The Weather Girl (18 page)

“I see what everybody’s been going on about. That’s some arm,” Summer said as they watched Storm run like lightning. Her hand shielded her eyes from the sun.

“I could throw a football a lot farther than that slimy thing.” He wiped his hand on his shorts.

The plan was to run together, but the black Lab was the only one getting any exercise at the moment. With the exception of their awkward greeting when he arrived, Travis hadn’t said much. He didn’t ask her if she had called Ken or Ryan. He didn’t even comment on the weather. Still, it looked as though he had something to say.

Storm returned and lay down a few feet away. The poor dog was out of breath, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He kept his toy out of Summer’s and Travis’s reach, in need of a breather. Summer began to stretch her legs. She needed to run until her muscles burned and her chest ached. Anything to distract her from the tension that floated around and in between them, filling all the empty spaces like a dense fog.

“I came here last night,” Travis finally said. “Hank, the hot-air balloon guy, met me.”

Summer’s head snapped up. “How did that happen?”

He stopped and cleared his throat. His jaw clenched a couple times before he was able to continue. “I was going to surprise you last night, but I guess things got messed up.”

The guilt felt like a ten-pound rock in her stomach. She hadn’t meant to ruin his plans. “Did you jump?”

“I had him take me up and hook me to the cord. I stood there for the longest time, trying to convince myself that I could do it. It was seriously the scariest thing I have ever done.”

“But you did it,” she said proudly. “Next time we’ll have to do it together.” Summer sat down in the grass and looked up at him. He was a hulk of a man, but his face was soft and gentle. He wore running shorts and a sleeveless UT T-shirt. His arms made him the kind of man who should always wear shirts without sleeves. If Ken really wanted to get to number one, he needed to buy Travis some sleeveless suits.

“I did it. I jumped and screamed and thought I was going to die.”

Summer laughed. How she wished he had invited her along to see that. “It is truly terrifying. I’m scared every time I go up.”

Travis shook his head. “I have a picture of you standing in that balloon basket right before you jumped.” He looked into the sky as if she were still up there. “There was this complete calm about you. I remember how alive and energized you were after the fact, but before you jumped, you were cool as a cucumber. You’re truly one of the bravest people I know.”

His compliment made her smile, but she felt ashamed, and she ducked her head. She didn’t feel very brave lately. Even Big D saw through her. She’d been living in this limbo, refusing to make the tough decisions, avoiding the emotions that were making themselves crystal clear. “Jumping out of a balloon doesn’t make me brave. And just because I looked calm doesn’t mean I wasn’t scared.”

Travis cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “I need to tell you something,” he began. “I was waiting for the right time to do it, but I don’t know what the right time is anymore.”

Summer looked back up, concerned. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“I’ve been lost and afraid for a really long time now. Afraid of failing. Afraid of making the wrong decisions. Before my injury, I thought I was infallible. Afterward, I felt I had failed everyone who ever believed in me.”

“That’s not true. That might be how you felt, but I can’t believe that’s how everyone saw it.”

“Trust me, there are people I have most definitely failed. But you, I don’t want to fail you.”

He could never fail her. She wanted to say that, but her anxiety pushed the most recent weather facts out of her mouth. “Did you know New York City averages about twenty-two and a half inches of snow a year?”

Travis let out a breathy laugh and held out a hand to help her to her feet. He didn’t let go once she stood up. “That’s a lot of snow.”

“Not really. Not in comparison to Rochester or Ithaca. Those nor’easters are brutal, dumping almost a hundred inches of snow some winters.”

“We sure are spoiled here in Texas.” He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. This was why she loved him. He understood her better than anyone. He never let her weirdness get in the way. He took her hand in both of his. “You changed how I look at myself. You made me believe I should ask for more from life than what I already had. You challenged me to see the world in a different way and not let the fear keep me from trying something new. You were exactly what I never knew I needed.”

The way he looked at her seemed to mirror the way she felt about him. In his eyes, she could see he respected and cared about her. There was also something bigger, something she felt in the center of her chest.

There was love.

He was in love with her as she hoped. Just as she was in love with him. Summer’s stomach did a flip-flop and she could feel her heart in her chest. Love did that. It made your heart double, triple in size and press against your ribs. It made you feel alive as nothing else could. She couldn’t let him say it first. If he said it first, he’d think she was just reacting to him when she said it back. She was the one who was supposed to make the declarations this morning.

Travis kept talking while Summer silently fretted. “I need you to know I appreciate that you liked me even when I didn’t like myself.”

