Page 16 of Love and Memories

Now, there wasn’t any noise to keep his thoughts at bay. He’d worked like a machine all day, but even the work hadn’t kept his mind off Bella.

He pushed the door open and trudged toward the house.Nope. Not gonna think about her.

A lot of good the deflecting was doing. He spent more time telling himself he wasn’t going to think about her than he did actually not thinking about her.

He couldn’t get past the fact that she was alone. If she had someone with her–someone who cared about her–he could forget about her.

Maybe he wouldn’tcompletelyforget, but at least he wouldn’t be worrying about her all the time.

He trudged inside and pulled his boots off at the door. Gage stood in the kitchen eating a sandwich. His wet hair meant Travis would have to wait to get his own shower if he wanted hot water.

“Hey, man,” Gage said with a lift of his sandwich. “You look rough.”

Travis scoffed. “Don’t sugar coat it.”

“Just saying. Everything okay?”

Travis flopped down onto the couch on his back and rested his forearm over his eyes. “Long week.”

“It’s Tuesday,” Gage pointed out.

“Nobody asked you.”

The wooden floor creaked beneath Gage’s feet as he moved closer to Travis. “Come on. Spill it.”

Travis couldn’t tell Gage about Bella without sounding like a creeper. Maybe he was a creeper. He’d formed an irrational connection with a stranger.

Maybehewas lonely.

No. He had friends–plenty of them.

But Gage and Hadley were engaged, and he’d be moving out soon. That left Travis on his own again. It had never bothered him before. In fact, he used to seek solitude.

Now, it held absolutely zero appeal.

“Since when are you afraid to say what’s on your mind?” Gage asked.

“Since it doesn’t make sense,” Travis said. He sat up and exhaled a deep breath, not daring to look at his friend. “There’s this woman.”

“Oh, I guess I should have expected that. If she’s messing with your head, dump her.”

Travis rested his head in his hands. “It’s not that simple.”

It reallywasthat simple. He wasn’t even dating this woman. He could walk away and never look back.

“She’s injured. I responded to a call last week. She was hit by a car.”

“Ouch. Like, she was walking on the road?”

“Yep. She was unconscious for a while, and when she woke up, she didn’t remember a lot.”

“About what happened?” Gage asked.

“About anything. She has no ID and no phone. She doesn’t know why she was here or anyone she knows except her parents.”

“That’s wild. What are her parents saying about all this?”

“She doesn’t want to contact them. She doesn’t like her dad. They’re not even from here.”

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