“Really? Thanks, babe.”
I handed over my phone. “The passcode is zero-eight-one-five.”
“You trust me with your passcode?”
I shrugged. “Yeah.” I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. “I’m not giving you the password to my bank account though. Just don’t forget to sign out of it. I don’t want your five million notifications crowding up my phone,” I said with a smile.
“Ha. I don’t get that many. But I’ll make sure to do that.”
Travis laughed and opened my Instagram app, and he proceeded to share the entire night with his fans while I wondered if I’d ever get my phone back.
On Saturday, we took Travis’s phone into the shop to get the screen fixed, and they gave him a loaner phone to use while he waited to get his back. But he wasn’t supposed to download any apps, so he used mine all weekend.
If he hadn’t already called me his girlfriend, I would say that we were officially a couple because non-couples didn’t share phones. I complained that he had my cell more than I did, but I secretly loved it. I trusted him with my phone, and he trusted me with his Instagram account.
If I wanted to, I could have taken a picture of him on Sunday morning, sleeping with his mouth open, and posted it for all his fans. To be clear, I didn’t. But I could have. I was really tempted, so I ended up posting it to my account instead with the caption, This guy.
Thankfully, Travis laughed.
I spent all week deep in the writing zone because I had another deadline coming up, and I had gotten behind for various reasons, but one of them was going to Denver. That’d really set me back, and I knew I wouldn’t get much done the coming weekend since I would be watching my nieces and nephew.
I spent Monday night with my dad, Tuesday with Harper, and Wednesday and Thursday with Travis. Thankfully, he’d gotten his phone back on Wednesday, so he was ready for his trip, and we wouldn’t be out of touch.
On Friday morning, I drove him to the airport.
“I’m going to miss you like crazy,” he said when I pulled up to his airline check-in.
“Me, too. Quick, kiss me before I get in trouble for sitting here too long.”
Travis put a hand behind my neck and pulled me close. He took my mouth in a deep, soul-searching kiss. It was one that should lead to us taking our clothes off, not us saying good-bye.
“Come back quick,” I told him when he released me.
“I will. Good luck this weekend.”
“Thanks. I’m sure they’ll be like this all weekend.” I pretended to look down at an electronic device and let my mouth hang open.
He laughed.
“Please let me know when you’ve landed, okay?”
“Will do.” He kissed me one more time. “See ya later, sexy.”
“See ya.”
Travis got out of my car and grabbed his bag from my trunk. Then, he was gone.
I was going to miss him.
After leaving the airport, I went home and did some more writing before I packed up my stuff and went to Ryan and Grace’s for the weekend. It was easier for me to go there than for the three kids to come to me. Plus, I lived close. I could always run home if I needed something.
I picked up Ryan and Grace, and for the second time that day, I went to the airport. I should have tried to have Travis coordinate his takeoff with my brother and sister-in-law’s. Thankfully, Ryan and Grace weren’t coming back until next Friday, and Travis was coming back on Sunday.
When I got back to my brother’s, the kids were all where I’d expected to find them. On the couch or in their rooms, doing stuff on their phones.
“Hey, guys, your favorite aunt is here. Let’s hang out.”
Gretchen looked up from the couch. “We are hanging out.”
“No. You’re on your phone while I stare at you.”
Gretchen shrugged. “Then, why don’t you get on your phone, too?”
I threw my hands up. “Okay, what do you want for dinner? Pizza?”
She looked up from her phone at me. “Yes.”
“Ben, Lexie,” I yelled. “Do you want pizza for dinner?”
“Yes,” Ben yelled back.
A minute later, Lexie walked out of her room. “I’m going out with Brendan tonight.”
“Really? You were supposed to keep me company tonight.”
Lexie laughed. “You’ll be fine. Put your feet up. Watch a movie.”
“I suppose I can try.”
My brother did have a big television with every channel imaginable. I only had Netflix and Hulu at my house.
Lexie left, and I ordered pizza. While we were waiting, I got a text from Travis.
Travis: Made it here safely.
Me: I’m glad.
Travis: I’m catching an Uber now. I’ll call you later.
Me: Okay. Miss you.
Travis must have already put his phone away because he didn’t answer.
A couple of hours later, I was deep into a Law & Order: SVU marathon when my phone rang. I turned down the TV and answered the video-chat request Travis had sent me.
Once our sound and video connected, I was surprised to see that he wasn’t at his hotel room. For some reason, that was where I’d expected him to be. Instead, he was at a loud and crowded restaurant or bar. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was.
“Hey, sexy,” he said as he walked outside. The sound of the establishment dimmed as the door closed behind him.
“Hey. Sounds like you’re having fun.”
“Yeah.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Just hanging out with the photographer and some friends.”
“I’m a little jealous. Here’s my entertainment for the night.” I turned my phone, so he could see my niece and nephew buried in their phones and the TV. I spun it back to me. “Pretty boring here.”
