by Amy Vastine
“He’s quiet. Be nice,” Summer said, swatting his chest. “He also has it bad for Rachel. It makes me sad for him.”
“I’m sad for him, too. Carrying a torch for Rachel is pretty much the worst way to waste your life away.” His arms circled Summer’s waist. “If he was holding out for you, that would make sense. Not that I would ever let him or anyone have a chance.”
She stood on tiptoes kissed him on the cheek. “You are so cute in that hat.”
“Well, I’ll have to remember that.” He winked and let her go.
She bit down on her bottom lip and backed away. “I’m going to talk to Ken. I’ll see you over by the float?”
“I’ll be the good-lookin’ cowboy on the horse.”
Her smile illuminated her whole face. “No doubt.”
Travis grinned all the way over to the horse trailer. He loved that woman and he was going to tell her tonight. With Shannon’s help, he’d gotten ahold of Hank, the bungee-jumping hot-air balloon guy. If he was going to be worth it, Travis needed to show Summer he could face his fears before asking her to face hers. Nothing said “I love you” like jumping out of a hot-air balloon.
Rachel and Brian were both hanging out by the horses. “There you are. I was wondering where my favorite sports man was hiding,” Rachel said, moving toward him. Her jeans looked painted on, they were so tight. “You ready for our big date tonight?”
Travis’s mouth fell open. He’d figured Ken had let her know he wasn’t required to make an appearance tonight. The two of them hadn’t talked since she asked him. “Ken said it was fine if I didn’t attend. I thought you knew.”
Undeterred, Rachel invaded his personal space. Her finger ran the length of his chest. “Now, I don’t mind a little playing hard to get, but I’ll have you know, I’m not used to being the one doing the chasing.” Travis backed away. “Oh, come on. It’s for charity.”
He kept his voice low so as not to embarrass her in front of everyone else. “I’m not playing any games with you, Rachel. I’ll happily write you a check for your charity, but the only person I have a personal interest in around here is Summer. The sooner you get that, the better.” He stepped around her and shook hands with the man who owned the horses.
Brian and his horse got along great. Travis and his? Not so much. After two attempts at getting the stubborn mare to move, Travis gave up. The owner must have expected trouble and had another horse for Travis to try. While he saddled that one up, Travis sat on the street curb, watching everyone prepare for the parade. Around the corner, hundreds of people were lined up along the streets of downtown Abilene, sitting in their fold-up chairs or in the back of their pickup trucks. Kids waited impatiently for the parade to begin, driving their parents crazy.
Travis took off his hat, the heat getting to him. He wiped his brow as two feet entered his peripheral vision. He looked up, setting the hat back down on his head. “What’s going on, Pete?”
Pete seemed a bit on edge. “You can’t have them both, you know.”
Travis’s eyebrows disappeared under his hat. “Both?” Then it clicked. He shook his head. “Oh, I’m not riding them both. That first one was too difficult, so I’m giving the second one a go.”
Pete’s expression went from angry to horrified. “Is that how you treat them? If one gives you some trouble, you go after the other?”
Travis held his palms up. “Well, I can’t ride them both at the same time, now, can I?”
Pete’s eyes managed to go wider. “You...You are... You are the reason I hated every football player in my high school! Didn’t your mother teach you how to treat a woman?”
“A woman?” Travis got to his feet. He had a good half a foot on Pete, who took a step back. “What are you talking about?”
“Summer and Rachel! What are you talking about?”
Travis laughed so hard he couldn’t speak for a couple seconds. “Good Lord! I thought we were talking about the horses. That’s funny.” He wiped his eyes, still chuckling at their misunderstanding.
“I saw you with Rachel right after I saw you with Summer. You better stay away from my Rachel,” Pete warned.
This time, the lights really came on. “Oh, Pete. Trust me, Summer’s the only woman for me. Rachel’s all yours. Although I will say, I think you can do a lot better.”
