Summer Girl

by Boeshaar, Andrea

  Ambling along on the sidewalk, heading for Lake Drive, Travis sat Carly on his shoulders while, up ahead, Mandi rode her bike. Jena strolled in between Bella and Star, but the two carried on like magpies, so she stepped back and listened to Travis and Rusty discuss sports scores. The group stopped at the top of Atwater Beach to let the girls climb on the play equipment. Then they began their trek back by way of Capitol Drive.

  Arriving home, Jena realized the girls needed baths. They had somehow managed to rove over mud puddles. One by one, the guests bid their adieus and went their separate ways. Jena had just gotten Carly into her nightie when Travis came upstairs. The girls soon talked him into reading them a book, so Jena took advantage of the time and cleaned up the kitchen—even though she was technically done for the day. But, oddly, the lines of duty now blurred. That kiss this afternoon had changed everything as far as Jena was concerned. She only wished Travis would come downstairs so they could talk about it. About them. Had it meant more to her than to him? What was he thinking?

  What was she thinking?

  Oh, Lord, I haven’t had time to pray about this situation.

  With the kitchen cleaned and still no sign of Travis, Jena meandered across the yard and up to her apartment. She kicked off her shoes, turned on lights, and checked the phone’s answering machine for messages. She picked through her mail, opening an envelope with her college’s emblem on the upper left hand corner. To her delight, it was her final class schedule. School began in just three short weeks. . .

  The phone rang, and Jena picked up the call.

  “Hey, what about this living room? It’s a disaster.”

  Jena winced. “Oh, sorry, Travis. I forgot all about it. I’ll be right over.”

  She hung up the phone and raced downstairs and across the courtyard. All the while, she thought Travis sounded like her employer again.

  Lord, You know I’m naïve when it comes to men. If Travis is falling for me, what’s my position here? How do I define it, and when do I act like his employee and when do I act like his friend. . .are we even friends?

  Jena sighed, feeling baffled. Entering the living room, she pulled a blanket off one of the armchairs and began folding it when Travis caught her around the midsection. A startled gasp escaped her lips, and she dropped the blanket.

  “Forget about cleaning up.” His warm breath sent shivers down her spine. “I’ve got other things on my mind.”

  “Um, Travis. . .”

  He began to kiss her neck, and while Jena enjoyed reading about handsome heroes sweeping women off their feet, she suddenly panicked, thinking she might have walked into a situation she couldn’t handle.

  She turned in his arms, and he kissed the protest from her lips. She felt like giving up and drowning in his ardor but knew she could not. At last she came up for air and managed to mutter the word, “STOP!” as he trailed kisses across her cheek and down her neck.

  “Travis, please stop. Please!”

  He brought his chin back, and Jena noted the surprise in his dark brown eyes. With her hands on his chest, she tried in vain to create some distance between them. She felt like sobbing. She felt cheap.

  “You’re going way too fast for me,” she managed.

  He looked full into her face and seemed to wrestle with his emotions. “My apologies. I thought the feeling was mutual.”

  “It is, but you’re going to have to take things slowly with me. I’m. . .well, I’m really stupid when it comes to. . .you know, this kind of stuff.”

  He narrowed his gaze while an expression of disbelief crossed his features. “What are you telling me, Jena? That you’re twenty-six and you’ve never—”

  “No, I’ve never! My chastity belongs to the Lord until I get married!”

  Travis appeared all the more shocked. “I didn’t mean it that way. I wasn’t about to. . .well, you know. . .”

  She pressed her lips together, trying to stave off the threatening tears, but they leaked from her eyes despite her best efforts.

  She lowered her chin. “I. . .I’m sorry. . .”

  He exhaled, and his breath was like a whisper across her cheek. “Don’t cry, Jena, and there’s nothing to be sorry about.” He gathered her in his arms but held her in a much different way. “I’m the one behaving like a. . .pirate.”

