Road To Love (6 page)

Several minutes had passed when
Travis decided to try to go back to the truck.  Abigail begged him to let her go too, but he wouldn’t budge.  They didn’t know if the creature, animal or human, was still nearby.  Now as Abigail waited impatiently for his return she feared the worst.  As each minute went by she felt like something had gone dreadfully wrong.  When she heard the door open she let out a sigh of relief.  “Thank GOD you’re back.”  She threw her arms around him; his arms were still full as she held him close.  When she pulled away she realized how truly shocked he was.  “I was worried.”

“I didn’t think you cared.”

“I don’t, but that would mean I would have to fend for myself.  Plus, Todd would be pretty mad at me if something happened to you.”

He laughed.  “Truer words never spoken.”

Their gaze never swayed from each other.  “Did you get everything?”

“I did;
here are two flashlights, two blankets, and a picnic basket.”

“What’s in the picnic basket?”

“I came prepared.  It’s not gourmet, but it will have to do.  Are you hungry?”

She smiled.  “I am.”

“I have fruit, cold meat sandwiches, chips, and water.”

She opened the basket and stared.  “You came with enough food for an army.  Did you plan this accident?”

She shook his head.  “Yes, I risked my life so that we would be forced to spend the evening together.  Go ahead and eat; I saw some wood outside, I thought we could have a fire.”

She went on to eating from the basket and waited for him to return.  He carried 4 logs in his arms and Abigail started to laugh when he put in the fireplace.  “Did you forget something?”

“What?”

“Um…something to start the fire.”

“You underestimate me.”  He reached in his pocket and produced a matchbook.  “Always come prepared.”

“Hm…” she took a bite of her sandwich.  “You surprise me
Travis.”

He turned back to her as the fire started to grow.  “I’m sorry about, well…everything.”

“There are too many apologies being made.  We’re both sorry and let’s just leave it at that.”

“Okay; I like that.”  He laid a blanket in front of the fireplace.  “Shall we?”  He grabbed the basket from her and she grabbed the other blanket and joined him in front of the fireplace.  “This should warm this place in no time.”

“I half expect to see 7 dwarfs walk in at any moment.”

He laughed.  “Wouldn’t that be something?”  He grabbed a sandwich and took a bite.  “I know that Thanksgiving is tomorrow, but I’ll wake up early and beg someone to come help us.”

“We don’t even know where we are.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“I believe that.”

“You do?”  He faced her and she smiled and shrugged.  “We’ll get out of here with as little disruption in our lives as possible.”

She trusted him and she knew where there was a will, there was a way.  “Thank you for the food.  I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been so prepared.”

“Luckily we won’t have to find out.”  He removed the basket from the blanket and looked at her.  “Are you comfortable?”

“Yes;” she paused and faced the fire.  “If this was under different circumstances the fire would be so romantic.”

“I know what you mean.”  His words were quiet; they were barely audible.  His eyes fell to her lips; or at least she thought they did.

“We should get some sleep.”  She leaned in and brushed a kiss across his cheek.  When she pulled away she saw the passion in his eyes.  He reached up and touched her lips; she closed her eyes to his touch.  When she opened her eyes she saw him moving closer to her.  He stopped inches from touching her; he looked at her as if he was asking for permission.  She slowly nodded and he moved in.  A moan escaped her lips as he took possession.  She pulled him closer to her and felt his heart beating rapidly against her chest.

***

“Are you sure?”  He whispered between kisses.  His hands were dangerously close to intimate territory and his tongue swiped across hers.  He took the faint nod of her head as permission.  His hands pulled her sweater over her head as she fumbled with his shirt.  He helped her free it from his jeans as his hands trailed to her pants.

She moaned as he bit her bottom lip, but never broke the kiss.  Moments later both of their pants were being flung to the ground.  His hands trailed up her stomach as they reached her bra.  With a flick of his wrist he had removed it.  He lowered her panties, never removing his lips from hers.  She helped him remove his boxers.  He held his hand on her back as he lowered her to the blanket.

