Chapter 23
“Pip! Get back here, you little stinker!” I hollered, chasing frantically after a wet puppy as he scampered down the stairs. Somehow, he was more adept at escaping a bath than Able.
After a hike that had turned muddy, Able was still locked in the garage until I could tackle that challenge. I’d thought Pip would be easy.
When the doorbell sounded, I’d just grabbed Pip and wrapped him in a towel. “Coming!” I called, blowing my hair out of my face, sure I looked a complete mess.
I opened the door to find an older couple staring curiously back at me. “Hello?” I greeted, though it sounded more like a question. I hadn’t been expecting anyone.
The woman beamed at me, flashing pearly white teeth against peach lipstick. “Is this Travis’s house? I told you we had the address wrong,” she huffed to the man, who I assumed was her husband.
“It is. I’m his girlfriend, Emerly. And you are?” I prompted as Pip wriggled in my arms.
“I’m his mother,” she replied, as though affronted I didn’t assume as much. “Shelby,” she introduced. “This is my husband, Paul.”
I forced myself not to visibly react. They were just about the last people I expected to show up on our doorstep, and I didn’t think Travis would be very happy with the surprise. “It’s nice to meet you, please come in.” I gestured inside. “Let me just put this little bugger in the garage,” I added, striding quickly to the door off the kitchen and plopping him gently inside.
“We didn’t realize Travis had a girlfriend,” his father commented.
I fought the urge to ask why on earth they’d be surprised, when Travis hadn’t spoken to either of them since we’d met.
“And you live here?” his mother asked, looking around. “Quite a place he has,” she added.
“It’s our place,” I replied with a brittle smile. “And yes, it’s beautiful.”
Having them show up out of nowhere as though they had every right to be there had every protective bone in my body on alert. They’d all but abandoned Travis, a man I loved more fiercely than I’d thought possible, and Sam, one of my best friends. My own upbringing came to mind, and I knew that though Travis put on a brave front, it cut deep to be cast aside by your own parents.
I expected Travis home anytime, and desperately hoped nothing had derailed him at work.
“Can I offer you something to drink?”
“Some wine if you have it.” His mother nodded. “What is that racket?” she asked, her head cocked toward the garage.
“I took the dogs on a walk, and it got a bit muddy. Until I can finish their baths, they’re relegated to the garage.”
She looked genuinely confused. “Travis doesn’t like dogs.”
That same brittle smile crested my lips once again. “He loves our dogs.” I shrugged as I poured her wine, and when he nodded, some for Travis’s father as well.
I poured myself a large glass, sensing I’d need it, just as the garage door sounded.
Thank God.
“Travis is home.” I smiled brightly at them. A moment later he slipped into the kitchen, obviously knowing from one look at our mutts not to let them inside.
“Baby, what’s going on with—” His question was cut off abruptly when he caught sight of who sat at the bar. “What the fuck?” he demanded.
I guess that answered how this was going to go.
“Hi, darling.” His mother grinned, slipping out of her chair to lay a kiss on a stone-faced Travis. “We were driving through on our way to Mexico for a little R&R, and thought we’d pop in.”
“Pop in?” he asked incredulously. “I haven’t seen you in years.”
She waved a hand. “Well, honey, you know how busy we are. I talked to you not that long ago though,” she added dismissively.
“Oh yeah? When was that?” he countered.
She appeared to mull that over as she went to stand alongside her husband. “Well, I suppose it has been a while,” she admitted.
