8: Open Up... Or Else

Verna woke up to find Travis watching her.

She smiled sleepily. “Morning, lover.”

“Good morning,” he said.

They lay in silence for a while and then Travis said to her, “Thank you for being so good to my son. He loves you. I can tell… I’ll do everything I can to keep myself in your trust.”

She brought his head close to hers and kissed him. They got out of bed several hours later only because they had a barbecue to attend.

Travis’s friend was getting married and the barbecue was a ‘cozy’ celebration for his friends before he had to ‘start dining with the missus’.

Collin was a short man, Thelma was a short woman and they made a cute couple. They kept kissing whenever they thought no one needed them.

There were several couples there and some people had even brought their children. Verna got along instantly with a few of the ladies because it happened that they shopped in the same places and read some of the authors she had edited for. During a conversation with these ladies, Verna caught Travis watching her from the barbecue stand.

The single ladies followed her gaze.

“Mhm,” one of them said knowingly.

“Where do you find that kind of man?” another asked, admiring what she could see of Travis.

Verna smiled. “Oh… he gave me some fitness advice at the gym, we hit it off and we’ve been together ever since.”

“Lucky you.”

They went back to their discussion only to be interrupted by the presence of Travis’s arms around Verna’s waist, just as the sun was setting.

“Hey babes,” he murmured as he kissed her neck.

She blushed and waved goodbye as he led her away. A brunette named Anita mouthed ‘lucky you’ again and gave her two thumbs up.

“I missed you,” he said as he led her around the side of the house, his hand on the small of her waist.

“I missed you too,” she said.

He backed her up against a wall and kissed her so tenderly, she shivered. That only made him move closer and feeling her soft body against his made groan.

“Oh, baby.”

She kissed him back, feeling his desire in the heat of his body and the hardness pressing against her. She could feel her desire escalate as his hands crept up her thighs under the skirt she wore. His lips began to trail down her throat and she closed her eyes. Her lace panties were a flimsy defense against his fingers as they forged their way closer to her center.

“Don’t start anything you can’t finish Mr. Burns,” she managed to say as he pressed a finger against her.

His lips returned to hers and she let her fingers slide through his hair, holding him to her for a moment before they broke off their kiss.

They said their farewells to the hosts gracefully and rushed back home where Travis took his time doing everything he had been longing to do during the barbecue. Verna was very ready for him and had some fantasies of her own, for which she sought fulfillment.

Theodore put the manuscript down with a thud.

“I don’t know how you expect me to like your work this time, Verna.”

Her mouth dropped open in utter shock. Travis’s eyes narrowed.

Theodore’s voice rose to a near shout. “Why do you think I kept you away from Travis, Verna León? Lord knows what you did instead of concentrate on my work. I didn’t want this-” he waved his hands at the two of them “-to happen because I knew my work would suffer!”

Theodore turned away, disgusted. Travis exchanged looks with Verna who seemed as if on the verge of an outburst of her own when Theodore Burns turned back around with a wide grin on his face.

“Fooled you didn’t I?”

Verna’s jaw dropped. A moment later she regained her composure.

“You are such a frog!” she exclaimed, more than relieved.

Theo merely laughed harder. “Maybe that’s why the ladies kiss me so much.”

That made Travis laughed too.

On a more serious note, Theodore said, “I was just kidding, bro.” he looked at Verna and winked. “She’s a great woman. Very focused and professional behind the desk.”

She blushed under the minor attention and he added, “And very shy too.”

At that Travis blinked as if something had just dawned on him. But he didn’t say anything, he just smiled.

“That’s,” Teddy continued, “what I like about your girl, Travis. She loves my work so much she rarely butchers anything.”

“Maybe I should relinquish your work to Magdalena. She loves you.”

Magdalena was a small robust woman in the graphics department who claimed she was Burns’ number one fan. She terrorized Theodore with her enthusiasm every time he made a visit to the headquarters.

“No thank you. Please!”

Verna was having lunch with the Burns brothers at the elder one’s house and the conversation was very eclectic. She found it amusing that they managed to swing to and from varying degrees of sobriety as they discussed national budget, race cars and other topics. Sometime later she noticed that Travis seemed preoccupied.

“Hey,” she nudged him. “Where are you?”

He shook his head once and smiled. “Right here, babes. I’m right here with you,” he reassured her with a kiss.

Later on, that same day Verna announced that there was a two week period full of workshops and fairs. Travis then told her there was a camping trip in New York with Zane’s new day care center. They seemed to happening around the same time and that meant the couple would apart for a length of time. Neither of them seemed very happy about it but Travis was more vocal about his wishes.

“Can’t you skip the conferences?” he complained.

She smiled regretfully, “I can’t. I’m part of the board overseeing the entire thing.”

Then a few days before he left, he said, “You know, sometimes I am not sure how you feel about me. I mean, I know you’re attracted to me…” He smiled slightly but continued staring out the window while she watched him with a cold stomach from the kitchen nook. “But how do you feel?”

It was because of this doubt that he had avoided telling her outright that he loved her. In fact, he hadn’t used the word love since Zane had left the house. He didn’t want to force her into saying anything she might not mean.

Hell! Who was he trying to fool?