Pete pointed a long, dirty finger in Travis’s face. “I saw you, Lockwood. I saw you standing too close. I saw you whisper in her ear. Once I help her with Summer, she’ll be mine. You better not get any ideas.” He started to take off, but Travis grabbed the back of his shirt and halted his retreat.
“What did you say? Exactly how would you help Rachel with Summer?”
“I didn’t say nothing! Let go of me!” Pete struggled to get loose, but he was no match for the stronger, younger man. “Let go of me.”
“What did you do?” Travis spun Pete around so he could look him in the eye. “Tell me what you did to help her with Summer. Come on, Pete. Summer thinks you’re a nice guy.” She was wrong, and Travis was ready to make him pay for that.
It didn’t take more than that to get him to sing like a canary. “Rachel said Summer was trying to take her job. I found her crying at her desk one night. Do you know what it does to me to see that angel cry?” Pete asked.
Travis could feel himself losing control. All along he’d blamed Richard, when the real culprit was right here. His grip on Pete’s shoulders tightened. “You rigged that light to fall, didn’t you?”
“I was only going to try to get her fired, but that didn’t work. I thought I could scare her enough to make her leave on her own. I swear I wasn’t trying to hurt her, just scare her away.”
Rage engulfed Travis and narrowed his vision. All this time, it had been Pete and Rachel who were trying to hurt Summer. He heard his voice rising as he shook the smaller man. “We’re going to get rid of someone, all right.”
“Travis!” Summer crossed the street in a panic. “What are you doing? Let him go! People are going to wonder if you’ve lost your mind!”
He did as she said. “I hope her kindness makes you feel like the spineless creep you are. She’s protecting you when you went out of your way to do her harm.”
Summer latched on to Travis’s arm and pulled him away from a cowering Pete. “What are you talking about?”
“This is the guy who’s behind all your trouble at the station. Rachel made him think you were trying to take her job. Pete’s the one who was making your life miserable, not Richard,” Travis explained.
“Pete?” Summer’s eyes pleaded with him to tell her it wasn’t true. The coward looked away, unable to give her what she wanted. “How could you do that?” she asked, completely stunned. Again, no answer came.
Travis dragged Pete over to Ken and the rest of the crew by the van. He told Ken everything and demanded action. There was no time to settle the issue, however. The parade was beginning and Travis and Summer needed to be in it. Ken wouldn’t hear another word until the parade was over. Frustrated, Travis mounted his horse and followed Summer back to the float.
“You okay?” he asked as she got herself situated. He could see she was anything but.
Summer glanced over at Rachel, who was oblivious of everything that had gone on a few moments ago. She turned back to Travis. “Did you know that around twenty-four thousand people die by lightning strikes around the world each year?”
“Summer...”
“I’m fine. I’m completely fine.” She was lying. Before Travis could do anything about the vengeful look in her eye, the parade started and the float began to move. He rode alongside, watching Summer fume as she probably asked God to send some lightning Rachel’s way. He had to remind himself she could only predict the weather, not control it.
The high-school band in front of them began to play. Their green and gold u
niforms looked uncomfortable in this heat, but they weren’t the ones Travis was worried about overheating. Summer was so furious she could barely put on a smile and wave to the crowd. The heat she was feeling had nothing to do with the weather. The Texas Star Chevy float was covered in red, white and blue tissue paper, streamers and glittery paper stars. Luckily for Rachel, a car with KLVA license plates and the words WIN ME painted across the windshield sat in the middle, separating her from Summer. A big Texas flag and the dealership’s logo were the backdrop.
Travis had a difficult time concentrating on the cheering crowd as Summer and Rachel both moved to the front of the float. He tapped his heels against the sides of his horse, encouraging the beast to speed up. He watched as Summer said something to Rachel, causing the woman’s public persona to slip a little. Rachel frowned and stared back at Summer. More words were exchanged, heated words he couldn’t make out over the music of the marching band.
