What You Don't Know (True Hearts Book 6)

by Jaxson Kidman

  When I got to my feet, I stretched and looked at the stairs.

  Willow was up there. In a bed in a room.

  Her sister didn’t come home last night. I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out later in the morning. But it wasn’t my problem.

  I stood there for a few seconds wondering what to do. The logical thing would be to get out of there. Walk right out the front door and far enough away to be gone for good, and then call Sam for a ride. Part of me didn’t want to do that to Willow though. She had enough going on. Max was going to wake up and probably go looking right for her. Not his mother. Not his grandmother. But for his aunt.

  So, I took my chances and went into the kitchen to make coffee.

  I pressed the power button and listened to the little click sound and had nothing else to do but wait.

  “Who are you?”

  When I turned, I didn’t see anyone at first. That’s because I had to look down. There, I saw Max standing in the entrance to the kitchen, rubbing his eyes, wearing a long t-shirt with a faded cartoon image on it.

  “Max,” I said.

  “Who are you?” he asked again.

  You’d think a kid like that would be terrified to see some strange guy standing in the kitchen.

  Not Max.

  “My name is Travis,” I said. “I’m your Aunt Willow’s friend.”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “No. I slept on the couch.”

  “I’m thirsty.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Uh, what do you usually drink in the morning?”

  “Milk.”

  “Okay. Coming right up.”

  I turned and opened the first cabinet and was lucky enough to see a crap ton of cups, mugs, shot glasses from different cities and states.

  I got a plastic blue cup and went to the fridge for milk. I poured Max a small bit and crouched, holding the cup out.

  He walked toward me slowly, eyeing me and judging me.

  He took the cup and held it with both hands. The top of the cup took up most of his face.

  When he moved the cup, he had a white milk mustache.

  “Good?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Max said.

  “Do you need anything else?”

  “Cartoons.”

  “Sounds good.”

  I let Max take the lead as he went from the kitchen to the living room.

  “Max? Max? Are you downstairs?”

  It was Willow’s voice.

  “Yes,” Max called out.

  “What did I tell you…”

  Willow appeared and looked at me.

  It was like she forgot for a second that I had slept over last night.

  “Oh,” she said. “Travis.”

  She hugged herself as she came down the rest of the stairs, wearing the same clothes from the night before. She hurried to touch her hair and quickly pulled it back and slid a hair tie off her wrist to hold it up.

  “Morning, bunny,” I said.

  She smiled at me but quickly set her attention to Max.

  She hurried to him and kissed him then sat him on the couch and turned on the TV.

  Behind me I heard the sound of the coffeemaker spitting as it finished up the coffee.

  “Did you make coffee?” Willow asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “That a problem?”

  “No,” she said. “Sorry about Max.”

  “For what? He didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I didn’t realize you’d still be here in the morning.”

  “Am I not supposed to be here? I’ll leave if you want.”

  “No.” Willow touched my arm. “It’s not…”

  “Good morning, family,” a voice announced from the stairs.

  Willow’s mother made the turn to step off the stairs and froze when she saw me.

  “Who are you?” she asked, eyes wide. She touched her robe.

  “I’m Travis,” I said. “I’m really sorry for showing up like this. I felt really bad about Willow helping me and I never got the chance to properly thank her.”

  “Mom, this is Travis,” Willow said as though I had been speaking a different language. “You remember him, don’t you?”

  “You were one of those rotten kids, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, I was, ma’am,” I said. I smiled. “But not anymore. There’s coffee freshly made. Can I pour you a cup?”

  “Oh. Okay. Sure. I mean, after all, it is my house.”

  Willow looked mortified. Not me. I had no worry nor shame.

  I poured coffee for all of us and put the mugs on the table.

  “Here, Mom, sit down,” Willow said. “How’d you sleep?”

  “What is this?” her mother asked. “Are you two here to tell me Willow’s pregnant?”

  “What? No!” Willow screeched. “Mom!”

  I laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” her mother snapped at me.

  I showed my hand. “Sorry. I think your daughter is beautiful and everything, but having a kid? That’s not in the cards right now.”

  “Then what the hell are you doing in my kitchen?”

  “Mom,” Willow said.

  “No,” I said. “She’s right. This is your house, ma’am.”

  “My name is Grace.”

  “Grace. I apologize for just showing up. I haven’t been back in town for a while. Willow was nice enough to help me out.”

  “Why haven’t you been in town?”

  “I’m not sure if you remember or not, but Julie was my sister. And years ago she…”

  “Oh, dear,” Grace said. She pursed her lips together. “Travis. That’s right. You’re her brother. Oh, dear. You came back because of the anniversary?”

  “Something like that. So, again, I’m sorry to mess up your morning here.”

  “No. Stay for a minute. What an ordeal to go through.”

  “Mom, please,” Willow said. “That’s enough.”

  Grace looked at her daughter and gave her the look.

  The front door opened and in came Wren. If there was a picture to go with the term hot mess, then I was looking at it. She stumbled forward a few steps and shut the door behind her. She wasn’t hungover. She was still drunk.