“I don’t like you,” she interjected impulsively. Travis frowned, making her smile. Just like when she stood in that balloon basket, this calm before the storm took over. She was ready to take the leap. “I love you. I’m in love with you, and I want to stay here with you. I’m not taking the other job.”

Instead of kissing her and professing his own feelings, Travis let go of her hand and took a step back. “Summer,” he groaned. “Why are you doing this to me?” That couldn’t be good. He turned his back to her and clawed at his hair. “You have to take that job.”

“I don’t,” she asserted, tugging on his arm to make him face her. “I thought about it and I want to see where this relationship goes. I won’t be able to do that thousands of miles away. I love you, Travis. I’m staying in Abilene.”

His hands slipped from the top of his head to cover his face. “I’m not.”

“What?” Summer’s oversize heart began to beat double time. “What are you talking about?”

He dropped his hands to his sides. Gone was the love and respect she thought she’d seen in his eyes moments ago. Now there was only a pain that made her chest ache. She stared down at his feet and tried to stop herself from bursting into tears.

“I’m taking a coaching job in Alabama. I can’t be the reason you don’t follow your dream. We both have to move on, Summer. It’s the best thing for both of us.”

“Alabama?” It was the only thing that registered. He’d taken a job in Alabama. She should have known better. She was a fool. A complete fool for believing he could be in love with her. He wasn’t here to tell her he loved her. He was here to finish off that goodbye.

The worst thing about the way love caused your heart to expand was that it hurt that much more when that stupid, overinflated organ split down the middle. It was a lesson Summer wouldn’t soon forget.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

T
HE
U
NIVERSITY
 
OF
 
Alabama’s campus was beautiful, rich in history and traditional architecture. Travis took a tour of the Quad, which used to host the football games back in the early days. Now the Crimson Tide’s facilities were some of the most impressive in all of college football. The entire coaching staff was welcoming, and the offer they put on the table was hard to refuse.

Travis loosened his tie as he looked out the window of his hotel room. This was the job his father was telling him to take, the one that was supposed to be perfect for him and what was left of his skill set. Even Summer had once said he was an excellent motivator.

Summer.

She had moved to New York two weeks ago, and nothing was the same. Not the station, not Abilene—not Texas, for that matter. Alabama offered Travis the chance to get away from everything that reminded him of her. It was a clean slate. A fresh start. Yet, as Travis listened to the head coach and all of the assistants go on and on about their program, as he stood in the middle of the huge stadium, he realized something important. He didn’t want to coach football quarterbacks. He didn’t want to be part of the football machine at all. The kid coming from Odessa deserved a coach whose heart was in it one hundred percent. Travis wasn’t even in it half that much.

He turned down the offer with a “thank you, but no, thank you.” Travis decided he needed to stop doing what made his old man happy and figure out what made
him
happy.

Travis rested his head on the window’s cool glass. What did make him happy? Summer. Summer made him the happiest he’d ever been, and his heart was with her, not here in Tuscaloosa. She loved him and he let her go without telling her he loved her back. He did love her. With everything he had, he loved her.

Travis flopped down on the bed. He had messed up. Staring up at the ceiling, he imagined calling Summer up and telling her this was all a big mistake. He didn’t mean to tell her to go; he meant to tell her he loved her, too, and that she should stay. They could get married, have a family, go to church and eat lunch at her grandparents’ house every Sunday. Their children could go to school with Conner’s kids, grow up friends and cousins. His mom could teach Summer how to make red velvet cupcakes and they could go running every morning so he didn’t get a cupcake belly. It would be a good life, one filled with love, family and lots of blue sky.

Only one problem—Summer had the chance at an exceptional life. She could chase storms and live a new adventure every day. She could not only talk about the weather, but also experience it, live it. Travis had let her go because that was what she deserved. This new show was made for her. She might have been reluctant to leave Abilene, but he believed it was what she truly wanted. The right thing was to tell her to go, to force her to take the risk and chase the rainbow.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. The worst part was, he had thought he’d found where he belonged at the same time he’d realized Summer belonged somewhere else. Sportscasting felt less right without Summer in the studio. He was back to square one. Lost and unsure of himself.

He grabbed his wallet off the dresser and slipped it in his pocket. He needed some food in his stomach, and to fill the void inside him. As if that was possible. Summer was gone, and it was only a matter of time before she met some dashing storm chaser who swept her off her feet. They’d run away together to study floods in Europe and Travis would be left in Texas under a permanent rain cloud. His future sure wasn’t looking too bright.