Their kisses intensified as he ran his hands down her arms.  He could feel her shaking underneath him.  He pulled away so that they could catch their breath.  Her breathing was almost as ragged as his.  “It’s your call;” he lowered his mouth to her neck and she arched her back as he trailed kisses to her shoulder.  He looked into her eyes and he knew what he wanted, but he was worried to proceed.  “What do you want me to do?”  He held his breath as his mouth hovered over hers.

“Make love to me.
”  His mouth covered hers and he pulled away as he moved his lips down the front of her neck.  “Yes;” she sighed.  As she moaned with desire he made their union one.  He groaned with pleasure as they continued to fill the night with their cries of passion.  It felt so right and yet so wrong.

***

Abigail woke up and looked at the blanket next to her; she had considered the likelihood that she had dreamed the whole thing.  The feel of his arms around her, the taste of his kisses, and the smell of his cologne so close to her, it was all so real.  She closed her eyes and thought it over and nodded.  It had to be real.

She looked around the small shack.  With the light of the outside shining through the open cracks in the boards it didn’t look so small.  As she sat up she realized she wasn’t wearing any clothes under the blanket.  That helped her to know that she wasn’t completely crazy.  She looked at the door when she heard it opening.  His eyes met hers and he didn’t smile; he upset and irritated.  “Good morning.”  It wasn’t spoken like a man that had just made love.  It was spoken with awkwardness
.

“Good morning.”

“I spoke with Todd; he’s aware of what’s happening.”

“You should have woken me.”

“You look like you needed the rest.”

She didn’t know how to take that.  “Did you talk to someone about the truck?”

“Yeah; a tow truck will be here in about an hour.  It snowed all night; I had to unbury the vehicle.”

“It seems you have accomplished a lot.  What time did you wake up?”

“I didn’t sleep well;” his eyes fell over hers, but he quickly looked away.  “I went out at the first light of the morning.”

“Are there any animals out there;” she giggled, but he just nodded.  “That’s good;” she was at a loss of why he was so mad.  She questioned if her love making was really that bad.  She didn’t have anything to base it on.  “I better get dressed.”  When she pulled the blanket off of her she noticed him look away.  She chuckled.  “It’s too late for any
modesty.  We did sleep together.”

“Yeah, I know.”  He turned from her and left the shack.  By the look on his face she could tell he was feeling guilty.  It had nothing to do with her
; at least she hoped.

“I’m all set.”  Abigail exited the shack and he tried to ignore her.

“Good;” he mumbled as he grabbed the blankets from her arms.  She followed him and was barely keeping up.  “Be careful; we don’t have time for more accidents.”

“Can you slow down?”

“The tow truck will be here any minute; we don’t have a second to waste.”

When they reached the truck they threw the rest of the things in the back and had to wait for the tow truck. 
Travis went about to the other side of the tuck and grabbed the map from the passenger seat.  When he looked up he saw Abigail looking at him.  They both looked away and he rounded to the other side of the vehicle.  “Maybe we can get the wrecker to tell us how get off this road.”

“Maybe;” he continued to look at the map.

“Is this how it’s going to be?”

He looked up; he acted confused, but he knew what she was talking about.  “How what’s going to be?”

“I get the sneaky suspicion that you’re less than pleased that last night happened.  Was I that awful?”

He thought about it and the only truth he was seeing was that it wasn’t because she was awful.  If anything, she was everything he desired and more.  “It isn’t that;” his eyes slowly drifted over her and he kicked himself for taking advantage of the situation. 

“Okay; if that isn’t it…are we going to discuss it?  Or, are you going to pretend that it never happened?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want…” she looked away and it took every bit of his willpower not to go to her, sweep her up in his arms, and promise her the world.  “I want you to at least acknowledge that for one night we were able to let all rationality disappear.  It may not have been what you wanted to happen, but it did.”

“Abigail,” he faced her and an aching in his heart confessed that being with her was the best thing to happen to him in a long time.

“Am I alone here?”  He saw pain in her eyes and he hated that he was the cause.

“I could say that last night was amazing and that I want to spend every night with you in my arms.  I could say that every time I think of you, it makes me yearn for you even more.  I could even say that right now it’s killing me not to push you up against the truck and feel your lips against mine.”  He took a breath and let it slowly out.

