“It’s at Kinsmen park,” she explained. “The game starts ateleven.”
“See you then,” I told themboth.
I was a little early getting to the park the next morning. I’d even stopped for two cups of coffee. After I found parking, I texted Becky to see where she was. She messaged back a moment later, telling me that they were on theirway.
It wasn’t even eleven, and it was already 26 degrees, and even hotter in the cab without the air conditioning on. I waited outside beneath the shade of the tree I’d parked near. Becky pulled up ten minutes later, sending me a frazzled smile as she parked and practically leapt out of thecar.
“Hurry Aiden, you’ve got to go warm up with your team,” she said, holding the door open for him. He jumped out, waving at me with an ecstatic grin on hisface.
“Give ‘em hell kid,” I nodded, holding out my hand for a high five as he raced by. When Becky started to move toward the soccer field, I took her hand and pulled her toward me. “Morning, beautiful,” I smiled, bringing my lips to hers for the kiss I’d longed to give her the night before, but hadn’t out of respect to Aiden’s wish about thekissing.
She kissed me back for an agonizingly long moment before she pushed against my chest with her hand. “Travis, someone could see us,” she scolded, although her lips twitched with the smile I’d brought tothem.
I glanced around pointedly. The occasional person arriving might see us, but we were mostly shielded from prying eyes by my truck and the large maple tree in front ofit.
“Fine, I’ll save the kissing for when we’re alone later,” I promised her, reaching to grab the coffees off the tailgate. I passed one to her, using my free hand to close thetailgate.
“Thank you,” she all but purred. Taking a heady sip and moaning like it was the most delicious thing she’d ever had, she made it incredibly difficult for me to keep my hands to myself as we walked to the bleachers, but Imanaged.
Becky sat down on an empty bench, and I joined her, our thighs were pressed against each other. I sent her a secretive wink, waggling my eyebrows at her over my Ray-Bans. She laughed lightly, shaking her head at me, her eyes focused on the field beforeus.
The teams were getting into position, coaxed by their coaches and referees. Watching kids play sports always amused me. Some of them were intense, while others barely paid attention to thegame.
Aiden proved to be one of the kids completely focused on the game. He played central midfielder, and cut across the field with the ball with such skill and ease, it was as if the ball was an extension of him. I had no idea seven-year-olds could play likethat.
“Shit, he’s good,” I told her, my browsraising.
“Excuse me…Travis? Is that you?” a woman’s voice asked at the same time I felt a finger poking me in the back of the shoulder. I turned my head, my eyes narrowing behind my glasses while I tried to place why the speaker looked so familiar. “It’s me! Kristen Base! Well, Kristen Landry now!” she giggled, flashing her wedding ring atme.
“Oh hey Kristen! It’s good seeing you again,” I smiledpolitely.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, seemingly oblivious to the striking beauty I was sittingbeside.
“I came to watch my girlfriend’s son play,” I explained patiently, grinning at Becky. “You remember Becky Miller, right?” Kristen arched an overly plucked eyebrow atme.
“I thought you were dating that supermodel…the one in your latest video? What’s her name again?” Kristen’s nose wrinkled as she thought. “Serena! SerenaGold!”
“I’ve never spent any time alone with Serena. She was just in the music video,” I responded, my tone significantly less friendly than it usuallywas.
“Could have sworn I saw pictures of the two of you in Nashville,” Kristen smiled coyly, her eyes returning to Becky. My lips twitched into a smile when Becky snorted, trying unsuccessfully to hold back her laughter. Of course, she knew what photos Kristen was referringto.
“Nope,” Ishrugged.
“Oh…well that’s nice,” she said, her tone contradicting her word choice. She assessed Becky quickly before dismissing her. “Well it was good seeing you again! Maybe you’ll stick around after the game, we always take the team out for ice cream to celebrate. Win orlose.”
“Maybe,” I responded, turning my attention back to the field in front of me. I slipped my fingers through Becky’s, bringing her hand up so I could kissit.
Becky
It didn’t take longat all for the gossip websites to start retweeting a photo circulating of Travis and me at the ice cream parlour in Bala. The photographer had managed to snap a few pictures on their phone as the three of us walked away from the shop, ice creams in hand, but most of them were blurry. The only photo with any clarity had been the one of us paying at the counter, with Travis’s hand on the small of my back, but thankfully my cap had obscured most of myface.
To my knowledge, they hadn’t figured out who the ‘mystery woman’ was, but I knew it was only a matter of time, and I was determined not to stalk the websites. It would only fuel into my paranoia, and I wanted to enjoy what little time Travis had left inOntario.
After work on Tuesday, I picked Aiden up from Max’s house before driving to the grocery store to pick up a few things fordinner.
I made it halfway through our shopping excretion before the skin on the back of my neck started crawling. I felt like someone was watching me, but every time I looked over my shoulder, I saw nothing alarming. Just regular people grocery shopping, likeus.
“Mom! I asked if we could get chips liketen timesnow!” Aiden whined, drawing my attention back tohim.
