Page 57 of Love and Memories

Bella nodded. “Yeah. I think that would be a good idea. I need to tell her the news anyway.”

Travis opened the truck door and helped her back onto her seat. “Everything is going to be okay.”

When he shut the door and walked around to the other side of the truck, he knew his words to be true. Whatever happened, he would make sure to take care of Bella.

But she was right. There might be someone out there looking for her. Travis was just starting to hope that she’d give him a chance and see him as more than a friend, but nothing could happen between them now–not until she found out if her heart already belonged to someone else.

22

ISABELLA

Bella glared at the half-eaten sausage patty on her plate. She’d never wanted anything more in her life, but her stomach had already rejected the first half. Now, she was trying to convince herself sausage would taste awful with the lingering toothpaste in her mouth.

The nausea only came around at inopportune times and usually whenever she tried to eat the foods she craved. Suddenly and violently, the sickness sent her running for the nearest safe place to empty her guts.

The warm scent of spiced meat hit her nose and rolled her stomach. Giving up on breakfast, she dumped the food into the trash and washed the plate in the sink. If she didn’t have anything in her stomach, she wouldn’t have anything to vomit.

The front door opened, and heavy footfalls entered the cottage.

“Anna!”

Dean was back from his latest trip and making his grand entrance. The mere sound of his voice had her teeth grinding against each other.

Waiting until he disappeared down the hallway, Bella slipped into the living room and scanned the place for her shoes. Oh good, she’d been coherent enough after work yesterday to leave them by the door like a decent human being. The evening exhaustion made her morning fatigue look like a walk in the park, and she’d been known to fall onto the couch after work and sleep until the next morning more than once last week.

“You said you would be ready by seven,” Dean barked from the other side of the cottage.

The welcome noise of Travis’s truck distracted Bella from thoughts of telling Dean where he could go for talking to Anna like that. How did she end up with him? Anna and Dean were nothing alike. She was as kind as he was rude, and Bella had tried bringing it up to her friend more than once without any success. Anna was smitten and continued to go out of her way for her loser boyfriend.

Bella finished tying her shoelaces as Travis’s footsteps beat a steady rhythm on the porch. Huffing and puffing, she got to her feet and opened the door before he could knock.

Travis was a picture of perfection in his usual baseball cap, T-shirt, jeans, and boots. He always looked handsome when they went to work together at Silver Falls Ranch, and she barely managed to look better than a troll that lived under a bridge.

His mouth turned up in a grin that sent a tingle up her spine as soon as she opened the door. “Good morning.”

She hadn’t seen him in two days. Just two days apart, and she’d missed him like they’d been separated for weeks. The hunger in her stomach shifted to her chest. She didn’t need breakfast. She needed Travis.

The fact that he’d been incredibly nice ever since she found out about the pregnancy only made her feelings for him stronger. He hadn’t left her the way she’d expected him to.Instead, he’d been a model gentleman–always there to help while keeping a safe distance.

She still had no idea who could be the father of her baby, but she didn’t feel alone. The people of Blackwater had rallied around her. They could have cast her out. She was a possibly unwed mother-to-be, but they’d shown her nothing but kindness.

When Dean’s barking voice drifted down the hallway again, Bella quickly closed the door behind her and stepped around Travis. “Let’s go.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yep.” Bella dove into the truck like the devil himself was chasing her and closed herself in the cab.

Travis got in on the other side and turned to her. “What’s wrong?”

“Dean! He’s awful.”

Travis started the truck and shifted into gear. “Oh yeah. I can’t stand him either.”

“Why is Anna with someone like him? She’s so good, and he’s so…not.”

Travis huffed. “Sometimes, I wonder if anyone would notice if he came up missing.”

“Anna would, but I don’t know what she sees in him.” Bella released a very unladylike growl, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to care what anyone thought of her right now.

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