Texas Tango: Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 2 (34 page)

“I guess that’s between you and Lydia.”

“If Lydia is in agreement, then I guess I’ll take the assignment. It’s a lot of money.”

“Okay then. It’s settled.”

“Wait. What about Noah?”

Travis smiled. “He needs to stay here. I like having him here and I think we’re beginning to understand each other well.”

Caroline wracked her brain for some other reason to stay. Travis obviously didn’t need her here. And he was right about Noah. He would do better with Travis. Plus, she would be gone for only six weeks. Surely by then she’d be over Travis.

Now that’s pitiful
, she thought.
You can’t even tell a decent lie to yourself.

“Are you going to call Lydia?”

“Yes, right now. I have to call Dr. Cupps back tonight.”

Lydia had been expecting her call. Apparently, Dr. Cupps had already talked with Lydia before Caroline got the chance.

“I really hate to see you go,” Lydia said. “I do understand Dr. Cupps’s situation. It’s only six weeks. What about Travis?”

He doesn’t care if I’m here or not.
“He was really understanding about my going. Noah’s going to stay here. The company will continue paying the rent on my house, so I’ll be able to come back and pack up after the assignment.”

“And move everything to Halo M?”

“Um, yeah. Dr. Cupps did tell you that he would buy out my contract with Whispering Springs, right? I mean, that’s a chunk of money the office could use.”

“He did and, yes, the timing is perfect. The portable ultrasound died this morning.”

“Again?”

“Yes, but this time I won’t have to try to patch it up or rig it. I’m buying a new one.”

Lydia’s voice was high-pitched excited, and Caroline was happy her friend viewed her early departure in a positive light.

“Thank you for everything, Lydia. The last twenty months have been the highlight of my life.”

Lydia laughed. “You talk like you’re leaving. Don’t be so melodramatic. It’s only six weeks and you’ll be back. Oh. I’ve got a great idea. I bet Travis could meet you there for a late honeymoon. What a perfect spot. I know his parents would help out with Noah.”

Caroline didn’t correct Lydia’s assumptions. She wouldn’t be back. There wouldn’t be a delayed honeymoon. There’d be no more Travis in her life.

She’d arrange to have a moving company pack up her house. Historically, she would have sent everything on to the next project location without giving it much thought or maybe back to Mamie’s house if she didn’t need it for the assignment.

Right now her mind couldn’t process everything. She wasn’t sure where to send her personal belongings. Shipping everything to Key West wouldn’t work. She wouldn’t be there long enough and it was too soon to ship it to Montana.

“Caroline? You still there?”

“Oh, sorry. Yes. I was just thinking about everything I’ve got to get done tomorrow.”

“What about Olivia’s wedding?”

She didn’t want to be at Olivia’s wedding, and especially didn’t want to be
in
Olivia’s wedding. She was a fraud, a fake sister-in-law. Olivia—and probably the rest of the Montgomery family—would despise her if they ever found out she’d made Travis fake marry her to get Singing Springs.

Plus, watching Olivia and Mitch say their wedding vows, seeing the love they had for each other, would probably kill her on the spot.

“I’ll probably not make it. I’ll call Olivia and let her know.” In fact, while she was talking to Olivia, she’d plant the seed that things between her and Travis weren’t going well. It was time—past time—to let him off the hook.

She redialed Dr. Cupps. “It’s Caroline Graham. I’ll take the Key West assignment.”

“Excellent. I knew I could count on you. There will be an electronic ticket waiting for you at the ticket counter. Thank you again, and enjoy Key West.”

“I’ll try.”

She clicked off her phone. It was a done deal. She was leaving for Key West. Texas, Whispering Springs and Travis Montgomery would simply be where her brother was living. Not her.

Until the moment she stepped on the plane for Key West, she hoped he’d call, ask her to come back to Halo M. Hoped he’d say he loved her. Tell her he couldn’t live without her. But as the plane lifted into the air and the ground fell farther and farther away, she saw her hopes and wishes fall with it. He’d been the friend he said he would be. He’d been the lover she’d never imagined existed.

He’d never promised more.

She let the one teardrop fall before closing the door on her emotions. Now that Mamie was gone, she didn’t have anyone to lean on. She’d been on her own for years and been fine. She’d be fine again…one day.

Chapter Nineteen

By Sunday night, Travis was glad the rodeo was over for another year. Halo M Ranch had had the best year yet for sales and orders. His cousins’ ranch crew from the D&R hadn’t won, but for a first-time ranch, they’d made a good showing and that had pleased him greatly.

Noah had taken Caroline’s departure with the normal teenage shrug, too involved with all the rodeo activities to be too concerned. Besides, he’d said, she’ll only be gone a little over a month.

But now Travis sat in his office stunned by the conversation he’d just finished with Caroline. She’d arrived in Key West without a problem. The condo overlooking the beach was lovely. Her new job was fast-paced and interesting. And she’d decided she wouldn’t be returning to Texas.

The wedding presents needed to be returned with a short letter explaining that, unfortunately, the marriage wasn’t going to work out. KC would be by to pick up the wedding presents in the dining room and return them. She would also pack any of Caroline’s personal belongings and ship them to Key West.

Travis leaned back in his chair, his heart leaking into his gut.

She isn’t returning to Whispering Springs. Or Halo M Ranch. Or to me.

Caroline hadn’t just taken a short assignment. She’d used it to get away from him.

How the hell had everything gone to shit so fast?

Where had their relationship gone off the track? How had everything gone haywire without him noticing? It was all because of that damn phone call from her agency. Of course, he hadn’t told her not to go. He didn’t have that right. But how could she not realize he was crazy in love with her?

