Page 104 of The Two Last Moments

“Doesn’t surprise me that you muddied the details. You weren’t quick to trust, and it took a long time for you to trust me. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Even though your foster family cheated people for money, you weren’t like them. You never wanted to take more than you needed to get by. You just wanted a fair shake. A chance to earn something real for yourself. By the time you were eighteen, you had a real job at a plant nursery in Northern California.”

“Was it in Eureka?” I ask, remembering the story Kathy Sullivan told Lark weeks ago. So many pieces of it have ended up being true, even if not directly.

Travis nods at me. “It was near there, yeah.” Then he turns back to Lark. “Your job at the nursery lasted a few years, and then you got a really lucky break. You’d befriended a woman who owned a bunch of fancy restaurants and needed flower arrangements for them. She hired you to work for her, and you were able to take college classes on the side too. You started dating Cam. He seemed like a nice enough guy, from what you told me of him. You had a life you were proud of. But Zander had done the opposite. He’d gotten better at faking credentials, documents, tricking people. He talked his way into your boss’s home and stole from her, just out of spite to you. Got you fired and almost arrested. That was the last straw for you. You cut ties with him and the rest of your foster family, picked up with Cam, and left without telling Zander where you were going.”

“And I came to Solvang.”

“You did, about a year back. But I didn’t meet you until about six, seven months ago. In the spring.” Travis smiles, though tears shine in his eyes again. “You were volunteering for the clinic where I went for help with my migraines. I had a car accident a while back. My head hasn’t been the same since. Chronic pain.”

I can’t keep the sneer off my face. “We know about the DUI. How you took off afterward to avoid responsibility. Typical for you.”

A flash of red works up my uncle’s neck. He scratches his head. “Guess I don’t have to explain that part. There’s a shit ton of other stuff I need to explain to you though, Danny. If you’ll let me.”

“Not now,” I say through gritted teeth.

This time, when Lark squeezes my fingers, I know she’s trying to give comfort instead of take it. I smile at her reassuringly, even though my insides are churning.

My uncle and I both go silent. Lark is the one who speaks next.

“Cam, my ex, said I agreed to help Zander with something. I would disappear, and I wouldn’t tell Cam where I was going. I kept secrets.”

“Probably because you didn’t fully trust Cam. Like I said. After your history, who could blame you?”

“But Cam said I was helping Zander con people.”

“No. No way. You wouldn’t lift a finger for Zander after what he’d cost you in NorCal. You were volunteering because you wanted to help people who had nobody else.”

Lark exhales a small breath. I touch her cheek briefly, and she looks up at me.

You see?I try to say with my eyes.That’s who you are.

“You were different from the other volunteers,” Travis says. “A lot of people are all sunshine and false cheer, but not you. You were sarcastic, and I liked that. I looked forward to seeing you at the support group. And you sometimes came by my place with groceries and stuff when I was having an episode and couldn’t get out the door. I work for a winemaker, doing odd jobs around the vineyard, whatever they need, and she lets me park my camper on her property. I count myself lucky. But it’s not a steady salary. No health insurance or sick leave.”

So that explains why he was able to live on that beautiful stretch of road in Santa Barbara wine country. Not cheap real estate by any means.

“You and I struck up a friendship,” Travis says to Lark, a glow of fondness in his eyes. “An unlikely one, I’ll give you that. But it helped that I lived in such a beautiful place.” He chuckles. “Half the time, I think you were visiting just to sit under the willow and admire the view. I didn’t mind.”

“There’s a weeping willow here, too,” she says.

I glance over at Lark, whose cheeks are pink. I wonder if she’s remembering how we made love there. Lark adores that tree. Travis’s camper and the land must have been a refuge for her. Another small piece of the puzzle slots into place.

“There was a willow at the house where Chris and I grew up,” Travis adds, nodding. “That’s why I picked that spot to park my camper. My mom always loved those trees. They’re not common in California, so it reminded me of home.”

Lark gives him a small smile.

He laughs wistfully. “We had fun together, though. Watched dumb TV shows. Worked on the car I’ve been trying since forever to fix up. Danny, you remember that Charger my dad used to have? How your grandpa tinkered with that thing?”

“I remember,” I say stiffly. Did Travis not recognize the ’68 Charger we rode in earlier? Maybe he was as distracted as I was on the drive here, his mind in a hundred different times and places.

“I have a Mustang I bought on the cheap way back, and Lark, you helped me with it sometimes. We loved talking cars.” Travis goes on with his story. “I opened up to you, told you more and more about myself. Including the DUI, by the way. Things about my family. Regrets. You encouraged me to get in touch with my mom again, even though I was too much of a coward to do it.”

“Did you talk about emailing Nina?” I ask.

Lines crease around Travis’s eyes. “No. Not that I remember.”

Lark changes the subject. “There’s a lot more I don’t understand. I got fired from my volunteer spot with the clinic. They said I stole from someone.”

Travis’s expression darkens. “That was Zander. You see, it hadn’t taken him long to track you down, and he was still trying to keep his hooks in you. It stressed you out. I think that’s a big reason you liked visiting me, just to get away from that. Finally, Zander decided to punish you. He caused some kind of controversy at the clinic, and once again you got blamed. You weren’t an official volunteer anymore, but still came to see me. That’s when you really opened up. You told me everything about Zander, how you ran away from him and your family. Were still running. You told me your real last name was Swanson.”

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