Chapter 7

"She's nice," Josie said, staring out her side window.  "I like her."

Travis fitted his seat belt and shifted the gear stick into Drive.  "Yes, she's very nice."

She rode quietly after that -- no questions, no saucy comments...nothing but immaculate silence, and with every mile through the city, Travis' knuckles whitened on the wheel.  Finally, he could stand it no longer.  Jerking the truck to the side of the road, he stopped and turned to her.

"Just ask, Josie!"

"Ask what?"

"Don't play dumb," he said scrubbing his hand through his hair.  "You've never been stupid, Princess.  You're one of the smartest persons I know."

"Don't call me that," she whispered, keeping her gaze locked to her window.

"Princess?  But that's who you are...a princess.  Beautiful, intelligent, graceful...and you have this amazing knack for making people fall in love with you."

"No...you’re wrong about that."

He leaned closer, slipping out of his seat belt.  "You are smart and graceful...and you are beautiful."  He touched her chin, drawing her face around.

"Take me home, Travis," she said through dry, green eyes.

"Don't you want to know about Arielle and my son?  This is why you wanted me to take you home, isn’t it?  You seem to be the only one around here that doesn't know."

"Travis, you have a nice family.  I'm happy for you." And she turned away.

He pulled the truck on the road and said, "Okay, fine.  You want to be that way?  Okay...fine."

He took the long way back to her apartment.

"Arielle and I became friends that night.  Just friends.  I got her a job at the studio when our receptionist left, and we were still just friends.  She had the worst taste in men.  I'm not kidding.  She went through four break-ups that first year I knew her, trying to makeup for the one who got away, and always crying afterward like there was something wrong with her, and I kept telling her to stop falling for deadbeats and stupid jackasses.  And she kept telling me that I didn't know what the hell I was talking about because Icouldn't stick with anyone either."

He looked to see if she was listening.  Couldn't tell for sure.

"Then one night, she showed up at my place, already in tears over some new jerk I didn't even knowshe'd been dating, and two beers into her story, she's already drunk and I'm trying to convince her that she is pretty, she is smart, she is special -- she's just too eager to fall in love -- and then one thing leads to the next--"

Josie snorted into the darkness.  Yeah, she was listening.

"Well, it did," he said to her.  "Arielle would tell you the same thing.  I'm not sure why we did it.  Lonely, or just tired of the crap.  I think we both needed to feel loved for just one damn night, and we did -- do love each other...as friends, and I don't know why the hell I'm explaining any of this to you.  I will not be made to feel guilty about any of it!"

He glanced over.  She stared back.

"We have a son now," he continued, calmer than before.  "That next morning, and every day for the next several weeks, it was weird between us.  But we made a baby that night, and neither of us would change that.  Tristan has become the light of both our lives.  He's worth everything we've gone through these last three years."

They arrived at her apartment building in the South Main Arts District...a nice place.  A hell of a nicer place than his shack out past the airport.  Travis glanced up at the historical building, and wondered -- just wondered -- if Daddy wasn’t really paying for her to live there.  

He parked near the front door, feeling a little inadequate with his rusty old truck delivering a beautiful lady like Josie to a beautiful apartment building.  Hell, on his salary, with just him, he could afford a place like that, but a man had to think of his family first.  Half his paycheck had gone to Arielle and Tristan until she finished school, and now that she had Sam, most of that money was put in a savings account for if she needed it later.

"There,” he said.  “That's it in a nutshell.  The rest of the story, about Sam and Arielle, and me and Tristan, will just have to wait for another time.  Your carriage has arrived, Princess."

She sat still for a moment.  Then without a word or comment or question of any kind, she jerked open her door, pulled her shoes off and walked barefooted to the front entrance of her building, slamming the truck door behind her.

Goddammit.

"Josie!  Wait!" He ran to catch up with her before she vanished inside and up to her home.  "Listen...I'm sorry for calling you Princess again.  But that's, uh, the way I've always seen you."

Her green eyes pierced through him.

"And I, uh, didn't really get a chance to thank you for saving my ass tonight.  You were great, by the way."

She stared back but said nothing.  

"I still don't understand why you never joined a band."

She blinked...switched her shoes to her other hand.  

Travis felt stupid.  She just...staredat him.  "Well...thanks, Josie.  I owe you one," he said, and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

He heard her sigh as her head shifted so that he couldn't make contact with that kiss.

"No, you don't, Travis.  I told you.  That one was free.  Good night."

She turned.  He cupped her elbow.

"Wait," he said.

She sighed again.  Exhausted. "What, Travis?"

The makeup around her eyes was  smudged.  The light above the door creating darker shadows on her cheeks.  Her hair had tangled, and she gazed at him, tired, lost, hurt, and Travis still thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever clapped eyes on.