  “How was your night?” Grace asked with a big smile.

  Now I had a front row seat to this family dynamic.

  “Fun,” Wren said. “How’s Max?”

  “He’s on the couch right next to you,” Willow said.

  Wren turned. “Oh. Max! Good morning!”

  Max didn’t move.

  “Aren’t you going to say good morning to your mother?” Wren asked.

  “Max,” Grace bellowed. “Look at your mother, right now.”

  I glanced over at Willow and she looked at me.

  I winked.

  It was okay.

  No family was perfect. No person was perfect.

  Max finally turned his little head and gave a weak smile at Wren.

  “Okay,” Wren said. “I need a shower. I’ll be back. Hey… Travis?”

  “Wren,” I said with a quick wave.

  Wren looked at Willow and gave a smile and a nod.

  “She’s a wild one,” Grace said as Wren hurried up the steps like a kid stomping their feet.

  “She’s something,” Willow said.

  “Be nice,” Grace said.

  I pointed to the table. “You ever win anything?”

  “These?” Grace asked, sliding a hand over a stack of lottery tickets as if I had threatened to steal the pile.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve won. Yes, I have.”

  “That’s amazing. Is there a secret?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I never win. I used to scratch…” I made the motion with my thumb and pointer together with an invisible penny in my hand. “I never won.”

  “You have to be consistent,” Grace said. “Buy the same ones from the same store. If you bounce around, you’ll never get to the hot ones.”

 
“That’s a good tip.”

  “Well, that’s all you’ll get out of me. I won’t share my secrets.”

  I smiled. “I wouldn’t expect it.”

  “Mom, I’m going to walk Travis outside. He was getting ready to leave.”

  “Leave? He just poured coffee.”

  “She’s right, Grace,” I said. “I have a lot of people to catch up with.”

  “Well you can’t waste damn coffee. It’s not free.”

  “I’m going to drink it,” Willow said. “I promise. Nothing will get wasted.”

  “It’d better not,” Grace said.

  “It was nice to see you,” I said.

  I made it a few steps and Grace quickly jumped up. She put her hand out for me to take. I offered my hand, which I really didn’t want to do. Grace took my hand and squeezed it. Then patted it. Then gave me that sorrowful stare.

  “I wish I could say it gets easier,” she said. “But sometimes it doesn’t. And I’ve learned that sometimes that’s okay.”

  “Thank you for saying that. A lot of people live too much in the clouds. A fantasy world.”

  “Exactly,” Grace said. “Take care of yourself, Travis.”

  I took my hand back and made a move toward the front door. Behind me, I heard Grace whisper something to Willow.

  Hope you don’t lose him, Willow. He gets it.

  I ignored the comment and focused on the door. The door got me outside, and outside was a sense of freedom. Even if I was back in this town. I knew I was going to end up going to the house last night. What was I thinking? Not a fucking clue. Maybe after all these years, I thought I’d experience a sense of closure. Maybe I hoped to see the house rotted or not even there. But to see it standing and being used… people living in it like nothing had happened. They knew nothing of the hell that swirled through the house whenever she felt like coming home to stir up trouble.

  Outside on the porch, I caught my breath.

  When I felt something touch my back, I jumped.

  “Whoa. Sorry.”

  I spun around, and Willow backed up.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “Sorry. I was daydreaming.”

  “Right. Sorry about that in there. With Wren and Mom. That was embarrassing.”

  “Why? That’s who they are. Who cares?”

  “Mom is going to be obsessed with you now. She loves anyone with a good tragedy attached to their back.”

  “I’ll take that as a good thing then. She won’t kick me out the next time I need a place to crash.”

  “She didn’t even know you slept on the couch. And what makes you think you’re sleeping here again?”

  “I have no place to go, bunny,” I said with a quick laugh. “I’m just floating around right now. I need to figure out where to go from here.”

  “Why don’t you start with getting your stuff from Sam’s?” Willow asked.

  “I know that part. I’m just talking… it doesn’t matter. Thanks for the place to stay and listening to me. Hope you can keep this between us.”

  “Don’t want to ruin your tough guy image?”

  “I don’t give a shit about my image. It would just mean something if you kept this between us. What I said about what I saw. The way I reacted.”

  I started to turn, and Willow moved to cut me off. “Hey. You can trust me. I would never say anything to anyone. You have every right to go back to that house. You have every right to feel how you feel. I’m not going to question that or backstab you.”

  “You’re a really good person, Willow. You always have been. Even all those years ago.”

  “Yeah. Right.”

  “Maybe you can do the same thing for me.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning trust me.”

  “Trust you with what?”

  “With whatever happened that made you come to get me. Whatever is making you choose random waitressing shifts over your career in nursing.”

  She stood there frozen, debating on what to do or say.

  I leaned down and gently kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you around, bunny.”

  “You still have to tell me what that means.”

  “I promise. I will.” I went down the first step and paused. “Hey, what are you doing later?”

  “Later… I don’t know…”

  “Want to grab some pizza?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  “I’ll call you and we’ll make some plans.”

