Page 83 of Love and Memories

Gage lifted his hands. “I don’t.”

“Last chance. What do you think I should do?” Travis asked.

Beau looked down at the four-way wrench in his greasy hands. “I hope it works out for you. Just don’t get your hopes up.”

That was the problem. Every time Travis thought of Bella, his hopes went haywire. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

A door banged closed down the hallway, and Olivia walked into the garage bay. “I gotta run.”

Gage wiped his hands on a grease rag and shoved it in his back pocket. “I’ll be back. Gotta say bye to Hadley.”

Beau slid the last tire into place. “I need to get back to bay two.”

“Go on. I’ll finish this up and head out,” Travis said as he squatted with the impact wrench beside the last tire.

“Listen, man. I do wish you and Bella the best,” Beau said.

“Thanks.”

“No need to call me and tell me how it goes. I’ll hear it through the grapevine.”

Travis chuckled and tightened the first lug nut. “Noted.”

Beau left without another word, and Travis knew what to do. Talking about it with his friends wasn’t the answer. He needed to talk to Bella and let her know he’d stand beside her through anything, even if she didn’t feel the same way about him as he did for her.

32

ISABELLA

Bella picked up a towel from the laundry basket and folded it. Dean’s raised voice boomed down the hallway again, and Bella’s teeth grated against each other.

“I don’t understand why we have to have this discussion again. I mean, why do you care to know where I am all the time?”

Anna’s response was almost immediate. “Because I love you! You’re halfway around the world on any given day, and sometimes you don’t call me at all!”

“I don’t have anything to say! Geez, you’re so clingy!”

“How can I be clingy when we hardly see each other or even speak?”

It was the same fight she’d heard before. Dean had been gone for days with very few phone calls. From what Bella could gather, the only talking they did was arguing.

The rumble of Travis’s diesel engine grew louder, and Bella hurried to finish folding the last of the clothes, stacking them in piles on her bed.

She made it to the door right as Travis knocked, and she threw it open.

She’d been waiting all day to see his smile, and he did not disappoint. His gaze fixed on her, and both sides of his mouth lifted, making his eyes almost sparkle.

Dean shouted from the other side of the small cottage, and all traces of the smile faded from Travis’s face. “What’s going on?”

Bella hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “Fighting again.”

The intensity of his stare as he looked over Bella’s shoulder would have made Dean shake in his boots if he were around to see it. “Does she need help?”

“I don’t know. It just sounds like a lot of yelling.” She stepped out of the doorway. “Want to come in?”

Travis kept his gaze focused down the hallway as he followed her. Once he was inside, he slammed the door closed behind him.

The sound vibrated up Bella’s feet and into her legs, and the voices stopped. They both stood still until Anna appeared from the hallway. Red splotches covered her cheeks and neck, and her eyes held a sadness Bella hadn’t seen before.

---