"What is it?" she asked.  "It's late.  I'm tired.  If it's not important, then -- what are you doing?"

He took a chance...and bent to kiss her.  A real kiss.

Josie pushed him away, holding him at arm's length.  "Don't," she said, showing more emotion in that one word than she had in the last two hours.

Giving a small shove, she sent him backward and she spread her fingers, warding him off.  "You have no idea what I'm feeling or thinking right now, so it might be best if you didn't try to kiss meright now."

"You're mad," he said, finally seeing it.

"Not at you," she said.  

"Then at what?"

She laughed.  "Fate, timing, karma, God."   Then she breathed.  "You have a beautiful son, Travis.  You're welcome for me saving your ass tonight, and you don't owe me anything.  Good night.  I'll see you on Monday."

He darted to block her path.  "Hang on just a sec," he began, confused that she turned down the one advance he'd initiated in the eight years since she kissed him.

"No, I won't 'hang on just a sec'," she said.  "Hanging-on has made this night too much of a shock for me.  I feel like a complete idiot--"

"No," he stopped her, coming closer and cupping her cheek tenderly.  "You're about as far from an idiot as anyone can get."

"Please don't," she whispered, stepping backward.  "I can't do this...not tonight.  I am tired, Travis.  Too damn tired to have this conversation right now."

"I don't even know which conversation we're having," he said.  "The one about my son, the one about you singing, or Jesus, the one about me wanting to kiss you right now?"

She breathed deeply, letting the air filter from her lungs in a long, slow exhale.  "Good night, Travis," she said, and her tone said, Don't stop me again.

He moved out of her way.  She went inside, the locked door effectively securing the princess in her castle, and she went upstairs to her apartment.

He looked, saw a light come on just above him, and he said to her window, "You've been teasing me, flirting with me for over ten goddamn years...people don't change in one night, Princess."

It was all a game.  It had to be.  One big, elaborate game, but Travis couldn't figure out where the hell they both stood on the board.

She moved across her window, a thin curtain creating a nimbus-like silhouette of her luscious figure.  She wrapped her hair to the top of her head.  She took off her earrings.  She picked up something round, larger than her palm...and threw it as hard as she could, a muffled scream renting through the night.

Fight it all you want, but you’re a princess to me...

*****

Josie's apartment phone jingled at six o'clock that next Sunday morning.  "Oh, my god," she moaned, reaching through the fuzzies in her head to get to the phone.  "Someone better be dead."

"Josie!" a peppy voice called out.

"Who are you? And do you know what time it is?"

"It's Arielle, and it's 6am."

Eyes closed, Josie groaned.  "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope.  You're not a morning person, are you?"

"Not at the crack of dawn on a Sunday.  How did you get my number?"

"As it so happens," Arielle said.  "You're listed.  Most people I know don't even have home numbers any more."

"My father insisted; he’s not right in the head," Josie said.  "Make this quick.  I'm hanging up and going back to sleep in ten...nine..."

"I knew I liked you for a reason," Arielle said, laughing.  "Okay, here's the deal.  Sam and I are taking Trist to the zoo today, and Travis is coming, and as much as I love those three men, I don't want to be the only gal, and well, sadly, I have no single female friends in Memphis.  Just Christy, and Sunday is her lazy day, so she won't even drive to the drugstore on a Sunday if she was out of tampons, and--"

"Zero.  Time’s up."  Josie sat up, brushing hair out of her face.  Dang it...I'm awake now.  "Okay, let me get this straight," she said to Arielle, "You called me at 6 am, on a Sunday, to see if I wanted to join you in leveling the playing field with your fiance and the father of your baby, after we met for the first time approximately eight hours ago?"

"Pretty much sums it up," Arielle said.  "So, whatta ya say?"

Josie sighed.  "Sounds like a world of fun, but I'm afraid Travis and I didn't part on good terms last night.  I’m not up to breathing the same air as him right now."

"Uh oh," Arielle said, losing her perkiness.  "What did he do?"

"Absolutely nothing," Josie said.  "This wasn't about him."

Arielle paused.  Then said, "Was it about me?"

Josie sighed again.  "No, it was all me, Arielle.  I'd like to help you out, but--"

"But you're not going to, are you?  Aww, come on...please?  Pretty, pretty please?  You know you want to, you know you love me...you know--"

Josie laughed.  "You know you just met me, right?  I could be a raving psychopath for all you know, and you're asking me to join you and your son at the zoo?"

"Travis trusts you; I trust you."

"Travis doesn't trust me," Josie said.

"Travis trusts you...trust me on this."

