Compromise Me: Chapter 8

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Chapter 8

Travis' cell phone rang at 6:30 am.  Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls.”

Arielle.

"What is it?" he asked hurriedly, jerked awake.  "Is Tristan okay?"

"What?" Arielle asked.  "Tristan's fine."

“Is this an emergency?” he asked, his head catching up with the change in realities and groggy with sleep.

Arielle laughed.  “Oh!  No, it's not.”

Travis ended the call and went back to sleep.  She called again, Freddy Mercury singing, “You make the rockin’ world go round.”  He turned off the sound.

*****

Arielle sat looking at the phone and said to Sam, “He won’t answer.”

Sam sipped his coffee, watching cartoons with Tristan as the boy ate his cereal in the hotel room’s sitting area.  “It’s early, Ari,” Sam said.  “Cut the guy some slack.”

She leaned across him and grabbed the hotel phone.  “Something’s going on with those two.”

“And it’s none of your business,” Sam said.

“Uh huh…”

*****

Travis phone vibrated on his bedside table five minutes later.  He didn't recognize the caller.  "Dammit...if this is Arielle...hello?"

"Hey, baby daddy!"

"You've got to be kidding me," he groaned.

Arielle laughed.  “That's the same thing Josie said this morning.”

“She's hot, Trav,” Sam called out through the phone.  The sounds of Tristan’s favorite cartoon could be heard in the background.

“Yes, she is,” Arielle reiterated.  “So....what's the story between you two.”

Travis growled.  “Tristan up yet?”

“You know he is.”

“Let me talk to him.”

Arielle sighed dramatically.  “Fine.  Trist! Daddy's on the phone.”

“Hi, Daddy!”

Travis winced.  He loved his little man to pieces, but the boy only had one volume setting, and it was too early to be that loud...and happy.  Morning person.  Got that from his mother.  “How are you this morning?”

“Good!”

“You looking forward to the zoo later?”

“Yup!”  Tristan giggled.

Travis smiled.  He loved to hear his son laugh.  “Hey, do me a favor?”

“Okay!”

“Tell your momma to mind her own business.”

“Mommy, mind you biz-nus!”

Travis laughed.  Sam chuckled too.  Arielle’s second sigh could be heard loud and clear.  "You tell your daddy that him not minding his business is why we’re all sitting here today.”

“Okay...Daddy?...uh...what mommy say.”

“Well, your momma is right,” Travis said.  “And I’d do it all over again.  I love you, little man.”

“I love you, Daddy.  Go to zoo now?”

“Not quite.  We have to wait for the zoo to open.  The animals are still eating breakfast.”

Tristan said, “I got chocolate cereal!”

“Sounds yummy,” Travis said.  “When we get to the zoo, we'll ride the safari bus together and make your momma walk.”

“I get a toy, too?”

“You know it, little man,” Travis promised.

He heard Arielle say, “Here, let me talk to him.  Go finish your cereal,” and she came back on the phone.  "Travis...?"

“Yes, Ari?” he asked warily.

“I’m sooo giving you the third degree later, about you and Josie.”

“There is no me and Josie,” he said, worried and wondering what she heard about his history with the princess.  Arielle called Josie?  What the hell?  They barely know each other.  “Why did you call her?”

“I like her,” she said.  “She’s nice...and pretty.  You like her, too.  I can tell.”

“I work with her; that’s all.”

“Sure, sure.  It’s been a while since you’ve dated anyone--”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’ll even bet you haven’t had sex in a very long time--”

“And that’s really none of your business,” he said, sitting up in bed, tossing the covers off him.  He carried his phone with him to the kitchen to start the coffee maker.

“Josie looks like she’d be good for you,” Arielle said.  “I saw the way you two were looking at each other up on that stage last night--”

“That was a show,” Travis argued.  “She’s a great performer.”

“She’s a great person,” Arielle said.  “I have sixth sense about these things.  And I can always tell when people are lying to me.”

“I am not lying about anything,” Travis said, and Arielle said, “But you’re not telling me everything.”

“Because there is nothing to tell!  Even if there was, I still wouldn’t tell you.”

