I was too wrapped up in contentment to feel the pull of adrenaline because it was no longer my drug.
“Where are we going?” Travis asked as our footsteps crunched over grass. “Why didn’t you just bring it up to the main house?”
Trent shot me a smile.
“It’s not something we can just carry around,” I replied.
“If it’s some kind of gold pooper scooper for that cat, I’m going to crash out.”
Trent guffawed.
“What does that even mean?” I wondered.
Travis shrugged. He probably didn’t know either.
Trent caught Trav’s hood when he started up the stairs to the front door. “Wrong way,” he said, tugging him back.
Travis gave us a look. “You’re being weird.”
I directed him to the last door at the end of the garage. “Stand here,” I said as we took up either side of him.
Trent pulled a remote out of his pocket. “Ready?”
Travis sighed.
The door started rolling up, revealing inch by inch of the Mustang draped in heavy cloth. Even after the door stopped, Travis stayed where he was, barely moving. Just staring.
“Well?” I said, too excited to wait.
“What is that?” he asked.
“Why don’t you go find out?” Trent goaded.
He swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed. Tucking his hands in his pockets, he looked at me, then at Trent. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Depends. What do you think it is?” I asked.
“A car,” he half whispered. It almost sounded like a prayer.
Butterflies erupted wildly beneath my ribcage, making me feel slightly nauseous.
“Gamble already bought you a car.” Trent reminded him.
“Not that kind of car,” Trav said, stare fixed on the cloth.
“What kind then?” Trent asked.
He whispered. “The only kind that matters.”
A sudden flash of the little boy with too-small clothes and a toy Mustang clutched in his hand overwhelmed me, and tears crowded the back of my eyes. Seriously, there were so many that it was an impending tsunami.
Family isn’t always something you’re born into. Sometimes it’s something you find.
Thank God I found him.
“Why don’t you go look?” Trent encouraged him.
Travis jogged forward, stopping in front of the car to stare before moving to the side and bunching the cover in his hands.
