CHAPTER FOUR: Prying Eyes

Trudy, Sarah and company were sitting on a bench along the only sidewalk to Verna’s office, as just as they did every morning unless it rained or it was blizzard weather. They were chatting happily, waiting for Verna to arrive and tell them about the man from the gym.

Over the past few weeks, they had noticed the light in her countenance and when they had finally gotten her to admit she was seeing someone, the older ladies had been thrilled. Verna was too young and pretty to be alone and it had come as good news that she was taking steps into the dating world.

Didn’t their jaws drop when he drove her to work.

Travis stopped his car right in front of them, opened his window and smiled. “Good morning ladies.”

He closed his window again and turned to Verna.

“Ooh, he’s going to kiss her,” Trudy said.

“Hush,” Sarah whispered, as if they could be heard.

Verna recognized this as a scene from one of her dreams. She wasn’t sure if she could go through with it in reality.

“Call me when you’re about to finish work,” Travis was saying, “and I will come pick you up.”

“I can get a ride with-”

“I want to Verna. Please let me do this. I know there’s a lot we have yet to say to each other. Especially with the bombshell I dropped this morning,” he smiled.

“Okay,” she relented, unable to fully resist the smile on his face.

“A kiss for the day?” he asked. He leaned forward and she met him the rest of the way, but only allowed her lips to rest on his for the briefest of kisses.

Travis actually wrinkled his nose. “Is that a kiss?” he teased. “What happened to the staggering embraces I get at home?”

She pursed her lips and he thought he saw the slightest flicker of wistfulness in her eyes.

“I’m at work now! Gotta go. Bye!” She jumped out, slammed the door and swayed her hips around his car before he even finished replying.

“Bye, babes.”

“See? I was right!”

“But it didn’t last very-” the hushed reply began, then Sarah raised her voice, “Good morning Verna, dear.”

“Good morning, golden girls,” Verna smiled at her older colleagues.

“Was that who we think it was?” Trudy intoned slyly.

Verna blushed slightly. “Yes, that was Travis.”

The women made sounds of interest and Verna chuckled with a slight shake of her head. She looked back at where his car had been a moment ago and then turned toward the trio once more.

“I have to get inside, now.”

“Ok, dear. I suppose we’ll all see you later.”

With a little wave, the young woman walked away.

When Verna had gone inside, the ladies on the bench agreed that she looked slightly disgruntled.

When he picked Verna up in the evening, it was dark and Travis was surprised to get a fuller kiss, though it was still stingy by his standards. She gave him no explanations.

He drove to her place and once inside, leaned against the counter as she took out the ingredients for dinner.

“Hand me a knife, please?” she asked, pointing at a drawer beside him. Then she enquired after his day at his body shop.

She laughed at the tone he used to describe a wrecked luxury vehicle that had arrived from an accident near Green Bay. It may as well have been a pool of melted ice cream on a Venetian rug. Or a set of leather bound Shakespearean scripts burnt to ash.

It didn’t take her very long to throw together something to eat, so Travis helped her by setting the table and then she carried their food to the dining area.

While they ate, she told him about her day, not half as detailed as his. When they were through, they loaded the dishwasher and she went to get a hairbrush from her room.

As he was brushing her hair, he said, “We still have some things to discuss before we go to bed.”

“You’re right.” She absently began to trace her hand up and down his leg as he stroked her hair.

“I don’t think we should sleep together, even with protection, until we’ve gotten tested together.”

Her hand stopped briefly but continued to move on his leg as she said, “Okay.”

“And I won’t bring any of my stuff to your place until you’re sure that it’s what you want. The same goes with your stuff at my place.”

“Mhm.”

“And the last one on my list is that I’d like for you to be part of my son’s life.”

Her hand went still again. “What?”

As he spoke to her, her hand started to move up and down once again. He explained to her that up until recently Zane had thought that there was something strange about his parents’ arrangement. His mother had done nothing to stop his imaginings of Mommy and Daddy together, but Travis had tried to explain that Mommy and Daddy weren’t.

