Forever Again

by Shannon Stacey

  Jill’s eyes grew wide and Gena resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. “Tell me he’s not coming over here. He’s not, is he?”

  “He sure is.”

  She squeezed the glass in her hand, trying to remain calm. She couldn’t imagine what he wanted with her, but at least he would behave himself in public. He had lived in the town long enough to know gossip was the number one pastime.

  She waited until she could sense his presence behind her before she turned. “Hello, Travis.”

  “Hi. I…umm…I just wanted you to know Mia was playing that game of hers when I left. When I told her I was going out she asked if she could stay, and I didn’t see why not.”

  Gena nodded, but she sensed they were both aware she already knew that. Mia had fallen in love with her father’s laptop, which was much faster than their ancient machine, and spent every free moment she could playing with it. So why come over here to tell her?

  “I thought so,” she said. “And I knew she was going over—that’s why I got Donna to watch the desk tonight. I didn’t know you were coming here, though.”

  “I ran into Paul earlier and he invited me.”

  The silence grew awkward then and Gena was grateful when Jill pulled her sister forward. “Travis, this is my sister, Liz. She graduated a year before you guys did.”

  “Liz—” he shook her hand “—how are you?”

  “Good. My husband’s watching the kids and I’m here. What could be better?”

  “School starts next week,” Gena offered.

  Liz lifted her glass. “Thank goodness.”

  They all laughed, but Gena was keenly aware of Travis standing beside her. What was he doing…and why? Them being in the same place at the same time was bound to happen, even without Mia’s help, but there was no reason for him to seek her out of the crowd.

  Travis Ryan was the master of mixed messages, she decided. On the one hand he sought her out, touched her, kissed her…wanted her.

  But on the other hand, he was constantly pushing her away. He reminded her—and himself, no doubt—that he was engaged to another woman every chance he got. He had made it clear that his interest in her would never come to anything.

  She just wasn’t sure if he meant it. Sometimes the words coming out of his mouth didn’t coincide with the heat—and the need—in his eyes. Some of his more devastating words echoed in her mind.

  I didn’t want you… I’ll never forgive you… A mistake I won’t make again… I want to sleep with you, Gena, but I’m not going to…

  Yet here he was. Not only in the gallery, but at her elbow, laughing with her friends. Of all the people in the crowd, why did he choose her to mingle with?

  To say hello, dummy, she scolded herself. They were acquaintances at the least, weren’t they? He stopped to say hi and he would no doubt move off into the crowd again as soon as Liz stopped jabbering about shopping for school clothes.

  Over Jill’s shoulder she could see another man approaching their small group and she groaned inwardly. Joe Kirkwood had been working himself up to ask her out for about three years. She prayed this wouldn’t be the occasion at which he found the courage.

  He was nice enough guy and he really liked Mia, but she had never thought they had the chemistry for a romantic relationship. Now that Travis had reappeared, making her heart pound and her toes curl, she was sure of it.

  “Hi Gena,” he said and he nodded to Jill and Liz. She watched him look Travis over, and his smile soured just a little.

  “Joe, this is Travis Ryan. Maybe you remember him from school?”

  He nodded and extended his hand. “Good to see you again, Travis.”

  Travis shook the man’s hand, subtly increasing the pressure on his knuckles until Joe winced. Maybe it was ridiculous to feel jealousy over a woman he wasn’t willing to claim as his own, but the way Kirkwood had looked at Gena turned his stomach.

  Unwelcome images of her in this man’s arms clouded his mind, but he had the foresight to let go of Joe’s hand before he did serious damage to it. “Nice to see you, too.”

  He didn’t need to see Gena’s furrowed brow or the rolling of her eyes to know there hadn’t been a drop of sincerity in his voice. He didn’t care. There was no way he was going to let this guy into Gena’s life. Or if he was already in it—he was on his way out.

  The level of his anger at Joe Kirkwood made Travis a little uneasy. He spent too much time telling himself what he felt for Gena wasn’t serious to care if she was interested in this guy. He just couldn’t seem to tamp down the dark jealousy that clouded his mind.

  I’m Mia’s father, he told himself. Of course he had a right to approve or disapprove of any man who could end up as her stepfather. And he definitely didn’t approve of Joe Kirkwood. He didn’t like the hunger in the man’s eyes when he looked at Gena.

  “You should have told me you were coming,” Joe said to her. “I would have given you a ride.”

  “I walked actually, but maybe next time.”

  The nagging jealousy exploded in Travis’s brain and without thinking he laid a possessive hand on the small of Gena’s back.

  Gena froze, hardly able to believe the heat suddenly radiating from her back was Travis’s hand. How dare he?

  She noted the stunned expressions on the faces of her friends, then the resentment and disappointment that darkened Joe’s. She tried to make a subtle movement away from Travis, but he moved with her. Short of making a scene, there was nothing she could do about it.

  Joe made a show of looking over her shoulder. “I…uh…I see somebody over there I need to talk to. I’ll see you later.”

  He moved off into the crowd and Gena tilted her face up to glare at Travis. What kind of game was he playing now? He didn’t want her, but nobody else could have her?