* * *

T
RAVIS
 
WENT
 
STRAIGHT
to his parents’ house when he returned to Texas. He had Conner pick him up from the airport and tag along for moral support. He needed to be honest with his dad once and for all. The brothers found their mother weeding the flower beds. She looked over her shoulder when she heard the car pull up. Rising to her feet, she adjusted the wide-brimmed hat on her head.

“Well, this is a surprise! I thought you were still in Tuscaloosa.”

Travis shut the car door and opened his arms for a hug. “Just got back.”

She squeezed him tight before stepping back to take a good look at her son. Placing a hand on his cheek, she looked him square in the eye. He hoped she wouldn’t see the anxiety he felt. He tried smiling to throw her off. The wrinkle between her eyebrows deepened as she attempted to get a read on him. Giving up, she moved on to greet Conner. “Come inside,” she said, hooking arms with Travis. “Your dad has been waiting to hear all about the new job.”

Conner gave him a little push when his feet seemed to forget how to move. He’d thought jumping out of that hot-air balloon was scary. Facing his father’s wrath was quickly becoming much more terrifying.

“Sam! Your boys are here!” Olivia took off her hat and set it on the coatrack by the door. Pulling off her work gloves and dropping them in a basket, she offered her sons something to drink. Conner was quick to help, chasing after their mom and giving Travis a thumbs-up as their dad came down the stairs.

“Finally!” Sam threw his arm around his son’s shoulders and led him into the family room. “Your phone broken? I left a message, your mother left a dozen. How’d it go?”

Travis took a deep breath. He’d practiced what he was going to say in the car with his brother, but all those words were lost in his dad’s presence. “The interviews went well. They have a stellar program over there. I was very impressed with everything.”

“So when do you start?” His dad’s smile was big and broad. There was that long-lost pride in his eyes. Travis hated to do it, but he had to wipe it all away.

“I didn’t take it,” he confessed. Sam Lockwood stared at his son in utter disbelief. “I don’t want to be a quarterback coach. I don’t really want to be a football coach at all.”

Sitting down on the overstuffed couch, his dad held his head in his hands. “I can’t believe you.”

“I appreciate everything you did to get me the interview, I just—”

“You just what, Travis? You just gave up? You don’t want to be a coach? What in the world do you want to be, then?” His father’s voice rose with every question, causing his mother to come out of the kitchen, where Conner had been attempting to detain her.

“Why in the world are you yelling at him?”

“Because your son has lost his mind! He doesn’t care about his own happiness.”

“That’s not true,” Travis said, standing up for himself. “I didn’t take the job because I do care. I’m miserable. I’ve been miserable. And I’d be more miserable if I did something the rest of my life that I didn’t love.”

“So what is it that you love to do? Because I thought it was football,” his dad said through clenched teeth.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. His mom put her hand on his arm and squeezed. “But I want to figure it out.”

“And you can’t do that at Alabama?”

“It’s not fair to the team for me to be there and not be completely committed.”

“That’s a good point,” his mother chimed in. She took the seat next to his dad. “I’m sure you’ll figure out what you want soon enough.”

“All that time, all that money, all those years...wasted.” His father’s head fell back into his hands and he spoke to the floor.

Conner came up behind Travis and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It wasn’t wasted. Travis was an incredible football player. He deserved all the time and attention he got. But let’s be real, Dad. Did he ever have a choice? I played three sports growing up. Mom even took me to karate classes for a week until I decided it wasn’t for me. I got to hang out with my friends and be a normal kid. Travis had football. All year. All the time. When he wasn’t playing, he was training. I think this is his chance to see what else he’s good at.”

Travis could feel the tension leave his body. His brother said it better than he ever could. That was exactly what he was asking for—for his family to support him in finding what other gifts he had to share with the world.

“All that’s ever mattered to me and your dad is that you boys are happy,” his mom said as she rubbed her husband’s back. “If Travis isn’t happy coaching, then that’s not what we want for him. Right, honey?”

“I thought that football was what he wanted,” his dad mumbled.

“I never thought there was another option.”

His dad looked up, their eyes connecting for the first time since he broke the news. Finally, Travis saw something other than disgust. There was even a hint of understanding. “No one played football like you, son. But your mother’s right. Your happiness is what matters. Maybe I just need to step back and let you figure this out.”

“I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Dad. I haven’t been very fair to you. I depended on you instead of trusting myself and then blamed you when I wasn’t perfectly content.”

“You never needed me as much as you thought you did,” his dad said with a faint smile.

If that was true, maybe there was hope for Travis yet. Though he wasn’t confident it would happen anytime soon, Travis was beginning to believe he would find his own way.