  She laughed through her tears. “Not at all.” Resting her chin against his shoulder, she wiped the moisture from her eyes. Had Travis been less than the gentleman he was, she might have gotten into some serious trouble. “But I really didn’t mean to lead you on.”

  “You didn’t lead me on. I mean, I know you’re not that kind of a woman. But at the same time, I didn’t think a little fooling around would hurt anything.”

  Jena suddenly longed to make Travis understand her views—God’s views. “I don’t believe a man should touch a woman like that unless she belongs to him in marriage. I should have said something earlier this afternoon. But the truth is, I was sort of in shock when you kissed me on the couch, and I. . .well, I liked it.”

  A hint of a grin curled one side of Travis’s mouth.

  “But that doesn’t mean it was right. I understand that physical intimacy between two people who are attracted to each other is just expected in this world. But, Travis, you and I aren’t of the world anymore. We’re Christians.”

  He narrowed his gaze, thinking over her reply. “Okay. Point taken,” he said, allowing his arms to fall from around her waist. “I see what you mean.”

  “I’m so glad.” Jena took a step back.

  “I promise to behave myself from here on in.”

  She regarded him askance. “As my employer?”

  Travis blinked, looking confused. “Well, yes. . .although I would like to be more than just your employer.” He cocked his head. “What do you want?”

  Jena smiled. “I want what God wants. If He has ordained a union between you and me, He’ll show us as we walk with Him day by day and step by step.”

  Travis pursed his lips in his habitual manner. She knew right then that he’d taken her comments to heart.

  “I think you’re very charming.” Jena felt her face warm as she spoke, but she couldn’t seem to help what she said. The words glided off her tongue in all honesty.

  His face brightened. “Why, thank you. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me all day.”

  She laughed, and he pulled another fuzzy throw off the chair. “What do you say we clean up this living room?”

  After a nod, she followed his lead and picked up the blanket she’d discarded only minutes before.

  ❧

  Weeks later, Travis stared out the window of his new office. He had a decent view from this downtown high-rise, unlike the one he’d occupied at D D & L—make that D D & T now that Yolanda Timmerman moved into a partnership there. The career move had proven to be a good one for him. Travis felt glad he’d made the right decision. But if it hadn’t been for Jena, he probably wouldn’t have had the courage or confidence to leave the firm. God brought her into his life at just the perfect time.

  Grinning to himself, Travis thought over the candlelit dinner they shared last night in celebration of her birthday. Star prepared their meal, and Rusty waited on them, as he and Jena sat at his formally set dining room table. Forget any romance; Travis never laughed so hard in his life. He was only too glad he didn’t have to pay the wisecracking cook or tip their clumsy waiter.

  Chuckling at the memory, he never imagined he’d have so much fun courting a woman with old-fashioned values—or as Derek Ryan put it, “biblical standards.” Travis found it refreshing. What a relief to know Jena didn’t adhere to the popular culture. She reminded Travis of Meg—but that, and their faith, was as far as the similarities went. Jena was her own person, and the more Travis got to know her, the more he grew to love her. Mandi and Carly adored her. His parents liked and respected her. . .

  What am I waiting for? Why don’t I ask her to marry me? She’d say yes. I can see it in her ey
es. . .

  “Travis Larson?”

  “Hmm?” He whirled around to find a broad-shouldered young man standing in his doorway.

  “I’m Bernie Thomas. Isabella Minniati sent me over to discuss some of the terms in my contract. My agent will be here in a few minutes.”

  “Great.” Travis smiled and stuck out his right hand. The other man shook it. “Nice to meet you. Have a seat, Bernie.”

  ❧

  Jena looked up at the sky and decided she’d never seen so many stars. They sparkled like diamonds against black velvet.

  “Jen?”

  She turned to Travis who sat in an adjacent lawn chair, his feet up on a white, wrought-iron table.

  “It’s ninety degrees out at ten o’clock at night. How can you be drinking hot coffee?”