“Then why don’t you.”  She moved closer to him.  He watched as her hands moved slowly up his arms and he noticed the same desire in her eyes that he saw the night before.

He took her hands into his, but let them fall from his clutches.  “It wouldn’t be real.”  He looked away; all instinct told him to get as far away from her as he could.  “You can’t tell me that you imagined last night playing out the way it did, because if you did then you’re a better actress than I would have imagined.  All the times that we fight and make up and fight and make up again; we make the prime example of a perfect couple.  What we did last night was irrational; it was two people that let all commonsense go.  We don’t have feelings like that and I took advantage of you.  We let the situation dictate the outcome.  You know that that’s the truth.”

“Maybe so, but…I had never felt more alive than when we were together.”

He looked down at the ground and moved his toe around in the snow.  “You weren’t feeling alive; you were trying to keep warm.”

“You honestly believe we allowed that to happen, because we were cold?”

“No, yes; I don’t know, but I know that it can’t happen again.”

“Give me one reason why you are acting like this.  You’re acting like you didn’t feel anything; yet I was there.  I know by the way you kissed me…undressed me…made love to me…you were feeling too.”

“You want a reason?  I’ll give you a reason.  You’re brother wouldn’t approve.  How’s that for a reason?”

She laughed as she turned away from him.  “You don’t know that, but even if it’s true you would be willing to give up something that could be great because of my brother?”

“Abigail, I want what’s best for you and I’m not that man.”

She looked at him and shook her head.  “I can’t believe you; now you’re trying to degrade yourself just to make things fit in your perfect situation.  You want an easy way out.”

“That’s not it;” he fell against his truck and waited until he knew she was listening.  “We have grown up in 2 different worlds.  You have seen the way I live my life.  I just recently broke up with something that I have been living with.  I have never been one to settle down and you deserved more for yourself.  Your brother would want that for you and so do I.”

“You don’t believe that anymore than I do.  You’re a kind, considerate, thoughtful, dependable, and good guy.  I see that now, but what I don’t get it why you can’t.”

Abigail had never been one to compliment him; so he knew that her feelings were real.  That awareness only made him feel worse.  In order to get her to finally see where he was coming from it would take a lot more hurtful words and he wasn’t prepared to make her angry with him.  It was his only way.  “How can we be together, when you said it yourself, we despise each other?”

“Last night didn’t make it seem like we were despising each other.  If you truly believed that I was a brat and jerk and every other name out of your book, why did you make love to me?”

He didn’t know how to answer that question without confessing all of his secrets and needs.  “I told you;” he quietly stated.  “We were caught up in unthinkable circumstances.  We were tired, scared, lonely, cold, and it just happened.”

“Was there any other reason?”  By this time her arms were crossed over her chest, her face was filled with anger, and her body language was shouting out that he was getting through to her loud and clear.

“You asked me to.”  The moment the words fell out he
flinched.  “I didn’t mean that, but…”

“The truth hurts; right?  Don’t worry about it.  You’re right; you asked me what I wanted and I said for you to make love to me, but if I ask you to take a hike; will you?”

“Abigail, I really didn’t mean that.  I wanted to make love to you, but now…”

“I was foolish and crazy to think that 1 night could override the 23 years of pain in knowing you has caused me.  Once Todd’s wedding is over I will make sure that we never have to see each other again.”

She walked away from the truck as the wrecker loomed near them.  Out of all the times they teased each other, Travis was never more confident that she would never forgive him for that one phrase.

***

Abigail wiped a tear from her eye as the wrecker left them alone.  “We’re ready to leave;”
Travis softly spoke as she walked back to the truck.  He touched her arm as she passed him.  “Abigail, you have to believe me; I didn’t mean that statement.”

She looked at him and shrugged.  “It is what it is; if I left everything you said to me stew inside we would have never been on this trip together.”  She got in the truck and waited for him to join her.