“You would if it affected Tristan,” she said, and he closed his eyes with exasperation.

“You’re right,” he told her.  “If anything I do affected Tristan, then yes, I would tell you, but any relationship I have with Josie doesn’t affect him or you.”

“So, you do have a relationship with her.”

“A working relationship,” Travis growled.  “Nothing more.”

Arielle laughed.  “You cannot say that you haven’t thought about it.  Have you kissed her?”

Travis paused, getting a coffee cup down from his cabinet.  Did Josie tell her about that, about last night?  “No, I never kissed her...technically.”

Technically?!

He poured a cup of coffee, listening to her squeal of delight.  “Sam,” she said away from the phone, “He said he’s never ‘technically’kissed Josie!”

“Sounds like bullhonkey,” Sam said, and Travis asked, “Can Tristan hear you talking about this?”

“No,” she said.  “He’s watching Curious George now.  He wouldn’t hear a firetruck crashing through the room until it’s over.  So...’technically’, huh?”

“Ari, just drop it,” Travis said.  “After last night, Josie doesn’t want me to kiss her.  She made it very clear that she didn’t want anything to do with me, or me kissing her.”

“So, you tried to kiss her and she turned you down, huh?  She said you two had a fight last night.  About what?”

“We didn’t have a fight,” he explained wearily, knowing that she wasn’t going to drop it.  “I don’t know what we had.  I told her more about how I met you, and thanked her for singing last night, and she was quiet and mad and don’t-touch-me.”

“You like her,” Arielle said.  “You wouldn’t be this upset about it if you didn’t like her.”

“I’m not upset,” he said.  “I’m confused.”

“Because she wouldn’t let you kiss her?  Conceited much, Trav?”

He heaved out a breath as he leaned against his kitchen counter and drank his coffee.  “Listen, Ari...Josie and I, we’ve known each other since her mother started writing songs for Livie, over ten years ago.  Josie was just a girl then, but she’s always had this schoolgirl crush on me--”

“Wow...very conceited--”

“No, I’m not!”  He breathed again.  “I’m not, I swear.  I’m telling you that Josie has been after me since she was a teenager, and I’ve tried to be just friends with her, but she would not give up.”

“And now, she’s grown up, and very beautiful and sexy, and you think it’s okay to go for it now?”

“No, it’s...it’s not like that,” Travis said.  “I don’t know what happened.  One day, she’s a child, locking me in my sound booth and laying a big one on me, and the next…”

“She’s not a little girl anymore.”

“Yeah,” he said and put his coffee cup aside.

“So, what’s the problem?  You’re both adults now.”

“The problem is that I have enough on my hands right now, with you getting married and moving back to Memphis, and helping Trist adjust to all that, plus him starting daycare soon and you starting a new job, and--"

"Let me stop you right there," she said.  "Tristan is excited about the wedding and he loves Sam, and he's looking forward to filling up the walls of his new bedroom with as many stickers as he can get his hands on.  He's fine.  You're the one having trouble adjusting."

"Everything with Tristan is fine now, but that could change.  I'm not adding more to the mix right now.  Trist is going to know that his daddy isn't deserting him just because he's getting a second daddy in Sam."

"Tristan knows you love him and always will," she said, sighing softly.  "But one of these days he's going to wonder why you're always alone.  I wonder why you're always alone."

"I'm alone because I choose to be."

"Baloney," she snorted.  "You're scared."

"Yes," he admitted.  "I'm scared I'll screw up Tristan's childhood the way my mother screwed up mine.  Any woman I chose to spend the rest of my life with will want the same for him."

"And you think Josie wouldn't want that?"

"I don’t know what she wants anymore, especially from me,” he said.  “Before she started working for Livie, I had a clear idea of what that was, but now...I don’t know.  She’s changed, and I can’t figure her out.”

“If you’re not interested in her, why would you want to?  Figure her out, that is.”

Damn if I know, he thought, and said, “Listen...can we talk about this later?  I’m going to get in the shower.”

“Okay,” she said, and she sounded understanding, not pesky.  “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

“Bye.  Give Trist a kiss for me.”  He hung up, stared at the light on his coffee maker, and wondered what Josie was doing, since Arielle thought it was a good idea to wake them both up this morning.