  She laughed and glanced down at the cup in her hand. “It’s a terrible habit. I should quit it. But after all the years of going to school during the day and working at night—or vice versa—then doing homework in the wee hours of the morning, I got used to living on caffeine.”

  “This semester ought to be easier for you.”

  “It’s going to be a piece of cake, and I have you to thank for that.”

  “It works both ways, Jen.”

  She smiled. He sure was handsome, sitting there in the courtyard under the moonlight.

  “So, are you still praying about marrying a man in the ministry?”

  Jena frowned. “What?”

  Travis chuckled. “Never mind. I guess there’s my answer.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked back up into the sky. I’m praying about marrying you, Silly, she wanted to say. But she couldn’t bring herself to be quite so audacious. Having seen Travis interact with Star and Bella, she sensed that he didn’t care for bold and overconfident women, although he could hold his own around them. Jena had seen that too.

  She heard him slap at a mosquito. “Got any special plans for Saturday?”

  Jena thought it over. Two days from now. . .

  “No, not that I can recall right off the top of my head.”

  “Well, pencil me into your agenda. We’re going to do something special. I don’t know what yet, but you, me, and the girls will have a great time.”

  “Okay.”

  Travis stood. “I hate to do this, but I’m going in. The bugs are almost as bad as the humidity. You’re welcome to join me. We can watch a movie or something.”

  Jena was tempted—very tempted. She knew Travis would behave like a complete gentleman, and she’d like nothing more than to spend extra time with him. But she had been trying to find a couple of hours all day in which to sit down and pay her bills and fold her clean laundry. “Oh, I guess I’ll call it a night. I have things I should probably accomplish by tomorrow.”

  “Okay, then I’ll walk you home.”

  She laughed. The distance was probably twenty feet or less.

  Travis held out his hand. Jena took it, and he pulled her to her feet. At her apartment door, he placed a chaste kiss on her cheek.

  “Night, Jen.”

  “Good night, Travis.”

  She walked inside, latched the door behind her, then climbed the narrow staircase to her apartment. She turned on the television and listened to tail end of the nightly newscast as she began her chores.

  By midnight, she crawled into bed, and just when she began to doze, she thought she heard the downstairs door open and slam shut. Sitting up in bed her heart raced in fear as she heard footfalls ascending the steps. They sounded too light and quick to belong to Travis or any other man. Next, she heard keys jangle as the top door was unlocked and opened. It, too, was forcefully closed as if pushed with a foot.

  Curiosity replaced her panic, and Jena slipped out of bed. She grabbed her robe and slipped it on. A thunk sounded, once, twice, as if someone dropped a heavy box or luggage—or both—on the living room floor. From the doorway of her bedroom, she saw a light go on. With slow, measured steps, Jena made her way toward the intruder. Pausing in the dining room, she thought she recognized the slender woman whose sandy-brown hair was swept up off her neck. She’d seen her photograph around Travis’s house.

  The woman turned and shrieked when she spotted Jena. “Oh!” she exclaimed, covering the left side of her chest. “Oh, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

  “You scared me half to death too.”

  The woman narrowed her gaze, a trait Jena knew so well. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

  “My name is Jena Calhoun. Travis hired me to take care of Mandi and Carly this summer.” She smiled. “You must be his sister, Glenda.”

  “You’re very astute, aren’t you? Well, that’s good. You’ll be able to find another job in no time.” Glenda collapsed into the couch. “My flight at O’Hare got cancelled, and I was forced to take the bus from Chicago to Milwaukee. But I’m back now, so first thing tomorrow morning you can pack your things and leave.”

  Jena didn’t reply as questions flittered through her mind. Hadn’t Glenda left to get married? Where was her husband? Did Travis know his sister had come back? Probably not!

  Padding back to the bedroom, Jena closed the door without a sound. Next, she picked up the phone and pressed number one of the speed dial feature.

  “Yeah, hello. . .”

  “Travis, it’s Jena. Sorry to wake you, but, um. . .we’ve got a little problem here. . .”