He couldn’t bear it if he said it and she didn’t say it back. It made him feel like he was more emotionally vested in the relationship… usually the woman would be in this situation, but his woman wasn’t biting the bit.

Verna was great with Zane and she had fit into his life pretty quickly, which was awesome. They both got along with one another’s family and that was something he appreciated too and he often felt that she was the greatest companion because she was great company. It was like having his best friend by his side all the time and yet so much more. Their love making was out of this world and she blew his mind like no other woman ever had.

But Travis’ reservations were borne from her reluctance to outwardly- and publicly- express her feelings for him. She seemed very comfortable to remain in the buddy-zone if it were up to her, which in most cases it was.

He looked her straight in the eye, now. She looked back and said, “I don’t know what you want me to say, Travis.”

His look said, ‘oh yes you do’, but he said nothing.

Verna was the next to bring the issue up of open intimacy, but the way she introduced the topic shocked Travis into momentary silence.

The two of them were coming from the book signing of one Verna’s more successful clients. Travis thought Verna looked incredibly sexy in her black dress and had made a point of telling her so, whispering in her ear during the vote thanks. Over the course of the evening the two of them had been asked to pose for a few photos and then as they were making the rounds, Travis had placed a loving hand on the small of Verna’s back. Every now and then he would kiss her temple or caress her with obvious affection.

Once they were back in the comfort of her home and settled, Verna spoke.

“Why do you feel like you always have to claim me? Particularly in public places. It makes me feel like I don’t have space!”

Long pause.

He replied, “Okay, well... I’ll give you space. Let’s take the next two weeks to see if that’s what you want. I don’t think I am the type of person who can just switch off feelings because of the environment. It’s now up to you to decide what’s more important to you.” He placed the glass he’d been drinking from on the counter. “Me or your precious discretion.”

He sat on the bar stool, looking at her for a while and then he stood up. “In fact, we might as well start now. I have to get some stuff from home anyway.”

“So we’re not going to talk about this like rational adults?” she protested.

“Rational?” he echoed incredulously. “There is nothing rational about the way you’ve been behaving, Verna. I know you hate it when I assume this much, but I’d like to believe that this confrontation is a hormonal rant. You really should be happy I pay you so much attention and make an effort to leave no doubt in your mind about who I want to be with. What have you done lately?”

Verna’s jaw hung open. He had just called her hormonal!

“It’s ok. Take your time... you have all of two weeks, babe.”

“So you’re just going to leave me?”

“I’m not leaving you. I’m giving you space.”

“I just-”

“That’s what you seem to want Verna. Space.” Pause. “So, I will give you space.”

He made to leave the room but not before Verna saw the hurt in his eyes.

“Travis!”

Travis stopped walking but he didn’t look her in the face. Verna opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. The silence hung in the air until she managed to find her voice.

“I- I’m sorry.”

“Is that all you have to say?” he laughed without humor. “Sorry isn’t going to fix this.”

“What do you want me to say?” she exclaimed, a little annoyed with herself and him.

“I don’t want you to say anything!” He shook his head and started walking again. “You don’t get it... but I’ll give you two weeks to figure it out.”

He went to the bedroom and got a few things out of the bathroom. When he returned to the kitchen, she stood up. They kissed each other goodbye as if it were Armageddon and as if they had not just argued.

When he closed the door behind him, it hit her that he had just given her an ultimatum.

“Oh my God.” She sat down heavily, thinking sadly that it must have been on his mind for quite some time. Before she could explore the issue much further, the phone rang and interrupted her thoughts.

It was her mother.

“Ciao, mama.”

“Hello, my dear. What’s wrong?”

Verna frowned. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”

Sylvia put on a dead voice and mimicked the way her child had greeted her. “Sound familiar?”

Verna sighed. “I’m just a little tired, that’s all. Planning for the conference.”

“Well, that is why I called. What are the theme colors so I don’t clash too badly or blend right in.”

“Sky blue and this pale yellow.”

“Eh?” She sounded as if she was going to have a fit. “Thanks, my love. Bye now, my baby.”

“Ciao.”

She packed a gym bag and left the house. She went to the indoor pool and did a healthy number of laps before jumping out and going to the treadmill. She found it too monotonous. Stepping down from the machine, she went in search of the manager.

He took her to a virtual reality room. She started running on dry terrain in a semi-arid environment. Her course took her into a forest, up an extremely rocky hill, across a stream and through a sandy patch before she felt she had had enough.

Sweat dripped down her back and along her hairline, her breathing was heavy yet even. As she opened the sliding door, she adjusted her eyes to the change in environment. Then she thanked the VR sports supervisor, who said, “You’re one fit lady, Verna.”

She nodded and headed to the showers. Changing into another tracksuit, she didn’t chat with any of the other club members. Her mind was so busy, she didn’t even register the familiar faces.

Leaving the gym, she bumped into none other than Travis. His was the one face that popped out at her as she neared the front door. She saw him first and she paused, not sure of what to do.

It was a moment before their eyes met but she’d resolved to keep moving toward him. Travis also seemed ok with crossing paths despite the end of their last discussion.

“Hey babes,” he smiled and continued to move right past her.