He’d tried to tell her so many times, but every time she’d made some comment about their good friendship and he’d backed off. If being friends meant keeping her in his life, then fine. She could call them friends, even if he wanted more.

When he couldn’t say the words, he tried to show her with kisses and touches and even song lyrics. Either she never got the message or—even more likely—she had gotten the message and had decided not to acknowledge it. That way she didn’t have to tell him that all she felt was friendship.

“Hey! Anyone home?” KC’s distinctive Southern voice echoed through Travis’s house.

“I’m here.”

“Where?”

“Kitchen.”

KC walked into his kitchen, up to his side and whapped him upside the head. “You are a fool, Travis Montgomery. I can’t believe we are even related.”

“What?” Travis rubbed the throb in his head. “What’d I do?”

“You let the best thing in your life fly off to Key West.”

“Don’t hit me again. And I didn’t let Caroline do anything.” He shrugged. “She’s a grown woman. She does as she likes.”

“Then get on a plane and go down there and get her.”

“No.” He shook his head. “If she didn’t want to go, she could have turned down the assignment, but did she? No, she did not. She left me. I didn’t do anything.”

His cousin snorted. “You got that right. You did nothing.”

“What do you want, KC? You here just to rack my balls?”

“Nope. We’re here to get her stuff and haul back all those wedding presents.”

“Oh, right. Well, Caroline didn’t waste any time getting her stuff moved out, did she? What the hell. Who’s with you?”

“The twins will be here in a minute.” Her statement was accompanied by the sound of two door slams. “And I believe they’re here now.”

The front door slammed. “Where’s everybody?” Reno called.

“Kitchen,” KC called back.

“Hey, cuz,” Darren said when he and his brother walked in.

“Hey, Travis. Can’t you keep a wife?” Reno said.

KC slapped the back of Reno’s head.

“What?” Reno rubbed the spot. “What’d I say?”

“God, help me with clueless men,” she replied. “Would you two take all those presents in the dining room and load them into the back of my SUV?”

“Don’t I even get to say hi before you put them to work?” Travis asked with a smile he’d forced on his face. A smile he didn’t feel anywhere in his soul.

“Fine. Say your hi’s and then we need to get busy. I’d like to get Caroline’s clothes shipped first thing in the morning.”

Her words were like a slap to his face. It was all happening too fast. Caroline had just told him she wasn’t coming back, and suddenly his cousin was here to remove every trace of Caroline from his house? For a brief moment, he thought about hiding something of hers, anything that would make Caroline have to come get it, anything that would make her face him again.

But, no. Caroline had made herself clear many times. She and he were friends, and apparently that was good enough for her.

“I’ve got something I want you to send to Caroline when you mail her stuff.”

“Not a problem. Where are all her clothes?”

“In my room. Head on over. I’ll show Reno and Darren where the stacks of gifts are and then meet you there. I wouldn’t want you to miss anything,” he said sarcastically.

After leaving his twin cousins working in the dining room, Travis headed to his office and pulled the unfiled marriage license from his desk drawer. He studied it, remembered how beautiful she’d looked that day, how strong she’d been when her grandmother died. Their signatures were bold in dark-blue ink. Her grandmother’s was thin, barely legible. This last memento of her grandmother would mean a lot to her. He’d meant to get the license framed for her but just hadn’t had time. Now, time had run out.

When he got to his room KC was folding a pair of Caroline’s jeans to put in a shipping box on the bed.

“Put this in there, would you?” He handed her the license. Letting go of the paper was letting go of Caroline. Inside, his heart ached. On the outside, he maintained his don’t-give-a-shit composure.

KC dropped the jeans in the box to study the piece of paper. “You guys had a marriage license? I thought this was all a ruse for her dying grandmother.”

“It was. Her grandmother was a retired judge and wanted to do the ceremony and sign the license. Caroline didn’t want to disappoint her, so we got a marriage license that morning. We just never filed it. Send it to Caroline as a keepsake from her Texas assignment.”

“Interesting,” she said with an eyebrow lift.

She studied him as though waiting for a reaction on his part. Well, she’d be disappointed. He wasn’t going to fall apart, if that’s what she was waiting for.

“Okay,” she continued. “I’ll send it. By the way, I found these as I was packing what little jewelry Caroline had.” KC passed him the wedding-ring set. She folded up the last shirt and laid it on top of the jeans. Pointing a finger at him, she said, “You. Are. An. Idiot.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You. Caroline. Hell, man. It’s obvious you’re in love with her. Why the hell didn’t you ask her to stay?”

“I don’t beg any woman to stay when she wants to go.”

“You are a bullheaded fool, Travis Montgomery. You two were perfect for each other, and you just let her walk out.”

“Damn it, KC, I did not just let her walk out. She left. What did you want me to do? Hold her clothes hostage until she came and got them?”

“That’d be better than what you’re doing.”

“She doesn’t love me.”

“God, save me from men in love,” she swore. “Think about it, dunderhead.” She waved the license in his face. “If you loved her, you could have filed this, you know.”

“I’m not going to trick her into being married.”

“Idiot. Must run in the Montgomery male chromosomes, because we Montgomery women don’t have that stupid gene.” She put the license in her purse and picked up the box. “When you realize how stupid you are and you want to call her, or better yet, go see her, call me. I’ll give you her new address.”

After the Montgomery cousins left, Travis picked up his phone and called his brother.

“Hey, bro,” Jason said. “Lydia told me that you and Caroline were splitting. Tell me she’s wrong.”

“I wish I could.”

“What happened?”

“Let me tell you the story.” Then Travis told Jason everything, from start to finish.

The next week he did one of the hardest things he’d ever done. He broke the news to his parents that Caroline had left him. They were crushed. His mother even cried, which just about killed him.