Page 5 of Love and Memories

Calls involving kids and death were usually the worst, but their earlier call affected him just as much.

Why couldn’t he shake it off? His inability to compartmentalize was stirring a fire in his chest. He’d been trained. He’d passed all the tests. He’d been through plenty of hours of counseling provided by the department.

Matt patted the barstool beside him. “We all have our days, man.”

Travis took the seat and rested his elbows on the counter. “I’m just glad the bad days only last twenty-four hours. I need a do-over.”

Lucas turned around, waving a spatula in the air. “Did y’all hear about Anna and Dean?”

“Remind me again who Anna and Dean are,” Matt said.

“You know Anna Harris. Her parents are attorneys at Harris and Associates,” Travis said.

Matt snapped his fingers in recognition. “Oh yeah. They live in the same neighborhood as Ridge and Cheyenne.”

Lucas pointed his spatula at Matt. “Yes, that one. Anyway, they got engaged over the weekend. I heard he took her to a fancy restaurant in Cody and proposed.”

“I bet Anna enjoyed that,” Travis said. “She’s been waiting for that guy to do something good for her, but I really thought he didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.”

Travis ran in circles with Anna often, and they had plenty of mutual friends. She spent most of her time talking about finding true love and living happily ever after.

Too bad the guy she chose was kind of a jerk. Dean didn’t exactly fit the knight in shining armor label women tended to swoon over. He wasn’t a bad boy either–just bad.

Lucas shrugged and turned back to the bacon. “Someone gave him a clue. She said yes.”

“Good for her,” Matt said. “Now if only someone would take on the role of mentor and hold that man’s hand through his relationship, he might turn out to be a good husband.”

Travis chuckled. “You’re right about that. Care to step up to the plate?”

Matt shook his head. “No, but I do hope he matures a little. From what I’ve heard, Anna has high expectations, and Dean seems kinda–”

“Clueless?” Lucas finished.

Travis liked Anna well enough as a friend, and if she’d found a man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, then more power to her.

Why did it sting that someone like Dean could find a woman who wanted to marry him but Travis couldn’t? What did that say about him?

He’d been there once and got the rug pulled out from under him. He wasn’t really ready to jump back in and get burned again, but he should be over it by now. Five years was a long time. Too long.

The alarm sounded, and the call from dispatch came over the speakers.

“No!” Lucas wailed.

Travis got to his feet and grabbed a handful of bacon from the plate beside the stove. Shifting his focus, he headed toward the garage with Matt on his heels. He needed a distraction. Hopefully, a fire call would do the trick.

3

TRAVIS

Travis dialed his focus in on Gage as sweat dripped down his face. There were few things as therapeutic as sparring first thing in the morning, and a double session was just what Travis needed to break out of his funk.

Gage jabbed, and Travis dodged just in time and snapped back like a rubber band, using all of his momentum to land a right hook square against Gage’s cheek.

“Ouch,” Travis taunted as Gage shook his head to get his bearings. “You’re a little sloppy today.”

Gage stretched his neck to both sides before assuming a ready stance.

“Do I need to go easy on you?” Travis asked.

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