"Regardless," Josie said, curling her legs into a pretzel and leaning back against the headboard.  "I have to say thank you, but no.  I'm very aware of where my emotional boundaries end, and they don't agree with spending the day with Travis right now."

"Wow...he really did something to you."

"It wasn't him," Josie argued.  "It was me."

"You're sentencing me to a whole day of testosterone and smelly animals...what happened to females united?"

"I have a very strong feeling you can handle a dozen smelly, testosterone-laden animals."

"Fine...but can I ask you one thing?"

"Sure."

"You wanna be my friend?

"What?” Josie laughed.

“I need friends.  I like you.  You wanna be my friend?  I'll give you a Twinkie.”

Josie rolled her eyes.  “How old are you?”

“Twenty nine...and still stuck in third grade...I mean literally.  I teach third grade now.  Finally finished school and got my teaching license and a job at Lausanne Collegiate.  Sam’s mother put in a good word for me, so we’re moving back here to Memphis this summer.  Tristan will be closer to his daddy, and I’ll be closer to my sister, but I can use some hanging-out friends when I move back.”

Rubbing her forehead, because it was really too early in the morning for Arielle to be discussing her future plans to a nearly-complete stranger, Josie said, “You have Travis.  He’s a hanging-out kind of guy...from what I’ve heard.”

Arielle snorted.  “Travis wants to spend all his time with Trist.  And he doesn't count.  I need girlfriends.”

“Right...girlfriends.  Well, when you’ve settled into your new home later this summer, give me a call.  We’ll go do something.”

“But I want to do something with a new girlfriend today!” Arielle pleaded.  “I need girl talk.  I need fingernail polish and pretty dresses and tea parties.  I love my boys, I do, but if I have to sit through one more weekend of ESPN and dinosaurs nesting on my pillow at night, I’m going to rip my hair out.”

That got a laugh out of Josie.  “You sound stressed.”

“I am,” Arielle said.  “Motherhood is great.  Getting married is great.  But if you don’t come with me to the zoo today, I’ll be one step closer to buying wigs for the rest of my life.”

“If you’re that desperate, why don’t the guys just take Tristan by themselves?”

Arielle paused.  “And miss the panda bears?”

Josie laughed again.  “I can see this is a difficult decision for you.”

“Although...if you come with me, then we can got straight to the panda bears first, and then Sam and Travis could take Trist around the rest of the zoo, and--”

“Are you crazy, woman?” a man’s voice said in Arielle’s background.  “I love you, babe, but I’m not taking on the whole zoo with just Travis as my wingman.”

“Who's that?” Josie asked.

“That's Sam,” Arielle said.  “Did you meet Sam?”

“No, I--”

“Who is that?” Sam asked.

“This is Josie,” Arielle said, slightly muffled.  “She’s--”

“Josie?  Is she that girl from last night?  The singer?  She's hot.  Travis doing her?”

Josie raised her eyebrows at her phone.

“Sam?” Arielle said, exasperation in her voice.

“Yes, my love?” Sam said, and Arielle replied, “She can hear you.  Shut up.”

“Oh,” came Sam’s voice, and then static, and then, “This Josie?”

“Yes,” Josie said hesitantly.

“Sorry about all that,” he told her.  “It’s really early.”

No shit, Sherlock.  “Yes, it is.”

Sam added, “Trist gets up early, which means we all get up early, but Arielle is the only one happy about it.  I haven't had my coffee yet.  I say things before I have my coffee.”

Okay...I like him, too.  “I can see that,” Josie said.

“And you are hot,” he said.  “You sing good, too.  Sound good over the phone, too.  No one sounds this good this early -- hey!  I'm talking to Josie.”

“Go get some coffee,” Arielle said to him and then said to her, “Sorry about that.  Sam doesn't have that delicacy switch.  He and Tristan just say whatever in in their minds.”

Josie smiled, thinking about this odd conversation with Arielle and that Tristan never stood a chance.

“So, you sure you won't save me today?” Arielle asked.

Josie sighed heavily.  “Arielle…”

“I know, I know,” she said.  “And I'm being a pest, Josie.  I really just wanted to get to know you better, so I thought I’d call and talk to you, and try to figure out what’s going on between you and Travis.”

“Nothing’s going on between me and Travis,” Josie said, a bad mood sweeping up her because nothing was going on between her and Travis.  “What makes you think that?”

“Nothing!  And you go right ahead and keep lying to yourself that there’s nothing,” Arielle laughed.  “You forget...I've been friends with him for a long time and I’m spending the whole day with him.  I'll get the real story out of him today...unless, of course, you want to tell me?”

“There's no story, because there's nothing going on.”

“Right, uh huh...expect me to call you later!”

Arielle hung up, and Josie closed her eyes.  It was way too damn early for this.