored him on purpose. “You were so tired, I left a note detailing my visit to my parents and upcoming work trip. I leave for the airport in twenty minutes, but I wanted to hear your voice and know if we could have dinner together Sunday at six perhaps?”

“Even after I fell asleep on you?”

“Especially after that. I have to prove I’m not completely boring.” Gwen’s laugh brought a smile to his face.

“I’ll see you Sunday. And Kyle, I’m sorry about the other night.”

Kyle wanted to wrap Gwen in his arms and stroke her hair, offering whatever comfort or reassurance she needed. “It’s okay. I’ll see you Sunday, but if you fall asleep, then my ego may never recover.”

***

The historic inn where Presidents had slept and dined was off the beaten path, accessible by a half-hour drive on country roads, yet always crowded. He’d tried three other restaurants, all over an hour away, but only the inn could accommodate his reservation on short notice.
Probably because no one wants to venture on these winding roads when it gets icy
.

“These trees used to scare me.” Her admission surprised him.

“Really?”

“We came out here a few times for special occasions like my parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary and my grandfather’s seventy-fifth birthday. It was dark when we drove home. The bare trees looked like witch fingers trying to get me after I’d stuffed myself full of sweets.”

“Like Hansel and Gretel?”

“We didn’t return to a gingerbread house, but it’s so dark out here. I always wanted a trail to follow.”

“We have moonlight tonight.”

“Better yet, I have you to keep me safe.”

I will
. With the seat belt and bucket seats, he couldn’t pull her closer. He patted her leg instead.

“I’ve never eaten in the main dining room, from the full menu. We only did the catering in the party room. I’ve always wanted to sit in the main room. It’s not something I ever thought I’d do.”

He kept quiet about his one previous visit here. The area around Corwin lacked formal dining. This was the closest romantic venue, and people drove hours to get there. The inn revealed the problems of small-town life. Gwen deserved to go somewhere fresh, but at least her memories of the place weren’t tainted in ill will like his. He’d proposed to Brooke here, although since she’d picked out the ring and informed him where she wanted to get engaged, the evening had been anticlimactic.

Stars twinkled through bare tree limbs, bringing with them a cool clarity. He wouldn’t ruin tonight talking of the past. The present was so much better. Most of the time. Or at least when he was with Gwen or on the court.

The hostess took their coats, leading them to an intimate table with sheer red curtains and a flickering candle. After agreeing to swap bites and share a bottle of Merlot, she ordered the buffalo medallions, and he chose rosemary pork in wine sauce.

“So, is it everything you thought it would be?”

Peering over the edge of the wineglass, her brown eyes reflected the Merlot like a raspberry on a brownie.
Delicious
.

“If this is how you indulge me after I fall asleep on you, I wonder what will happen if I stay awake?”

His groin tightened at the thought. She was his indulgence, but self-doubt nibbled at the corners of his mind when it came to women. “Gwendolyn Jones, are you flirting with me?”

“Maybe.” The mischievous twinkle in her eye and broad smile answered for her.

“I like this side of you.” He reached out to touch her fingers, capped with short and polish-free nails. Her beauty came naturally, an inner glow that had intensified as the years passed. “Then again, I like everything about you.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I do.” Their food arrived as he was about to lift her fingers to his mouth for a kiss. He settled for watching her eat. Although slender, she enjoyed her food with gusto, trading bites to discuss the different flavors.

The easy conversation halted with Gwen’s unexpected question.

“So, what happened with you and your ex-wife?” She must have noticed the tightening of his jaw because, she added, “I’m glad you two separated for my own sake, but….”

Here it was. The question he’d wanted to avoid, one of them anyway. He mulled his response, weighing how much to reveal and what to conceal.

“Never mind. It was impolite of me to ask.”

Her shoulders drooped, and she stared at her plate. His heart hurt.

His exhalation caused the candle to flicker. The time was right to tell Gwen everything. Starting was hard, but the sooner she found out about his injury, the better. This tainted place was as good as any for her to give up on him, no matter how much he longed to delay the inevitable. He reached across the table and touched her wrist, so soft and delicate.

Her gaze lifted. “I—”

“My marriage to Brooke was doomed before it even began. When she left, I was angry and relieved, but I wasn’t surprised. Neither one of us had been happy.”

“Wait, Brooke, as in my former roommate Brooke?”

“Yes. I’ve had plenty of time to think about why her, during the run up to the wedding, during training, out in the field, and later. As near as I can tell, she thought being a military wife would involve a lot more formal parties with me in my dress uniform and her in a designer dress. I think she thought we’d be in D.C., going to parties at the White House, and she’d get to play hostess to the rich and powerful.”

“That sounds like her.”

“I don’t think she wasn’t prepared for the reality of long deployments and all the associated stresses. It’s a tough life, and I didn’t make it easy on her. We spent a lot of time apart, even when we lived under the same roof. I wanted a family; she didn’t. She liked retail therapy; I didn’t. We slept in separate bedrooms long before my last deployment.

“As for me, well, I’m even more at fault. I ignored doubts before the wedding. She loved me in her way, at least at the start. I’m sure of it. She talked up how great marriage would be and what a great wife she would be. How she could help me since her family knew ‘the right people.’ She took charge of everything. She had to. I focused on my military career. In reality, I was too busy nursing my broken heart to be of much practical use.”

“I don’t remember you dating anyone for more than a month or two before Brooke. Did I know her, or was she a girlfriend from back home?”

“She always seemed to have a boyfriend, and when she didn’t, I was seeing someone. I never went on a date with the woman who broke my heart, graduated early, and left town. Not until tonight.”

