Page 18 of Cherishing Happily Ever After

“Just friends,” Travis said again. But he couldn’t be sure whether it was more to convince the guys or himself.

“Yeah, you said that.” Logan reached for his beer. “But…”

Levi smirked.

Travis looked between the cousins. “What?”

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?” Logan shrugged. “I mean, we’ve known you a long time, Trav, and I don’t know if I’ve ever known you to—”

He cut them off with a shake of his head. “That’s because I haven’t.”

“Waiting for the right one?”

“Something like that.” He lifted his glass to his mouth and took a deep pull, letting the cold liquid slide down his throat. Maybe coming into the pub had been a bad idea. There was a reason he didn’t have a lot of friends or let people close. They asked hard questions.

Questions he didn’t want to answer, because…

Because they’d mean opening himself up.

But was that really a bad thing?

“Hey.” Logan slapped him on the back. “Levi’s just being a dick because he’s only ever loved one woman.”

“Look who’s talking.”

Both men laughed, and despite himself and how badly he would have preferred to change the subject, Travis joined in. Since they were kids, both Levi and Logan had only ever had eyes for one woman in either of their lives. Women they were now both happily married to. They had no idea what it was like to be completely sideswiped by a woman storming into your life and shaking the very foundation of who you were and what you thought you wanted.

And that’s exactly what Stephanie had done. Travis swallowed hard.

“There’s a reason for that,” Levi said. “When you find the woman who makes everything make sense and is worth turning your life upside down for, you hang on to her for dear life because you’ll never find another. Trust me. I looked.”

Logan clinked his glass together with his cousin’s.

After a moment, Travis joined them.Had he found that woman?

“Hey, guys.” Before he had a chance to dwell on it for too long, Remington, a local police officer, and another of the guys who they’d all grown up with, walked over to the table and shook the rain from his hat. “It’s really coming down out there.”

“Uh oh.” Levi laughed. “It’s the law.”

“Time for a beer?” Logan asked.

He shook his head. “On duty.” He glanced wistfully at the beer. “Just popping in to let folks know that there’s a flood warning in effect. The river is rising fast. Too fast.”

“Flood?”

Levi was already pulling cash from his wallet and Logan had pushed up from the table. “The forecast didn’t call for that much rain. What the hell?”

“It’s shifted quickly,” Remington said. “Nobody saw it coming. And combined with the snow pack that was still up in the mountains…well, I’m a little concerned. I thought you guys might want to make sure the ranch is okay.” He turned to Travis, who’d downed the rest of his beer and was already pulling on his own coat. “You up at Lynx Creek?”

“I am.”

“Watch the river there.” Remington frowned. “It’s been awhile since it happened but years ago, a flood took that bridge out. No telling what could happen if the rain doesn’t let up.”

Travis nodded. He’d been concerned about that bridge for ages. But at the moment it wasn’t the river or the bridge he was concerned about. It was the woman who was alone on the other side.

“I didn’t know you got a dog.” Nick Newton, Steph’s best friend, besides her sisters, appeared on her porch, dripping wet and holding baby Amelia, who was bundled tightly against the rain in a very cute polka dot raincoat.

“I didn’t. She’s Travis’s puppy.” Stephanie took the baby from his arms before they’d even stepped inside the cabin. Amelia, who at almost nine months old, was one of Steph’s favorite people, greeted her with a toothy grin. “When did she get a new tooth? You didn’t tell me.”

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