Page 33 of Travis

“Yeah? And what happened?” I ask, sitting on the step, untangling one end of what he’s working on.

“Nothing serious, just...hunches, I guess. That were right.”

“So, what you’re saying, is that maybe it isn’t to do with Greg, but maybe something bad is going to happen to Becky?”

“Maybe. Or to someone else. Maybe to you.”

“Thanks, man.” I say, this time sarcastically.

“Sorry.” he chuckles. “I know that doesn’t help much. But you can rest assured that Greg’s clean. Even though Laura’s got her doubts about him, you know that the bar is set high for her.”

“Yeah. I was surprised when she hired me.”

“Well, why wouldn’t she? You’re a good guy, a student and all, looking after a wife.”

I give him a look, as my stomach churns, thinking how Becky’s not my wife anymore. But then, I think to myself, fuck it, she’ll always be my wife. No matter what happens.

“You ever think you’d turn your back on Lisa if she ever showed you the door?”

“Hard to say, man. She tried to show me the door once before, when we first started out, but that was because she was scared.”

“What was she scared of?”

“Harlan, the guy she was engaged to before we met, he was a real scum of the earth, see, and she knew that she loved me even more, so she was afraid that I was going to turn out to be a real asshole, too. She pushed me away.”

“And did you go away, man?”

“Not really. My gut was telling me that something was up. And that’s my point.”

“That I should stick around?”

“Well, I don’t know about that, Travis. I’m not going to tell you how to live your life, but what I am saying is that y’all shouldn’t take gut instincts at face value. Sometimes the lord works in strange ways, as they say. Not everything is what it seems.”

We loosen another strand of lights and set it aside. “How many of these goddamn things is Laura hanging?”

“About a billion. She’s got them in boxes all over the damn place. I just found these in the barn behind the feed bags. Boxes and boxes of them. She told me she used to hang them all over when Quentin was alive. He was a sucker for Christmas shit, and then when he died, she didn’t want to bring them out anymore.”

“So now the buggers have been resurrected.”

“She’s real excited about this wedding. It’s the first time she’s hosted one that wasn’t family.”

“Y’all think I could borrow a few? Think she’d mind?”

“I suppose not. Why?”

“I think the sheriff’s office could use a few.”

Kurt lifts a brow but I don’t respond.

Chapter 10

Becky

ThesecondTravisleavesthe room, Sara looks at me, face blank, eyes set, and says flatly. “Tell me everything.”

My hands go in my hair as I rest my head on my lap. “Oh….God….it’s such a mess, Sara.”

“What…what’s a mess? Tell me.” She’s half dying for dirt, the other half wanting desperately to help me, like the fantastic sister she is. “Is Greg a dirtbag, just like Travis thought?”

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