Her lips parted, appearing puffy and oh-so-kissable. She was surprised, and pleased, he could tell. He reached for her hand, no longer able to resist touching her. The phone vibrated against his hip bone. She mattered more.

“I had no idea.” Her words emerged in a husky pant. His fingers drew lazy circles on her wrist, but the small touch wasn’t enough. Once they drove all the way back home, he’d sate the need to touch more of her—if she accepted him, injury and all.

The phone rattled his bones. A quick glance down showed the same number as last time. He made a mental note to check voice mail later and to curse out the caller for bothering him. At least the interruption reminded him that he and Gwen sat in a public place, visible to the other diners. Although the restaurant exuded romance, the proprietors frowned upon such overt sexual displays of affection.

“Should we order dessert and coffee before we risk being thrown out of the restaurant?”

“Do you need to take that call? Dessert can wait.”

Her concern touched him. “No. I meant to leave it in the car.” It buzzed again.

“Go ahead. Someone is desperate to reach you.”

He excused himself to take the call away from the dining room.

Gwen swirled her wine in the glass, processing Kyle’s confession. What would have happened if she’d stayed even for fall semester her senior year? Life without Chloe was unthinkable. But why hadn’t they progressed beyond friendship if he liked her even half as much as she liked him? If they had, could she have spared him a difficult marriage to a manipulative woman?
Can’t change the past
.

His grim face and his urgent walk as he returned warned her the call had been serious. He paused long enough to speak to the waiter and slip him something, presumably a credit card. With a tense jaw and eyes wide in fear, his body crumpled in the chair across from her.

“It’s Coach. He had a massive heart attack. His wife wants me to come to the hospital.”

“Oh, Kyle.” She patted his hand, offering comfort. “I’ll go with you.” He lifted his head, his watery gaze meeting hers.

The waiter returned with the receipt and their items from coat check. They dashed to the black Jeep.

As the seat belt snugged across her body, a question formed. “Are you okay to drive?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, because I shouldn’t drive after all that wine.”

“Gwen, I need you to distract me. Listening to you and talking with you will keep me from thinking about Coach. I can’t do anything till we get there.” He pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the country road that would take them back to Corwin.

“Is there anything particular, the ‘good old days’? Baking tips?”

“Tell me about Chloe.”

“She’s a lovely girl. I don’t know too many other babies to be able to compare her to other kids, but she seems good-natured. She pushes up on all fours and wobbles around like she wants to crawl. She—”

“That’s not what I meant. Tell me about her father. Is he still in the picture? Do you share custody, that sort of thing?”

“I suppose it’s fair. You told me about Brooke, and I’m tipsy enough to babble. When I landed in Phoenix, I got a job in logistics with a small company. My coworkers and I got along well and often went to happy hour on Thursdays at a local bar. Cody’s family owned the bar, and he helped out as he waited for a full-time position to open up in the fire department. At least, that’s what he told me. I later found out he hadn’t passed the necessary tests.

“When the company went under, he overheard us talking about our new jobs and how we wouldn’t get together as often. He pulled me aside on one of my trips past the bar and asked me out. We started dating in spite of our crazy work schedules. Some couples go to the movies, we went to the grocery store at four thirty in the morning when he got off work and before I started my day at six. Cody was a fun guy, and his big, noisy family made me feel right at home. Sometimes, I wonder if I stayed with him as long as I did because I liked him or his family. Do you really want to hear this?”

“I
need
the distraction. If I’m mad at him, I won’t think about Coach as much.” His unsettling growl told her how important this was to him.

“Four months later, I found out I was pregnant. When I told Cody, he disappeared for four days. Not even his family knew where he had gone, but they told me not to worry. He always came back. When he returned, I suspect his mother yelled at him quite a bit, and next thing I know, he’s asking me to marry him. Being alone and pregnant scared the daylights out of me, but with him, I was certain I’d have him and this big, wonderful family. I said yes, but kind of like you, I knew it wouldn’t work out because I didn’t love him.”
There. I finally said it
. The truth brought an unexpected liberation.

“At least you didn’t ask the question, knowing it was a bad idea.”

“Accepting for the wrong reasons is just as bad.” Spindly shadows flickered past the windows, but with Kyle by her side, her old fears faded.

“Tell me more. I need to hear your voice.”

“Cody returned gung ho about being a dad. He loved his nieces and nephews and talked a lot about what a big family he wanted. He signed us up for birth classes, read baby books with me, and brought me lunch at work. I worked at a family-owned restaurant-supply warehouse. They treated us like part of their family. They threw us a baby shower and arranged for me to keep off my feet as I got bigger. Cody’s work schedule got crazy during my last trimester because he wanted to have more money for the baby.”

“So, what happened? He sounds perfect, other than running away.” The bitterness in his voice startled her.

“Hardly!”

He clenched the steering wheel tighter, his arms rigid with the effort, and he hadn’t heard the worst part. She thought of Coach. “Are you sure you want to hear this? We could talk about something else. Seen any good movies lately?”

“No. I want you to make me angry.”

Maybe it was the wine, but that almost made sense. He needed a distraction that engaged his emotions. This wasn’t the time or place to distract him with lovemaking. With a few words, his blood would boil.

“Okay. I went into labor ten days before my due date. I was by myself, so I tried Cody’s cell phone. He didn’t pick up, so I tried the bar. His cousin said he was off. I tried his cell phone a few more times and left messages. My boss and his wife were my backups, but they were out of town for the week. They’d promised their nineteen-year-old daughter would help if something happened while they were out of town. I called her to no avail. Finally, I called a cab.