  “Okay.”

  Willow smiled.

  I stared for a second longer than I should have.

  I walked off the porch and down the sidewalk. I had about two miles worth of walking to get to Sam’s place. Which was good.

  I needed that distance and time to convince myself that I hadn’t just asked Willow out on a date.

  11

  Sheet Surfing Pizza

  WILLOW

  I was nervous as I walked up to Sam’s door and knocked. I felt kind of foolish for feeling the way I did, but oh well. This was the first time in a long time that I was actually going out. Believe me, guilt flowed through me freely as I worried about Max. But tonight was my turn. For whatever reason, ever since Travis left the house, Mom’s mood turned around. Maybe it was the hot bath. Or the good night of sleep. Or the fact that I did the dishes for her. Truthfully, it was because she met someone who lost someone in a sudden way. The reality meant that my mother connected with Travis. Which never happened. Ever.

  The front door to the house opened and Sam gave me a big smile and opened his arms in surprise.

  “Holy crap, you left your apartment,” he said.

  “Shut up,” I said. “I’ll turn around and leave right now.”

  “Don’t do that,” Sam said.

  I heard the sound of a guitar and my eyes moved to find the source. I stepped into the house before Sam asked me to come in. Off to the right, sitting on the top of Sam’s couch was Travis, strumming his guitar. The damn guitar he insisted on bringing on the plane. The damn guitar that held us up as he had to pay extra to get it on the plane. The damn guitar that we had to wait for after landing.

  Luke sat in a chair with a bottle of beer between his legs, staring off into nothing. Cole and Sid stood with their arms crossed, fascinated by Travis. Of course, to them, Travis was the coolest guy to ever walk the earth. He not only got out of town, but he played drums in a rock band, lived on the beach, surfed, smoked, fucked any woman he wanted, and played guitar just for fun. Hell, if I was a guy, I’d be enamored by him too.

  I wasn’t a guy. I was a woman. And I watched him hit the strings and move his fingers, creating a soft and beautiful sound.

  The second he lifted his head and saw me, he stopped playing and jumped off the back of the couch.

  “Willow,” he said.

  He handed his guitar to Cole, who took it with wide eyes.

  “Play it, man,” Sid said to Cole.

  Cole tried to balance the guitar and strum a chord, but it sounded horrible.

  “I was just getting her a drink,” Sam said.

  “I thought we were getting pizza?” I asked.

  Sam turned on his heels. “What?”

  “No,” Travis said. “We’re grabbing something to drink here first and then we were going to walk over to Pop’s.”

  “We…”

  “Just you two?” Sam asked, disappointment on his face.

  “Yeah,” Travis said. “Problem?”

  Sam looked at me. “No.”

  “We all can go,” I said. “Why don’t we go and get something to eat now?”

  My mind, heart and body scrambled to fight each other, like three women all slapping each other, pulling hair, in a vicious cat fight.

  Did I not realize that Travis basically just said he wanted me and him alone together? So why was I inviting everyone else? Oh, because you’re worried about Sam’s feelings now?

  “I could eat,” Luke said. He stood up and put his beer bottle to the table. “Pizza sounds good.”
<
br />   “Yeah, food is always good,” Cole said.

  I stupidly realized then that I was the only woman there too.

  I looked up at Travis.

  He stared daggers down at me.

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  What was the point of having me come to Sam’s if I was the only woman? Or if Travis was just going to usher me out the door?

  They all piled at the front door while Travis slipped a hand to my wrist and kept me there.

  “You guys go ahead,” Travis said. “We’ll meet up with you.”

  “I’ll go and warn Pop you’re back in town,” Sam said.

  “We’ll have to grease his hand and promise you won’t break the front window,” Cole said.

  “Keep talking like that and see what happens,” Travis said.

  That shut Cole up and they all left.

  Sam lingered for an extra second. “Lock up, okay?”

  “Hey, Sammy,” Travis said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for letting me crash here.”

  “Of course. Everything okay?”

  “You know me,” Travis said.

  That’s when Sam looked at me. “Willow?”

  “You know my situation, Sam,” I said.

  “Right. Well, I’m glad you two have each other. Be real with me. You’re not going to Pop’s, are you?”

  I felt Travis ready to pounce and finish Sam with a heartbreaking no.

  I jumped in first. “We’ll be right behind you. I promise.”

  “Okay then,” Sam said. “See you there.”

  Sam closed the door.

  “What was that?” Travis asked.

  “What? You asked me about pizza.”

  “I didn’t know you were going to come here and announce it.”

  “Why am I here then? If this was such a secret, why not just meet me there?”

  “I need a ride, bunny,” Travis said.

  “Are your legs tired from all the walking you did?”

  “Maybe,” he said. He turned his body to face mine. “I wanted to get something to eat alone with you.”

  “Why?”

  “I just wanted to.”

  “You’re really that desperate to know what happened with my job?”

  “No,” Travis said. “You don’t want to tell me anything, I don’t care.”

  “So, you’re still not answering my question. Why? Why do you want to be alone with me?”