*****

Josie got off the phone with Arielle, feeling anxious and confused, and she needed to talk to somebody about it, without being judged or feeling defensive.  She called Livie.

 Livie answered, “I’d like to get out of the city before the shit hits the fan.  That way, I’m too far away to turn around.”

 Josie smiled to herself.  “I’m not calling you back to town,” she said.  “I just wanted to ask you something.”

 “Alright.  What’s up?”

 “Travis tried to kiss me last night.”

 Livie didn’t answer right away.  Then she said, “That wasn’t a question.”

 “No, it wasn’t,” Josie said.  “But do you have advice for me anyway?”

 “Hmm...’Tried to’, as in, something stopped him?”

 “Me,” Josie said.  “I stopped him.”

 “On purpose?”

 Josie groaned.  “Yes, on purpose.”

 “Okay,” Livie said, and then went silent again.

 “Livie?”

 “Sorry, Josie girl,” she said.  “I have nothing.”

 “Nothing?”

 “That’s right,” Livie said, adding a small laugh.  “I’m speechless.  Why did you stop him?”

 “I don’t know,” Josie groaned.

 “Was it because of Arielle and Tristan?”

 “I don’t know.”

 “Is it because you’ve been working your butt off and you don’t want him to think you took this job because of him?”

 “I don’t know,” Josie repeated.  “But those are good points.  What do you think?”

 “I think you need to get yourself a pedicure.”

 Josie frowned down at her toes.  “What?”

 “A pedicure...or a massage...or go shopping for furniture,” she said to Josie.  “Your apartment is bare.  You need furniture.  You’ll feel better.”

 Josie looked at her empty bedroom, empty except for her bed and a dresser...and a wooden crate for a nightstand.  “What?”

 Livie said, “You’re repeating yourself.  Have you done your morning yoga yet?”

 “No...I just got off the phone with Arielle.”

 “Arielle?  Why did you call her?”

 “She called me.”

 “Why?”

 Josie smiled, recollecting her conversation with the mother of Travis’ son.  “She wants to be friends.”

 "This early in the morning?”

 “I think she’s a morning person,” Josie said.  “Didn’t sound hungover at all.”

 “I always thought she had that off-your-meds way about her,” Livie said.

 “I like her,” Josie confirmed.  “She’s nice -- kooky, but nice.”

 Her home phone rang.

 “Hang on,” Josie told Livie.  “My other phone is ringing.  It’s probably her again.”

 *****

 A few minutes earlier, back in Conway, Arkansas, Hannah Kirkland rolled over in bed and blinked as she saw her husband scowling at his cell phone.  “What’s wrong?”

 Justin Kirkland said, “Josie isn’t answering her phone.”

 Hannah sat up and looked at the clock.  “It’s six-thirty.”

 “I know.”

 “She’s probably not up yet,” Hannah said with a yawn.  “She had that concert last night--”

 “What concert?”

 Hannah sighed.  “You know?  Travis from the studio?  His band was playing last night.”

 “Travis?”  Justin scowled even more.  “I never liked him.”

 “You don’t like any man that Josie knows.”

 He looked over at his wife.  “Do they know each other well?”

 “They’ve known each other for as long as we’ve known him,” Hannah said, snuggling up to him.  “Leave Josie alone.  If there was something wrong, she’d call.”

 “I want to talk to her,” he said.  “I’ve got this feeling...I don’t like it.”

 “You talked to her yesterday,” Hannah said, bending over to kiss his chest.  “Talk to me.”

 He smiled down at her, brushed her hair from her face, but the feeling wouldn’t go away.  “I’ll call her home number...then you and I can ‘talk’.”  He dialed Josie’s other phone.  

 *****

 “Arielle?” Josie asked when she answered her apartment phone.

 “No, it’s Daddy,” her father said.  “Who’s Arielle?”

 “Oh...hi, Daddy,” she said, frowning.  “Why are you calling me this early?”

 “I wanted to talk,” he said.  “Who’s Arielle?”

 “She’s someone I met last night,” Josie said.  “What did you want to talk about?”

 “Did you meet her at the concert?”