He looked at her as he got in the driver’s seat and acted like he was going to say something else, but thought better of it.  He started the truck and drove back in the direction that they were going.  About 15 minutes into the drive he cleared his throat.  “Apparently, this road used to go all the way to Love, Colorado.  However, about 10 years ago they built a new road and so this road never was used.  If we turn left up here, we will be back on track.”  He snickered.  “I owe you an apology; it looks like you did go the way the map said.”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.  She wasn’t about to acknowledge that he was even speaking to her.  She closed her eyes; she hoped if he thought she was sleeping he would stop the chit chat.  It must have worked because he didn’t say another word.  It was the longest 4 hours of her life.

***

When they arrived to the hotel and found that their rooms were next to one another,
Travis considered asking for a different one.  However, he decided it was only a few days.  He stood at the door that connected their rooms and knocked; when she opened it she looked irritated.  He considered turning away and not saying anything.  “Did you call Todd and tell him we’re here?”

“I did.”

He nodded; the silence was deafening.  “Okay; did he say what time we’re supposed to be there for dinner?”

“5:00.”

The couple word responses were driving him crazy.  “Okay; see you about 4:30?”

She shrugged.  “Whatever.”  She closed the door and he stared ahead at the clos
ed door.  After looking at his watch he realized that he had almost 4 hours to just twiddle his thumbs.

He was hungry and his stomach was telling him that he wouldn’t be able to wait until 5:00.  He again gained some courage and knocked again at her door.  She opened the door and gaped at him.  “I was just wondering if…” he looked behind her and saw the tray of food by the bed.  “Oh; you apparently are already eating.”

She followed his eyes.  “Yeah; I called room service.  I mean, I got plenty; you’re more than welcome to join me.”  When he started to say something she shrugged.  “After all you did provide the food last night.”

He tried to smile, but he saw that she still wasn’t anywhere near forgiving him.  “That’s alright; I’ll let you enjoy the food in peace and quiet.”  He closed the door behind him and picked up the phone.  He could order room service, just as easy as she could.  He didn’t want to force himself on her.  In time it would get better; he hoped.

***

Abigail heard the soft knock on her door and she knew that it was time to leave to go to Todd’s soon to be in-laws for dinner.  She knew she wasn’t giving Travis any breaks and she couldn’t explain in, but she felt bad about that.  It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t have feelings for her; he at least found her desirable, it was a start.

She opened the door and smiled; “I was thinking that maybe I could call someone and get them to drive me.  I could call a taxi.”

“Don’t be silly; we should be able to share a 5 minute car ride together.”

“I don’t know…”

“Abigail, I hate that we have to go through this.  I don’t want things to be tense, and I wish that things could be different, but…”

“I get it; really I do.  I
want things to be back to normal.”

“You want us to go back to fighting and despising each other?”

She smiled.  “Not exactly; you know what I mean.”

“I do, but I’m just saying that we should be able to give past last night and do this; even we’re doing it for your brother.”

She shrugged.  “Okay; I’ll be just a minute.”  She grabbed her purse and sprayed herself with perfume and met him back at the door.

They left through his room and she held back as they walked to his truck.  “Do you have the directions?”

“Yep; it’s just down the road.”  They made their way out of the hotel and easily found their way.  As they pulled up the long driveway, he jaw dropped.  “Wow; it’s gorgeous.”  She nearly forgot she was mad at the man next to her.

“Yes; it is.”  The snow added to the scenery of the several acres of land.  She knew that Carolyn’s family was wealthy, but she didn’t expect the sight she would see.

Before she could knock on the door, it opened.  “It’s good to see you sis.”  Todd hugged Abigail and then shook Travis’s hand.  “Was the house hard to find?”

Abigail looked at
Travis and then shook her head.  “Actually, it was quite easy.  Besides the run-in with the snowdrift;” she smiled.

Todd laughed.  “Dinner will be served soon.”

“Good, because I can’t speak for Abigail, but I’m starved;” Abigail smiled.  She hoped that things could go back to normal, but that was a double-edged sword.  Before they slept together, they fought constantly and she wanted to stay away from that.  There had to be a middle ground between hating each other and loving each other.  It was up to them to determine where that middle ground was.