Page 34 of Slide
“I do.”
“And you have money? Without having to touch the stuff you have socked away where your brother can’t get to it?”
She nodded. “I have a check for the car. All two thousand, five hundred sixty-seven dollars and thirty-nine cents. You will take a check, won’t you? Though if you prefer cash, I can get that for you.”
“I don’t know what to say.” There were no truer words. What could he say? His heart stuttered when she’d said she had money. He didn’t want the class chasm to widen between them again. They were adults this time, so it was possible things didn’t have to change in that way.
But then his brain started to catch up.
Shit. She had money again. She could have status again. She was a business owner. She …
And suddenly the chasm that existed between them during high school opened up in his head. He didn’t want to lose her, not now that he’d had her. He didn’t care about getting paid for the car. He never had. He just … Fuck. The whirlwind of news gutted him.
He stared at her and wondered if she could see the uncertainty in his eyes. Everything ceased to exist but him and her and a small bit of physical distance.
His family never told him he wasn’t good enough for someone like her. They only told him she was a different kind of person and came from a different world that him. They only told him that he was better off not getting involved with her.
He took a few chances and true to her status, she shunned him. But that didn’t stop his infatuation with her.
The news she gave him now? None of that mattered to him. He still wanted her. Money or no money. Arranging flowers or designing people’s living rooms. He didn’t care. He at least wanted a chance. He—
“Travis?”
He blinked and shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Yeah, babe. Sorry.”
“Are you okay?”
For a second, she looked as uncertain as he felt and for some reason, that made him feel a whole hell of a lot better. “I’m good. Happy for you. I know it had to be unexpected, yeah? What Mrs. Cleary told you?”
She stood stiff and he hated it. She was right in front of him and her body language seemed to take her a million miles away.
“You could say that.”
“I guess that’s why you seemed kinda spaced out the other day. When you walked straight past the shop and on toward home.”
“I didn’t know what to think, you know? It was … Well, it was as you said, unexpected. I wanted to tell you, but didn’t know how and thought it would …”
She let her words hang in the air. Thought it would what? Change things? She’d said she wanted to keep seeing him, keep fucking. But did she? Really? He wanted to ask but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Then again, if he didn’t ask, how would he ever get to touch her again? How would he let her know that if the money didn’t matter to her, that it didn’t matter to him either? “Bella?”
“Can you answer a question for me?”
“Sure”
“Would you like to date me, Travis?”
“Date?” God, she floored him. Over and over and over again. Soon he was going to have to scrape himself off the hot asphalt of the parking space. Bella rolled her eyes and gave him an irritated look. He didn’t even try to hide the smile that spread across his face.
“Yeah, you know, dinner and a movie? Picnics at the lake, walks through town? People seeing us in public, holding hands, P.D.A. Any of that ring a bell?”
He’d collected himself and was once again on firm footing. “I’m surprised at you. A few days ago, you were afraid of what people would say, seeing us together. You were afraid how that would affect me and my business. Are you saying you don’t care about that anymore?”
“No, but you said you could handle it and I figure I should take you at your word.”
Travis nodded and curled his fingers into his palm, the need to reach for her almost too much to stand. “I did say that, so yeah, you should trust me to deal with it.”
“Right,” she agreed.
“But what about the reputation you’ve been trying to establish for yourself? I understand why you’ve been trying so hard for, what was it, respectability? Being with me is definitely not going to earn you that. I have a good business, but I have a raisin’-hell reputation too. Of course, most around here don’t realize I haven’t been that guy in years, but I’m afraid with you, he might resurface.” Especially with the jam and honey and belt he had in the front seat of her car.
