Nicole Edwards - Travis

Awww, fucking hell.

She was country from head to toe and, truthfully, it wouldn’t matter what she was wearing, she still managed to give him a damned hard on just by breathing.

“I brought you these,” Kylie said, interrupting his perusal of her sinfully tempting body. Her sweet voice and sexy country drawl brought back an influx of memories, and all of them a reminder of exactly how stupid he was.

How the hell had he ever walked away from her all those years ago? Looks aside, Kylie had been sweet and innocent, and so damned good to him, his heart still hurt with the memories that flooded his brain.

Travis glanced down at her hands, noticing for the first time the manila envelope she was holding out to him.

“What’s this?” He couldn’t imagine what she could possibly have for him.

There was a brief pause as she glanced down and then back up while he reached out to take the proffered envelope. “Divorce papers,” she said sternly and Travis’ eyes flew up to meet hers.

He didn’t move to open the envelope, but he managed to keep his fingers clasped on the edge, fighting the urge to squeeze.

“This should be relatively simple,” she explained without an ounce of emotion. “I found a lawyer, and he’s reasonable when it comes to uncontested divorces. The only thing you need to do is sign. After you read them, of course. If you have objections to anything, let me know. It’s cut and dried. No property, no children...”

Travis watched her mouth move, his heart pounding unusually hard in his chest, but he barely heard a word she was saying.

He’d never considered this day actually coming, and he didn’t know why. Not that he expected them to be married forever, but in reality, Travis had never envisioned himself divorced. Then again, he never pictured he’d have the balls to walk away from this woman either. He’d been a coward, pure and simple, and he’d regretted his decision for so many years. But as each day passed and the pain eased marginally, he knew it was too late.

Nodding his understanding, he looked back into her eyes, noticing the sweet innocence he had once seen was no longer there. In its place, there was a void of some sort. As though she had steeled herself for heartache and didn’t expect anything else.

“My phone number is on the last page, so if you want to call me when you’ve signed them, I’ll come back and pick them up.”

Travis couldn’t speak. There was a lump in his throat the size of a fucking beach ball and he could barely swallow around it, much less talk.

“Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you,” Kylie said quickly and turned to head back to her truck.

Before she could get too far, Travis reached out and grabbed her arm as gently as he possibly could, his body working on instinct. When she turned to look at him, staring up at him with wide eyes, he couldn’t do anything more than peer into a sea of brilliant blue. He was searching for something, but he wasn’t sure what. Something to tell him that, for the last ten years, she had thought about him as much as he thought about her.

Nothing. Travis saw absolutely no emotion in her eyes. It was almost like she was a passerby and was shocked that he had stopped her in the first place.

Another nod and he let her go, his fingers gripping the envelope tighter, barely refraining from crushing it in his hand. He watched as Kylie rushed back to her gleaming fire engine red truck, never blinking until she disappeared inside and then he watched until the tail lights faded down the dirt road.

Divorce papers.

Of all the places Travis thought he would be in life, this certainly wasn’t one of them. Now the question was what he was supposed to do next.

♀♂

Kylie could hardly see the road through the blur of tears clouding her vision. She’d been lucky to contain them until she got inside of the truck and away from Travis’ discerning gaze.

No matter how tempted she was to pull off to the side of the road and vent her frustration to the universe, she thought better of it. She just needed to get out of this town and she’d be fine. Back to life as she knew it. It wasn’t like she hadn’t made it through the last ten years without the man she just walked away from.

So why did it feel like this was the final goodbye when that happened a lifetime ago?

Hadn’t she been through enough already?

Watching Gage as he walked out of her life – even if it had been her choice – was hard enough to deal with. It was almost as though she were being tested. As though watching Travis walk out of her life all those years ago wasn’t the most difficult thing she would ever have to do. And now this. Handing Travis divorce papers was harder than even those two instances combined.

Honestly, she expected to be driving away with the papers signed which would’ve at least given her some closure. He hadn’t signed them though. He didn’t even look at them. Instead, Travis had looked at her like he was lost, and for a few ridiculous moments Kylie wanted to find him again. But, that wasn’t possible. Their lives had gone in two entirely different directions and based on what she knew of Travis Walker today, he was not the man she had fallen in love with back then.

Not to mention, she wasn’t the same woman.

Far from it.

Ever since Gage Matthews walked into her life, tripping her up, Kylie made sure to lose the naïve, over the moon dreams she’d carried with her since she was younger. More specifically, since Travis broke her heart.

There was no happily ever after for her. Not with Travis. Not with Gage. Of course, she was either stupid or naïve – possibly both – to believe that she could get what she needed from either of them, but it didn’t stop her heart from jumping up and down, flailing around as though she needed to be seen.

To top off her overflowing plate of foolishness, Kylie had given in to her curiosity and hunted the internet for information on Travis. What she unearthed had undoubtedly helped to keep her from falling apart. It was the reason she was spurred into motion, rushing out to find a lawyer so she could get the divorce proceedings underway.

Finding out that the man you married all those years ago was working toward owning and operating one of the biggest fetish related resorts in the state was certainly a wakeup call. Right there in Coyote Ridge. Where everything had come full circle for her.

Not only was she stunned by what she read regarding the nature of the resort his company was building, but Kylie had also realized right then that Travis had done well for himself over the years. Knowing the day was going to come when he delivered divorce papers to her, just to protect himself and his newfound wealth, she decided to beat him to the punch.

It wouldn’t hurt nearly as much if she were the one taking steps to sever all ties to him. At least that’s what she told herself. A mantra she kept on repeat in her head until she couldn’t stand to be around herself any more. But now, today, the ache had returned. The look on Travis’ face wrecked her, even if she knew he’d merely been reflecting his surprise.

By the time the tears finally stopped rolling down her face, Kylie was on her way out of the small town of Coyote Ridge and heading back toward the toll road that would lead her home. It wouldn’t take her long from that point. Glancing down at the gas gauge, she realized she needed to stop, or she was going to be wishing on a star to get her home. Based on her recent luck, she knew exactly how that would play out – and she was too tired to hoof it anywhere.

A few minutes later, Kylie pulled into the Gas ‘n Go where she and Gage had stopped during her first trip there. Taking a deep breath, she willed her hands to stop shaking as she wiped the wet streaks from her cheeks. There was no reason to be crying now. It was said and done, and the only thing she had to wait for was Travis’ call. It seemed like she’d been waiting a lifetime for that.