  His hand fell away from her waist, and Gena felt relief and a sense of loss in equal measure. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  She watched him glance at Jill and Liz, then shrug. Her hands trembled from the riot of emotions she was feeling—anger, desire, embarrassment, hurt— and she gripped the glass she held very tightly. She wanted to fling the contents in Travis’s face, but she managed to rein in her temper.

  She looked up at him again. His jaw was clenched and she got the sense he was as upset about what had just happened as she was.

  Good, she fumed. And she hoped he realized the entire town would spend days speculating about their relationship. Even worse than that would be her own speculation. A master of mixed messages, she thought again.

  Well, she wasn’t going to be his emotional punching bag anymore. If he didn’t want her—totally and without reservation—then he could take a hike.

  Without saying a word, she turned and walked away. She heard him call her name once, but she didn’t stop. If he came after her, she had no idea what she would do, so she didn’t even look over her shoulder.

  It seemed to take forever to make her way through the crowd to the bathroom, but she breathed a deep sigh of relief when she locked herself into the stall.

  She spent a few minutes sitting on the closed lid, trying to bolster her resolve. She wasn’t sure how much good it would do. She just didn’t seem to be able to master the one skill that might protect her heart—pretended indifference. If she could manage that, she could keep Travis at bay.

  If she could convince him she didn’t want him, she would be one step closer to convincing herself. If it was even possible. Keeping her distance was probably a good place to start, but she couldn’t hide in the bathroom forever.

  All she could do was turn a cold shoulder to him. Travis didn’t need to see the pain he inflicted—didn’t need to see she still craved his touch in spite of it. She was done wearing her heart on her sleeve.

  Before leaving the sanctuary of the restroom she stopped in front of the mirror and looked herself in the eye. “Indifference,” she whispered.

  It didn’t matter. When she stepped out into the crowd, she couldn�
��t stop herself from looking for him. Travis was already gone.

  * * * * *

  The next evening Travis entered his hotel room to find the phone ringing. He dropped his keys on the table and snatched up the receiver. “Hello?”

  “Hello, Travis.”

  Kristen. The disappointment he felt upon not hearing Gena’s voice on the other end of the line filled him with guilt.

  He had left before she returned from the restroom to avoid having to explain why he had so stupidly put his hand on her back. It was an overtly possessive gesture, practically screaming to everybody that she belonged to him.

  “Travis?”

  He wrenched his thoughts back to his fiancée. “Kristen, honey, it’s so good to hear your voice.”

  “You’d hear it more often if you returned my calls.”

  He hesitated, trying to recall if the hotel manager had left any message slips lying around. “When did you call?”

  “Last night. I called twice and Mia answered both times.”

  Damn that girl. “She didn’t tell me you called, honey. If she had I would have called you back as soon as I got in.”

  There was silence on the other end and Travis knew something was wrong. Something more than not having her phone calls returned. “Kristen?”

  “Where were you?” she asked, and he wasn’t sure, but it sounded like she might be crying.

  “There’s an art gallery downtown that features local artists and craftsmen. A guy I went to school with was holding an exhibit. I ran into him and he invited me, so I went down for a while.”

  “With Gena.”

  Travis felt the hair on the back of his arms tingle. What had Mia told her? “Gena was there, yes. She lets artists display their work at the Inn sometimes, and she always goes to the openings.”

  “Mia told me ‘Dad’s at the gallery with Mom’.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed. They should have nipped Mia’s plans in the bud a long time ago. “We were there at the same time, but not together. She was with a group of friends. We said hello, and that was all. I wasn’t there very long, but I stopped and grabbed some takeout on the way home. I only saw her for a few minutes.”

  Just long enough to make an ass of myself, he thought, but chose not to say aloud. He pictured the look Gena had given him before she walked away, and the ache in his chest that had become his constant companion worsened. How could I do something so stupid?

  Kristen was silent, so he tried to think of something else to say. “Mia was here because there’s some game she likes to play on my laptop because her computer is too slow. There’s nothing else to it, Kristen.”

  “Mia says you spend a lot of time together.” Her voice was icy now, any trace of tears gone.

  He swore, and then explained as best he could what Mia had been up to. He couldn’t admit that he never really tried to stop her. He didn’t want it to stop. Seeing Gena was always on his mind, even if it was just for a few minutes.

  “Are you in love with Gena?” she asked when he was finished talking.

  Travis hesitated—he wasn’t sure he knew anymore—then said simply, “No.”

  He sensed immediately he had waited too long. He expected her to lash out at him or to slam down the phone, but she did nothing for a long few seconds. She didn’t sound like she was crying—she just waited.

  “I don’t know what I feel…about anything,” he said finally. “I promise you we were not at the gallery together. The only time we see each other is when Mia pulls her little stunts.”

  “Did you tell them we aren’t getting married?” she asked after a long silence.

  He tried to think, tried to understand why it mattered. “Umm…I told them we aren’t getting married this fall. I told Gena we might get married in Mexico, but I’m not sure if I told Mia.”