“Any word from Summer? Does she know you aren’t going to Alabama?” his mom asked, changing the subject and bringing back the tightness in his shoulders.

“We’re not really on speaking terms, Mom.”

“Maybe you should do something about that,” she said, getting up off the couch and returning to the kitchen to get those drinks. “That woman seemed to make you happy.”

True but irrelevant. Summer was gone because he’d told her to go. There was no taking that back.

* * *

E
XERCISE
 
WAS
 
THE
only thing that helped keep Travis’s mind off Summer. Red Bud Park probably wasn’t conducive to a Summer-free run, but it was where Conner offered to meet Travis on a Saturday. The sun was hiding behind some early-morning cloud cover. Cumulus clouds to be exact. Summer had taught Travis a thing or two about clouds. Maybe she’d be proud of him for remembering.

Travis rubbed the spot in the center of his chest that had begun to ache. This was a bad idea.

“You’re gonna have to take it easy on me. I can’t run more than four miles,” Conner said as they stretched out. “And none of that interval sprinting stuff. We go one pace the whole time.”

“Remind me, why did I want you to come running with me again?” Travis pondered aloud as he started to jog away.

Conner was quick to catch up. “Because no one else can stand to be around you while you wallow.”

“I am not wallowing.”

“Travis. This is worse than when you broke off your engagement. You are living in Wallow City. Wallowing is your middle name. If they were going to name a Gatorade flavor after you, it would be Wallow.”

Travis gave his brother a good shove, causing Conner to veer off the pavement and into the grass. “At least my socks match.”

Conner looked down at his feet. He had one white and one black sock on. He shook his head at himself. “Having a baby in the house does some crazy stuff to your head, man. Crazy stuff.”

Travis laughed, but that phantom ache in his chest was back. Travis was jealous. It was a first for sure. Conner didn’t know how good he had it. Travis would happily wear mismatched socks if it meant having the woman he loved at his side and a baby to dote upon.

He ran faster to force his brain to focus on something other than what he didn’t have. Conner couldn’t keep up, but something else could. A four-legged beast came racing by with a leash trailing behind. The dark-as-night furball looked awfully familiar.

“Storm!” Travis shouted, and sure enough, the runaway dog stopped dead in his tracks. Storm took a good look at Travis, cocking his head to the side. Once he realized who he was dealing with, he took off into some bushes only to reemerge with a stick, ready to play with the man who could throw really far.

“What are you doing out here on your own? Huh, boy?” Travis grabbed Storm’s leash, scanning the area for the disappointed dog’s owner. Storm wanted to run.

“You know this big guy?” Conner asked, giving Storm a pat on the head.

“Yeah, he’s—” Travis stopped when he saw Summer’s grandfather coming their way. Of course it wouldn’t be Summer. She lived in New York. But part of him had thought for a second that maybe, just maybe, she was here. Travis brought Storm over to Big D. “Mr. Raines, how are you, sir?”

“Well, look at that. Maybe this mutt knows exactly what he’s doing. Good to see you, son.” The old man stuck out his hand and Travis gave it a shake before handing over the leash.

“It’s good to see you, too, sir.”

“I learned today that you don’t take Storm for a walk. He takes you. I couldn’t keep up.”

Travis laughed. “Summer once told me she should have named him Lightning instead of Storm. He’s pretty fast.”

Big D bent down and scratched the dog behind the ear. “You got to slow down for this old man. I’m not like your mama.”

The pain in Travis’s chest continued to make itself known, making it hard to breathe. He needed to get away. Coming to this park was the worst idea Conner ever had. “Well, it was good to see you, sir. Say hello to your wife for me.”

“Can’t do that,” the older man said. Travis stopped his retreat. “Sarah won’t be happy with a secondhand hello. If I get to see how you’re doing, she’s gonna need to see how you’re doing, as well. You’ll come over for lunch tomorrow. Eleven o’clock. Don’t be late. She won’t be happy if you’re late, either.”

“Sir,” Travis began.

“Eleven sharp. You don’t want to see that woman unhappy,” Big D warned.

“Eleven o’clock,” Travis said with a nod. He ran back to Conner, unsure of what just happened. Having lunch with Summer’s grandparents did not sound like the best way to get over her. Travis didn’t hear a word Conner said the entire run. He was lost in his head, wondering which would be worse—making Mimi mad, or spending the day doing nothing but thinking about Summer. In the end, he decided it was in his best interest to stay on Mimi’s good side. He’d be thinking about Summer all day anyway, no matter who he was with.