“I’d rather be there.”
The door opened behind him, and at least two people shouted his name. Two women appeared, one on either side of him.
“Travis, what are you doing? We’re supposed to go,” the blonde on the left said.
“I’m talking to my girlfriend,” Travis told them, and I could have reached through the phone and kissed him.
“Hi, girlfriend,” the brunette on the right said and waved at the phone.
“Hey,” I said with a laugh. I thought they were both drunk.
“I’m Nina, and this is Joy,” the blonde said.
“I’m Sydney.”
Joy threw her arm around Travis. “You are one lucky woman.” She pinched his cheek. “This guy is a gem.”
“Don’t I know it?”
Travis shook them off. “Okay, ladies, let me say good-bye.”
“Bye,” they said into the phone.
“Joy,” a guy behind Travis said. I saw him briefly come into view and throw Joy over his shoulder.
She giggled. “I’m just saying hi to Travis’s girlfriend.”
The guy leaned right into the phone. “Hi, girlfriend. Bye, girlfriend.”
I laughed as they all walked away.
“That was George.”
“They all seem like fun.”
“They are.” He looked behind him. “Listen, I’d better go, or they’re going to leave me.” He turned back to me. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay. I’ll be here.”
“Bye, sexy.”
“Bye, Travis.”
I hung up with him, feeling down that I couldn’t be there with him. They’d looked like they were having a great time.
I swiped my finger down to look at my notifications. Maybe some happy social media would make me feel better. But, when I saw the number of notifications I had, I cringed.
I had fallen behind in my social media this week. I’d barely been in my reader group, and that was about it. I had notifications from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and a thousand and one e-mails.
I hit clear on my phone. It was too late for me to
start going through them now. It would be a rabbit hole I would fall into, and I wouldn’t come up for air for hours. Besides, I really should do most of them on my computer. It sometimes got to be too much to check everything on my phone.
I looked over at my niece and nephew. I had a feeling I would have plenty of free time tomorrow to go through my stuff.
Besides, I wanted to be ready for when Travis called later. Maybe I could convince him to have a little phone sex.
I smiled at my idea and turned the volume back up on the TV.
The next morning, I took Ben and Gretchen to soccer practice.
I took a seat off to the side to wait. My brother had told me that I could drop the kids off and come back later, but since I was the babysitter, I was worried something would happen on my watch, so I was sticking around.
I pulled up my phone because I hadn’t been smart enough to think to bring a book. But also because I wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed any messages or calls from Travis.
I hadn’t heard from him again last night, and I hoped he was okay. I’d sent him one text when I got up to tell him good morning, but I still hadn’t gotten a response, so I assumed he was still sleeping.
I went through my e-mails and notifications, and I addressed the things I could on my phone. We didn’t have any plans that afternoon, so I could do some of the other things on my computer when I got home.
After clearing off some of my stuff, I noticed I had a message on Instagram, and I got excited. Most of my readers either responded to my newsletters or commented on my posts. If I got messages, it always seemed to be on Facebook. Probably because that was where I had the most presence. In my whole career, I thought I’d had about five messages on Twitter and maybe one on Instagram.
It was a lot of work to keep up with everything. I knew I’d have to hire a personal assistant someday, but getting messages on different platforms meant my reach and followers were growing. I absolutely loved knowing that people connected with my stories.
I opened the message and saw a picture of a woman in the little profile picture. I wasn’t surprised. I had yet to hear from a male reader.
nin_love_mod: I had a great time last night.
I frowned. Last night? I looked at the top of the message. It had been sent only about a half hour ago. I was so confused. I continued reading.
I bet you didn’t know you were going to have so much fun in NC.
I sucked in a breath and turned my phone away as a nasty feeling clenched my gut.
It wasn’t my message. It was Travis’s. He’d forgotten to sign out of my phone, and I’d forgotten to remind him.
And, now, I didn’t know what the hell to do.
The message could be innocent, but it sure didn’t sound that way.
Did he cheat on me?
But, if he hadn’t cheated on me and I’d read his message, that would make me no better than Christy. I didn’t want to break his trust.
My heart was racing at this point. I felt like I was going to puke.
I got up from my seat and walked away from the crowd for more privacy, and I quickly dialed Harper.
“Hello?”
“I need your advice.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Remember how Travis broke his phone, and I complained that he was using mine?”
“Yeah?”
“He never signed out of his Instagram account on my phone, and he got a message this morning.”
“Okay …”
“It’s from a woman, I’m pretty sure, and she said she had a great time last night.”
Harper gasped. “It could be innocent. People become friends with the opposite sex all the time.”
“I know.”
“Is that all it said?”
“No, but I’m afraid to look. I don’t want to spy on him.” I had explained to Harper a little of Travis’s past, so she knew exactly what my problem was. “But, if I don’t look …”
“He might be hiding something from you?”
“Yes. Especially since he never called or messaged last night. What if he was”—I swallowed—“with her?”
