Page 58 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

Considering how bougie Travis’ homestead is compared to mine, his question is valid. He even paid to be on the grid with electricity and water rather than relying on solar and a well, like I do. Because he’s so much farther down the mountain, he could afford to do that. I guess I technically can, too, if I touched my inheritance, but God knows I don’t want to.

Just taking out the $50,000 to make the payment to Lyla felt like admitting defeat and making a deal with the devil.

“What’s her name?”

Fuck. Can’t the guy take a hint that I don’t want to be talking about this?

“Lyla.”

“Pretty name.”

“She’s a beautiful woman, too.”

The observation slips from my tongue easily despite not wanting to discuss her or the current situation with him. But it’s hauntingly true.

Lyla is beautiful—inside and out.

She’s the type of woman who deserves to be given the world, not a shitty cabin in the fucking woods.

Travis returns his focus to the river, a long silence drawing out between us like it usually does when we run into each other. Over the years, he’s learned not to press me when it comes to conversation, and I usually greatly appreciate the wide berth he gives me.

But something feels off today.

Like there is something unspoken between us that should be said.

A reason he showed up in thesameplace at thesameodd time to come fishing.

Maybe to offer the kind of advice only a man who has been married as long as he has can provide.

“Can I ask you a question, Travis?”

“Of course.” He looks over. “What do you need, son?”

Son?

Even after fifteen years of hearing him use it, the word stiffens my spine. It was always used as a weapon before—a reminder of who and what I was to the Boltons.

Someone without power.

Without a voice.

But the warmth in the way Travis always says it has prevented me from asking him to stop using that term over the years.

“You’ve been married what? Thirty, forty years?”

He issues a low, deep chuckle. “Almost fifty. We met when we were eighteen, married within two weeks.”

I whip my head toward him. “You got married two weeks after you met her?”

A slow grin spreads across his face, thinking about his wife, the genuine love he has for her radiating from him. “I knew she was the one from the moment I laid eyes on her. The only reason we waited two weeks was because she was seventeen, and we had to wait for her birthday before we could get legally married.”

“Jesus…”Two weeks…“And it’s lasted this long?”

Travis gives me a knowing smile. “I doubt there’s much that could tear us apart now, short of me keeling over after the hike up here to fish.”

I give him a once-over since it’s been a few weeks since we last saw each other. “You seem to be in pretty good shape.”

He pats his growing belly. “The wife says I need to lose a few pounds, but man, she is a great cook. It makes it hard.”

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