  Twenty

  “I can’t believe you’re taking her side over mine.”

  Travis turned from his office window where he’d been watching Jena and the girls walk up Shorewood Boulevard, heading to the high school for Mandi’s morning swimming lesson. He glared at his sister. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up and making demands.”

  “Travis, I’m your sister.”

  “Doesn’t matter. You happen to be interrupting a very delightful romance between Jena and me.”

  Glenda expelled a sigh of disgust. “Oh, Travis, she is so totally not your type.”

  “That just proves how little you know of the situation. . . and of Jena and me.”

  Glenda stepped towards him. “Travis, I have nowhere else to go.”

  “Then you’ll have to move in with Mom and Dad.”

  “Are you out of your mind? I can’t call them!” Glenda’s face contorted with indignation. “They haven’t forgiven me for eloping with Scott.”

  “Months ago, I would have said I hadn’t forgiven you either. But the truth is, your leaving was the best thing that happened to me.”

  “Oh, thanks a lot.”

  He grinned at the quip. “So what happened with Scott?”

  “He’s a loser, that’s what happened.”

  Travis chewed the corner of his lower lip and folded his arms as he contemplated Glenda’s remark. Scott Jenkins never appeared to be a “loser” while he’d been Travis’s assistant for eighteen months at D D & L. “What constitutes a loser?”

  “A man who can’t even bring in a salary that’ll support his. . . family. That’s a loser.”

  “What, did Scott tell you to get a job or something?”

  “Or something,” came her vague reply.

  Travis digested the news. The situation didn’t seem so bad after all. Glenda would come to her senses and go back to Scott in a day or two. In the meantime, she could continue to sleep in Mandi’s room while his daughters shared Carly’s bed.

  “Travis, I think our arrangement worked out great, and that’s why I want things to be the way they used to be.”

  “That was another lifetime ago. Our arrangement doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t know how to explain it exactly, but I feel like a completely different person.” He paused and wondered about divulging his secret, then decided Glenda might as well know. “I’m also planning to ask Jena to marry me tomorrow.” Travis rubbed his palms together. “I’m going to take her to the mall and stop in front of Rush’s House of Diamonds, propose, and let her pick out her own engagement ring. Of course, I’ll have
to tease her a little bit first. That’ll be half the fun.”

  “Travis, you’re off your rocker.”

  “Yeah, but I’m happy, the girls are happy, Jena’s happy. . .so who cares?”

  Glenda rolled her brown eyes. “Take it from your little sister. Stay single. Play the field.”

  “I don’t want to play the field. I want Jena. Besides, I’ve been married before, and I was happy then too.”

  “Which raises another question. How can you disregard Meg’s memory by remarrying someone like that. . .that—”

  “Watch it.” He pointed a finger at her. “You’re treading on very dangerous ground right now. As for my remarrying, Meg would want me to be happy, and she’d like Jena.”

  Travis walked out of his office and into the kitchen where he poured himself a cup of coffee. Glancing at the clock above the kitchen sink, he realized he had to leave soon in order to make his ten o’clock appointment. He had a full day ahead and no time for his sister’s antics. But one thing seemed sure: Glenda couldn’t stay here and harass Jena all day.

  She came up behind him as he twisted on the top of his travel mug.

  “Travis, I helped you out when you were in a bind. I practically raised Mandi and Carly. They’re like my own children. Carly was a newborn when Meg died, and—”

  “And I appreciate everything you did for me and the girls, okay? But things are different now.” He expelled a weary breath. “Look, Jena said she didn’t need the Volvo today. Take the car and go visit Mom and Dad. Tonight you can sleep in Mandi’s room again.”

  “Travis, that’s only temporary. I need a residence that’s. . . well, more permanent.”

  He raised a brow. “Why?”

  Glenda tore her gaze away from him and tears filled her eyes. “Because Scott’s already filed for divorce, and I’m going to have a baby.”