“Summer!” Travis attempted to get her attention, but it was too late. Summer said something that sent Rachel into a fit. She pushed Summer so hard she almost fell backward off the float. Stuck on his horse, Travis was helpless, his heart thumping relentlessly in his chest. If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself. Summer stood her ground, and the two women screamed and gesticulated as the crowd looked on in complete shock and horror.
Travis stopped his horse and handed the reins to the nearest bystander. He ran up to the truck pulling the float, banging on the window and telling the driver to stop. He turned to go break up the fight.
“I knew you were crazy!” Rachel was yelling.
“I’m crazy? You’re paranoid and completely delusional!” Summer shouted back.
Rachel let out something like a battle cry and ran at Summer full steam ahead. Summer waited until the last moment before stepping to her left, and Rachel’s momentum carried her right off the side of the float and into a pile of steaming horse manure. Travis wanted to laugh at the beauty of justice being served, but Summer didn’t look as though she found any of it very funny.
Ken jumped up on the float and grabbed Summer before Travis could. Rachel popped up, ready to kill. Or cry. Travis couldn’t be sure, so he decided to put himself between the two women. Ken led Summer away from the onlookers and their camera phones. Everyone from the station followed.
Back at the van, Summer was full of uncontrollable fury. Her hair was a wild mess of curls on top of her head as her body shook with anger. Travis put his hand on her shoulder, hoping to provide what little comfort he had to offer in front of their coworkers.
“I want her fired!” Rachel screamed as she held her hand under her nose. The fresh horse manure staining her jeans smelled horrible.
“Me?” Summer asked, wide-eyed with shock. “You attacked me!”
“She pushed me off the float. You all saw!”
“You convinced Pete to make a light fall on my head! You told him I was trying to take your job so he would mess with my reports and get me fired!”
Rachel’s laughter enraged Summer further. “She’s lost it, Ken. If you don’t get rid of her, you will cost this station every advertiser I have ever brought you.”
Travis had heard enough. “Pete told us what he did, Rachel. He said you encouraged him.”
“I never asked him to do anything. I’ll admit I’ve felt threatened by her transparent attempts to upstage me. Maybe he felt bad for me and acted on those feelings. But I swear to you, Ken, I never asked him to do it.”
“You aren’t going to buy her lies, right?” Travis asked Ken, who was unusually quiet. There was no possible way anyone could believe her.
“I...” Ken shook his head. “I don’t know what to believe. Do you know what an incident like this is going to do to our reputation?”
“She knocked me off the float! You have to fire her. You have to!” Rachel demanded.
Travis stared Ken down, daring him to fire Summer. If he did that, he’d be out a weather girl and a sportscaster. There was no way Travis would work for Ken if he gave Summer the boot.
“Forget it,” Summer said before Ken could reply. “I quit.” Without another word, she stormed off, leaving Travis behind. It felt like a life-changing hit, similar to the one he’d taken in Chicago. Only worse. Because Summer mattered more than football ever did.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I SHOULD CALL Ken.” Summer was in panic mode. Travis had driven her home and now all she could do was pace her living room floor. The heels of her boots click-clacked on the wood floor. She tried to take a deep breath, but it felt as if the walls were closing in.
Had she really quit? Rachel had made her so angry. Ken’s lack of support hadn’t helped. She said she quit, but she said it without thinking about what it really meant. She’d considered the job with Ryan over the past couple days, finally deciding staying in Abilene was the best option. After much deliberation and soul searching, it was Travis who convinced her to stay. He didn’t even know he was doing it. And now everything was ruined.
“I’m sure he’d understand you got caught up in the heat of the moment,” he said.
She stopped pacing and cast a furtive glance in his direction. He had his head bowed and elbows resting on his knees, one leg bouncing anxiously. His patience was waning. She’d done nothing but fret for the last half hour. He was ready for her to rectify the situation, to call Ken. Travis had no idea what she had really done by quitting—the door she had opened or how badly she wanted to run. He couldn’t hear the wind calling her name the way she did.