  As soon as the words left his mouth he realized what he’d admitted. “We were at the emergency room, Kristen. I was just trying to make small talk. I don’t spend time alone with Gena except during Mia’s damned trips to the bathroom.”

  “She made it pretty clear you and her mother are…an item. She was surprised I called because she thought we were over.”

  Travis felt a surge of anger at his daughter. No matter what childish games she might play with her parents, she had no right to deliberately hurt Kristen.

  “She’s fifteen and she thinks she wants us to be together. She’ll get over it in time, sweetheart.”

  “I don’t have time in my life for these kinds of games, Travis. I—”

  For a second he thought she would end it. She would tell him their relationship was over and he was free to do whatever he wanted.

  He wasn’t sure he would be sorry. Even though he couldn’t take the chance of becoming romantically involved with Gena—for Mia’s sake—he was being disloyal to Kristen. It was only in his mind, but he didn’t like the feeling.

  “I can wait a little bit longer, Travis, because I love you and I know you’re going through a big emotional upheaval. But you need to figure it out soon.”

  He heard the click as she hung up the phone and he stared at the receiver while his anger built. It was time to have that little talk with Mia.

  Chapter Nine

  Gena knew Travis was angry the second she opened the door. His jaw was tight and there wasn’t even a hint of warmth in his eyes. What did I do now? she thought.

  “Where’s Mia?”

  His clipped words set off her inner alarm bells. “She’s watching TV. Why, what’s the—”

  He pushed by her and went through the kitchen and into their living room, Gena following on his heels. “Travis, what are you doing?”

  She saw Mia look up, and noted the way her chin came up and how she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. It was a look she’d seen many times. Her daughter had done something very wrong and knew she had been caught.

  “Why did you lie to Kristen?” he demanded harshly, and Gena winced at his tone.

  “I didn’t lie. You were at the gallery with Mom.”

  Gena moved around Travis so she could see his face. “What’s going on?”

  He looked down at her, then back at Mia. “Our daughter told my fiancée that we were at the gallery together, then mentioned her surprise that she and I were still planning on getting married.”

  He pointed his finger at the girl. “And even if you didn’t technically lie you went out of your way to make it look as if there’s something going on between your mother and I.”

  Mia smirked. “There is, isn’t there?”

  Gena froze, knowing she should step in, but unable to think of a single thing to say. She hoped Travis would. Mia was only fifteen—they couldn’t tell her the truth, whatever that was. Looking her in the face and outright lying didn’t seem the right thing to do either.

  “There is nothing going on between us,” Travis said in a low voice. “There’s not going to be either, despite the little games you’ve been playing.”

  Well, that answers that, Gena thought, feeling a pang of hurt and regret. He’d sent the message loud and clear, and she got it.

  “And furthermore,” he continued, “My relationships with anybody but you are none of your business. Kristen has been nothing but nice to you, and what you did was just plain mean.”

  Mia tightened her lips, but she couldn’t hide the quivering. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. She must have misunderstood me.”

  “There’s no misunderstanding,” Travis replied. “You have been trying to get your mother and I together from the beginning. I guess you thought that would be easier with Kristen out of the picture.”

  Mia didn’t need to respond to the accusation. Although she kept her face lowered, Gena could see the guilty flush on her cheeks. And even though it was her own fault, Gena felt a spark of pity. So far Travis had been the laid-back, fun loving parent, and this couldn’t be easy for either of them.

  “Now, I’m going to say this once and for all—�
� he pointed at Mia “—it is not going to happen.”

  Embarrassment made Gena’s face feel hot and she clenched her hands into fists. Being rejected was bad enough—having it happen in front of her daughter was downright humiliating.

  Travis folded his arms across his chest. “And I think you should be grounded, young lady—including piano.”

  “But my recital—”

  “You heard me.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence, then Gena moved to stand between Travis and Mia. “Now, hold on just a minute. I think that’s a little harsh.”

  “Is she my daughter?” He demanded in a shout that Gena hoped any guests milling around hadn’t heard.

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then I will punish her as I see fit.”

  Fury poured like lava through her veins, fueled by her lingering humiliation. “Who the hell do you think you are? Mia lives in my house, she obeys my rules, and I will punish her.”

  “I am her parent too, and it’s my life she’s messing with,” he yelled back. “And she might have been living under my roof if you hadn’t kept her from me.”

  “That has nothing to do with this.”

  “Mom, it’s okay,” Mia said, clearly hoping to placate her father.

  “No. It is not okay.” She pointed her finger at Travis. “You can’t just waltz in here and start giving orders. And I pay for her piano lessons. I pay a lot for them, in fact, and she will play.”

  “I have the right to discipline my daughter,” Travis insisted in a cold voice. “Unless…maybe the reason you don’t want her punished is because you put her up to it—or at least encouraged it.”

  Gena felt the cold wash over her, and she sucked in her breath. “What did you just say?”

  “You heard me.”

  Gena exhaled slowly, then turned to her daughter. “Mia, I want you to go upstairs for a few minutes.”

  “Mom, I—”

  “Just go!”

  Gena waited until she heard Mia’s door slam closed, followed by the blast of her stereo, before she faced Travis again.