“Oh shit, babe, I don’t know what to tell you.” Harper’s voice was very sympathetic, but it didn’t help me make a decision.
“What would you do if it were Ian?”
“I’d read the fucker in a heartbeat.”
“So, you’re saying that I should read it?”
“Sydney, I can’t make that choice for you, but I think you know what you want to do.”
“I want to know what it says. I could give myself anxiety, wondering, and it might be nothing. I almost feel like not knowing is worse than if it were something bad.”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do, but it sounds like you’ve made your decision.”
“I’m scared, Harper.”
“Whatever happens, I’m here for you.”
“Thank you.”
“Call me back.”
I hung up the phone, opened up the app again, and started from the top.
nin_love_mod: I had a great time last night. I bet you didn’t know you were going to have so much fun in NC.
BTW, I took a picture and a video for you to remember your night here. (I didn’t want to post it and give your girlfriend the wrong impression.)
Have fun at your photo shoot today. I hope, when you get in the shower this morning, you think of me. I think I left my impression all over you. LOL!
When you’re in NC again, promise to look me up! We’ll have to do it again.
I felt sick. Everything about that message sounded bad. I clicked on the profile, and I saw that it was the blonde, Nina, from last night. She had a lot of professional photos taken of her. Just my luck. She was a model.
I hit the back button and saw that Travis had responded to her. Of course he had. The notification had popped up on his phone, too.
Travis: Ha-ha. Yes, I had quite the surprise this morning. Remind me to never drink that much again. And, yes, it took a while to wash all of your handiwork off of me. Thank you for that.
Travis: Thanks for not posting the picture or the video. I need to talk to Sydney before the whole world finds out what a fool I am.
My heart was breaking for various reasons, but the one at the top of my mind was that Travis had messaged Nina, yet he hadn’t called or texted me.
I took screenshots, and then, without a second thought, I signed out of Travis’s account. Knowing what the message said did not make me feel better, and I didn’t want to see any more of what they had to say to each other.
I sent screenshots of the messages and nin_love_mod’s profile to Harper with a message.
Me: I have no idea what this means, but all I can think of is that they had sex, and she left herself all over him. Barf. I want to throw up. And he wants to talk to me before the whole world knows what a fool he is? Again, my mind thinks he wants to tell me before the whole world knows he cheated on me. I don’t know what to do, and I am freaking out.
Harper: Don’t panic. Take a deep breath. It still might be nothing. But I’m on my way over. I’ll meet you at your brother’s.
My wonderful friend talked me off a ledge on Saturday and helped me keep the rest of the weekend full, so I wouldn’t keep thinking about Travis. He’d texted me about ten minutes after I sent the screenshots to Harper. Thankfully, I was driving home by then, so I didn’t respond with a nice, Fuck you.
And, later that night, when he called to video-chat again, I was at a movie with the kids and Harper, so I had an excuse not to answer. I was afraid that, if I saw his face, I would blurt out what I knew. Harper had convinced me to let him tell me about his weekend first before I made any accusations.
If it were all a big misunderstanding, I would feel like a dumbass if I accused him of something.
I almost asked one of his friends to pick him up from the airport, but then I decided it was best that I did it
. He would know something was wrong if I didn’t come, and we would have the whole drive back to his place to talk about what had happened. And maybe, if I kept my eyes on the road, I wouldn’t be tempted to shake him until he spilled his guts.
I pulled up in front of the airport fifteen minutes after Travis’s flight landed. I didn’t want to park and walk in, and I wanted to give him plenty of time to get off the plane and get to the exit doors.
I saw him standing outside, waiting for me a few doors down, and I drank in the sight of him. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Nothing fancy, but he looked great, and I was struck with how much I’d missed him.
I inched my way forward, and when he saw me, his face lit up. I wanted to cry because he was happy to see me.
He rushed over to my car, put his suitcase in the back, and got in the front. He pulled me straight toward him and kissed me like his life depended on it. Despite my uncertainty, I didn’t stop him. I wanted to remember this kiss in case it was our last.
An airport employee knocked on the passenger window to tell us to get moving, and Travis let me go. “Hey, sexy.”
“Hey.”
“I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” I put the car in drive and pulled away.
“So, how was your weekend?” he asked.
“Good.” Minus the message I’d read. “We had pizza on Friday night and hung out. Soccer practice Saturday morning, Sky Zone Saturday afternoon, and a movie Saturday night. And, this morning, I slept in, and now, I’m here with you.”
Travis grabbed my hand. “I’m glad you had a good weekend.”
“How was yours?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible as my heart raced in my chest.
“Good. After I talked to you on Friday, I got drunk.”
And possibly had sex with someone, I said in my head. Sydney, you promised to give him a chance.
“The photo shoot was good. I’m excited for you to see the pics. Last night, I laid low. I didn’t know if I could take another night of partying.”
Object of My Desire Page 20