“Did you know that we hit triple digits nineteen days in June and twenty-seven in July?”
Sidestepping her weather nonsense, he tried to reassure her. “You have a job. You just need to call Ken and tell him you want to keep it.”
The pacing resumed, as did the chewing on her thumbnail. Summer had more than one job. She could call Ryan just as easily as she could call Ken. Another quick glance at Travis and it felt as if her world were splitting down the middle. “I can’t leave.”
“Why would you leave?” Travis rose to his feet, wrapping his arms around her. “I want you to relax.” He was her shelter from the storm, the one place she knew she was safe.
A knock on the door pushed all thoughts of relaxation from Summer’s mind and sent Storm into a tizzy. Rachel had threatened to have Summer arrested for assault when she climbed out of the pile of manure. The last thing Summer needed was for the police to come for her. There had to be plenty of witnesses who could verify it was Rachel’s own fault.
Hesitantly, she opened the door to find Mimi and Big D with worry written all over their faces. Mimi hugged her granddaughter tightly. “We were waiting at the end of the parade route, thinking you were comin’ any minute, when we heard there was some sort of fight. Imagine our surprise when they said it involved the Channel 6 weather girl!”
“I’m sorry. I left so fast I didn’t think about you being in the crowd.”
“What happened?” Big D asked, petting Storm while waiting patiently for his hug.
Summer let go of her grandmother and sought comfort in his arms. “It was Rachel. She instigated all the trouble I’ve been having at the station. She told one of the techs I was trying to steal her job. How ridiculous is that?”
“Never liked that girl,” Big D mumbled as they made their way into the house. “Something was off with that smile of hers.”
“So you pushed her off the float?” Mimi laughed.
“More like she fell,” Summer said sheepishly. “And I quit.” Mimi fell silent. She and Big D exchanged a look. Summer knew that look. “But I’m going to call Ken and beg for my job back.”
“Sometimes our hearts know what we want before our minds catch on.” Big D put a gentle hand on her cheek. “Maybe it’s not Ken you should be calling.”
She should have kno
wn he would say that. For some reason, he was bound and determined to ship her off to New York on the next available flight. “Can we not do this right now?”
“Ryan chose you for a reason,” Big D continued.
“Ryan will have no trouble finding someone else for that job,” Summer argued.
Big D’s voice rose just a bit. “You’re braver than this, Summer.”
“I need a moment with my granddaughter,” Mimi interrupted. “Alone.”
Big D nodded and reached out to give Mimi’s hand a squeeze. “Come help me walk this beast,” he said to Travis, whose eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. “I better get out of here before I get myself in trouble.” He took the leash off the hook by the door and attached it to Storm’s collar. Travis followed them out without a word.
“I’m not going anywhere, Mimi,” Summer said, attempting to ease at least one mind. They sat on Summer’s sky-blue couch. Mimi, with her bright yellow sundress and her white-blond hair pulled up in a bun, looked like an unhappy sun.
“Because of me?”
“Because of a lot of reasons,” Summer replied.
“But mostly because of me.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Because of me.” Summer pressed a hand over her heart. “Everyone I love is here. You, Big D.” Travis. She thought it but didn’t say it. She’d been thinking it all week long. She was in love with him. She wasn’t sure how or when it happened, but it had. “Even Mom and Dad are here.”
Mimi shook her head. “Your daddy and mama aren’t here. I might have put their bones in Texas soil, but their souls are still in the whispers of the wind.”
There was no arguing with that. “Well, you and Big D are reason enough, then.”
Mimi’s eyes welled with tears. It was too much for Summer. Her gaze dropped to her lap, but Mimi’s voice was thick with the same emotion. “You’re like my pretty little caged bird, convinced you don’t want to fly when it was what God put you on this earth to do.” Mimi lifted her chin. “Listen to me, sweet girl. I’ve selfishly kept you here since your daddy died. It’s about time I let you go and let you live your life for you.”