Partway through this explanation he said, “Verna, stop!”

“What!”

Gently he put her trailing hand back in her lap and continued with a chuckle. “I want my son to be aware of the fact that I love him, but am not with his mother. The only way he’ll see this is if he meets who I’m actually with. So what do you say?”

“Thank you, Travis. I’d love to be part of Zane’s life.” It seemed to her like Wendy failed to be motherly at times.

Travis was so relieved he lifted her onto his lap and kissed her. Her hands went under his shirt and his hands also found their way into her clothing and they nearly ended up breaking their first agreement.

They agreed to go for HIV testing the following Monday. For a week Travis found himself being frustrated both sexually and mentally as everyday he received a chaste peck when he dropped Verna off at the Tristar Publishing Headquarters. He just couldn’t figure it out why she changed in the mornings. They could hardly keep their hands off each other at home, but once they got in the car she seemed to switch off.

He didn’t complain until the morning after they got tested.

“I’m not just some private booty call am I?”

She didn’t quite laugh, but she found his question amusing. “What do you mean?”

“Your kisses change in the car, when you say good bye in the morning.”

He watched as her eyebrows knit together and her eyes turned away from his.

“Well, yeah. This isn’t exactly the most discreet place.”

Travis’ head jerked back a little as if he’d been slapped. “Discreet?” he echoed. “Wow.”

Verna looked back at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” Travis shook his head once and summoned a ghost of a smile. “Have a nice day babe.”

She sat there for a moment, confusion and regret flitting across her face, then she left his car and he drove off.

The company was sitting on their normal bench and they saw the exchange between the two of them. It wasn’t the regular warm goodbye.

“They’re not too skippy this morning, are they Trudy?” Sarah commented.

The company clucked.

In the evening Verna got a surprise.

She heard a knock on the door and called, “Come in!” and in waltzed Travis.

She was pleasantly surprised. “I was just about to call you. Want to take a seat while I finish this report?”

Travis shook his head slightly. “I thought maybe we could go out for dinner tonight instead of eating at your place.”

“Sure.” She watched him lock her door. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, babes. I just thought you might want some privacy for what I’m about to do to you.”

“Privacy?”

He took off his jacket and walked around her desk to pull her to her feet and undo the knot of her hair. “I’ve been longing to do that since the day I met you.”

Her breath caught in her throat as his hands undid the buttons of her blouse next and he began to kiss the rich peachy color of the skin at her neck.

When she protested that he did it all the time at home, he explained between kisses, “I’ve been waiting to do it in your office.” Then he chuckled and said, “I meant let your hair down, babes.”

She gasped and laughed too. “I know!”

“We’ll save the office sex for later,” he promised in a low voice.

“Travis!” shocked, her face flushed a pretty pink.

“You have no idea how I missed you today,” he murmured against her lips before kissing her soundly.

As Verna kissed him back, she forgot all about her books. She loosened the tie he must have put on for their date, undid shirt buttons without reservation. She sighed and touched him back for every caress he offered. She only stopped when she heard a knock on the door.

Travis chuckled again. “Oops.” He buttoned his shirt as she did hers.

“My hair,” she wailed.

“You look great. Very. Sexy.”

She crossed her spacious office to open the door for Theodore’s agent. “Dan! Hi. What can I do for you?”

He stood there looking at her for a while and managed to say, “Did you do something to your hair? You look different today.”

“It’s down,” she said, glancing at Travis. “You know Teddy’s brother, Travis Burns?”

Dan finally noticed the silent man who stood by Verna’s desk looking at him. “Yes.” He smiled absently in greeting. He stated what he came for and left.

His parting words were, “You should do your hair like that more often. It’s very, very vibrant.”

Verna looked at Travis again, back at Dan and then smiled. “Thanks.”

He ducked out and they got ready to leave her office. When she began fixing her hair, Travis stopped her.

“Don’t. Please. I really like it down.”

With a shrug she changed from her court shoes to open-toe sandals and they left.