 Josie frowned harder.  “Yes.  Why are you calling?”

 “I tried your cell phone, but you didn’t answer,” he said, persistent and always in her business.  Josie loved her father, but this morning, he was getting on her nerves...more than usual.

 “I’m actually talking to someone on my cell phone right now,” she told him.  “Can I call you back?”

 “Are you talking to Arielle?”

 “Daddy...if I was talking to Arielle on my cell phone, why would I ask if this was her on my home phone?”

 “Oh...right.  So, everything is okay?”

 “Everything is fine,” she said curtly.  “Let me call you back.”

 “Who are you talking to?”

 “Livie!  I’m talking to Livie!”

 “Now, wait just a minute, young lady,” he said.  “You may be a grown woman, but I'm still your father.”

 Josie sighed.  “I’m sorry, Daddy.  Please, let me call you back.  Give me twenty minutes.”  She didn’t wait for a response.  She hung up.

 “That your daddy?” Livie asked, and Josie groaned.

 “He’s losing his mind,” she told Livie.  “Now...what should I do about Travis?”

 *****

 Justin stared at the phone.  “She hung up on me.”

 “I told you to leave her alone,” Hannah said.  

 “Something’s going on up there,” he said.  “I think we should go see her.”

 “No,” Hannah said.

 He looked down at her.  “No?”

 “No,” she said pointedly.  “Josie is not a little girl anymore.  You have to cut her off your apron strings.  And I am not driving to Memphis today.”

 “We can go tomorrow.”

 “I have to work, and you have a conference call with the general,” she reminded him.  “We can go next weekend, if you want, but we will let her know ahead of time.  She might have plans.”

 “So?”

 “So?” she said.  “Josie loves you, Justin, but she shouldn’t have to drop her entire life because you get weird feelings about her.  She’s fine.  She’s smart.  She has a great job, and Livie watches over her.”

 “I never liked Livie either,” he grumbled and set his phone aside.  Hannah smiled at him, a saucy smile, as he felt her hand drift under the covers, going south.  “What are you doing?”

 “You said we could ‘talk’ now,” she said.

 “Josie said she’d call back in twenty minutes,” he told her, groaning as her fingers found something to wrap around.

 “Plenty of time,” Hannah said and disappeared under the blankets.  Justin’s eyes rolled back in his head.  Yeah...plenty of time…

 And he ducked down to join her for an early morning conversation.

 *****

 Josie finished talking to Livie -- not getting anything more from the older woman than suggestions on furniture stores -- and returned her father’s call.

 “Hello?” her dad said, breathless.  “Hang on a sec…”

 Hannah giggled in the background.  Josie groaned, knowing that giggle.  “How about I call back later this afternoon?” she said into the phone, and her father said, “Okay...okay...call back later...oh, god, yes!” The line went dead.

 Josie dropped her cell phone on her bed and waved her hands.  “Ewww!  Ew, ew, ew!”

 Then she got up and took a shower, making sure to scrub her ears thoroughly.

*****

Travis stared at his phone.  Josie wasn't answering hers.  Her apartment line was busy and her cell went straight to voicemail.

 He waited ten minutes and called again.

 Both lines rang and rang.  No answer at all.  Wonderful, he thought.    

 The only reason he was calling her was because it just occurred to him that he wouldn't be at the studio first thing Monday morning because of a dentist visit.  No other reason that that.

 Didn't want her to freak out because he and Livie would both be gone.  She'd only been there for a week.  She may not be familiar with opening the studio by herself, although Mary Grace, the receptionist would be there, and they had two other part-time sound techs , and besides M.G. could handle just about anyone who walked through the front doors.

 And if he waited until later, he might forget.

 Just text her, idiot.

 But texts don't always go through.

 He ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes and called her five minutes after.  Cell phone went to voicemail again.  He called her apartment.

 She picked up on the sixth ring.  "HELLO?"

 "Josie?" he asked, clearing his throat at the same time.

 "Travis?  Why are you calling me?"

 "I'm getting the impression this isn't a good time," he said.

 She sighed.  "No -- well, yes, this isn't -- oh!  Crap!  Ow!  Hang on!"

 A

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